Chapter Summaries

Chu Bai arrived at Azure Cloud Gorge and used the earth-vein sky net and his domains to defeat the two ancient demon saint wills after they had devastated Ji Yun’s forces. He left Ji Yun alive to carry a warning to the Ji Clan and the imperial court, declaring that Heavenly Abyss District belonged to Heavenly Abyss City.

• Ji Yun dismissed Chu Bai’s defenses and prepared to claim credit for defeating the demons, but the Heaven-Burning Flood Dragon and Nine Heavens Astral Wind attacked Azure Cloud Gorge with an army of demon beasts.
• The two demon saints shattered the defenses and slaughtered the Divine Capital City Guards, while Heavenly Abyss City refused Ji Yun’s request for reinforcements and revealed that Chu Bai was supposedly near death.
• As Ji Yun tried to flee, Chu Bai appeared aboard a warship, revealed his stabilized late Purple Abode cultivation, and stopped the Heaven-Burning Flood Dragon with a violet-gold thunder dragon.
• Chu Bai activated the World-Suppressing Child Steles to seal Qingzhou’s earth veins, weakening the two demon saints, then trapped and destroyed them with his domains and Soul-Slaying Blades.
• Chu Bai devoured the demon saints’ origins and the remaining demon beasts, stabilizing his cultivation as the demonic threat over Qingzhou ended.
• Chu Bai spared Ji Yun and sent him back to the Divine Capital with a Recording Stone and a warning that the Ji Clan and imperial court should bring their own coffins if they wanted to seize Heavenly Abyss City’s power and wealth.

Chu Bai refined the essences of two ancient demon saints into the Great Luo Purple Gold Karmic Fire and the Nine Heavens Void Astral Wind Wings, strengthening his cultivation and inspiring awe across Heavenly Abyss City. After learning that the Divine Capital had backed down from challenging his authority, he prepared for the greater tribulation he believed was approaching.

• Chu Bai used the Origin-Opening Daoist Scripture to strip the demonic nature from the Heaven-Burning Flood Dragon's fire and Nine Heavens astral wind essences.
• Chu Bai combined the extreme yang flame with karmic burden and vow power to forge the Great Luo Purple Gold Karmic Fire.
• Chu Bai merged Nine Heavens astral wind with his Glazed Flawless Bone to create the Nine Heavens Void Astral Wind Wings.
• Chu Bai completed both divine arts, stabilized his late purple abode cultivation, and caused a spectacular wind-and-fire phenomenon above Heavenly Abyss City.
• Zhang Cheng reported that Ji Yun had shown the Azure Cloud Gorge Recording Stone in the Divine Capital, frightening the court and Ji Clan into silence.
• Chu Bai surveyed Heavenly Abyss City and declared that the rising storm should grow fiercer.

After ten years in seclusion, Chu Bai perfected his purple abode and strengthened Heavenly Abyss City’s control over the Southwest, but still needed the Wuji Golden Sun Mushroom to form a supreme golden core. When a message warned that three late golden core experts were marching south to reclaim the region, Chu Bai learned the mushroom was aboard their treasure ship and prepared to meet them.

• Chu Bai emerged from ten years of cultivation with his purple abode perfected and his two divine abilities merged into his dao foundation.
• Chu Bai told himself he needed the Wuji Golden Sun Mushroom, held in the Divine Capital, to complete the treasures required for his supreme nine-turn golden core.
• Zhang Cheng reported that Heavenly Abyss City had grown into a major refuge, linked the Southwest’s earth veins to its defenses, and built a powerful merchant alliance with neighboring regions.
• Chu Bai cautioned Zhang Cheng that the alliance must still show outward respect to the Great Zhou court and the old aristocratic houses.
• A secret message warned Chu Bai that the Ji Clan and two other aristocratic houses planned to send three late golden core experts south to reclaim the Southwest.
• Chu Bai discovered that the Wuji Golden Sun Mushroom was aboard the delegation’s treasure ship and decided to await the three experts.

Chu Bai learned that forming a golden core required five divine abilities and an imperial Golden Register, which the Great Zhou court tightly controlled. He secured a path to have his Southwest achievements officially recorded and received authorization and a token to seek primordial xirang at Cloudmist Grand Canyon.

• Chu Bai welcomed Vice Minister Wang and Ji Jing, who explained that a flawless golden core required five origin divine abilities and a Golden Register granted by the Ministry of Rites.
• Chu Bai offered the court discounted supplies and spirit stones in exchange for formally recording his ten years of demon suppression and disaster relief as merit.
• Vice Minister Wang guaranteed that Chu Bai's achievements would be entered into the Great Zhou merit law net within three months and gave him authorization to survey ancient earth-vein sites.
• Ji Jing gave Chu Bai the Black-and-Yellow Fengshan Token and revealed that primordial xirang stirred beneath the abandoned Primordial Fengshan Altar in Cloudmist Grand Canyon.
• After the delegation departed, Chu Bai resolved to pursue the fifth divine ability at Cloudmist Grand Canyon and build merit toward obtaining a Golden Register.

Chu Bai entered Cloudmist Grand Canyon, defeated the Borderland Three Fiends and a Mysterious Yellow Rampaging Bear, and absorbed the primordial xirang to complete his fifth divine ability and the Five Phases cycle. The earth-vein disturbance drew the attention of powerful beings in the Divine Capital, and Chu Bai left for Heavenly Abyss City, intending to pursue the Golden Register and enter the Golden Core realm.

• Chu Bai endured the canyon’s immense gravity and suppressed divine sense as he entered Cloudmist Grand Canyon.
• The Borderland Three Fiends ambushed Chu Bai with a formation, but he destroyed it, killed all three, and collected their Storage Bags.
• Chu Bai reached the Primordial Fengshan Altar, killed its Mysterious Yellow Rampaging Bear, and found the primordial xirang beneath a stone tablet.
• Chu Bai absorbed the primordial xirang over seven days and formed the fifth divine ability, [Immovable Mystic Yellow Body], completing the cycle of his five divine abilities.
• The five-element cycle condensed Chu Bai’s spell power toward a supreme golden core, while the cracked altar tablet triggered an earth-vein shock wave that alerted ancient cultivators in the Divine Capital.
• Chu Bai departed for Heavenly Abyss City, confident that he would enter the Golden Core realm when he received the Golden Register.

Chu Bai used the earth veins to uncover the Divine Capital’s plan to drain Qingzhou’s spirit marrow and save its failing dragon vein. He exposed the scheme to the Southwestern Alliance, then prepared to confront the delegation as it approached Heavenly Abyss City with the Eight Desolations Spirit-Gathering Cauldron.

• Chu Bai completed the Immovable Mystic Yellow Body and used the World-Suppressing Mother Stele to sense Qingzhou’s earth veins and detect a secret transmission from the Divine Capital.
• Chu Bai decrypted the transmission and learned that the court’s delegation planned to install the Eight Desolations Spirit-Gathering Cauldron and drain Qingzhou’s spirit marrow to sustain the Divine Capital’s dragon vein.
• Chu Bai realized that protecting the Southwest and defeating the delegation could earn him enough merit to secure the Golden Register for his Golden Core breakthrough.
• Chu Bai revealed the plan to the Southwestern Alliance, prompting Elder He and the Wang Clan ancestor to pledge their support and urge him to rebel.
• Chu Bai ordered Zhang Cheng to feign obedience and leave the checkpoints open so the delegation would bring its cauldron to Heavenly Abyss City.
• Three days later, the Divine Capital’s delegation crossed Azure Cloud Gorge with the cauldron, and Chu Bai awaited its arrival above Heavenly Abyss City.

Chu Bai negotiated with the Great Zhou delegation to preserve Heavenly Abyss’s earth vein, trading refined spirit marrow for the Wuji Golden Sun Mushroom. After the delegation departed, he absorbed the mushroom and completed his Dao Foundation, leaving only the Golden Register and Righteousness-Guarding Merit before he could form a Golden Core.

• Ji Xuance, Gu Tingzhi, and Tie Kuangnu failed to extract the Southwestern Spirit Marrow with the Eight Directions Spirit-Gathering Cauldron because the earth vein was bound to the district’s people and vow power.
• Chu Bai explained that he could mediate the earth vein and produce Taiyin Earth Vein Marrow Jade Dew, but asked Gu Tingzhi for the Wuji Golden Sun Mushroom to repair his Dao Foundation.
• Gu Tingzhi gave Chu Bai the mushroom in exchange for his promise to supply refined spirit marrow, and Chu Bai’s mediation enabled the delegation to collect jade dew without damaging the Southwest.
• After the delegation left, Chu Bai absorbed the Wuji Golden Sun Mushroom into his Merit-and-Karma Purple Gold Lotus and perfected his Dao Foundation.
• Chu Bai sensed that he could trigger a Golden Core tribulation, but said he still needed the Golden Register and Righteousness-Guarding Merit.

Chu Bai learned that Great Zhou’s Golden Register rules barred him from applying for a Golden Core allocation for ten years, so he planned to secure the next contest through widespread relief work and a bargain with the Myriad Sword Sect. After refining the Wuji Golden Sun Mushroom, he reached flawless Purple Abode Perfection and chose to wait for the next decade’s winds.

• Vice Minister Wang and Ji Jing told Chu Bai that Qingzhou’s current Golden Register allocation was settled and his newly recorded Merit required ten years of verification.
• Chu Bai calmly accepted the delay, then heard Zhang Cheng report that Shen Feiyu and Divine Capital families were preparing to compete for the next allocation.
• Chu Bai ordered the Heavenly Abyss Merchant Alliance to provide low-cost supplies and free disaster relief across the Southwest Three Provinces to build Merit and public trust.
• Chu Bai sent Zhang Cheng to offer the Myriad Sword Sect great resources in exchange for its public withdrawal from the next Golden Register contest and an endorsement of Chu Bai.
• Chu Bai refined the Wuji Golden Sun Mushroom, pushed his Purple Abode Perfection to a flawless peak, and suppressed his power rather than forming his Golden Core.

Chu Bai learned that the Ji Clan planned to fake a demon crisis so Ji Wujie could harvest Merit in Qingzhou, and he devised a karmic trap to turn the scheme against him. Meanwhile, Heavenly Abyss City forced Shen Feiyu and the Myriad Sword Sect to withdraw from the Golden Register contest, leaving Chu Bai with control over Qingzhou’s local forces.

• Zhang Cheng delivered a top-secret report revealing Ji Wujie’s strength and the Ji Clan’s plan to release demons, then let him kill them and gain Merit.
• Chu Bai rejected Zhang Cheng’s proposal to expose the report and ordered Formless Guards to plant Great Luo Purple Gold Karmic Fire in the captive demons before they were released.
• Chu Bai planned to let Ji Wujie absorb the hidden fire as he killed demons, then detonate it during the final Merit verification and turn his false Merit into Karmic Obstruction.
• Zhang Cheng showed Shen Feiyu and the Myriad Sword Sect evidence of Chu Bai’s power and offered resources in exchange for withdrawing from the contest for ten years.
• Shen Feiyu agreed to enter the Sword Tomb for ten years, and the Myriad Sword Sect submitted its signed Qingzhou Hundred Houses Recommendation to the Heavenly Abyss Protectorate.

After five years wandering the mortal world as Whitewood Daoist, Chu Bai gained hidden heavenly merit and perfected his Dao heart. At the Wind-and-Rain Inn, he watched Ji Wujie stage a heroic demon-slaying while secretly absorbing karmic fire, then left prepared to form a supreme golden core.

• Chu Bai sealed his cultivation, entrusted Zhang Cheng with Heavenly Abyss District, and traveled the mortal world as Whitewood Daoist, healing villagers and killing demons without claiming merit.
• Over five years, Chu Bai accumulated hidden heavenly merit through his unheralded deeds, washing away his calculating nature and bringing his Dao heart close to perfection.
• At the Wind-and-Rain Inn, a pack of Bloodbone Demon Wolves attacked the travelers, and Ji Wujie arrived to slay them in a staged display of heroism.
• Ji Wujie's attendants praised him and denounced Chu Bai, while Chu Bai perceived false merit and the Great Luo Purple Gold Karmic Fire seeds taking root in Ji Wujie's soul.
• As Ji Wujie accepted the wolves' false merit, Chu Bai's Dao heart reached perfect flawlessness, completing his preparation to form a supreme golden core.
• Chu Bai paid for his liquor and walked away from the inn toward Heavenly Abyss City beneath the sunset.

After returning from five years in the mortal world, Chu Bai revealed his supreme first-rank golden-core potential and maneuvered Ji Wujie and his allies into sharing the karmic burden of Ji’s false merit. As the decade’s assessment arrived, Chu Bai completed a vast earth-vein formation and stood ready to face the gathering tribulation while Ji Wujie awaited his own reckoning.

• Chu Bai released his sealed cultivation in Heavenly Abyss City, and Zhang Cheng recognized his terrifying Dao resonance as the threshold of the golden-core realm.
• Zhang Cheng reported Ji Wujie’s staged demon-slaying fame and the clans and sects secretly courting him, but Chu Bai refused to purge them, explaining that their betrayal would bind them to Ji’s poisoned merit.
• Chu Bai surrendered three border garrison cities to Ji Wujie, who accepted the territory and released elite demons to manufacture more merit, unaware the cities had been emptied and his growing merit carried Great Luo Purple Gold Karmic Fire.
• For two years, Chu Bai transformed the Earth Vein Grand Formation, linking child steles across Qingzhou to create a vast reservoir and lightning-diverting formation beneath Heavenly Abyss City.
• As the Merit Office’s decade assessment began, Chu Bai broke through his cultivation seal, summoned the tribulation clouds, and appeared above Heavenly Abyss City to face the coming lightning while Ji Wujie watched from Sunset Glow City.

During Qingzhou’s Golden Register examination, Ji Wujie’s dazzling demon-slaying merit faced Chu Bai’s quiet, land-rooted virtue. The balance began to favor Chu Bai, while he revealed that Ji Wujie’s frantic effort had connected the Great Luo Purple Gold Karmic Fire within him to Great Zhou’s national fortune Law Net, then snapped his fingers.

• The Great Zhou envoy opened Qingzhou’s Golden Register examination and called for cultivators at purple abode perfection to present their merit.
• Ji Wujie displayed seven years of accumulated demon-pacifying merit, while Ji Xuance and the Ji Clan celebrated and southwestern allies feared Chu Bai would lose.
• Chu Bai refused to produce a showy display and summoned the hidden virtue rooted in the land and the people of the Southwest.
• The envoy activated the Great Zhou Merit Mirror, and the balance sank toward Chu Bai as his merit outweighed Ji Wujie’s radiant golden pillar.
• Ji Wujie burned his spell power and essence blood to force more merit into the balance, while Chu Bai saw the karmic fire connect Ji Wujie to the national fortune Law Net and snapped his fingers.

Ji Wujie’s fraudulent merit was exposed, and the Great Zhou law net destroyed him and his accomplices. Qingzhou unanimously supported Chu Bai, who won the Golden Register with overwhelming merit and entered the tribulation to pursue a supreme golden core.

• Chu Bai triggered the karmic fire within Ji Wujie, exposing his crimes and causing the Great Zhou law net to annihilate him and more than a hundred traitorous Qingzhou cultivators.
• The imperial envoy resumed the grand examination as Shen Feiyu, the Southern Pacification General, and other Qingzhou leaders manifested their genuine merit.
• Ji Xuance and Elder Gu Tingzhi ordered their agents to make Qingzhou’s powers compete against Chu Bai for the Golden Register.
• Shen Feiyu and the Southern Pacification General presented the Qingzhou Hundred Houses Recommendation, declaring that the province would not compete and unanimously supported Chu Bai.
• Chu Bai revealed the vast merit he had accumulated by protecting the Southwest, and the Merit Mirror rang nine times before awarding him the Golden Register.
• As tribulation clouds gathered over Heavenly Abyss City, Chu Bai ordered the army to retreat and charged into the clouds to attempt to condense a supreme golden core.

Chu Bai entered sealed seclusion beneath Heavenly Abyss City to forge a supreme first-rank golden core, while his allies fortified the southwest and the Divine Capital watched helplessly. When his golden core embryo formed, it overwhelmed the Supreme Golden Register and drew down a world-destroying violet-gold lightning tribulation.

• Chu Bai assessed his foundation, resolved to pursue the legendary supreme first-rank golden core, and entrusted Zhang Cheng with authority over Heavenly Abyss District before entering sealed seclusion.
• Zhang Cheng and the southwestern forces sealed the region with armies and formations as Chu Bai’s seclusion edict spread across Great Zhou.
• Ji Xuance and Gu Tingzhi argued over stopping Chu Bai, but the Grand Secretary warned that attacking a Golden Register holder would bring ruin upon Great Zhou’s lawful authority and fortune.
• Chu Bai shattered his Purple Abode Space and spent more than a month refining his spell power with his five divine abilities and world-saving merit.
• Chu Bai formed a supreme first-rank golden core embryo, causing the Supreme Golden Register to crack as the Dao resonance overwhelmed it.
• The Heavenly Dao’s tribulation clouds erupted into a Nine Heavens World-Destroying Violet-Gold Thunder Pool above Qingzhou, threatening Heavenly Abyss City.

Chu Bai endured the world-ending tribulation by redirecting its first strike through Qingzhou’s earth veins, then fought the heavenly Dao’s thunder generals and forged a supreme first-rank golden core. He emerged victorious above Heavenly Abyss City, where Qingzhou’s gathered powers bowed to him.

• The nine heavens violet-gold thunder pool formed over Qingzhou, and Chu Bai’s enemies expected the tribulation to kill him.
• Chu Bai activated the Immovable Mystic Yellow Body and used his earth vein formation to shield Heavenly Abyss City and distribute the thunderfall across Qingzhou.
• When three Heavenly Dao Thunder General Manifestations attacked his divine soul, Chu Bai rose to meet them and fought with his five-origin divine abilities.
• Chu Bai crushed the Supreme Golden Register, combined its fragments with ten million merits into a Merit Furnace, and swallowed the Immortal-Slaying Thunder Spear.
• Chu Bai used the thunder spear’s power to complete his supreme first-rank golden core, causing the tribulation clouds to vanish beneath its Dao resonance.
• Chu Bai descended to Heavenly Abyss City as the Heavenly Abyss Mystic Guards and Qingzhou’s gathered sect and clan leaders knelt and congratulated him.

After forming a supreme first-rank golden core free of Great Zhou’s national-destiny restraints, Chu Bai asserted control over the Southwest Three Provinces and forced the imperial court to seek conciliation. He rejected the court’s demand that he attend the emperor in the capital and declared that he had entered the realm’s struggle for power.

• Chu Bai discovered that he had crushed the Supreme Golden Register and severed his golden core from Great Zhou’s national-destiny law net.
• At Nine Splendor Hall, Chu Bai subdued Ancestor Withered Wood with Great Luo Purple Gold Karmic Fire and ordered the Southwest Three Provinces governed by Heavenly Abyss City.
• Ji Xuance and the Grand Secretary realized Chu Bai could no longer be controlled by the court, so the dying emperor agreed to grant him the Southwest and seek peace.
• Prince Kang delivered an imperial decree granting Chu Bai the titles of Southwest Pacifying Grand Commander and Peerless Prince, while summoning him to the capital for the Nine Bestowments.
• Chu Bai accepted the titles and territory but tore up the part of the decree demanding his attendance in the capital, then sent Prince Kang back with a warning to the court and the Ji Clan.

After securing the emperor’s authorization to govern the Southwest, Chu Bai centralized Qingzhou’s military, government, and cultivation education under his rule. When a massive demon beast tide invaded from the Ten-Thousand-Demon Marsh, he ordered the Northern Garrison Army to march south.

• Chu Bai framed his refusal to attend the Divine Capital as loyalty to Great Zhou, sent the dying emperor Lunar Spirit Marrow Jade Dew, and received authority to govern Qingzhou and three surrounding provinces.
• Chu Bai established the Southwestern Grand Commander's Office and persuaded sects and clans to surrender their private armies for cultivation insights, military appointments, and merchant alliance dividends.
• Chu Bai opened free cultivation academies to commoners with spiritual roots, drawing future talent into institutions loyal to Heavenly Abyss City.
• A super beast tide erupted from the Ten-Thousand-Demon Marsh as seven peak Purple Abode Great Demon Kings led countless demon beasts toward Qingzhou's border.
• Chu Bai ordered the million-strong Northern Garrison Army, with the Myriad Sword Sect as vanguard and the Heavenly Abyss Mystic Guards as the main force, to march to the Southern Frontier.

Chu Bai forged the Northern Garrison Army into a unified force by making it withstand a bloody battle at Southern Suppression Pass, then killed the awakened Nine-Infant Demon Emperor with one finger. After discovering a clue to ancient ruins with Nascent Soul-level opportunities, he ordered the army to invade the Ten-Thousand-Demon Marsh and expand Great Zhou's territory.

• Chu Bai led the million-strong Northern Garrison Army against a Beast Tide, and its cannons, sword formations, and archers initially slaughtered the demons.
• Seven peak Purple Abode Great Demon Kings breached Southern Suppression Pass, and Chu Bai ordered the soldiers to hold the line rather than retreat.
• Shen Feiyu, the Heavenly Abyss Mystic Guards general, and a veteran general fought and died alongside soldiers from rival factions, uniting the army as it killed all seven Demon Kings.
• The Nine-Infant Demon Emperor emerged from the marsh, suppressed the army with his Golden Core Domain, and attacked with venomous breath.
• Chu Bai broke the Demon Emperor's domain and burned him to ash with a single finger, then recovered his Golden Core.
• Chu Bai found a clue to ancient ruins in the Demon Core and ordered the Northern Garrison Army to invade the Ten-Thousand-Demon Marsh and push Great Zhou's borders thirty thousand li south.

Chu Bai led the Northern Garrison Army through the Ten-Thousand-Demon Marsh, purifying and claiming its land while uncovering the Nine-Infant Demon Emperor’s memories of the Primordial Void Immortal Ruins. He found the ruins’ sealed barrier, revealed the ancient palace complex within, and ordered his army to secure the area as he prepared to break in.

• Shen Feiyu and the million soldiers crushed the demon tide while Chu Bai’s World-Suppressing Child Steles purified the marsh and extended Great Zhou’s control.
• The Heavenly Abyss Merchant Alliance processed demon carcasses and gathered rare resources, spurring Qingzhou’s clan elders and soldiers to support Chu Bai’s campaign.
• Chu Bai used karmic fire to search the Nine-Infant Demon Emperor’s golden core and learned that the demon had attacked Qingzhou to blood-sacrifice the seal of the Primordial Void Immortal Ruins.
• After advancing thirty thousand li, the army encountered an ancient barrier that resisted its cannons, and Chu Bai’s golden core resonated with it.
• Chu Bai touched the barrier and revealed the ruined immortal palace complex and its five-colored furnace, then ordered the army to secure the surrounding five hundred li while he prepared to force entry.

Chu Bai opened the Primordial Void Immortal Palace, absorbed its ancient origin power, and forged a life-bound Five-Colored Dao Wheel. After discovering that a recurring Dark Current Calamity threatened the world, he ordered the army to return to Qingzhou and build a Divine City to prepare for it.

• Chu Bai used the Origin-Opening Daoist Scripture to unravel the ancient barrier, then ordered Shen Feiyu and the veteran Southern Guardian General to guard the Immortal Ruins entrance.
• Chu Bai entered the Primordial Void Immortal Palace, defeated and dismantled its twelve Ancient Guardian Puppets, and reached the secret chamber of creation.
• Chu Bai absorbed the pool of Ancient Origin Power and forged the five-phase immortal gold into the Origin-Opening Five-Colored Dao Wheel.
• Chu Bai read the last sect master's Jade Slip and learned that the Dark Current Calamity recurred every hundred thousand years and was beginning again.
• Chu Bai emerged above the army and ordered it to seize the Immortal Ruins' foundation and return to Qingzhou to build the Divine City.