Chapter Summaries

Xiuwangzi used the cause-and-effect Dao poison to pressure Qin Hao into going to the Nine Netherworld, but Qin Hao refused to abandon the Desolate Dust Turbid Domain and its people. Xiuwangzi gave him ten epochs before demanding he leave, while secretly planning to free himself once they reached the Nine Netherworld.

• Xiuwangzi threatened to control the cause-and-effect Dao poison and kill Qin Hao unless he obeyed.
• Qin Hao refused to go to the Nine Netherworld, unwilling to abandon the Desolate Dust Turbid Domain and the cultivators awaiting his return.
• Xiuwangzi recalled Qin Hao's memories of the Demon God Hall and realized Qin Hao intended to return and face its three powerful leaders.
• Xiuwangzi judged that forcing Qin Hao could lead to both their deaths because his remnant soul depended on Qin Hao's divine body.
• Xiuwangzi agreed to give Qin Hao ten epochs before he had to go to the Nine Netherworld, and Qin Hao recognized that Xiuwangzi was negotiating out of necessity.

Xiuwangzi demanded that Qin Hao travel to the Nine Netherworld within ten epochs to find the Luosheng Delusion Core, while threatening him with the karmic Dao poison and his loved ones. Qin Hao recognized that Xiuwangzi could not actually remove the poison and resolved to prepare against his schemes as Xiuwangzi's presence faded from the Heaven-Class Cave Abode.

• Xiuwangzi warned Qin Hao that he had ten epochs to go to the Nine Netherworld, since leaving Qin Hao's body would mean death for him.
• Qin Hao considered the threat Xiuwangzi posed to his life, cultivation, and secrets, and asked how he could trust him.
• Xiuwangzi used his control over the karmic Dao poison to suppress most of its effects on Qin Hao.
• Blood Crow Captain reminded Qin Hao that Xiuwangzi could only accelerate or slow the poison, not disperse it.
• Qin Hao realized Xiuwangzi's promise to restore his freedom was unreliable and decided to prepare against him.
• Xiuwangzi threatened Qin Hao's wives, family, and friends if he failed to go to the Nine Netherworld after ten epochs, then withdrew his presence.

Qin Hao discovered that Xiuwangzi had hidden his badly weakened soul in Qin Hao’s sea of consciousness and was sleeping to recover. With help from Blood Crow Captain and the others, Qin Hao concluded Xiuwangzi might be an ancient Venerable from the Ancient Era War, then turned to finding a way to eliminate him.

• Qin Hao detected Xiuwangzi’s tiny gray mist within his sea of consciousness and realized he could not attack him while he slept.
• Qin Hao asked Blood Crow Captain and the others about Xiuwangzi, but they had never heard of him.
• Blood Crow Captain explained that Xiuwangzi’s connection to the Nine Netherworld and his use of cause-and-effect dao poison suggested he was an Ancient Era cultivator.
• Qin Hao wondered how Xiuwangzi could know Profound Cultivation Venerable, but Blood Crow Captain could not explain it.
• Succubus urged Qin Hao to treat Xiuwangzi as an enormous threat and find a way to eliminate him.

Qin Hao analyzed the cause-and-effect Dao poison Xiuwangzi had planted in him and concluded that Xiuwangzi still had to be killed, despite the poison’s inevitable eruption. As the group feared Xiuwangzi’s near-untouchable divine soul, Qin Hao suddenly sensed a flaw in their understanding.

• Qin Hao reasoned that the cause-and-effect Dao poison would eventually kill him and that advancing his cultivation would make it erupt faster.
• Qin Hao decided he had to kill Xiuwangzi because Xiuwangzi could still tamper with him, even though killing him would not remove the poison.
• Qin Hao, the Blood Crow Captain, and Succubus discussed why his divine soul attacks had failed to hit Xiuwangzi.
• The Blood Crow Captain proposed that Xiuwangzi used a powerful divine soul technique to conceal his soul and make it insubstantial.
• Titan worried that Xiuwangzi was invincible, but Qin Hao suddenly declared that something was not right.

Qin Hao realized that Xiuwangzi’s seemingly invincible soul-defense technique had an upper limit and that Xiuwangzi could not withstand Divine King-level soul attacks. He concluded that a sufficiently powerful attack could break Xiuwangzi’s defense while he slept in Qin Hao’s sea of consciousness.

• Qin Hao agreed that Xiuwangzi’s soul-defense technique had likely helped him survive the Ancient Era War, but questioned why he had never seized another body.
• Qin Hao explained that Xiuwangzi’s Body Seizure required a target with at least Lower Divine King-level soul strength, making Qin Hao an ideal target.
• Qin Hao noted that Xiuwangzi had encountered Divine Kings, including Divine King Ziyang, yet had not attempted to seize their bodies before choosing Qin Hao.
• Qin Hao reasoned that Xiuwangzi feared Divine King soul attacks because his own soul could not withstand them.
• Qin Hao concluded that Xiuwangzi’s defensive technique had an upper limit and that a soul attack comparable to a Lower Divine King’s could break through it.

Qin Hao and his companions analyzed why Xiuwangzi had targeted him and what it would take to kill Xiuwangzi, who had poisoned him with Cause-and-Effect Dao Poison. Qin Hao concluded that mastering Divine Soul attacks could offer a chance, though condensing a Divine Core might trigger the poison, and he settled down to cultivate.

• Qin Hao realized Xiuwangzi had chosen him because his Divine Soul met the Body Seizure requirements while his cultivation remained below the Divine King level, and Xiuwangzi had secretly poisoned him as insurance.
• Qin Hao and Blood Crow Captain agreed that physical strength alone could not kill Xiuwangzi, whose Divine Soul body was most vulnerable to Divine Soul attacks.
• Succubus suggested that mastering the Crossing Karma Sword Move could give Qin Hao a way to attack Xiuwangzi's Divine Soul, and Qin Hao recalled that his twenty Crossing Karma Threads had helped him resist the Body Seizure.
• Blood Crow Captain warned that Qin Hao still lacked something, and Qin Hao identified it as a Divine Core, which Divine Kings possessed alongside powerful Divine Souls.
• Qin Hao recognized that condensing a Divine Core could activate all of his Cause-and-Effect Dao Poison, but decided that Divine Soul attacks might still let him kill Xiuwangzi without one.
• Qin Hao put aside his worries and sat down to cultivate.

Qin Hao decided that increasing his strength was the only way to deal with Xiuwangzi, the Cause-and-Effect Dao Poison, and the dangers awaiting him. Xiuwangzi fell into a ten-epoch slumber to restore his damaged divine soul, and Qin Hao sensed the moment he did.

• Qin Hao resolved that he could not let Xiuwangzi remain in his Consciousness Sea and focused on cultivation rather than attempting to condense a Divine Core.
• Xiuwangzi sensed Qin Hao begin cultivating but could not detect the Mirror Lake Profound Heaven Mirror or learn of Qin Hao's conversation with Blood Crow Captain and the others.
• Xiuwangzi reflected that Qin Hao had badly damaged his divine soul and decided to use the next ten epochs to recover before seeking the Luo Sheng Delusion Core in the Nine Netherworld.
• Xiuwangzi stopped observing Qin Hao and fell into complete slumber, while Qin Hao sensed his descent into sleep.

Qin Hao cultivated in Tianquan City's Heaven-Class Cave Abode for seven epochs as the Demon God Hall watched for his return to the Qiankun Continent. Lei Junyao appeared before Devil Lord Dao Devourer and Devil Master Thunder Prison and demanded to know why they had not dealt with Qin Hao.

• Qin Hao's cultivation and understanding of Dao Intent advanced, but he felt an increasingly powerful, undetectable suppression from cause and effect.
• Devil Lord Dao Devourer and Devil Master Thunder Prison watched the Qiankun Continent, waiting to attack Qin Hao and claim Lei Junyao's reward.
• After seven epochs without Qin Hao appearing, Devil Master Thunder Prison suspected a trick, while Devil Lord Dao Devourer concluded Qin Hao was cultivating at the Sword Martial Palace.
• Lei Junyao appeared in the Demon God Hall and questioned Devil Lord Dao Devourer and Devil Master Thunder Prison for failing to kill Qin Hao.

Lei Junyao ordered the Demon Spirit leaders to capture Qin Hao alive, believing the coming God War would let him escape confinement and regain his status. Meanwhile, Qin Hao continued cultivating, and he and his six doppelgangers reached peak-stage Dao-Origin Divine Lord.

• Lei Junyao demanded to know when Demon Venerable Ten Thousand Balefuls would finish refining the Star-Shattering Ring, and Devil Lord Dao Devourer estimated it would take at most three epochs.
• Lei Junyao ordered Devil Lord Dao Devourer and Devil Master Thunder Prison to capture Qin Hao and his family, clansmen, and friends alive so he could exact revenge himself.
• After Lei Junyao left, the two Devil leaders felt relieved, unaware that he had been deposed as Holy Son and confined.
• Lei Junyao resolved to use the God War to leave confinement, regain his Holy Son position, and punish Qin Hao for his brother’s death.
• Qin Hao continued training in the Heaven-Class Cave Abode to prepare for the Demon God Hall crisis and Xiuwangzi, while he and his six doppelgangers reached peak-stage Dao-Origin Divine Lord.

After ten epochs of seclusion, Qin Hao had grown enormously stronger and woven hundreds of millions of Crossing Karma Threads into his recovered divine soul, but he had not yet mastered the Crossing Karma Sword Move. He left the Heaven-Class Cave Abode to face the looming threat of Demon Venerable Ten Thousand Balefuls, as the crowd below watched the gate open.

• Qin Hao reached peak-stage Dao-Origin Divine Lord and mastered dozens of types of Dao Intent across himself and his six doppelgangers.
• Qin Hao recognized that the Cause-and-Effect Dao Poison would erupt and kill him if he tried to condense a divine core.
• Qin Hao fused his divine soul and True Self Sword Dao and gathered hundreds of millions of Crossing Karma Threads, but still needed time to master the Crossing Karma Sword Move.
• Qin Hao concluded that Demon Venerable Ten Thousand Balefuls had likely finished refining the Star-Shattering Ring and decided to leave seclusion to confront the threat to the Heavenly Palace and his loved ones.
• Qin Hao sent his six doppelgangers into the Mirror Lake Profound Heaven Mirror and left the Heaven-Class Cave Abode as countless people at Tianquan Mountain turned toward its open gate.

Qin Hao emerged from the Heaven-Class Cave Abode after Ten Epochs as a Peak-Stage Dao-Origin Divine Lord, stirring greed, fear, and interest throughout Tianquan City. Li Yunchan suspected he was Qin Hao and set out to see him despite the danger.

• Qin Hao appeared at the gates of the Heaven-Class Cave Abode, and onlookers marveled at his rise from Early-Stage to Peak-Stage Dao-Origin Divine Lord.
• Cultivators at Tianquan Mountain debated whether to target Qin Hao, while some feared his strength and others counted on the Mo Family to pursue him.
• News of Qin Hao’s emergence spread across Tianquan City, prompting some factions to plan an ambush and others to seek his favor.
• Li Yunchan wondered whether Qin Hao had emerged and decided to go to Tianquan City, fearing the danger he would face.
• Li Family leaders watched Li Yunchan leave and agreed to protect her as she went to see Qin Hao.

After emerging from ten epochs of seclusion as a Peak-Stage Dao-Origin Divine Lord, Qin Hao left Tianquan Mountain while Sun Zhiping failed to summon Mo Hongxiao and hurried after him with three Mo Family Guards. Elsewhere, a Half-Step Divine King reported Qin Hao’s emergence to Divine King Xiangyang and asked whether he should capture him.

• Sun Zhiping learned Qin Hao had reached the Peak-Stage Dao-Origin Divine Lord realm in only ten epochs and sent Mo Hongxiao a message.
• Qin Hao returned his Heaven-Class Cave Abode cultivation Token to Gao Hui and flew away as onlookers followed.
• When Mo Hongxiao remained in seclusion, Sun Zhiping recruited three Mo Family Guards to pursue Qin Hao and keep him from leaving.
• A Half-Step Divine King arrived in Divine King Xiangyang’s courtyard and reported that Qin Hao had emerged from seclusion.
• The Half-Step Divine King offered to capture Qin Hao, hoping to claim some of the opportunities behind his wealth of origin crystals.

Divine King Xiangyang sent a subordinate to follow Qin Hao and intervene only if Mo Hongxiao was in danger, while keeping watch on the subordinate’s ambitions. In Tianquan City, Qin Hao headed for the exit despite knowing cultivators were pursuing him for his treasures, determined to return to the Desolate Dust Turbid Domain.

• The man in black reported that Qin Hao had reached Peak-Stage Dao-Origin Divine Lord, but dismissed his strength and coveted his treasures.
• Divine King Xiangyang explained that Qin Hao had become Mo Hongxiao’s inner demon and ordered the man in black to follow Qin Hao, wait for Mo Hongxiao to act, and protect Hongxiao if anything went wrong.
• After the man in black left, Divine King Xiangyang sensed the aura of a divine core and worried that his subordinate might eventually break free of him.
• Qin Hao noticed numerous Dao-Origin Divine Lords following him through Tianquan City, intent on killing him for treasure.
• Qin Hao chose to leave Tianquan City and return to the Desolate Dust Turbid Domain, prompting an uproar among his pursuers.

The Laoshan Brothers plotted to kill Qin Hao and seize his remaining treasures after he left Tianquan City, despite the many peak-stage Dao-Origin Divine Lords following him. Lu Song chose to strike before other powerful pursuers arrived, accepting that the brothers would become targets afterward.

• Lu Song, Gu Mo, and Xi Long discussed Qin Hao’s rapid cultivation and agreed that his remaining wealth could make killing him worthwhile.
• Xi Long noted that tens of thousands of Dao-Origin Divine Lords were following Qin Hao, including members of the Mo and Li Families, but no half-step Divine Kings had arrived yet.
• Xi Long urged his brothers to attack Qin Hao as soon as he left the city, then warned them not to return to Laoshan because others would hunt them for their spoils.
• Lu Song hesitated over the danger of being pursued, then resolved to gamble on the attack and drew his blood-red warblade.