Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Chen Cuo exposes the woman in white’s attempt to manipulate his path through Buddhist Cause-and-Effect powers. Her rules prevent her from attacking him unless he reveals the identity she has attached to the past.
• He accuses her of imposing her idea of what is “good” on people and institutions, then uses his new understanding of Cause and Effect to identify and destroy her projection, freeing an unwitting young woman from its influence.
• Chen Cuo reflects on a glimpse of future events and notices imagery resembling Journey to the West. Yet the Book Repository’s ancient custodians say the corresponding events never occurred.
• In the Kunlun Secret Realm, Chen Cuo asks a mysterious, long-haired fisherman whether narration and Divine Abilities can invent history. The man explains that sufficiently powerful abilities could make an event that never happened become real in the past.
• Their discussion reveals the Buddhist School’s suspected ambition: not merely to spread its teachings, but to rewrite the Central Lands’ history, erase its native traditions, and make Buddhism seem indigenous.
• In Chang’an, Emperor Yuwen Yong and the Qi-Observing True Person discuss the threat. As the True Person begins advising the emperor on exploiting conflict between Buddhism and the Southern Dynasty, a mysterious force stops him. A military dispatch from Huainan arrives.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo grows more adept at Cause and Effect, using it both defensively and to recognize the woman’s hidden bond to an innocent person. He is increasingly alert to the danger of controlling history and shaping public belief.
• The woman in white admits she misjudged Chen Cuo, but still sees his Buddhist vow as a possible obligation. He rejects her concern and condemns her coercive methods.
• The long-haired man recognizes Chen Cuo’s achievement and confirms the extraordinary power of historical narration, while prompting him to identify Buddhism’s larger plan.
• Yuwen Yong expresses outrage at the prospect of Buddhist historical revision and considers political action against the school. The True Person acts as his adviser, though an unseen interference interrupts him.

Significant themes

• Cause and Effect, fate, and responsibility: Manipulating karmic ties can constrain action and carry consequences.
• Consent versus paternalism: “Doing good” becomes tyranny when imposed without permission.
• History as a battleground: Stories and records can shape collective memory—and, through supernatural power, may even alter the past.
• Cultural identity and power: The Buddhist School’s alleged plan threatens to replace local traditions and make an imported worldview appear native.

Key plot points and events

• A verified battle report reaches Emperor Yuwen Yong: Zhou’s forces in Huainan have been wiped out, and the Duke of Jianwei County has been captured at Huaiyin.
• Yuwen suspects the report’s unusual descriptions may point to supernatural interference. His minister Dugu Xin agrees that the account may have questionable origins but believes the defeat itself is real.
• Yuwen considers retaliating against Great Hua Mountain, the Daoist sect associated with Chen Fangqing, but Dugu Xin warns that it is a powerful orthodox lineage. Yuwen reveals that he plans to target religious institutions for their land and wealth rather than pursue that confrontation directly.
• Yuwen and the Qi-Observing True Person intend to use a debate over establishing a state religion to gather Buddhist and Daoist leaders in Chang’an, register their institutions and holdings, and create grounds for state action. Yuwen is confident that even powerful cultivators cannot threaten him on Zhou territory.
• In private, the Qi-Observing True Person worries that the Buddhist School’s recent defeat and exposure may make it too cautious to help him gain Yuwen’s trust. He argues with himself over a vision that the Buddhist School will flourish again in the future.
• A thunderclap signals that someone is about to enter the realm Beyond the Mundane, astonishing the Qi-Observing True Person, who believes the barrier between that realm and the mortal world makes such a breakthrough perilous.

Character developments

• Yuwen Yong displays growing confidence and ambition. He treats religious institutions as obstacles to state power and hints that he has a powerful, undisclosed source of protection.
• Dugu Xin remains cautious and protective of the emperor, but Yuwen’s sudden display of pressure unsettles him and deepens his suspicion that the emperor has acquired supernatural backing.
• The Qi-Observing True Person is revealed as a calculating, divided figure. He is cooperating with Yuwen for his own purposes, yet worries that the ruler’s campaign may succeed without making the Daoists’ assistance valuable.

Significant themes

• State power versus religious authority: Yuwen seeks to bring temples and sects under government control by recording their institutions and possessions.
• Hidden supernatural forces behind politics: The military defeat, Yuwen’s unexplained power, and the impending breakthrough suggest that worldly events are shaped by forces beyond ordinary governance.
• Ambition and strategic dependence: Yuwen and the Qi-Observing True Person use one another while remaining wary of each other’s real motives.
• Uncertainty and fate: The Qi-Observing True Person’s conflicting interpretations of the Buddhist School’s future underscore how little even powerful observers can confidently predict.

Character interactions

• Yuwen questions Dugu Xin about the battle report and Chen Fangqing, then dismisses his warning against challenging Great Hua Mountain.
• Dugu Xin tries to steer Yuwen away from provoking the sects, but Yuwen’s commanding presence leaves him shaken.
• Yuwen explains his plan to use a religious debate as a pretext for inspecting and regulating temples and sects.
• The Qi-Observing True Person privately debates the Buddhist School’s prospects with himself, then reacts with alarm to the sign of an impending Beyond-the-Mundane breakthrough.

Key plot points and events

• A vast celestial omen spreads across the sky, signaling that someone is about to transcend the mortal realm. Daoyinzi and Yan Yin Zi suspect the ascent is connected to the struggle in the Huai Region.
• Yan Yin Zi reports that a formidable young cultivator there has established Cause and Effect and driven away a Buddhist adept. He declines to intervene, believing the young man may be stronger than himself.
• A Buddha appears in the clouds, confirming that a Buddhist cultivator has ascended Beyond the Mundane. The monks at Longgan Temple take this as hope that the Buddhist School can recover from its recent defeat.
• In the space between Void and Reality, a mist-shrouded figure exploits the severing of inside and outside to pull the newly ascending Monk Tan Xun into his domain. Tan Xun’s Buddha Light is swallowed by the mist.
• Master Sengyuan completes his own transformation into a Beyond-the-Mundane adept. He refuses to seek revenge or directly challenge the man who defeated Tan Xun, choosing instead to approach him in hopes of awakening his Buddha Nature.

Character developments and interactions

• Daoyinzi grows wary of the timing of the ascension and recognizes that the new Buddhist power may be tied to events in the south.
• Yan Yin Zi is impressed by the young cultivator’s strength and confidence, and sets out southward to investigate.
• Chen Cuo remains remarkably unconcerned by the Buddhist School’s response. He regrets that conflict may prevent him from learning from eminent Buddhist monks, revealing his genuine interest in their teachings.
• The mist-shrouded figure shows that his confinement has given him an advantage: he can exploit the boundary between realms to capture a newly ascended monk.
• Sengyuan counsels a grieving disciple against anger, reframes Tan Xun’s death as a spiritual attainment, and chooses compassion and conversion over revenge.

Significant themes

• Power and consequence: Ascension brings extraordinary power but also exposes the newly transcendent to danger.
• Cause and Effect: Chen Cuo’s actions and spiritual insight draw the Buddhist School into a larger conflict.
• Compassion over vengeance: Sengyuan rejects retaliation, hoping to turn an enemy into a Buddhist ally.
• Faith and interpretation: The same celestial signs offer hope to the monks, while others see them as ominous or politically significant.

Key plot points and events

• As Sengyuan departs, the strange phenomena fade. A fragment of the monk’s power reaches Chen Cuo and appears as a seven-colored, bowing projection. It tries to shower him with incense and scripture, effectively worshipping him as a Buddha.
• Chen Cuo uses his Three Fires Divine Ability to burn away the projection and its spiritual influence. The encounter stirs his Buddha Nature and strengthens a mysterious connection to a figure in a kasaya; he glimpses what may be the River of History.
• Chen Cuo suspects the kasaya-clad figure may be a scripture seeker from the Journey to the West—and, because of the blood bond he senses, possibly a descendant of Southern Chen’s imperial family. At Fortune’s Arrival Tower, he senses another person with a blood connection to him.
• Chen Cuo considers using future contact with Sengyuan—or another Buddhist practitioner—to learn more about the connection and its immense Cause and Effect.
• Su Ding realizes that “Nie Zhengrong” is actually Chen Fangqing, but Cause and Effect prevents him from revealing or even thinking about the secret freely. A Creation Dao representative urges him to avoid confronting Chen for now and stay behind to gather intelligence.
• Sengyuan, having failed to affect Chen Cuo, concludes that he must recruit fellow cultivators to bow with him if he hopes to gain insight. Two streams of black and white qi appear after he leaves.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo demonstrates formidable control over spiritual forces: he rejects the monk’s worship because it threatens to disturb his worldly attachments, then burns the projection. The encounter deepens his curiosity about his Buddhist nature, ancestry, and the possible future—or past—scripture-seeking figure.
• Su Ding grows increasingly frightened and powerless. His superior abandons him to remain in Southern Chen, disguising an intelligence mission as a chance to serve the court. She advises him to defer to Chen in either identity, leaving him resentfully confused.
• The Creation Dao representative acknowledges Chen’s strength and the protection of Huai Region, postponing retaliation while asserting that eventual retribution will come.
• Sengyuan is shaken by Chen Cuo’s ability to destroy his technique remotely. Rather than give up, he decides to seek help from fellow cultivators.
• Chen Cuo’s unseen power shapes the choices of both Su Ding’s superior and Sengyuan, even though neither directly confronts him in this section.

Significant themes

• Cause and Effect: It constrains what Su Ding can reveal and makes the conflict between Chen and the Buddhist School consequential.
• Power and strategic restraint: Chen’s strength forces rivals to withdraw, gather intelligence, or seek allies rather than act directly.
• Identity, ancestry, and destiny: The blood connection to the kasaya-clad figure raises questions about Chen Cuo’s descendants and their role in a larger spiritual story.
• Buddhism and worldly attachment: Chen welcomes insight but rejects worship that might loosen his ties to the world.

Key plot points and events

• As the Buddha Light and supernatural visions fade from Jiankang, the cultivators at Fortune’s Arrival Tower awaken, horrified to realize their thoughts and loyalties had been controlled. Yu Fang and Lu Shouyi recognize how dangerous the Buddhist power was.
• Chen Cuo says the Creation Dao expert has departed and declines to pursue them. He then uses Black-and-White Light to restore the badly damaged Fortune’s Arrival Tower, impressing the martial-world onlookers.
• The cultivators decide to wait for instructions from their lord, believing the incident will bring news of his return to every faction.
• Chen Baxian reappears and captures a wisp of Black-and-White Qi that had been spying nearby. Furious, he condemns the Underworld Office for betraying their agreement and providing costly, misleading help. He concludes that he must protect Great Chen himself, even though he has lost much of his power.
• Chen Baxian believes Chen Xu’s kindness toward the Buddhist School was repaid with ingratitude. He transforms into a Purple Dragon and flies toward the Imperial Palace, resolving to act independently of the Underworld Office.
• In Great Zhou, Emperor Yuwen Yong discusses the Buddhist School’s new Living Buddha with a voice speaking through a Bronze Mirror. He intends to invite the Buddhist and other factions into a trap, despite the warning that this may cost him Underworld Virtue and lifespan.
• Yuwen declares that he would willingly sacrifice his life to build Great Zhou’s legacy. He rejects both the Underworld Office and Buddhism’s contempt for mortal dynasties and asserts that Great Zhou is their equal.

Character developments and interactions

• Yu Fang and Lu Shouyi move from confusion to fear and anger as they grasp that Buddhist influence could have made them obey any command. Lu Shouyi urges patience and expects orders; Yu Fang accepts his judgment.
• Chen Cuo remains measured toward Creation Dao and demonstrates formidable restorative power, while the cultivators around him react with awe.
• Chen Baxian shifts from resentment over his constrained power to a firm resolve to defend Great Chen without relying on the Underworld Office. His thoughts reveal both concern for Chen Xu and anger at the Buddhist School.
• Yuwen Yong displays uncompromising ambition and patriotic resolve. Though the Bronze Mirror’s speaker warns of the spiritual and physical cost, he chooses the danger in pursuit of Great Zhou’s prosperity.

Significant themes

• Power and manipulation: Buddhist influence shows how easily a person’s sense of self can be overridden.
• Distrust of supernatural institutions: Chen Baxian and Yuwen Yong alike view the Underworld Office and Buddhist School as self-serving and dismissive of mortal rulers.
• Duty and sacrifice: Both men are prepared to bear personal costs to protect or strengthen their kingdoms.
• Autonomy and political dignity: Chen Baxian refuses to let the Underworld Office dictate his choices, while Yuwen insists that a mortal dynasty deserves respect and agency.

Plot and key events

• Five Paths visits Southern Chen, intending to steal the Fate Pattern of the Chen imperial line and eventually take Meng Po’s position. He secretly plants seeds of rebellion by stealing the guards’ Righteousness, then announces that trouble will grow over time.
• Five Paths argues with a white-haired woman, who warns that his actions could free Chen Baxian from his control. He insists his layered plans will keep the Chen family—and the Southern Dynasty—within his grasp. Seeing an opening after the Nirvana Grand Formation falls, he moves to tighten his hold on Emperor Chen Xu.
• Chen Xu learns that Chen Cuo, the Marquis of Linru County, has returned. He assumes Chen Cuo ended the supernatural crisis and plans to meet him. A mysterious voice rebukes Chen Xu for doing too little for his nephew; Five Paths then envelops the emperor in five-colored smoke and steals the guards’ Loyalty.
• Chen Xu collapses, plunging the palace into confusion as courtiers and relatives maneuver for power. He soon wakes, asks after Crown Prince Shubao, and orders everyone away so he can be alone.
• Chen Cuo walks with Chen Luan, who doubts and fears him despite their family tie. Chen Cuo detects Five Paths’s influence on two guards, draws out the five-colored vapor, and resolves to use the encounter to investigate heaven’s secrets.

Character developments and interactions

• Five Paths is revealed as a patient, manipulative schemer who treats people’s virtues as tools. He exploits political instability and sees the Chen dynasty as a route to greater power.
• Chen Xu moves from relief and confidence to shock and introspection. His concern for Chen Cuo is mixed with an understanding that he may have failed to support him adequately.
• Chen Cuo returns with formidable awareness and composure. He is alert to hidden threats and turns Five Paths’s interference into an opportunity.
• Chen Luan approaches Chen Cuo with a mixture of family curiosity, awe, and apprehension; Chen Cuo’s question about how Luan would treat him without his immortal reputation unsettles him.
• Five Paths and the white-haired woman disagree over whether his intervention endangers a larger plan. His confidence contrasts with her warning about the consequences of freeing Chen Baxian.

Significant themes

• Power and impermanence: Imperial authority and worldly possessions are portrayed as temporary and easily taken away.
• Manipulation and virtue: Five Paths literally steals traits such as righteousness and loyalty, turning moral qualities into instruments of political control.
• Destiny versus planning: Characters seek to influence Fate Patterns and dynastic upheaval, while Five Paths believes meticulous preparation can outmaneuver uncertainty.
• Family, duty, and legitimacy: Chen Xu’s relationship to Chen Cuo raises questions about what an emperor owes his family and what earns genuine respect.
• Uncertainty beneath appearances: The palace’s public displays of loyalty conceal ambition, while supernatural events make it difficult to distinguish genuine agency from manipulation.

Plot points and events

• Emperor Chen Xu orders Chen Fangqing (Chen Cuo) summoned to the palace rather than visiting him, and gives an old eunuch a mysterious purple Jade Pendant to use if Fangqing refuses.
• Once alone, Chen Xu reveals that the Green-Robed Man has taken control of him. The Man claims he is not a fiend, says he has helped Chen Xu keep the throne, and insists he is only correcting events that have gone astray. Strange noises from within the palace suggest he is confronting a dead royal relative.
• At the Prince of Nankang’s Residence, Chen Cuo examines five-colored smoke that has attacked two guards. His Vertical Eye identifies some of its effects: red smoke corrodes flesh, green smoke targets Fortune, and gray smoke attacks the mind and will. The purple and black strands remain mysterious. Even observing the smoke lets it seep toward him, so he seals it away.
• Chen Cuo senses cultivators across Jiankang probing him, eager to test his reputation now that the Buddhist School’s influence has weakened. He decides he has more urgent concerns: understanding the coming Great Calamity and finding a way forward for himself, his sect, and those close to him.
• Yu Fang warns a fellow Attendant Tower cultivator not to provoke Chen Cuo. She gathers the others to let them experience for themselves what happened at Green Willow Garden.
• The Prince’s household awakens after being overcome by the Earthly Buddha Land’s influence. Chen Cuo’s mother and Zhang Ju learn that the returned man is Fangqing, and hurry to greet him.
• As the probing continues, Chen Cuo unleashes his Three Fires through the Mysterious Pearl. The attack overwhelms cultivators throughout Jiankang, disrupting their Divine Abilities and injuring their minds and Divine Senses. Yu Fang’s martial nephew is among those struck. The old eunuch arrives at the end.

Character developments

• Chen Xu shifts from a familiar, seemingly powerful emperor to a frightened captive, unable to resist the Green-Robed Man.
• Chen Cuo shows greater caution and self-discipline: he recognizes how subtle threats can infiltrate him and uses the Wisdom Sword to suppress his own rising anxiety. He also makes clear that his priorities lie beyond answering challengers.
• Yu Fang acts as a stern protector and mentor, trying to keep her fellow cultivators from recklessly provoking Chen Cuo.
• Chen Cuo’s mother and Zhang Ju respond to Fangqing’s return with relief and hope amid the city’s upheaval.

Significant themes

• Power and human limits: Even an emperor is human and vulnerable; authority does not mean control.
• Subtle corruption and vigilance: The five-colored smoke spreads through attention and thought, making awareness itself dangerous.
• A changing age: With the Buddhist School’s restraining influence gone, rival factions test the limits of their power as the Great Calamity approaches.
• Reputation versus reality: Chen Cuo’s fame inspires worship and challenges, but his actual aims are more serious than proving himself.
• Self-control: Chen Cuo counters fear and ambition through disciplined thought, while others’ curiosity and bravado leave them exposed.

Character interactions

• Chen Xu’s exchange with the old eunuch reveals the emperor’s growing coldness and the eunuch’s cautious loyalty; the Jade Pendant underscores the threat behind the summons.
• The Green-Robed Man speaks to Chen Xu as both captor and self-appointed guide, dismissing the emperor’s claims and asserting control over events.
• Chen Cuo cuts off the smoke as it reaches toward Chen Luan, demonstrating his protective instincts and analytical caution.
• Yu Fang rebukes her martial nephew for probing Chen Cuo, then lets the assembled cultivators learn from the consequences of their challenge.
• Chen Cuo’s mother and Zhang Ju rush to welcome Fangqing, while his Three Fires provide a forceful answer to the cultivators who sought to test him.

Key plot points and events

• Wei Wen worries that the emperor may have developed hostile intentions toward the absent Marquis of Linru County, whose reputation carries weight among the court, scholars, and common people.
• Two elite attendants reveal that they tried to probe Chen Cuo from afar, but his Divine Thought rebounded and injured them, confirming his formidable power.
• Chen Cuo arrives at the Prince of Nankang’s Residence with Chen Luan. He says the boy needs discipline, but breaks an old Disciplinary Ruler rather than using it.
• Chen Cuo assures his mother that Chen Luan’s father, who is undergoing labor reeducation in Huainan, is under his protection. He then receives the emperor’s invitation to the palace and agrees to go.
• That night, Chen Baxian is shown bound in a ruined palace hall. Five Paths is draining his purple qi to form a diagram and intends to use him as bait to lure Chen Cuo into a Heavenly Net.

Character developments and interactions

• Wei Wen shifts from concern about court politics to alarm at Chen Cuo’s strength and the danger surrounding him.
• Chen Cuo appears blunt and commanding, but shows restraint toward Chen Luan and confidence in his ability to protect his elder brother. His return unsettles the household, including his usually outspoken mother.
• Chen Luan is cowed by Chen Cuo’s presence and becomes the focus of a possible effort at reform.
• Chen Cuo’s mother tries to defend Chen Luan and advocate for her eldest son, but moderates her words out of respect and fear of Chen Cuo’s authority.
• Five Paths reveals the enemy’s plan: Chen Baxian is not merely imprisoned but being used as bait to draw Chen Cuo into a trap.

Significant themes

• Power and authority: Chen Cuo’s presence commands respect, while even elite cultivators cannot safely challenge him.
• Family duty and discipline: Chen Cuo frames his concern for Chen Luan and his elder brother in terms of correction and protection, though his methods and tone are severe.
• Political uncertainty and intrigue: Wei Wen suspects a shift in the emperor’s attitude, while the palace invitation may carry more significance than a friendly reunion.
• Bait and entrapment: The chapter’s closing image turns the family crisis into a deliberate scheme to lure Chen Cuo into danger.

Key plot points and events

• At the Southern Chen Imperial Palace, Chen Cuo senses jade-like threads of Wish Power drawn from the people’s hopes and sense of belonging. Inside the palace, this force suppresses supernatural abilities by enforcing what ordinary people consider “normal.”
• Chen Cuo realizes this power could help advance his Humanity Incarnation. He considers seeking similar Wish Power in the rival Qi Kingdom, but refuses to exploit Southern Chen’s palace because of his ties to the dynasty and its past help.
• As Wei Wen leads him toward the emperor, Chen Cuo detects Five-Colored Smoke—like the traces found at the Prince of Nankang’s residence—reaching into the palace despite its suppression of supernatural forces. Suspecting a scheme, he secretly makes preparations.
• Chen Cuo meets Emperor Chen Xu and sees that Purple Smoke binds him, while Golden Needles pierce his ears and reach into his brain. A Blue-Robed man is seated on the emperor’s back. Chen Cuo recognizes the setup as a trap.
• The figure controlling Chen Xu reveals himself, says he meant to capture Chen Cuo and assign him a new Fate Pattern, then attacks.

Character developments

• Chen Cuo shows increased insight into Wish Power and its effects, and begins to see a clearer path for his Humanity Incarnation. He also remains loyal to Southern Chen despite his complicated feelings toward it, while staying alert and discreet when he detects danger.
• Emperor Chen Xu is revealed to be controlled, though he appears ordinary to those without Chen Cuo’s supernatural sight.
• The Blue-Robed man emerges as the apparent antagonist, possessing power associated with the Dragon Clan and acting through the emperor.

Significant themes

• Popular belief and legitimacy: The people’s shared hopes create a force that sustains political order and suppresses the uncanny.
• Loyalty and obligation: Chen Cuo’s refusal to take Southern Chen’s Wish Power reflects his sense of duty and gratitude.
• Hidden control and appearances: The palace’s respectable surface conceals supernatural manipulation, and ordinary observers cannot see the emperor’s true condition.
• Power and fate: The antagonist’s plan to impose a new Fate Pattern frames the coming conflict as a struggle over control of Chen Cuo’s destiny.

Character interactions

• Wei Wen respectfully guides Chen Cuo through the palace, unaware of the hidden supernatural threats.
• Chen Cuo conceals his suspicions and preparations from Wei Wen and the attendants.
• The controlled Chen Xu addresses Chen Cuo through the Blue-Robed man, who then attacks him directly.

Plot points and events

• The Green-Robed Man, identifying himself as the General of the Five Paths of the Underworld Office, reveals he has been controlling Emperor Chen Xu like a puppet. He knocks the eunuch Wei Wen unconscious and explains that he can steal people’s loyalty and blood-qi essence.
• The General drains Chen Cuo’s vitality, exploiting the exhaustion left by his recent battles and the Imperial Palace’s protective forces. Chen Cuo appears weakened but uses a Five-Zhu Coin and the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl in an exchange that strips away the General’s newly acquired blood-qi and poisons him.
• The General tries to draw power from the fortunes of Jiankang’s officials. Chen Cuo counters by releasing the accumulated Incense of the Dream Immortal, sending the city’s people into dreams and disrupting the General’s plan.
• The General then reaches for Wei Wen and the Purple Jade, but Chen Cuo reveals he already has the jade and crushes it. This awakens the Southern Dynasty’s ancestral rulers and unleashes overwhelming imperial pressure.
• Chen Cuo absorbs the resulting purple clouds and figures into his sleeve. The General’s laughter abruptly stops, leaving the outcome uncertain.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo remains composed despite being drained, testing his suspicions before counterattacking. His use of poison, accumulated Incense, and the sleeve technique shows both tactical resourcefulness and the breadth of his powers.
• The General of the Five Paths is confident and manipulative, boasting of his control over the emperor, Guards, and city officials. Chen Cuo’s counters repeatedly undermine him, culminating in the mysterious absorption of the ancestral force.
• Emperor Chen Xu is reduced to a puppet, while Wei Wen recognizes that the emperor’s powers are unnatural and tries to protect the Jade Pendant before being knocked unconscious.
• The Imperial Guards’ apparent loyalty is exposed as their genuine nature, altered by the General’s theft of their loyalty rather than direct mind control.

Significant themes

• Power and control: The General manipulates bodies, loyalty, and vital essence, while Chen Cuo turns those same mechanisms against him.
• Preparation and perception: Chen Cuo’s Divine Ability lets him see through disguises and hidden influences; careful observation enables his counters.
• Collective belief as strength: The Dream Immortal’s accumulated worship becomes a force capable of affecting the whole city.
• Reversal and uncertainty: Each apparent advantage shifts quickly, and the chapter ends on an unresolved, potentially decisive reversal.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Cuo confronts Five Paths in the Imperial Palace. His abilities overcome some of Five Paths’ attacks, but many of Chen Cuo’s techniques prove ineffective against the mysterious Underworld General.
• Five Paths unleashes five-colored smoke across the palace, driving its inhabitants mad and threatening to spread the chaos throughout Southern Chen. He lures Chen Cuo into the palace’s depths.
• The palace becomes a Ghost Domain, where sludge, vengeful spirits, and familiar-looking figures attack Chen Cuo by exploiting his thoughts and memories. Chen Cuo recognizes the illusion’s connection to the Divine Treasury and the way its Great Wilderness history was woven into the present.
• He realizes the palace may be modeled on the Divine Treasury, and that its half-built inner hall resembles a brain within a vast body. Dynastic Purple Qi and Chen bloodline power gather there, suggesting the palace—and Five Paths—are tied to a much larger scheme.
• Expecting a trap, Chen Cuo prepares rather than retreating. He awakens the Three Flowers, draws on the Huai Region’s incense, and absorbs power from two Mysterious Pearls, greatly strengthening himself before advancing toward Five Paths.
• The surge of power draws attention from afar. Sengyuan and his companions, as well as Yan Yin Zi, sense the ominous hall above Jiankang. Yan Yin Zi hurries to help, recognizing that Chen Cuo is likely involved.

Character developments

• Chen Cuo shows restraint and adaptability under pressure. He studies Five Paths’ abilities, connects the Ghost Domain to the Divine Treasury, and concludes that his future opponents will require a more coherent approach to cultivation. Rather than avoid the danger, he prepares carefully and chooses to enter it.
• Five Paths is revealed as immensely powerful but erratic and arrogant. His smoke can steal or distort vital forces, thoughts, and possibly space; his conduct raises questions about whether he has always been unstable or is part of a deeper influence.
• Yan Yin Zi demonstrates loyalty and quick judgment by rushing to Chen Cuo’s aid.
• Sengyuan continues to promote his account of the Marquis of Linru County, but the supernatural disturbance interrupts his journey.

Significant themes

• History and constructed reality: The Divine Treasury’s Great Wilderness and its Sacred Hall suggest that stories and institutions can be embedded into history until they seem to have always belonged there.
• Power and hidden schemes: The Ghost Domain and the palace’s strange structure point to designs reaching beyond the immediate battle.
• Memory and illusion: Five Paths weaponizes thoughts and familiar faces, while Chen Cuo survives by recognizing how the illusion is formed.
• Preparation and growth: Chen Cuo’s response emphasizes learning from each confrontation and combining his abilities into a stronger system.

Character interactions

• Chen Cuo and Five Paths exchange threats and test each other’s powers, with Five Paths using the palace’s inhabitants as leverage.
• The Ghost Domain turns Chen Cuo’s memories of Daoyinzi, Nanmingzi, and others against him; he resists by understanding the deception and burning away the apparitions.
• Chen Cuo’s inner Mind Daoist helps restrain the disruptive Dynastic Purple Qi and Chen bloodline influences, while his Three Flowers and other powers support his preparation.
• Sengyuan and his companions, and separately Yan Yin Zi, react to the ominous apparition over Jiankang—setting up possible reinforcements as Chen Cuo moves deeper into danger.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• In the Eastern Observatory, the Black-and-White Elders sense that Chujiang Hall has appeared over the Imperial Palace. They recognize that the Thought of Destruction is stirring and suspect Chen Cuo is being targeted.
• Inside the Palace, Chen Cuo finds a god bound in black chains and covered in foul black mud. Five Paths reveals that he is Chen Baxian, the founder of Southern Chen and the source of its Dynastic Purple Qi.
• Five Paths uses Chen Baxian’s connection to the Chen bloodline to strip nearly all of Chen Cuo’s Southern Chen Purple Qi and claim its power for himself. But Chen Cuo welcomes the loss: freed from his dynastic ties, he feels no longer bound to one Household or historical era.
• Chen Cuo uses a Five-Zhu Coin to trade away his last trace of Purple Qi and move beside Five Paths. He then traps Five Paths in a dream and tries to probe his mind with a Wisdom Sword. Before he can learn much, he glimpses another, colder version of Five Paths and is thrown out of the dream.
• Five Paths reveals a more controlled aspect of himself and brings Chujiang Hall down over the Palace. The Hall’s power releases the destructive thoughts accumulated through centuries of war, engulfing both men. Five Paths says he is using the same kind of force Chen Cuo once used against the Two Living Buddhas.
• Chen Baxian warns Chen Cuo that Five Paths serves the Underworld King’s Hall and has weaponized the Thought of Destruction. The Black-and-White Elders urge Chen Cuo to cling to his identity, but they cannot intervene. Chen Cuo is swallowed by the frenzy, leaving only the words, “The River of History? I understand.”
• Outside the Palace, Sengyuan interprets Chen Cuo’s apparent defeat as retribution for his earlier use of borrowed power. Yan Yin Zi arrives and angrily defends Chen Cuo.
• In the Netherworld, the colder Five Paths absorbs a wisp of five-colored smoke from the Palace. He considers Chen Cuo’s removal necessary for his cultivation and for the coming unification of the realm. To guard against Chen Cuo’s possible survival, he asks a Supreme Venerable for help; a mote of light is sent into the destructive storm.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo turns the apparent loss of his Purple Qi into liberation, rejecting dependence on a single dynasty. He also quickly adapts Five Paths’ spatial technique and demonstrates his skill at learning from an opponent. His final remark hints that he understands something about the River of History, though his fate remains uncertain.
• Five Paths shifts from smug confidence to cold determination. His mind appears divided or layered: the dream reveals a more imposing, disciplined version of him, while the Netherworld scene shows a calculating figure intent on removing Chen Cuo as a threat.
• Chen Baxian is revealed as a god and the source of Southern Chen’s Purple Qi. Though imprisoned, he warns Chen Cuo and shows urgent concern for him.
• The Black-and-White Elders recognize the danger and warn Chen Cuo, but their divine duties prevent them from stepping in.
• Sengyuan and his companions mistake Chen Cuo’s apparent destruction for a fitting consequence; Yan Yin Zi confronts them for speaking ill of his martial nephew.

Significant themes

• Freedom from inherited identity: Losing Southern Chen’s Purple Qi frees Chen Cuo from the constraints of a single dynasty and its legacy.
• Cause and effect: Characters interpret the exchange of borrowed powers as retribution, while the chapter shows how actions and consequences circle back in unexpected ways.
• The danger of destructive history: Centuries of war have accumulated into a force capable of overwhelming even a powerful cultivator.
• Identity and survival: The elders’ warning to remain oneself, Chen Cuo’s reference to the River of History, and Five Paths’ attempt to ensure his destruction all leave open the question of whether Chen Cuo can survive the storm without being changed.

Plot and events

• Chen Cuo is engulfed by torrents of Chaotic Thoughts that overwhelm his Spirit Light and threaten to dissolve him into chaos. Instead of resisting blindly, he uses the crushing pressure to force his spiritual manifestations—the Mind Daoist and several sacred objects—toward a unified form. Their radiance restores his protection.
• Within the Chaotic Thoughts, Chen Cuo witnesses fragments of different historical eras and recognizes a shared quality among several remarkable figures. He suspects the thoughts and the strange layered mass of light contain a deeper mystery, and chooses to investigate further.
• In the Huai Region, the Golden Lotus Incarnation suddenly flickers as the flow of Incense stops. The disruption affects Chen Cuo’s other incarnations and nearby companions: the White Lotus Avatar blurs, leaving the travelers stunned and causing a disguised woman to collapse as Dynastic Purple Qi escapes her body. Rain steadies the Azure Lotus Incarnation in the Kunlun Secret Realm.
• Chen Cuo questions a long-haired senior about the Underworld Office. He says the Buddhist School and the Underworld Office have repeatedly drawn him into their schemes, and he is ready to retaliate.
• The senior warns that in this age of contention, anyone who does not make plans becomes someone else’s pawn. Chen Cuo presses him about the Starweave Ranking and his own agenda. The senior answers that he seeks both the Dao and the welfare of the common people.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo shows increasing resolve: rather than merely defend himself, he is prepared to confront the factions manipulating events. His insight into the historical visions also suggests his understanding of the wider conflict is deepening.
• Gao Jie, once proud and powerful, now travels quietly and thoughtfully, showing a more restrained outlook.
• The long-haired senior presents himself as a strategist with lofty aims, but Chen Cuo remains wary and directly challenges him about his hidden plans.
• The companions traveling with Chen Cuo’s White Lotus Avatar experience the fallout of his disturbance, while the disguised woman’s loss of Dynastic Purple Qi marks a particularly serious reaction.

Significant themes

• Agency versus manipulation: Characters must become players in the political and spiritual struggle or risk being used as pieces.
• Pressure as transformation: Chen Cuo turns a threat that nearly destroys him into a means of consolidating his power.
• The weight of history: The visions link figures across eras, hinting at recurring patterns and hidden connections.
• Power and responsibility: The senior’s stated pursuit of the Dao is paired with concern for ordinary people, raising the question of what great power should serve.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Cuo learns that the long-haired man intends to use the Starweave Ranking, which records the true names of the Daoist Order’s Eight Gates, to preserve and reunite the Daoist factions amid an approaching Great Calamity. The coming war to unify the realm is only its beginning.
• The man says he spent sixty years of Dao Attainment divining that the calamity will reach its peak in sixty-six years. Chen Cuo recognizes this as Zhenguan Year Thirteen, and a thunderous reaction only he can hear confirms that the date—and possibly events from stories in his former life—has unusual significance.
• Wary of the consequences, Chen Cuo decides not to act on his suspicions until he has greater cultivation and can discern the pattern more clearly.
• The long-haired man invites him to Kunlun’s Book Collection Peak and Treasure Mountain, where Chen Cuo’s sister and other acquaintances are selecting cultivation methods and treasures. He admits the offer is also meant to establish a connection and perhaps secure Chen Cuo’s mercy in the future. Chen Cuo accepts, promising to repay any debt of Cause and Effect.
• Still trapped in the dark current of chaotic thoughts, Chen Cuo realizes his crude, externally supported defenses will not last. He chooses to move both body and mind, cuts a path to one of several luminous visions, and enters it.
• In the vision, a thought-formed giant holds fragments of land merging together. Chen Cuo recognizes the scene as resembling his past enactment of land annexation; something intangible leaves him and enters the giant, which then shatters to reveal a dark road. At its end, a lone man surrounded by a flickering Crimson Sun is met by a brilliant, annihilating light.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo shows caution and strategic restraint: he recognizes the potential danger of his former-life stories influencing the calamity but refuses to test that possibility recklessly. He also accepts help without treating it as free, openly acknowledging the debt it may create.
• The long-haired man reveals both a sweeping aim—to preserve the Daoist Order through the coming catastrophe—and a pragmatic personal motive in cultivating a bond with Chen Cuo. He treats Chen Cuo as a junior, but also suggests they may be closer in understanding than their titles imply.
• Their conversation is respectful but probing. Chen Cuo challenges the scale and meaning of the calamity, while the man offers guidance and tests whether Chen Cuo has grasped something important about the foretold date.
• Chen Cuo’s final question about the empty stream prompts the man’s cryptic answer that the river reflects the heart, linking their exchange to Chen Cuo’s struggle within the chaotic current.

Significant themes

• Calamity as an unfolding process: The realm’s unification is not the catastrophe itself, but its first sign; accumulated conflicts across many powers will develop toward a much larger crisis.
• Fate, knowledge, and responsibility: Chen Cuo’s possible influence through stories from his former life carries dangerous consequences, making restraint a form of responsibility.
• Cause and Effect, favors, and political bonds: The proposed rewards and the man’s desire to establish a connection reflect the obligations and leverage that shape relationships.
• Inner perception and action: The river’s lesson—that what one finds depends on what lies within—echoes Chen Cuo’s need to move his mind as well as his body to escape the chaotic waters.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Cuo senses a mysterious connection with a man threatened by a mass of Essence Light. Believing him to be a kindred spirit, Chen tries to save him with the Bronze Man.
• An invisible barrier blocks the rescue. The attacker’s true aim is not the man but Chen’s mind: it traps him in a realm of tangled thoughts, where each strike he makes brings waves of suffering and self-doubt back upon him.
• Chen recognizes that the false experiences could become real if he accepts them. He uses the annotations to Nine Songs to anchor himself in his true purpose and strengthen the Bronze Man’s blows.
• The barrier shatters, and the Essence Light disperses before it can hit the man. Though the recoil destroys the Bronze Man and shatters Chen’s Mind Daoist, the Daoist reforms through the incense in Nine Songs, gaining insight into how false beliefs can shape reality.
• Chen sees the man clearly, receives a mysterious Fortune through their connection, and is moved by his free and unburdened nature. In return, he sends a point of golden light—formed from the Bronze Man’s remains—into the man’s Niwan Palace.
• Elsewhere, Chen’s Golden Lotus, White Lotus, and Azure Lotus Incarnations each show signs of new development. A witness identifies the Azure Lotus’s buoyant energy as Heaven-Opening Pure Qi.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo shows compassion by risking himself for a stranger, then withstands a sophisticated mental attack through clear purpose and disciplined discernment. The ordeal deepens his interest in the boundary between truth and falsehood.
• Chen’s kindred spirit remains unnamed, but his carefree, unconstrained outlook profoundly impresses Chen. Their mysterious resonance enables them to exchange help despite their separation.
• The unseen attacker uses suffering and suggestion to make false thoughts feel genuine, turning Chen’s attempted rescue into a psychological trap.
• Chen’s interaction with the man is indirect but reciprocal: Chen saves him and sends him aid, while the man’s presence and Fortune help Chen gain insight.

Significant themes

• Truth and falsehood: False experiences can shape real thoughts and behavior if accepted; recognizing their unreality is a form of resistance.
• The mind as a battleground: Purpose and memory protect Chen against manipulation, while repeated emotional blows threaten to become conditioned beliefs.
• Compassion and reciprocity: Chen acts for a stranger out of kinship, and responds to the stranger’s influence by returning the favor.
• Belief creating reality: The incense and the gods shaped by worshippers suggest that imagined forms can become real through thought and belief.

Summary

A month after Chen Fangqing returned to Jiankang and was summoned to the palace, he has still not come back to the Prince of Nankang’s Residence. His mother grows increasingly worried, especially after learning that the emperor has not replied to inquiries and that a palace eunuch who once courted the family’s favor now avoids them. Zhang Ju and the other relatives fear the family has fallen out of imperial favor.
Chen Fangkuang arrives with alarming news from a court contact: amid strange events in the palace, Chen Fangqing fought there and allegedly attempted to assassinate the emperor. The family is stunned. Chen Cuo’s Mother collapses with worry, while Zhang Ju and Fangkuang doubt the accusation, believing Chen Fangqing would have no reason to betray the dynasty. Chen Luan, who has been secretly listening, is also shocked.
Before they can make sense of the report, three cultivators enter the residence. Their leader boasts that they came to challenge Chen Fangqing, but, finding him confined in the palace for treason, have decided to make their name by attacking his family instead. When Chen Luan confronts them, one cultivator lunges at him, intending to use him as a blood sacrifice. Just as Chen Luan faces death, an unseen voice cries out, “How dare you!”

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo’s Mother becomes increasingly fearful as the family’s efforts to learn Chen Fangqing’s whereabouts yield nothing. The accusation against him leaves her devastated.
• Zhang Ju tries to manage the family’s anxiety and questions the reliability of the assassination story, while recognizing that the emperor’s silence is ominous.
• Chen Fangkuang brings the palace rumor to the family and shares their doubts, but his report makes the crisis more immediate.
• Chen Luan, confined to his quarters, secretly eavesdrops and then boldly challenges the intruders, putting himself in danger.
• The three cultivators exploit Chen Fangqing’s absence and the family’s vulnerability to provoke and attack them.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and rumor: The family is forced to rely on incomplete, secondhand accounts of events in the palace.
• Loyalty and political suspicion: Chen Fangqing’s alleged attack on the emperor threatens the family’s standing, despite their faith in him.
• Exploitation of vulnerability: The cultivators choose their moment because Chen Fangqing is absent and presumed disgraced.
• Family courage and protection: Chen Luan’s defiance contrasts with the family’s fear, while the final intervention suggests someone has come to defend him.

Plot points and events

• Xu Guang and four Attendant Tower companions arrive at the Prince’s Residence, swiftly defeat the three Outer Dao intruders, and seal their powers.
• Xu Guang urges Chen Cuo’s Mother and heir Chen Luan to relocate to the Attendant Tower for “protection.” Zhang Ju and Chen Fangkuang suspect this is really an attempt to take control of them. Xu Guang hints that the Marquis of Linru County, Chen Fangqing, may be in trouble.
• Chen Fangqing’s martial uncle, Yan Yin Zi, arrives and seals the cultivation of Xu Guang and his companions with a single sentence. He identifies himself and promises to guard the household.
• Sengyuan, a powerful monk, arrives and says Chen Fangqing has been sealed in King of Hell’s Hall. His arrival, followed by two allies, turns the dispute into a potential confrontation with Yan Yin Zi.
• A mysterious woman in black appears and says she has come to build goodwill with Chen Fangqing, not seize the household’s “Fate and Fortune” or “Dragon Blood.” Five Paths identifies her as a formidable figure from the Creation Dao.
• A Heavenly Palace deity arrives, condemning the Underworld Office and Buddhist School for interfering in the Mortal World and suppressing Chen Fangqing.
• Five Paths admits Chen Fangqing forced him to use his hidden trump card, but insists Chen Fangqing remains suppressed. Thunder then crashes over the Imperial Palace, its vanished illusory palace reappears, the city shakes, and Five Paths spits black blood.

Character developments

• Chen Luan shifts from fear at being attacked to admiration for Yan Yin Zi and renewed hope that the Attendant Tower might help his uncle.
• Chen Cuo’s Mother is relieved by Yan Yin Zi’s arrival and takes pride in learning that her son belongs to a powerful school.
• Chen Fangkuang and Zhang Ju recognize the Attendant Tower’s offer as a bid for control and grow increasingly worried about Chen Fangqing.
• Yan Yin Zi emerges as a formidable protector, ready to challenge multiple powerful opponents rather than abandon his nephew’s household.
• Five Paths projects confidence, but the sudden disturbance at the Imperial Palace—and his physical reaction—suggests Chen Fangqing’s suppression may be under threat.

Significant themes

• Protection versus control: Powerful groups present their interest in the Chen family as protection, while others suspect a struggle over its resources and influence.
• Power and hierarchy: Each new arrival challenges assumptions about who is strongest, and even renowned figures can be overwhelmed by greater forces.
• Loyalty and family ties: Yan Yin Zi’s intervention is driven by his bond to his nephew and his duty to the Chen household.
• Uncertain authority: The Underworld Office, Buddhist School, Heavenly Palace, and other factions contest who has the right to shape events in the Mortal World.

Character interactions

• Xu Guang and Yan Yin Zi clash over the household’s safety and Chen Fangqing’s fate; Yan Yin Zi quickly establishes the power balance.
• Sengyuan confronts Yan Yin Zi, while two allies join him, setting up a three-against-one challenge.
• The woman in black unsettles both sides by appearing unnoticed and disclosing her own motives.
• Five Paths and the Heavenly Palace deity openly accuse and challenge one another over Chen Fangqing’s suppression.
• The Chen family watches these confrontations unfold, increasingly aware that their household is at the center of a much larger struggle.

Plot points

• A phantom Netherworld palace appears over the Imperial Palace, alarming Jiankang’s residents. Qiuyuzi arrives and learns from his Peachwood Sword that it is a Hall of Yama; its manifestation in the Mortal Realm signals grave danger.
• Qiuyuzi senses a host of powerful factions gathered at the Prince of Nankang’s Residence, all connected to the Chen bloodline. Before he can intervene, the phantom palace begins to crack.
• Five Paths’ incarnation, whose power is linked to the Hall, starts breaking apart. He and Yan Yin Zi rush toward the palace, while other cultivators recognize that something extraordinary is happening.
• A fissure opens in the phantom palace, releasing a breeze identified by the Peachwood Sword as Heaven-Opening Pure Qi, a key to reaching the Seventh Step. The disturbance also wounds the true Five Paths in the Netherworld and sends cold energy into the Hall, where a vast will begins to awaken.
• Powerful beings and hidden cultivators converge on Jiankang. Five Paths’ spirit tries to destroy the Pure Qi to protect the Underworld Office’s foundations.
• The Pure Qi takes human form as Chen Cuo. With one finger, he destroys Five Paths’ spirit, then turns toward the gathered forces and strides toward a streak of Buddha Light.

Character developments and interactions

• Qiuyuzi is wary of being caught in the escalating conflict, despite his ties to Chen Cuo. The Pure Qi tempts him, but he chooses caution as major powers arrive.
• The Peachwood Sword acts as Qiuyuzi’s guide and safeguards his memory of the Pure Qi by releasing a peach-blossom fragrance.
• Five Paths shifts from arrogant confidence in the Hall of Yama to fear as both his incarnation and true self are attacked.
• Chen Cuo makes a sudden, overwhelming entrance, effortlessly eliminating Five Paths’ spirit and confronting the assembled forces.
• The chapter brings together representatives of the Buddhist School, Creation Dao, Heavenly Palace, Underworld Office, and other factions, whose rival interests give way to alarm at the Pure Qi’s appearance.

Significant themes

• Power and its limits: Even the formidable Hall of Yama proves vulnerable to an unexpected force.
• Opportunity and danger: Heaven-Opening Pure Qi offers a path to greater cultivation, but its arrival threatens the balance among powerful factions.
• Hidden forces converging: The Chen bloodline and Chen Cuo draw attention from organizations across the world, setting up a wider conflict.

Key plot points and events

• After defeating the Spirit of the Five Paths, Chen Cuo explains that the incarnation was already weakened: its true foundation lay in the Underworld Office, whose hall Chen had broken. The backlash of Cause and Effect left it vulnerable to Chen’s Divine Ability.
• Chen absorbs a wisp of Heaven-Opening Pure Qi. It connects him directly to the surrounding world, greatly amplifying his powers and potentially letting him make part of the world his own.
• Sensing that the people gathered from the Prince’s Residence want to steal the Pure Qi, Chen decides to confront them rather than negotiate.
• He attacks Monk Sengyuan, who shelters inside a Peach Paradise-like Buddha Land. Chen then reverses heaven and earth across a vast area, also reversing some of the world’s laws. Sengyuan’s Buddha Land is rejected by the world and begins to break apart.
• More powerful figures arrive, demanding the Pure Qi. Chen senses them converging on Jiankang and openly challenges them to come take it.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo grows more confident as he discovers the Pure Qi’s connection to heaven and earth. He recognizes the danger of his opponents but welcomes the chance to face them all.
• Yan Yin Zi, Chen’s martial uncle, is delighted by Chen’s survival and breakthrough. He warns Chen about the nature of Sengyuan’s Buddha Land, showing both his concern and experience.
• Sengyuan responds to Chen’s attack with his Sacred Relic Great Wheel-Turning Art, but Chen’s reversal of the world undermines his defense.
• Two other cultivators observe Chen’s power: one is impressed and eager to seize the Pure Qi, while the Daoist-dressed man recognizes that Chen has altered reality itself, not merely perception.
• An unseen group of formidable figures joins the contest, treating the Pure Qi as something they intend to claim.

Significant themes

• Power and its consequences: Chen’s new connection to the world magnifies his abilities, but also makes him a target.
• Greed and conflict: The Pure Qi’s value turns former observers into challengers and makes a peaceful resolution unlikely.
• Reality and transformation: Chen’s power can overturn not only appearances but the laws governing the world.
• Mentorship and trust: Yan Yin Zi’s pride and warning contrast with the surrounding hostility, reinforcing his bond with Chen.
  Note: The final line appears to be an author’s personal comment rather than part of the chapter’s story.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Cuo identifies a voice from Mount Zhongnan, likely belonging to the Fortune Virtue Sect. Its interest in the Heaven-Opening Pure Qi confirms that the treasure is highly coveted.
• The Pure Qi merges toward Chen Cuo’s inner spiritual forces, causing his power and connection to heaven and earth to surge so violently that his body nearly bursts. He decides to channel the growing force against the cultivators gathering to seize it.
• Two ancient cultivators reveal their strength: the Five Poisons Elder manifests a monstrous Dharma Form, while the Mystic Ice Wanderer conjures a freezing domain. Both attack Chen Cuo with their ultimate techniques.
• A cultivator from Mount Zhongnan rushes to intervene, and Yan Yin Zi prepares to help, but Chen Cuo acts first. He enlarges the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl to absorb the Five Poisons Elder’s attack, then uses Five-Colored Divine Light to dispel the ice and auroras.
• Chen Cuo turns the gathered attacks back on the assembled rivals, shattering the giant pearl and sending poison, ice, and blizzards surging toward them. He then strikes toward the illusory palace above the Imperial Palace with a powerful crimson beam.
• Meanwhile, Sengyuan is violently rejected by the power of heaven and earth and, like Tan Xun before him, is partly swallowed by a spatial crack and left badly wounded.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo shifts from containing an overwhelming power to wielding it decisively. Rather than simply defend the Pure Qi, he confronts everyone trying to take it and demonstrates that his strength is far beyond what they expected.
• The Five Poisons Elder and Mystic Ice Wanderer reveal themselves as formidable veterans from the Han Dynasty era who survived the Calamity of the Supreme Clarity. They attack together, but Chen Cuo effortlessly counters their signature techniques.
• Yan Yin Zi recognizes the danger and prepares to sacrifice blood to empower his sword, showing loyalty and readiness to aid Chen Cuo.
• Qiuyuzi and the Peachwood Sword observe the confrontation from below. Qiuyuzi is alarmed by the arrival of such powerful old cultivators, while the sword’s intervention briefly gives him relief from the surrounding cold and poisonous thoughts.
• The Mount Zhongnan cultivator challenges the two attackers’ claim to the treasure and races toward the battle, but Chen Cuo’s sudden counterattack overtakes the confrontation.
• The white-haired Deity, the black-clad woman, and the newly arrived brocade-robed Daoist are also caught in the backlash, despite having waited for an opportunity to act.

Significant themes

• The dangers of coveted power: The Pure Qi’s immense strength threatens even Chen Cuo, showing that a supreme treasure can be as perilous to possess as it is valuable.
• Ambition beneath righteousness: The attackers accuse the righteous sects of hypocrisy, while their own actions reveal how quickly competing claims give way to a struggle for power.
• An age of upheaval: Qiuyuzi and the Peachwood Sword frame the gathering of powerful cultivators as a consequence of the Great Calamity and Age of Great Strife.
• A reversal of the hunt: The would-be challengers arrive expecting to seize the treasure, but Chen Cuo turns their assault back on them and forces them onto the defensive.