Chapter Summaries

Tang Changsheng used his address to expose Holy Salt’s horrific effects and reveal that the Hemp Mountain Rebellion had caused more than one hundred thousand deaths. His graphic evidence left the Elder Council and the public stunned as he continued presenting footage of the rebellion.

• Elder Yuan addressed the Elder Council after a member of the Three Elders attacked someone under the influence of Holy Salt, prompting the assembly to support a crackdown.
• Tang Changsheng was introduced as a Three Elders member and adviser credited with keeping Holy Salt out of Lower River and handling the Hemp Mountain Rebellion.
• Tang Changsheng announced that the death toll at Hemp Mountain had exceeded one hundred thousand, shocking the Elder Council and viewers across Great Chu.
• Tang Changsheng showed graphic cases of people driven into violent, monstrous states by Holy Salt and explained why it was known as the Zombie Drug.
• Tang Changsheng blamed Holy Salt for the Hemp Mountain Rebellion and played footage of victims attacking people in a crowd and a hotel lobby.

Tang Changsheng used the Hemp Mountain crisis to urge Great Chu to ban Holy Salt, citing Emperor Founding Ancestor’s harsh crackdown on Opium. His speech drew outrage until Elders declared that he spoke for the Imperial Family, silencing the hall.

• Edited footage of the Hemp Mountain riots and the relentless Corpse Ghosts frightened viewers, who mistook them for Holy Salt mutants.
• Tang Changsheng blamed Holy Salt for the violence and called for a nationwide ban and destruction of the drug.
• An Elder challenged Tang Changsheng to explain how Holy Salt could be eradicated, and Elder Yuan invited him to describe Lower River’s experience.
• Tang Changsheng cited Emperor Founding Ancestor’s severe Opium laws as a model for stamping out Holy Salt.
• The hall erupted in protest at Tang Changsheng’s proposal until several Elders announced that he spoke on behalf of the Imperial Family.

Tang Changsheng’s speech against Holy Salt gained the Imperial Family’s endorsement, making a crackdown nearly certain. Afterward, Emperor Mingde summoned him from the Imperial Garden, hinting at his concern for Tang Changsheng and his future marriage to Fan Wan'er.

• Emperor Mingde endorsed Tang Changsheng’s speech, and the hall listened respectfully as Tang continued.
• The audience applauded Tang Changsheng, and he concluded that the campaign against Holy Salt was nearly settled.
• Tang Changsheng and Fan Wan'er walked through the Imperial Garden with polite distance between them.
• A court attendant summoned Tang Changsheng to meet Emperor Mingde, while Fan Wan'er seemed to know why he had been called.
• Emperor Mingde welcomed Tang Changsheng in the Imperial Study and said he looked out for him because he had been friends with Tang’s master and expected Tang to become his grandson-in-law.

Emperor Mingde explained why he had helped make Tang Changsheng a national hero and entrusted him with supporting the Imperial Family as Great Chu faced a Great Calamity. At midnight, Tang Changsheng entered the Great Chu Ancestral Temple with Crown Prince Fan Liren and Tie Xinxiu to repair the Heaven-Earth Sealing Array, with the Grand Secretariat gathered to assist.

• Emperor Mingde praised Tang Changsheng’s new fame and said the Hemp Mountain affair had been training for greater responsibilities.
• Tang Changsheng realized Emperor Mingde had chosen him because his status, alchemy, strength, and lack of faction made him useful to the Imperial Family.
• Emperor Mingde reflected on his age, Great Chu’s history, and his hope that the country would survive the Great Calamity.
• Tang Changsheng promised that Great Chu would prosper and that repairing the Heaven-Earth Sealing Array would make it harder for the Outer Regions to invade.
• Tang Changsheng followed Fan Liren and Tie Xinxiu through the palace defenses to the Great Chu Ancestral Temple, where the Grand Secretariat assembled to help repair the array.

Tang Changsheng entered the Sea of Vital Energy with the State Deity's Dragon Aura and followed the Heaven-Earth Treasure Pearl toward the Heaven-Earth Sealing Array. There he encountered Li Qinghe, who revealed a Million-Soul Banner made from the souls of people who had died after consuming Holy Salt.

• Tang Changsheng used the Nine Dragon Throne and the State Deity's Dragon Aura to enter the Sea of Vital Energy more easily than before.
• The Heaven-Earth Treasure Pearl guided Tang Changsheng toward his destination deep within the Sea of Clouds, where the turbulent energy threatened his passage.
• Tang Changsheng recognized a vast mass of All Beings' Vow Power, mostly formed from Blood Sacrifice, and prepared to attack its approaching master.
• The mass of light revealed Li Qinghe, who greeted Tang Changsheng and showed him a powerful Million-Soul Banner.
• Tang Changsheng recognized the vacant souls in the banner as people who had died from consuming Holy Salt and realized how Li Qinghe had gathered the power to refine it.

Li Qinghe revealed Great Chu’s plan to raise its Dragon Court into the Heavenly Palace and urged Tang Changsheng to join forces against the Imperial Court. Tang Changsheng rejected the proposal and attacked Li Qinghe to test his strength.

• Tang Changsheng learned that Li Qinghe had used Holy Salt to gather millions of weakened souls for his Million-Soul Banner.
• Li Qinghe thanked Tang Changsheng for weakening the Long-Haired Remnants and explained that their losses had helped him rise to power.
• Li Qinghe claimed the Imperial Court had hidden its plan to bring Great Chu’s Dragon Court into the Heavenly Palace and rebuild the Human Way.
• Li Qinghe warned that the Jade Kun Sect had three Ghost Immortal True Persons and would benefit from Tang Changsheng restoring the Heaven-Earth Sealing Array.
• Li Qinghe proposed that he and Tang Changsheng join forces to take control of the world, but Tang Changsheng sent a Lamp Blossom from the Primordial Yang Divine Lamp at him.

Tang Changsheng defeated Li Qinghe in the Sea of Vital Energy and continued toward its heart, where he found a ruined Heavenly Palace. The chapter left him among the palace’s wreckage, with its purpose and history still unclear.

• Li Qinghe extinguished Tang Changsheng’s Wishfire with the Million-Soul Banner, and Tang Changsheng chose to test him without the Primordial Yang Divine Lamp.
• Li Qinghe attacked Tang Changsheng, but the Sea of Vital Energy’s currents and Tang Changsheng’s Yin Spirit Realm threw him off balance.
• Tang Changsheng used the Jade Ruyi to pierce the Million-Soul Banner and destroy Li Qinghe’s Illusory Spirit, then collected his Treasured Artifacts.
• Tang Changsheng reflected that Li Qinghe had underestimated his knowledge of Great Chu’s plans and his ties to the Imperial Family.
• Tang Changsheng followed the Heaven-Earth Treasure Pearl through the Sea of Vital Energy and reached its heart, where he found a ruined Heavenly Palace.

Tang Changsheng explored the abandoned Heavenly Palace and discovered that the black mirror at the altar was a fragment of the Three Realms Mirror. Using it, he revealed the Heaven-Earth Sealing Array spread across the Sea of Vital Energy, leaving him to investigate the array's true nature.

• Tang Changsheng found the ruined, empty Heavenly Palace and sensed the Sea of Vital Energy, gaining about a year’s worth of cultivation as his Yin Spirit grew stronger.
• Tang Changsheng followed the connection between the Heaven-Earth Treasure Pearl and his physical body to locate a nine-tiered altar at the center of the ruins.
• Tang Changsheng recognized the black mirror atop the altar as another fragment of the Three Realms Mirror and suspected it was the heart of the Heaven-Earth Sealing Array.
• Tang Changsheng used the Three Realms Mirror on the black mirror, causing the Sea of Vital Energy to churn and revealing 360 dark platforms arranged like chains that held it in place.

Tang Changsheng confronted Red Cloud True Person and Black Cloud True Person at the Heaven-Earth Sealing Array’s Formation Eye. He used Primordial Magnetic Divine Light to wound both Ghost Immortals, then searched for the Jade Kun Sect’s third Ghost Immortal, Qingyun True Person.

• Tang Changsheng realized that the Three Realms Mirror Fragment beneath his feet served as the Formation Eye of the Heaven-Earth Sealing Array.
• Red Cloud True Person and Black Cloud True Person emerged from hiding and challenged Tang Changsheng.
• Red Cloud attacked with the Red Cloud Flying Needles while Black Cloud unleashed the Demon-Slaying Divine Sand.
• Tang Changsheng charged the two Ghost Immortals with Primordial Magnetic Divine Light, which destroyed Red Cloud’s needles and blasted Black Cloud’s sand back at him.
• Tang Changsheng wounded both opponents and asked where Qingyun True Person was, wary that the third Ghost Immortal might be lying in ambush.

Tang Changsheng used the Heaven-Earth Mirror to drag Red Cloud and Black Cloud into the Annihilation World, where its ancient memories trapped and killed them. After arriving in a bustling mall, he investigated the Three Realms Mirror and realized the Black Hole Mirror could lead to parallel worlds, leaving him before it as he considered the connection between this world and Great Chu.

• Red Cloud activated the Heaven-Earth Mirror to pull Tang Changsheng inside, but Tang Changsheng used the mirror in the Heavenly Palace to drag Red Cloud and Black Cloud in with him.
• Tang Changsheng steadied himself in the Annihilation World while Red Cloud and Black Cloud were trapped in an Illusion Realm and fell into the Primordial Magnetic Divine Light, which scattered their souls.
• Tang Changsheng appeared in a bustling shopping mall, reflected on his control of Great Chu and his goal of becoming a Yang Spirit True Person, and began probing with his mirrors and compass.
• The Black Hole Mirror pulled Tang Changsheng and the Bagua Mirror through, and he realized the Black Hole Mirror connected parallel or Mirror Worlds.
• Tang Changsheng considered whether his use of the Myriad Forms Mirror might have changed history, then stood before the Black Hole Mirror and recognized it as the key to the Heaven-Earth Sealing Array.

Tang Changsheng discovered a complication while repairing the Heaven-Earth Sealing Array, as Fan Liren and Tie Xinxiu waited for news. Fan Liren learned Emperor Mingde had fallen unconscious, while Tang Changsheng met the emperor in the Heavenly Palace of Vast Heaven and asked for his help.

• Fan Liren and Tie Xinxiu discussed Tang Changsheng's progress as unnatural storms struck and Fan Liren regretted that they had not explained the matter to him sooner.
• Two ministers told Fan Liren that Emperor Mingde had fallen unconscious, and Fan Liren hurried back to the palace.
• Emperor Mingde found himself in the empty Heavenly Palace of Vast Heaven and asked Tang Changsheng whether he had died.
• Tang Changsheng explained that the palace was not Vast Heaven's dwelling and agreed with Emperor Mingde that the immortals and gods had vanished after the Great Calamity.
• Tang Changsheng told Emperor Mingde that a problem had arisen with the Heaven-Earth Sealing Array and that he needed the emperor's help.

Emperor Mingde died after advising Fan Liren to rule quietly and rely on Changsheng, and his passing shook Great Chu and the wider world. As Tang Changsheng used the Heaven-Earth Treasure Pearl to stabilize the Heavenly Palace, he opened the aperture of profound understanding and arrived at Yin and Yang Mountain, where his power caused a terrifying upheaval.

• Emperor Mingde told Fan Liren not to meddle in power and to rely on Changsheng, then died in the palace.
• News of Emperor Mingde's death spread across Great Chu and the world, where he was mourned as the last great ruler.
• Tang Changsheng placed the Heaven-Earth Treasure Pearl on the ceremonial steps, summoning a colossal Heavenly Pillar that struck the Heavenly Palace.
• Tang Changsheng's Yin Spirit illuminated his Sea of Consciousness, and he opened the aperture of profound understanding.
• Tang Changsheng traveled to Yin and Yang Mountain, where his arrival shook the mountain and the City God Underworld Office, frightening its residents.

Tang Changsheng returned to Lower River with immense power, made the City God Underworld Office his Cave Abode, and ordered its Earth Veins redirected into the Gourd Immortal Abode. After learning that Son of Heaven Mingde had died, he was summoned to face a crisis: Li Qinghe had apparently betrayed Great Chu.

• Tang Changsheng descended into Lower River in purple qi, and the City God Underworld Office welcomed him as an Immortal Venerable.
• Tang Changsheng declared the office his Cave Abode and promised its people they would serve as Deities.
• Tang Changsheng ordered the office to divert every Earth Vein within a thousand li of Lower River into the Gourd Immortal Abode.
• Tang Changsheng realized the Abode needed Five-Element Origin Force to evolve further and returned his Yin Spirit to the Ancestral Temple.
• Tang Changsheng learned Son of Heaven Mingde had died and was summoned by Crown Prince Fan Liren, who faced a crisis after Yuan Fangping reported Li Qinghe's betrayal.
• Tang Changsheng's phone began ringing as he questioned how Li Qinghe could cause trouble after Tang Changsheng had killed him.

Tang Changsheng learned that Great Chu’s secret discovery and exploration of an Otherworld had been exposed after Li Qinghe leaked footage of an attack on a fleet. As the leaders feared unrest at home and hostility abroad, Tang discovered that the Carrier Strike Group had not actually been destroyed.

• Arabella told Tang Changsheng that news outlets and the internet were reporting Great Chu’s discovery of a New World years earlier.
• Fan Liren showed Tang a video of a Great Chu Carrier Strike Group under attack, including a Frigate capsizing.
• Tang asked whether Li Qinghe had leaked the footage, and Fan confirmed that the former expedition adviser had exposed the secret.
• Fan said the Otherworld was in the Mediterranean Sea and feared other nations would turn against Great Chu.
• Tang learned that the Carrier Strike Group had not been wiped out, since its loss would have been impossible to conceal.

Tang Changsheng learned that a vanished spatial passage had stranded Great Chu’s Carrier Strike Group in the New World, and Fan Liren asked him to investigate the otherworld. He realized Tie Xinxiu had fled there after his plan failed, leaving Tang Changsheng to prepare for a dangerous expedition.

• Fan Liren told Tang Changsheng that the passage in the Mediterranean Sea had shrunk, trapping the Carrier Strike Group, and asked him to find a way to bring it back.
• Fan Liren explained that the New World had powerful beings, including level-eight Demigod Creatures, and that its Ghost Soldiers had retaliated against Great Chu.
• Fan Liren urged Tang Changsheng to reach the Far Expedition Base quickly and offered to authorize his access to classified files.
• Tang Changsheng asked about Tie Xinxiu, and Fan Liren revealed that the general had left for the Otherworld almost an hour earlier.
• Tang Changsheng inferred that Tie Xinxiu had fled after his plan failed and mocked his timely escape.

Tang Changsheng prepared to deal with the Jade Kun Sect after Elder Yuan ordered supplies to Far Expedition Base suspended. He then led several Yin God True Persons to the Azure Peak School, whose disciples feared his arrival and mistook his flight in the Physical Body for proof that he had reached the Yang Spirit Realm.

• Fan Liren admitted he had known about the Jade Kun Sect's affairs but had hesitated to act against his longtime friend Tie Xinxiu, while Tang Changsheng said he would not let Tie Xinxiu escape punishment.
• Elder Yuan ordered the suspension of supplies to Far Expedition Base, and Tang Changsheng said he would first take care of another matter before going to control the situation.
• Tang Changsheng and his companions arrived at the Azure Peak School's Clearwind Island, where he destroyed an incoming attack and announced his visit.
• Tang Changsheng rode the Nine Dragon Throne above the island, and the Azure Peak School's disciples panicked as they believed he had attained the Yang Spirit Realm.

Tang Changsheng assembled Great Chu’s cultivation forces against the Azure Peak School, accusing Abbess Zhengjue of aiding the Ghost Gods of the Outer Regions and using the confrontation to unite the cultivation world. When an old nun revealed herself as a Ghost Immortal and asked him to spare the school in exchange for Zhengjue, Tang Changsheng demanded to know whether she had directed Zhengjue, and she prepared to fight to the death.

• Tang Changsheng found the Jade Kun Sect abandoned and brought his forces to the Azure Peak School instead, demanding that Abbess Zhengjue appear.
• Tu Yicheng accused Zhengjue of collaborating with the Ghost Gods of the Outer Regions, and Yu Menghai, Cedric, Faldan, Youxu True Person, Ma Yu, and the Red-Haired True Person backed his claim.
• Tang Changsheng used the alliance’s overwhelming presence to break the Azure Peak School disciples’ resistance and press for Zhengjue’s surrender.
• An old nun revealed herself as a Ghost Immortal and offered to hand over Zhengjue if Tang Changsheng spared the Azure Peak School.
• Tang Changsheng asked whether the old nun had directed Zhengjue to side with the Ghost Gods, and she declared that the school would fight to the death.

Tang Changsheng destroyed Azure Peak School after Zhengjue disrupted the Earth Veins, then brought its surviving disciples under control. With the cultivation world of the Great Chu World under his authority, he set out with three Yin God True Persons toward the Mediterranean Sea to investigate the world beyond it.

• Zhengjue disturbed the Earth Veins, triggering an earthquake and threatening to erupt Azure Peak Island’s dormant volcano.
• Tang Changsheng used the Obverse and Reverse Netherworld Sacred Coins to kill Zhengjue, seal the volcano, and restore the Earth Veins.
• Tang Changsheng spared Azure Peak School’s ordinary disciples and placed Heavenly Heart Seeds in the survivors.
• Tang Changsheng declared that he controlled the cultivation world of the Great Chu World and summoned three Yin God True Persons to accompany him.
• Tang Changsheng and the three Yin God True Persons sailed with a fleet toward the Mediterranean Sea.

Tang Changsheng arrived with two Great Chu carrier strike groups as officers learned the empire had explored the New World for decades but made little progress against its Natives. The officers saw images of the Natives’ territory and warriors, leaving them astonished by their use of cold weapons.

• Great Chu sent the Xuzhou and Ganzhou carrier strike groups toward the Mediterranean Sea, displaying its hard-line stance to other nations.
• Tang Changsheng appeared as Plenipotentiary Envoy and Princess Pingyin’s fiancé, earning greater respect from the fleet’s officers.
• Mo Yun attended a tightly guarded meeting where Tang Changsheng and others revealed that Great Chu had discovered the Zhengyuan spatial passage thirty-two years earlier and sent over a million people through it.
• Specialists secretly evaluated officers’ reactions to the revelation and compiled files on their potential usefulness.
• The meeting showed footage of Great Chu’s coastal base and the Natives’ ancient cities and bronze-armored warriors, prompting officers to remark that they used cold weapons.

Tang Changsheng attended a classified briefing about the powerful beings in the New World and demonstrated his own extraordinary abilities to the assembled officers. He left the officers awed, and the briefing ended with an order to keep the information secret.

• Tang Changsheng listened as the briefing officer explained that heroes, demigods, and Deities in the New World made expansion beyond the base difficult.
• The briefing officer showed photographs of extraordinary fighters, and Tang Changsheng recognized them as experts recruited by Great Chu, most of whom were not especially powerful.
• The briefing officer revealed that Tang Changsheng was among the assembled officers and identified him as the man the late emperor had chosen to marry Princess Pingyin.
• Tang Changsheng summoned nine Fire Dragons, rose into the air, and vanished from the meeting hall, leaving the officers impressed and silent.
• The briefing officer dismissed the officers and ordered them to keep what they had learned confidential.