Chapter Summaries

Zhou Qing tested remote communication with Wu Tao through a jade token and planned to improve the signal from the Scripture Pavilion. At the Array Institute’s tournament, Bai Muyun refused Zhou Qing entry, and Mu Zhuosha asked whether the gathering made him feel pressured.

• Wu Tao successfully heard Zhou Qing’s voice through the jade token, but their exchange was delayed and fragmented.
• Zhou Qing identified distance and sound-blocking methods as problems and decided to communicate from the Scripture Pavilion.
• Bai Muyun welcomed visiting arrayists to the tournament and denied Zhou Qing a seat when he asked to attend.
• Xuan Zhe urged Bai Muyun to let Zhou Qing participate, but Bai Muyun threatened to replace him with Hong Guan.
• Zhou Qing found Mu Zhuosha in the Scripture Pavilion, where she asked whether the tournament and its arrayists made him feel pressured.

Zhou Qing showed Mu Zhuosha that he was secretly directing Wu Tao’s performance at the Arrays Tournament through an array plaque. As the tournament began, Bai Muyun arranged for Xuan Zhe to speak first while Wu Tao waited to present Zhou Qing’s words.

• Zhou Qing gave Mu Zhuosha an array plaque that let them hear the Arrays Tournament and revealed he was recruiting people from the Array Institute.
• Bai Muyun announced the tournament’s three-day schedule and asked Wu Tao to speak first for the Azure Cloud Sect.
• Zhou Qing instructed Wu Tao through the plaque to speak last, and Wu Tao repeated his proposal to Bai Muyun.
• Mu Zhuosha realized Zhou Qing was controlling the supposed genius Wu Tao and marveled that the tournament’s gains were falling into Zhou Qing’s hands.
• Bai Muyun arranged for Xuan Zhe to speak first, and Xuan Zhe prepared a talk on water-attribute runes.

Wu Tao presented a wave-based theory that the Five Elements were different manifestations of a single kind of Spiritual Energy, astonishing the formation masters at the conference. His explanation gave Chang Xin an answer to his long-standing question and left the audience believing they had witnessed a turning point in the art of formations.

• Xuan Zhe opened the conference with a speech on water-element runes, inspiring the attending formation masters.
• Chang Xin described blurred zones between different attributes of Spiritual Energy and asked the formation masters to explain them, but no one reached a consensus.
• Bai Muyun introduced Wu Tao as an Azure Cloud Sect formation genius, and Wu Tao took the stage to speak about the nature of Spiritual Energy.
• Wu Tao proposed that the Five Elements were different manifestations of one kind of Spiritual Energy, distinguished by wave frequencies.
• The formation masters realized Wu Tao's theory could resolve many questions about formations, while Chang Xin wept at hearing an answer to his research problem.

Wu Tao’s speech on Zhou Qing’s array theories stunned the tournament and earned him a powerful new position in Azure Cloud Sect, while Zhou Qing considered how to keep his success secure. As the tournament shifted toward Wu Tao’s lectures, Zhou Qing collected runes that brought his Restore Qing Destroy Ming Formation close to completion.

• After Wu Tao’s speech amazed the arrayists, Chang Xin invited him to join Immortal Forest Sect, but Bai Muyun announced that Azure Cloud Sect would make its Array Institute independent and appoint Wu Tao its sole Elder.
• Zhou Qing told Mu Zhuosha that Wu Tao’s standing depended on his continued support and that he did not expect his friend to betray him.
• Wu Tao told Zhou Qing that the Sect Leader True Person had approved the Array Institute’s independence and asked Zhou Qing for guidance; Zhou Qing offered him a way to secure his position and asked him to decide before the tournament ended.
• Wu Tao gave Zhou Qing the five hundred runes shared by the other sects, and Zhou Qing found that two of them were needed for his Restore Qing Destroy Ming Formation.
• The following day, the tournament’s speeches shifted from separate faction presentations to lectures centered on Wu Tao’s Wave Theory.

After the Arrays Tournament established Wu Tao as a leading array grandmaster, Azure Cloud Sect held a celebration to announce the Array Institute’s independent operation. Wu Tao shocked the gathering by relinquishing its director position to Zhou Qing, leaving Bai Muyun and the array masters furious and confused.

• Wu Tao spent two days answering array masters’ questions about Wave Theory, and the Arrays Tournament ended with the sects exchanging runes.
• Wu Tao invited the array masters to stay for a celebration of the tournament and the Array Institute’s independent operation, with him as director.
• Bai Muyun praised Wu Tao’s influence, while the four family heads and other sect figures attended the celebration to build ties with him.
• Zhou Qing, Mu Zhuosha, Chen Qingxuan, and Lu Qiushui arrived, and Mu Zhuosha said they had come to offer congratulations and seek cooperation.
• Wu Tao announced that he was giving the Array Institute director position to Zhou Qing, provoking shock and anger.
• Bai Muyun challenged Wu Tao’s authority to give away the position, while Chang Xin questioned why anyone else should lead the institute.

Wu Tao revealed that Zhou Qing had taught him all his array knowledge and supplied the Wave Theory he presented at the tournament, shocking the gathered array masters. Zhou Qing then offered a Rune Compendium containing complete analyses and wave frequencies for its runes, leaving Bai Muyun and the others stunned.

• Wu Tao declared that Zhou Qing’s array attainments far surpassed his own and that Wu Tao’s achievements came from Zhou Qing.
• Lu Qingzhu recognized the familiar pattern of Zhou Qing turning apparent defeat into victory, while Bai Muyun grew uneasy.
• Wu Tao demonstrated Zhou Qing’s undetectable array tokens, and Chang Xin and the other array masters confirmed their Telepathic Transmission left no detectable spiritual energy traces.
• Zhou Qing asked Chang Xin where array research should go after Wave Theory, and Chang Xin answered that masters should determine the wave frequencies of different runes.
• Zhou Qing handed Chang Xin a Rune Compendium, and Chang Xin, Bai Muyun, Xuan Zhe, and Hong Guan found complete rune analyses marked with wave frequencies.
• Bai Muyun snatched the compendium and declared it impossible as he found that every analysis included a rune’s wave frequency.

Zhou Qing proved that he had measured nearly eight thousand rune fluctuations, confirming his authorship of Wave Theory and exposing Bai Muyun’s attempt to claim credit. After Bai Muyun collapsed, Zhou Qing took control of the Array Institute and announced new departments, leadership appointments, and doubled compensation.

• Chang Xin examined Zhou Qing’s booklet and confirmed that its thousands of rune analyses proved Zhou Qing’s identity as the creator of Wave Theory.
• Zhou Qing credited Wu Tao with helping his research reach the public, while Chang Xin affirmed Wu Tao’s role in the scheme.
• Bai Muyun coughed blood and fainted, and the four family heads, Lu Qingzhu, and others carried him away.
• Zhou Qing declared himself head of the Array Institute and appointed Wu Tao to lead the Administrative Department and Xuan Zhe to oversee the Research Department.
• Zhou Qing announced that array masters’ and apprentices’ compensation would be doubled, then spoke with Mu Zhuosha, Xuan Zhe, and Chang Xin after the crowd dispersed.

Zhou Qing persuaded the sect array masters to establish an association and an independent communication system, positioning himself to lead array research across several sects. He then revealed that in two or three years, he might be able to stand against Xu Jingfeng, shocking Mu Zhuosha and the others.

• Zhou Qing offered to share eighteen hundred jointly held rune analyses in exchange for forming an association among the six sects’ Array Institutes.
• Zhou Qing proposed that the association hold regular symposiums and establish an independent long-distance communication system, and the array masters approved both ideas.
• Zhou Qing agreed to serve as the association’s first president and planned to limit its membership to eight sects for now.
• Mu Zhuosha warned Zhou Qing that he could not stop affiliated families from reselling the Array Institute’s talismans and arrays without facing opposition from Xu Jingfeng and the Sect Leader True Person.
• Zhou Qing said he might be able to stand against Xu Jingfeng in two or three years, leaving Mu Zhuosha, Chen Qingxuan, and the others horrified.

Zhou Qing accepted that he could not challenge Azure Cloud Sect’s leadership directly, but proposed new profit rules and prepared to launch the full version of his array token. Meanwhile, Bai Muyun and the family heads took comfort in their ability to profit from the public array, as Zhou Qing advanced array theory with visiting masters.

• Zhou Qing warned Mu Zhuosha about Sect Leader True Person and Thunder Serpent Ancestor, then proposed raising the shops’ profit levy and announced the completed full version of the Restore Qing Destroy Ming Array Token.
• Bai Muyun woke after collapsing in anger and nearly suffered demonic deviation, but Lu Qingzhu used Zhou Qing’s Restore Qing Destroy Ming Formation to calm him.
• Lu Cenghong reminded the family heads that they could profit from the publicly shared formation and withhold its proceeds from the sect if the Array Institute targeted them.
• Zhou Qing spent the following days teaching visiting array masters to infer rune properties and combinations using Wave Theory and the Rune Compendium.

Zhou Qing organized the Arrays Association, establishing membership rules and a journal, then delegated the Array Institute’s operations and returned to Violet Cloud Mountain. He set up the Array Institute Second Production Division under Cheng Feipeng and introduced a new formation for production.

• Zhou Qing persuaded the array masters to require majority approval for new members, grant the president veto power, and publish a journal sharing theoretical research with the wider Cultivation World.
• After the array masters left Azure Cloud Sect, Wu Tao began carrying out the association’s plans while Zhou Qing delegated Institute affairs to Wu Tao and Xuan Zhe.
• Zhou Qing decided to remain at Violet Cloud Mountain, where he reunited with his junior brothers and sisters and reassured them that he would not move away.
• Zhou Qing placed Cheng Feipeng in charge of the Array Institute Second Production Division and told him to teach the Restore Qing Destroy Ming Formation.
• Zhou Qing learned that several disciples had reached the second level of Qi Refining, encouraged them, and returned home to clean his house.

Zhou Qing spent two months returning to his routine while the Array Institute studied his Wave Theory and developed long-distance communication. After Cheng Feipeng delivered two thousand Restore Qing Destroy Ming Array Tokens, Zhou Qing learned the four Affiliated Families were mass-producing pirated copies and decided to time his own batch’s release to catch them off guard.

• Zhou Qing resumed cultivation, reading, array research, and magnetic-field training while advising the Array Institute’s work.
• Xuan Zhe and Hong Guan published papers on wave phenomena, and the Array Institute focused its communication research on spiritual energy waves’ speed and attenuation.
• After two months, Zhou Qing estimated he could break through from the fourth layer of Qi Refinement within a few more months and recognized how his magnetic field accelerated his cultivation.
• Cheng Feipeng delivered two thousand Restore Qing Destroy Ming Array Tokens, which Zhou Qing packed for transport to Mu Zhuosha.
• Mu Zhuosha told Zhou Qing that the four Affiliated Families were buying Soft Black Jade and recruiting array masters to mass-produce pirated tokens.
• Zhou Qing decided to wait until the families were ready to sell before releasing his batch alongside theirs.

Mao Liang and the four family heads struck a deal with three shopkeepers to undercut Zhou Qing’s array-token business. After learning of their agreement, Zhou Qing met the shopkeepers and appeared to invite them to sell his talismans.

• Mao Liang told Hu Guan, Liao Qifeng, and Xuan Zhen that the Restore Qing Destroy Ming Formation’s profits and shipment quotas would increase, and they agreed to buy tokens from the four families.
• Mu Yunhe proposed a price war against Zhou Qing, arguing that the sect’s share of Zhou Qing’s profits would let the other shops undercut him.
• The three shopkeepers paid the family heads, collected their array tokens, and left Mao Liang’s room pleased with the deal.
• At the Hall of Skill Transmission entrance, the shopkeepers congratulated Zhou Qing and asked him to supply their shops with Thorn Bind and Fire-infused Gold Needles.
• Zhou Qing agreed, leaving the shopkeepers eager to receive his talismans.

Zhou Qing’s dispute with the four great families divided Azure Cloud Sect’s shops into opposing factions and began affecting the mortal kingdoms under the sect’s protection. When Yuan Hongying told him that a neighboring kingdom had invaded her homeland to curry favor with the Mu Family, Zhou Qing promised to intervene.

• Zhou Qing offered the three shopkeepers authorization to sell his Talismans only if they stopped selling Restore Qing Destroy Ming Array Tokens, but they refused.
• The four great families drew most of Azure Cloud Sect’s Affiliated Family shops to their side, leaving eighteen shops aligned with Zhou Qing without supplies.
• The sect’s rivalry intensified into conflicts that reached the mortal world, as kingdoms chose sides and fought to gain favor with the factions.
• Yuan Hongying told Zhou Qing that Xin Zheng Kingdom had invaded Nan Zheng Kingdom, her homeland, because its princess had married into the Mu Family.
• Zhou Qing promised Yuan Hongying he would resolve the invasion himself, then hurried toward Azure Cloud Mountain.

Zhou Qing traveled with Mu Zhuosha to the Great Liang Capital and used a vibrating bell to attack the imperial palace with inaudible sound waves. Emperor Xiao Baishan and Mu Zigui realized the attack was spreading through the palace, but its source and outcome remained unknown.

• Zhou Qing told Mu Zhuosha he wanted to make an example of Great Liang for its invasion of Xin Zheng and to reassure his people that he would protect them.
• Mu Zhuosha flew Zhou Qing to the Great Liang Capital, where he produced a newly cast bell and set it vibrating to unleash inaudible sound waves.
• Emperor Xiao Baishan hosted Mu Zigui, who praised Great Liang’s service to the Mu Family and called for the Xin Zheng Imperial Family to be killed.
• Xiao Baishan, his three princes, and the palace attendants began suffering severe pain as the sound-wave attack struck the imperial palace.
• Mu Zigui tried to protect Xiao Baishan and led him outside, where they saw Imperial Guards collapsing and corpses scattered across the palace.

Zhou Qing and Mu Zhuosha wiped out Great Liang’s imperial palace after its rulers interfered in disputes of the immortal path, and Zhou Qing left a written confession at the scene. Back at the Azure Cloud Sect, he faced an angry sect council and clashed with Mu Yunhe and the other elders.

• Zhou Qing and Mu Zhuosha watched as everyone in Great Liang’s imperial palace died, including Xiao Baishan and Mu Zigui, after Zhou Qing condemned their interference in the immortal path.
• Zhou Qing wrote a confession on a pillar in the Hall of Establishing the Ultimate, then returned to the Azure Cloud Sect with Mu Zhuosha.
• Great Liang’s soldiers withdrew from Xin Zheng Kingdom after hearing the news, and surviving officials chose Xiao Heng as the new Emperor.
• Xiao Heng led officials to the Azure Cloud Sect to beg forgiveness, while Zhou Qing attended a sect-wide council convened over the palace deaths.
• Xu Jingfeng called for Zhou Qing’s punishment, and Mu Yunhe accused him of killing Mu Zigui; Zhou Qing defended his actions and threatened the gathered elders.

Zhou Qing revealed that he had prepared a superior Restore Qing Destroy Ming Array Token and used it to threaten the four great family heads with financial ruin, turning the sect’s judgment against him into a crisis for them. After leaving Cloud Gazing Hall, he learned that Great Liang was preparing to withdraw its troops from New Zheng.

• Mu Yunhe demanded that Zhou Qing be stripped of his cultivation and formations and imprisoned, while Mu Zhuosha rejected the demand and defended his actions.
• Zhou Qing revealed that his new Restore Qing Destroy Ming Array Token would be far more effective than the tokens the four families had bought and would soon be sold at the same price.
• Zhou Qing explained that the four families’ stock would become unsellable, leaving them liable to repay the shopkeepers who had already paid for it.
• The Elders realized Zhou Qing had deliberately given the four families an inferior formation two years earlier, and they were shaken by how thoroughly he had planned against them.
• Zhou Qing left Cloud Gazing Hall after noticing Sect Leader True Person seemed gratified by the outcome.
• Yuan Hongying thanked Zhou Qing on behalf of New Zheng and told him that Great Liang was preparing to withdraw its troops.

After the new Overthrow Qing, Restore Ming Array tokens made Zhou Qing’s shops flourish and drove rival shops into crisis, the struggling managers begged him for help. Zhou Qing agreed to authorize their sales in exchange for revised shares and accountants appointed by him, leaving the managers with little choice but to accept his oversight.

• Yuan Hongying received word that Great Liang had withdrawn its troops and thanked Zhou Qing for protecting New Zheng before returning home.
• Zhou Qing’s new array tokens drew cultivators to his and Mu Zhuosha’s shops, boosting business across the markets they controlled while rival shops emptied.
• The forty-nine sects whose shops were struggling pressured their managers to reconcile with Zhou Qing, while the managers demanded refunds from the four great families and received none.
• Hu Guan, Liao Qifeng, Xuan Zhen, and other shop managers gathered outside Zhou Qing’s courtyard and begged him to let them sell his new array tokens and Talismans.
• Zhou Qing offered to authorize their sales and convert their old tokens, but required revised shop shares and accountants appointed by him; the managers realized they could not refuse.

Zhou Qing learned that the Sect Leader True Person had deliberately left Azure Cloud Sect’s Affiliated Family abuses in place to test potential successors while preparing for a breakthrough to Nascent Soul. The Sect Leader True Person revealed that the breakthrough could provoke the Nascent Soul Domain controlling Western Serenity Continent, and explained how he had hoped Zhuo Sha would draw its attention away from him.

• Zhou Qing negotiated with Yu Liangmou over shop accounts, profits, and reclaiming more than twenty thousand old array plaques, setting a uniform profit split that sent forty percent to the sect and forty percent to the Array Institute.
• The Miscellaneous Affairs Hall reported that the sect’s income had grown fivefold or sixfold, and Zhou Qing’s proposal to raise disciple allowances was approved.
• Xu Hui summoned Zhou Qing to Purple Dusk Palace, where the Sect Leader True Person praised his success in resolving the sect’s conflicts.
• The Sect Leader True Person explained that he had left the Affiliated Families’ abuses in place as a trial for choosing Azure Cloud Sect’s next helmsman and preparing for a vital undertaking.
• The Sect Leader True Person revealed that he intended to break through to Nascent Soul, risking a devastating response from the Nascent Soul Domain that controlled Western Serenity Continent.
• The Sect Leader True Person said he had hoped Zhuo Sha’s victory over the Sacred Lotus Maiden at Myriad Visions City would draw the Nascent Soul Domain’s attention away from him while he broke through.

Sect Leader True Person explained why he had waited for Zhou Qing: he needed an exceptional talent to draw a powerful family's attention so he could attempt a breakthrough. Zhou Qing agreed to travel and attract notice, provided the Azure Cloud Sect accepted his conditions.

• Sect Leader True Person told Zhou Qing that Zhuo Sha's defeat by the Sacred Lotus Maiden had shattered her Dao heart, forcing him to stay and handle the aftermath instead of pursuing his own breakthrough.
• Sect Leader True Person said Zhou Qing's victory over Wei Xing and his subsequent reforms convinced him that Zhou Qing was the genius he had been waiting for.
• Sect Leader True Person asked Zhou Qing to travel from the Azure Cloud Sect to Myriad Visions City and attract the powerful family's attention, giving him a chance to break through.
• Zhou Qing warned that the journey would be dangerous and demanded control over his departure date, publicly announced succession as Sect Leader with authority over major affairs, and full cultivation support including access to the Main Spirit Vein.
• Sect Leader True Person accepted Zhou Qing's conditions, and Zhou Qing agreed to undertake the journey within ten years.

Zhou Qing was formally named Azure Cloud Sect’s next Sect Leader and received the First Ancestor’s Black Iron Sword. The Sect Leader True Person then brought him to meet the Thunder Serpent, which gave him a shed horn as a gift.

• The Sect Leader True Person convened the sect and handed Zhou Qing the Black Iron Sword, naming him the next Sect Leader.
• The Elders and hall masters approved the decision, and Mu Zhuosha teased Zhou Qing about his new authority.
• The Sect Leader True Person led Zhou Qing into Thunder Serpent Cave to meet the sect’s other inheritance, the Thunder Serpent.
• The Thunder Serpent emerged from the lake, regarded Zhou Qing with innocent curiosity, and then dove back underwater.
• The Thunder Serpent returned with a shed horn, tossed it at Zhou Qing’s feet, and the Sect Leader True Person told him to thank the Ancestor.