Chapter Summaries

Zhou Qing perfected a method to separate his spirit and spiritual energy from his body, accelerate his bodily particles with magnetic fields, and restore them afterward. Before he could risk testing the technique on his whole body, four Spirit Transformation powerhouses confronted him at his hiding place.

• Zhou Qing fused his spirit with spiritual energy and successfully separated and reassembled part of his little finger, confirming that golden light could restore his body.
• Zhou Qing hesitated to test the method on his entire body, fearing he would become a bodiless Primordial Spirit and eventually dissipate if the experiment failed.
• Zhou Qing sensed an approaching calamity and tried to escape underground, but a powerful force shielding the ground slowed his Plasma Beam.
• Zhou Qing left the cave and found Half-Maitreya of the Great Enlightenment Monastery blocking his escape.
• Zhou Qing met Ancestor Ziyun of the Pure Void Dao Palace, Moonlight Immortal of Listening Moon Lake, and Daoist Sword Immortal of the Emei Mountain Sword Sect.
• Half-Maitreya declared that Zhou Qing was more dangerous than the Demonic Path and that the four had come to stop him.

Zhou Qing faced four Spirit Transformation cultivators and discovered that his usual techniques could not overcome their Dharmic Bodies. After injuring Dao Yi with a devastating strike, he vanished and fled southeast at tremendous speed.

• Half-Maitreya attacked Zhou Qing with the Great Luo Buddha Hand, but Zhou Qing broke its confinement and escaped its reach with Thunder Serpent Horn Iron Pellets.
• Dao Yi struck Zhou Qing with Sword Qi that split apart inside the Dao Heart World, damaging it before Zhou Qing closed it.
• Dao Yi and Purple Cloud Mountain argued over who would kill Zhou Qing, while Moonlight Immortal urged them to let Purple Cloud Mountain do it.
• Zhou Qing warned Dao Yi that the Emei Mountain Sword Sect had nowhere left to return to, then struck and snapped Dao Yi's Heavenly Sword in two, injuring his Dharmic Body.
• The four Spirit Transformation cultivators attacked together, but Zhou Qing vanished and fled southeast in a streak of golden light that quickly outpaced them.

The four Spirit Transformation cultivators searched for Zhou Qing at the Emei Mountain Sword Sect, then decided to seize his friends and family in the Western Serenity Continent. Zhou Qing’s diversion drew them away from the Pure Void Dao Palace, where they arrived to find Floating Sky Mountain collapsing under his attack.

• The four reached the Emei Mountain Sword Sect, learned Zhou Qing had not appeared there, and could not track him because Great Wisdom Arhat’s Dharma eyes had been damaged.
• Purple Cloud Mountain proposed capturing Zhou Qing’s elders, fellow disciples, friends, and family in the Western Serenity Continent, and the four agreed to go.
• Dao Yi ordered the Emei Mountain Sword Sect to activate its protection array before the four flew toward the Western Serenity Continent.
• Xuan Zhenzi intercepted the four and reported that Zhou Qing had attacked the Pure Void Dao Palace and was damaging the Suspended Grand Array atop Floating Sky Mountain.
• Purple Cloud Mountain rushed back with the others and saw dark divine light destroying the formations, causing Floating Sky Mountain to tilt and its buildings to slide toward the ground.

Zhou Qing siphoned a vast amount of spiritual energy into his Dao Heart World while holding off the Pure Void Dao Palace cultivators, then escaped before they could catch him. The four Spirit Transformation cultivators feared he was collecting materials for the Celestial Spirit Pill and ordered their sects to destroy their treasures, but worried his escape art would let him reach them first.

• Zhou Qing used the spiritual energy around Floating Sky Mountain to sustain a barrage of Chaos Divine Light while drawing the energy funnel into his Dao Heart World for an entire day.
• When Purple Cloud Mountain, Moonlight Immortal, Half-Maitreya, and Sword Immortal Dao Yi arrived, Zhou Qing closed his Dao Heart World aperture and escaped in a streak of golden light.
• Moonlight Immortal realized Zhou Qing might be heading to collect materials for the Celestial Spirit Pill, and Purple Cloud Mountain confirmed the Azure Cloud Blossoms were gone.
• Half-Maitreya urged the others to order their sects to destroy their treasures so Zhou Qing could not gather what he needed to reach Spirit Transformation.
• Half-Maitreya warned that Zhou Qing might arrive before their messages, and the cultivators stayed at the Pure Void Dao Palace to await replies.

Zhou Qing arrived at Buddhist City seeking the treasures needed for Spirit Transformation, but Great Wisdom Arhat told him he had arranged for the other factions to destroy theirs. The Arhat gave Zhou Qing Great Enlightenment Monastery’s Marrow Fungus, leaving Zhou Qing with one treasure and no reason to attack the monastery.

• Zhou Qing met Great Wisdom Arhat at the checkpoint to Buddhist City, where the Arhat explained he had waited to prevent a destructive fight inside the city.
• Great Wisdom Arhat told Zhou Qing that he had warned Listening Moon Lake and Emei Mountain Sword Sect to destroy their treasures, severing Zhou Qing’s path to Spirit Transformation in Qionghua Continent.
• Great Wisdom Arhat admitted he had acted out of fear of Zhou Qing’s ominous future, despite believing a seer should avoid interfering with events.
• Great Wisdom Arhat gave Zhou Qing Great Enlightenment Monastery’s sentient Marrow Fungus because he could not bear to destroy it.
• Zhou Qing caught the Marrow Fungus and its tiny horse, recognized its extraordinary effects, and said he could no longer direct his anger at Great Enlightenment Monastery.

Zhou Qing traveled to Listening Moon Lake to verify Great Wisdom Arhat’s claim that its Moon Laurel had been destroyed. He found the spiritual treasure reduced to ashes and confronted Consort Shiyue, leaving the disciples’ fate unresolved.

• Zhou Qing accepted that Great Wisdom Arhat would not hand over the monastery’s treasure and decided to inspect Listening Moon Lake before returning west.
• Zhou Qing used his golden-light escape technique to cross hundreds of thousands of li and arrive at Listening Moon Lake.
• Consort Shiyue and the waiting disciples welcomed Zhou Qing under Great Wisdom Arhat’s instructions and led him to the central island.
• Zhou Qing saw that Listening Moon Lake’s Moon Laurel had been burned to ashes, with its roots completely destroyed.
• Consort Shiyue defended the destruction, and Zhou Qing challenged her claim that the disciples had accepted certain death by lowering their defenses.

After Zhou Qing left the Central Continent, the Four Great Dao Palaces planned to unite and blockade the Western Serenity Continent to contain him. As Zhou Qing traveled home, he inspected his gains and discovered that the spiritual energy taken from Pure Void Dao Palace had merged with the soil in his Dao Heart World.

• Zhou Qing questioned Consort Shiyue about whether she had bet on his mercy, then left for the Western Serenity Continent after most of the Celestial Spirit Pill ingredients were destroyed.
• Half-Maitreya told Purple Cloud Mountain, Sword Immortal Dao Yi, and Moonlight Immortal that Zhou Qing had traveled from Pure Void Dao Palace to Great Enlightenment Monastery in one hour.
• Half-Maitreya proposed that the four factions combine their territories, gather their Spirit Transformation cultivators, and prevent spirit herbs from reaching the Western Serenity Continent.
• The four leaders agreed to prepare for a prolonged campaign to weaken Zhou Qing and his territory.
• Zhou Qing reviewed his gains, including the Golden Light Escape Technique, Marrow Fungus, and Azure Cloud Blossom, while traveling across the Central Continent.
• Zhou Qing discovered that the spiritual energy he had drawn from Pure Void Dao Palace had fused with the soil of his Dao Heart World.

After returning to the Dharma Dissemination Dojo, Zhou Qing reflected on how his Dao Heart World had begun producing spiritual energy and discussed the shattered path to Spirit Transformation with his companions. He left the group with plans to wait for Central Continent’s response before exploring beyond Qionghua Continent, while Mu Zhuosha remained away protecting the Azure Cloud Sect’s leader during his Nascent Soul breakthrough.

• Zhou Qing realized that his Dao Heart World was slowly generating spiritual energy on its own, though its output was too low to be useful.
• After nearly a month of travel, Zhou Qing returned to the Dharma Dissemination Dojo, where Cao Yang and the others told him they had safely escaped the Lapis Lazuli Daoist Temple.
• Zhou Qing told the gathered Nascent Soul cultivators that more than half of the Celestial Spirit Pill treasures had been destroyed, then encouraged them to keep cultivating while he sought a path to other continents.
• Whitebrow warned Zhou Qing that past Dharma Dissemination Dojo cultivators who reached the end of Qionghua Continent returned dispirited and soon died; Zhou Qing decided to wait for Central Continent’s response before investigating.
• Zhou Qing gave Whitebrow the Marrow Fungus and Azure Cloud Blossom to cultivate, and learned that Mu Zhuosha was protecting the Azure Cloud Sect’s leader as he attempted to break through to Nascent Soul.

After the Sect Leader True Person failed another breakthrough because of an inferior-grade Gold-Melting Pill, Zhou Qing set out for the Central Continent. At the border, he discovered that powerful cultivators had reshaped the mountains into an immense wall topped by a seemingly endless curtain of light.

• The Sect Leader True Person returned to the Dharma Dissemination Dojo after his breakthrough failed, and Zhou Qing learned that Gold-Melting Pills had grown scarce and weak since the Central Continent's blockade.
• Zhou Qing decided to travel to the Central Continent, delayed his departure by a day at Mu Zhuosha's request, and discussed his pursuit of immortality with her over food and wine.
• Zhou Qing flew toward the Central Continent the next morning and found that the border's mountain ranges had been transformed into sheer, even cliffs.
• Zhou Qing realized that Spirit Transformation cultivators from the Four Great Dao Palaces had likely worked together to create the enormous wall and its sky-reaching curtain of light.

Zhou Qing discovered that the Four Great Dao Palaces had sealed off the Western Serenity Continent and seized its Gold-Melting Pill herbs, then learned Half-Maitreya was offering cultivators a path to the Central Continent. He returned to the Dharma Dissemination Dojo and ordered the offer widely publicized, leaving his allies uneasy about the exodus he expected.

• Zhou Qing crossed the barrier into the Central Continent after Ancestor Ziyun explained that it barred everyone else but him.
• Zhou Qing discovered the Four Great Dao Palaces had relocated together, stationed Spirit Transformations at four strongholds, and gathered the Gold-Melting Pill herbs under their guard.
• Half-Maitreya told Zhou Qing that Western Serenity cultivators could move to the Central Continent if they registered and severed their ties to their homeland.
• Zhou Qing returned to the Dharma Dissemination Dojo and told Cao Yang, Whitebrow, and the other Nascent Soul True Lords about the blockade and Half-Maitreya's offer.
• Zhou Qing ordered the offer announced throughout the Western Serenity Continent and promised that the Dharma Dissemination Dojo and Azure Cloud Sect would escort those unable to travel alone.
• Zhou Qing argued that letting people leave would prevent them from becoming enemies, though his allies feared the Western Serenity Continent would be drained of cultivators.

Zhou Qing let Western Serenity Continent's cultivators relocate to the Central Continent, expecting their eventual dissatisfaction to weaken the Four Great Dao Palaces. As the sects prepared to leave, Nie Yunxi told him that Qin Xue had stayed behind, and Zhou Qing invited her to visit and offered to take her as a disciple.

• Zhou Qing reasoned that allowing cultivators to relocate would turn them against the Four Great Dao Palaces, and Whitebrow agreed to announce the arrangement to Western Serenity Continent's Golden Core Sect Leaders.
• Zhou Qing continued cultivating, opening 135 dantians and rotating among five Main Spirit Veins to sustain his immense spiritual qi consumption.
• Whitebrow confirmed that the Dharma Dissemination Dojo would allow sects to relocate, and the Golden Core Sect Leaders departed grateful and prepared to send Affiliated Families ahead as a test.
• Nie Yunxi told Zhou Qing that the Illusory Love Sect planned to relocate to the Central Continent, but Qin Xue and three disciples would remain at Void Realm Mountain.
• Zhou Qing asked Nie Yunxi to invite Qin Xue to visit the Dharma Dissemination Dojo and offered to let her enter his sect.

Zhou Qing learned that allied sects were relocating as the Central Continent’s blockade threatened the Western Serenity Continent’s future. After explaining how he planned to break the Central Continent’s monopoly on spiritual herbs, he agreed to accept Qin Xue as his first formal disciple.

• Nie Yunxi told Zhou Qing that the Illusory Love Sect was relocating and regretted that the move would disrupt the Western Serenity Continent’s progress in formations.
• Chen Qingxuan and Elder Xuan Zhe reported that the Crimson Fire Sect and Immortal Forest Lake were also relocating, and Zhou Qing refused further visitors to resume cultivation.
• After a month in seclusion, Zhou Qing emerged having opened one hundred and fifty dantians and found Grandmaster Qingmu waiting to speak with him.
• Zhou Qing told Grandmaster Qingmu that the Central Continent aimed to outlast him by monopolizing spiritual herbs, and that he needed to break that monopoly to secure his and his followers’ futures.
• Grandmaster Qingmu warned Zhou Qing not to lose heart if he explored the end of the Qionghua Continent, then took his leave.
• Qin Xue visited Zhou Qing with three young girls, and Zhou Qing offered to accept her as his first formal disciple.

After the Western Serenity Continent’s relocation, Zhou Qing strengthened his cultivation and set out west to explore the edge of Qionghua Continent. He traveled across the open sea and encountered the immense shadow of a powerful deep-sea demon beast.

• Qin Xue became Zhou Qing’s disciple, and Yu Jiao, Jin Min, and Yin Ping paid their respects to him as their Ancestral Master.
• Qin Xue told Zhou Qing that Xiao Xiao, Lin Li, and Huang Quan had also stayed in the Western Serenity Continent, and he invited them to come to the dojo.
• The relocation left only six Golden Core Sects in the Western Serenity Continent, and Zhou Qing divided the departed sects’ spirit veins among them.
• After two years of cultivation, Zhou Qing raised all one hundred and fifty of his dantians to the fifth level of Foundation Establishment and decided to travel west.
• Zhou Qing crossed the Western Serenity Continent and entered the open sea, where towering waves and dangerous demon beasts filled the waters.
• Zhou Qing spotted a vast underwater shadow and flew along it for nearly half an hour before reaching its end; it stretched for several hundred li.

Zhou Qing reached the edge of Qionghua Continent and discovered that it was an isolated island being eroded by the Demonic Abyss, with no clear route to other continents. He returned to Western Serenity Continent, where he hesitated to tell his companions the bleak truth.

• Zhou Qing traveled through increasingly chaotic spiritual energy until he reached the edge of Qionghua Continent.
• Zhou Qing found that a fragile membrane of light separated Qionghua Continent from the Demonic Abyss and realized the continent was being eroded by it.
• Zhou Qing considered venturing into the Demonic Abyss to search for other continents, but judged the risks too great and decided to return to Western Serenity Continent.
• Zhou Qing returned to the Dharma Dissemination Dojo after a journey that had taken half a year.
• The Sacred Lotus Maiden, Nascent Soul cultivators, and Zhou Qing’s other companions asked what he had found, but Zhou Qing hesitated to tell them that other continents might no longer exist.

Zhou Qing warned the cultivators that the Demonic Abyss was steadily consuming Qionghua Continent and ordered Western Serenity Continent to pool and protect its resources. Two years later, Chen Xiao returned from Central Continent to plead for Zhou Qing to bring the migrant cultivators back.

• Zhou Qing told the cultivators that the barrier around Qionghua Continent was shrinking and that the Demonic Abyss would eventually reach Western Serenity Continent.
• Zhou Qing ordered spirit herbs moved to the Dharma Dissemination Dojo and resumed cultivating, later securing five more spirit veins for himself.
• Over two years, Zhou Qing brought nearly all of his one hundred and fifty dantians to the peak of the fifth layer of Foundation Establishment.
• Chen Xiao came from Central Continent and begged Zhou Qing to set aside past grievances and help the migrant cultivators return to Western Serenity Continent.
• Chen Xiao explained that the Seven Great Daoist Temples forced the migrants into heavy labor, sent many to fight demons, and left only about three hundred thousand of the original million alive.

Zhou Qing agreed to accompany Chen Xiao to Central Continent, suspecting the request was a trap and planning to send a puppet in his place. He struggled to create a lifelike body that could fool Spirit Transformation cultivators, and the chapter ended with him searching for a workaround.

• Chen Xiao told Zhou Qing that nearly a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators had tried to break through from Central Continent, and asked him to help bring the others back to Western Serenity Continent.
• Lin Li, Nie Yunxi, Qin Xue, and Huang Quan warned Zhou Qing that Chen Xiao might be part of a scheme, but Zhou Qing told Chen Xiao to rest for ten days before accompanying him to Central Continent.
• Zhou Qing borrowed the Research Room at Great Transformation Peak and decided to make a puppet to investigate the suspected trap without risking himself.
• Whitebrow assigned chief artifact refiner Mo Liming, who used the Flesh Refining Technique to create soulless bodies controlled by formations.
• Zhou Qing tried to imprint his aura onto a flesh body, but Whitebrow detected irregularities, and Zhou Qing began searching for a roundabout way to fool Spirit Transformation cultivators.

Zhou Qing tested a flesh puppet that carried his own aura and convinced Whitebrow that it was indistinguishable from his true body. He traveled toward the Central Continent with Chen Xiao, delaying along the way to learn about the Four Great Dao Palaces’ plans, and reached Two Realms Mountain as Chen Xiao revealed a way through its barrier.

• Zhou Qing showed Whitebrow that his flesh puppet could carry his aura through the Dao Heart World, fooling a Spirit Transformation cultivator into thinking Zhou Qing’s true body was present.
• Zhou Qing decided to travel to the Central Continent and set out with Chen Xiao, who was secretly tasked with luring him into a trap.
• As they traveled, Chen Xiao revealed that the Seven Great Daoist Temples resented the Four Great Dao Palaces for reducing or downgrading their Gold-Melting Pill allotments.
• Zhou Qing deliberately slowed their journey with long cultivation stops while Chen Xiao feared that he might grow suspicious and abandon the mission.
• After nearly two months, Zhou Qing and Chen Xiao reached Two Realms Mountain, where Chen Xiao explained that they could pass through worn gaps in its rune barrier.

Zhou Qing and Chen Xiao crossed Two Realms Mountain, but Chen Xiao led him into a trap set by the strongest experts of the immortal path and the Demonic Path. The chapter ends with Zhou Qing facing the gathered cultivators, who reveal that they expected him to come despite knowing he had seen through the deception.

• Zhou Qing and Chen Xiao slipped through a flaw in the barrier of Two Realms Mountain and continued toward Heavy Water Sect.
• Lu Mingzhao and Great Wisdom Arhat discussed their plan to eliminate Zhou Qing before he advanced further.
• As Zhou Qing and Chen Xiao neared Heavy Water Sect, Chen Xiao fell behind during a sudden snowstorm, and Great Wisdom Arhat appeared to confront Zhou Qing.
• Chen Xiao fled as Lu Mingzhao, Dao Yi, Moon Soul Immortal, the Devil Master, and other experts emerged around Zhou Qing.
• Great Wisdom Arhat and the Devil Master revealed that they had set the trap knowing Zhou Qing had seen through Chen Xiao's intentions, and the Devil Master remarked, “But you still came!”

The Devil Master and the Four Great Dao Palaces trapped Zhou Qing in the Nine Heavens Ten Earths Secret Locking Array and believed they had killed him. Zhou Qing escaped through a tear in space, leaving them to fear what he would do to the restored Pure Void Dao Palace.

• The Devil Master explained that Zhou Qing had entered the trap because of his pride, while Great Wisdom Arhat revealed that he and Lu Mingzhao had created the Nine Heavens Ten Earths Secret Locking Array to immobilize him.
• Zhou Qing understood how the formation bound the space around him, but the Devil Master used its combined power to grind his body into dust.
• Lu Mingzhao sensed that Zhou Qing was still alive, and the group found a hole in space that widened to reveal Zhou Qing on the other side.
• Zhou Qing showed them the floating island of the restored Pure Void Dao Palace, then closed the spatial opening before Lu Mingzhao could strike him with the Azure Frost Sword.

Zhou Qing destroyed key Gold-Melting Pill ingredients in the Spirit Garden, then pursued Dao Masters carrying pills before an unrelenting sword light forced him to flee. The sword light continued tracking him as he raced onward.

• Zhou Qing exploited the Four Great Dao Palaces’ weakened guard to enter the Spirit Garden and destroy its herbs and beasts with Plasma Beams.
• Ancestor Ziyun and Moonlight Immortal attacked Zhou Qing, but he wounded Ancestor Ziyun with Gamma Rays and escaped toward the Dao Masters carrying Gold-Melting Pills.
• Lu Mingzhao and the other Spirit Transformation cultivators returned, learned that two essential Gold-Melting Pill ingredients had been destroyed, and realized Zhou Qing was hunting the departing Dao Masters.
• Zhou Qing caught up with one Dao Master but sensed a sword light approaching and changed course to evade it.
• The sword light pursued Zhou Qing persistently, following him even after he altered his aura.