Chapter Summaries

Zhou Qing used Lu Mingzhao’s pursuing sword light to devastate Demon Cloud Ridge, then lured it into killing Guo Songshou and seized ten Gold-Melting Pills. After exhausting the sword light and recovering some spiritual energy, he investigated a nearby Daoist temple and found an unusually large gathering of cultivators with no Nascent Soul expert.

• Zhou Qing led Lu Mingzhao’s sword light through Demon Cloud Ridge, destroying peaks and killing many demonic cultivators before the Devil Master tried to intercept him.
• Zhou Qing escaped the Devil Master and drew the weakened sword light toward the Lapis Lazuli Daoist Temple, where it killed Guo Songshou after he dodged Zhou Qing’s golden light.
• Zhou Qing took Guo Songshou’s Storage Pouch and obtained ten Gold-Melting Pills, then led the sword light tens of thousands of miles until it ran out of power.
• Zhou Qing recovered on a nearby mountaintop and used Relay Stations to discover a Daoist temple with nearly a thousand cultivators, including dozens of Golden Core cultivators but no Nascent Soul Cultivator.
• Zhou Qing walked to the temple and saw the gathered young cultivators watching a male and female cultivator demonstrate their techniques.

Zhou Qing encountered Liu Wen and Xu Hui at Guzhuzi's Lord Lao Temple, where Guzhuzi and Huang Long had sheltered exiles from the Western Serenity Continent. After learning the Illusory Love Sect had been sent into the Demonic Abyss, the exiles asked Zhou Qing to take them home.

• Liu Wen and Xu Hui recognized Zhou Qing and welcomed him to Lord Lao Temple, where the gathered cultivators learned he was the Celestial Connection True Lord.
• Zhou Qing learned the cultivators had fled the Four Great Dao Palaces after they broke their agreement and had been bullied and displaced across the Central Continent.
• Huang Long explained that he and Guzhuzi had sheltered the Western Serenity Continent exiles after becoming ostracized for their association with Zhou Qing.
• Wei Jing told Zhou Qing that the Pure Void Dao Palace had sent the Illusory Love Sect into the Demonic Abyss half a year earlier, and Zhou Qing worried about their fate.
• Wei Jing asked Zhou Qing to take the exiles back to the Western Serenity Continent.

Zhou Qing offered the Western Serenity Continent refugees a chance to regain the right to return if they found the devotion he sought, while promising Guzhuzi and Huang Long a path to Nascent Soul if they stayed to lead the refugees. After returning to the Dharma Dissemination Dojo, he reported the loss of access to Gold-Melting Pill ingredients and distributed seven seized pills for future breakthroughs.

• Zhou Qing told the refugees that returning to Western Serenity Continent required finding a devotion he would not define, then dismissed them to seek it.
• Huang Long asked Zhou Qing to take him and Guzhuzi back to Western Serenity Continent, and Zhou Qing offered them a choice between immediate refuge there or staying to lead the refugees in exchange for a path to Nascent Soul.
• Guzhuzi and Huang Long chose to stay, and Zhou Qing spent half a month at Lord Lao Temple recovering and urging the refugees to find and support their wandering companions.
• Zhou Qing crossed Two Realms Mountain past Half-Maitreya and returned to the Dharma Dissemination Dojo.
• Zhou Qing explained that access to Gold-Melting Pill herbs had been cut off, then gave Whitebrow seven of the ten pills he had seized from Guo Songtao to distribute to suitable candidates.

Over ten years of cultivation, Zhou Qing opened all 195 of his acupoints into dantians and saw his body’s magnetic field powers gradually unlock. He watched the Central Continent expatriates grow into a united underground organization and learned that the Azure Cloud Sect had become the Azure Cloud Daoist Grounds, while he continued to await greater support for his Dao Heart World.

• Zhou Qing sealed three Gold-Melting Pills in a Cloud Embryo Jade Bottle and considered ways to obtain more resources, including developing his Dao Heart World and seeking other continents.
• Zhou Qing relied on the Azure Cloud Sect’s growing faith and planned for the Central Continent expatriates’ devotion to strengthen his Dao Heart World.
• Over ten years, Zhou Qing opened all 195 acupoints into dantians; his original 150 reached the sixth level of Foundation Establishment, while the new 45 remained at lower levels.
• Zhou Qing observed that Central Continent’s expatriates had fought local sects, then gone underground and grown more united while holding to his instructions.
• The Azure Cloud Sect Leader True Person refined a Nascent Soul, elevating the sect into the Azure Cloud Daoist Grounds, but his pride faded when he saw Zhou Qing’s giant statue.

Zhou Qing reunited with Wang Xiaohu and agreed to let Wang Miaoyun stay at the Dharma Dissemination Dojo to cultivate. Wang Xiaohu then warned that a terrifying force in the western sea was driving monsters toward Great Qian, and Zhou Qing suspected it was the enormous Sea Monster.

• Wang Xiaohu brought his daughter, Wang Miaoyun, to visit Zhou Qing after nearly forty years apart.
• Wang Xiaohu explained that he had married into the Great Qian Imperial Family after saving it from a Rogue Cultivator, and had not taught Wang Miaoyun cultivation because he had not sought the sect's approval.
• Zhou Qing offered to find Wang Miaoyun a suitable cultivation method and let her remain at the Dharma Dissemination Dojo to cultivate.
• Wang Xiaohu reported that Sea Monsters had been threatening Great Qian for two years and had multiplied dramatically over the past six months.
• Wang Xiaohu said he had sensed a terrifying aura far to the west and asked Zhou Qing to evacuate Great Qian's people to the Western Serenity Continent.
• Zhou Qing suspected that the aura belonged to the enormous Sea Monster.

Zhou Qing accompanied Wang Xiaohu and Wang Miaoyun toward Great Qian after the ancient turtle’s unusual migration suggested a crisis was approaching. They reached a monster-filled fog barrier and, as a fish demon attacked their vessel, Wang Xiaohu feared that Great Qian’s people faced near-certain disaster.

• Zhou Qing borrowed a flying vessel from Whitebrow and set out with Wang Xiaohu and Wang Miaoyun toward Great Qian.
• After crossing the Western Serenity Continent and flying over the sea, they found Great Qian shrouded in dense fog that Zhou Qing believed concealed the Sea Creatures’ advance.
• Zhou Qing guided the vessel into the fog, where their vision and divine sense were restricted and monster cries and shadows surrounded them.
• A fish demon leaped onto the vessel, and Wang Xiaohu fought it with his flying sword, but the sword broke as the demon fled into the fog.
• Wang Xiaohu lamented the loss of his sword and feared that the Sea Creatures’ numbers left Great Qian’s people with only a one-in-ten chance of survival.

Zhou Qing annihilated the Sea Monsters threatening the coast and drove the survivors away, then returned to Great Qian with Wang Xiaohu and Wang Miaoyun. After visiting old graves, he took Wang Miaoyun back toward the Dharma Dissemination Dojo to cultivate.

• Zhou Qing charged the flying boat’s defenses, descended into the fog, and unleashed boiling seas and lightning that destroyed the Sea Monsters across hundreds of miles.
• Zhou Qing warned the surviving sea demons to leave within three days, and they began migrating away from the coast.
• Wang Xiaohu marveled at Zhou Qing’s power, while Wang Miaoyun declared she wanted to become a cultivator like her Grand Uncle.
• Zhou Qing returned to Great Qian with Wang Xiaohu and Wang Miaoyun, paid respects at Old Man Zhou’s grave, and cleared weeds from Nie Yunxi’s father’s grave.
• Wang Xiaohu introduced Zhou Qing to the Emperor of Great Qian, and Zhou Qing told the Grand Princess he would take Wang Miaoyun to cultivate at the Dharma Dissemination Dojo.

Zhou Qing discovered that the Demonic Abyss was eroding Qionghua Continent faster than he had expected, then learned from an old giant turtle what it meant to be a god and how a Divine Kingdom could be completed. He left with a radically changed understanding of the Cultivation World, while the turtle asked to become his future sacrifice.

• Zhou Qing found that the Demonic Abyss had eroded Qionghua Continent's borders by more than a hundred thousand li in ten years and estimated it could reach Western Serenity Continent in a little over a hundred years.
• Zhou Qing encountered the old giant turtles again, and one called him a god because he possessed the foundation of a god.
• The old giant turtle asked Zhou Qing to sacrifice it when his Divine Kingdom was nearly complete, claiming the sacrifice could share the Divine Kingdom's lifespan.
• The old giant turtle explained that gods were free and self-sufficient, unlike cultivators who relied on spiritual qi and the world.
• The old giant turtle said gods supported the abundance of worlds, and that a sacrificed being's spirit and soul became the Divine Kingdom's World Spirit.

Zhou Qing learned that Old Softshell Turtle could not help him fight Central Continent, though the turtle agreed to settle near Dagan. Zhou Qing brought Wang Miaoyun to the Dharma Dissemination Dojo and took her to meet Sacred Lotus Maiden as a potential master.

• Zhou Qing asked Old Softshell Turtle to help him defeat Central Continent's Spirit Transformation cultivators, but the turtle explained that his cultivation focused on preserving vitality rather than fighting.
• Zhou Qing arranged for Old Softshell Turtle to settle near Dagan, then asked Wang Xiaohu to return with him; Wang Xiaohu stayed behind and entrusted Wang Miaoyun to Zhou Qing.
• Zhou Qing brought Wang Miaoyun to the Dharma Dissemination Dojo, where Nie Yunxi suggested that Sacred Lotus Maiden teach her.
• Zhou Qing picked plums as a courtesy gift and brought Wang Miaoyun to Sacred Lotus Maiden's cave abode on Great Transformation Peak.
• Mu Zhuosha stormed out after hearing Zhou Qing tease Sacred Lotus Maiden about an old defeat, then greeted Wang Miaoyun.

Wang Miaoyun became fascinated with Zhou Qing’s past and secretly crossed into Central Continent to retrace his footsteps. After learning she had gone, Zhou Qing rushed to Two Realms Mountain and found the barrier opening she had used.

• Wang Miaoyun asked Mu Zhuosha and Xiang Lian about Zhou Qing and chose to learn the Dharma Dissemination Dojo’s inheritance rather than copy his cultivation technique.
• Over fifteen years, Zhou Qing raised all 195 dantians to the seventh level of Foundation Establishment and brought his strong nuclear force close to transforming.
• Nie Yunxi told Zhou Qing that Wang Miaoyun had crossed into Central Continent after retracing the path he had once walked.
• Worried that Wang Miaoyun would be discovered as a cultivator from Western Serenity Continent, Zhou Qing set out to bring her back.
• Zhou Qing reached Two Realms Mountain and found the hole in the barrier Wang Miaoyun had used to cross into Central Continent.

The Four Great Dao Palaces established the Supreme Dao Dynasty and its Golden Sword Guard to hunt the growing Flowing Tribe. Golden Light Forefather captured sector chief Liu Wen and tortured her for days, but she refused to reveal any information.

• The Flowing Tribe grew to a million members by sheltering and recruiting cultivators across Central Continent.
• The Four Great Dao Palaces merged the imperial dynasties into the Supreme Dao Dynasty and created the Golden Sword Guard to pursue the Flowing Tribe.
• Golden Light Forefather stayed in Central Continent, joined the Four Great Dao Palaces with his brothers and Yu Liuyun, and became commander of the Golden Sword Guard.
• Golden Light Forefather captured Liu Wen, Guzhuzi's disciple and a Flowing Tribe sector chief.
• Golden Light Forefather subjected Liu Wen to brutal torture, but she revealed nothing, and he admitted he could not make her submit.

After Wang Miaoyun explained that piety meant recognizing Zhou Qing as a god, Liu Wen understood the Flowing Tribe’s long-sought answer. Zhou Qing sensed her devotion from afar and sent life force through their connection, healing her as he entered Central Continent.

• Liu Wen, tortured and near death in prison, wished to know what piety meant but could not kill herself because of the Flowing Tribe’s commandment against suicide.
• Wang Miaoyun told Liu Wen that piety meant recognizing Zhou Qing as sacred and revering him as a god.
• Liu Wen realized that the Flowing Tribe had already treated Zhou Qing as their savior and felt his gaze upon her.
• Zhou Qing crossed into Central Continent and sensed that piety had awakened within Liu Wen.
• Zhou Qing used their connection to send life force into Liu Wen, healing her injuries and restoring her strength.

Liu Wen used God’s power to break out of the Black Prison, defeat its guards, and free the prisoners. After warning the Flowing Tribe to gather in Northern Continent, she used Xuan Zhenzi’s oath to keep him from pursuing them and fled with Wang Miaoyun.

• Liu Wen melted open her cell door and prepared to free the prisoners, but Golden Light Forefather, Yu Liuyun, and Feng Xu arrived to stop her.
• Liu Wen wounded Golden Light Forefather, escaped Feng Xu’s earth spell, and killed Yu Liuyun, Golden Light Forefather, and Feng Xu.
• Liu Wen destroyed the Black Prison and told the freed Flowing Tribe prisoners to alert their elders and head for Northern Continent.
• Xuan Zhenzi arrived and threatened to execute the escaped prisoners, but Liu Wen showed him the Lesser Cosmos Pearl and invoked his oath to avoid Zhou Qing.
• Xuan Zhenzi withdrew without pursuing the prisoners, and Liu Wen left for the outskirts of the capital with Wang Miaoyun.

Zhou Qing blocked nine Spirit Transformation cultivators from leaving to intercept the Flowing Tribe rebels, and Lu Mingzhao proposed a wager over whether they would reach the Western Serenity Continent. Lu Mingzhao’s hidden plan was to exploit Zhou Qing’s choice to either weaken him or leave him trapped, as the ten powerhouses reached the Northern Continent border.

• Zhou Qing threatened to destroy the Four Great Dao Palaces if their Spirit Transformation cultivators left to pursue the Flowing Tribe rebels.
• Lu Mingzhao wagered fifty Gold-Melting Pills against Zhou Qing remaining a guest in the Dao Palaces for fifty years, and the group agreed not to intervene in the outcome.
• Lu Mingzhao told Purple Cloud Mountain that the rebels’ Saints likely borrowed Zhou Qing’s power, then revealed through his reaction that the wager was meant to leave Zhou Qing vulnerable or trapped.
• The ten Spirit Transformation cultivators flew to a plain near the Central Continent and Northern Continent border, where the migrating Flowing Tribe had gathered in a vast tide.

The Flowing Tribe’s Saints gathered on the Jade Dragon Plain and, after Huixin reframed their danger as a divine trial, returned to strengthen the people’s faith. As nearly two hundred Nascent Soul cultivators and their forces surrounded the plain and frightened members began to flee, Zhou Qing stood by his claim to godhood, while Liu Wen told those who remained to pray for salvation.

• Liu Wen told the Flowing Tribe’s Saints that the gods had detained the Spirit Transformation experts, but nearly a hundred Nascent Soul True Lords and dozens of Nascent Soul cultivators had gathered to destroy the tribe.
• Huixin argued that the gods had already determined the tribe’s fate and that the crisis was a trial of faith, convincing Liu Wen and the other Saints to return to their people.
• Lu Mingzhao questioned Zhou Qing’s claim to godhood, and Zhou Qing said he would succeed in bearing the responsibility placed upon him.
• Nearly two hundred Nascent Soul cultivators from the Four Great Dao Palaces and Seven Great Daoist Temples surrounded the Jade Dragon Plain, and frightened Flowing Tribe members began fleeing or seeking surrender.
• Liu Wen told her companions and the gathered people to let those who wished to leave go, while those who stayed prayed for the gods’ salvation.

Zhou Qing won his wager with Lu Mingzhao when the Three-Headed Old Softshell Turtle arrived to carry the Flowing Tribe to safety. As the tribe departed for the sea, Zhou Qing gained a flood of devotion and sensed major changes in his Dao Heart World.

• The Flowing Tribe split, with more than a million members seeking protection from the Supreme Dao Dynasty and nearly a million staying with Zhou Qing.
• Lu Mingzhao’s forces moved to attack the remaining Flowing Tribe, while the nine Spirit Transformation cultivators expected Zhou Qing to lose his wager.
• The Three-Headed Old Softshell Turtle arrived and said it had come to bring the Flowing Tribe home in response to a god’s summons.
• Zhou Qing declared victory, and the Flowing Tribe climbed onto the Old Softshell Turtle’s back as their devotion to him surged.
• The Old Softshell Turtle carried the Flowing Tribe toward the sea, and Zhou Qing asked Lu Mingzhao to honor their agreement.

Zhou Qing secured the Flowing Tribe’s safe passage to Western Serenity Continent and established plans for a Divine Dynasty there. He left Wang Miaoyun to resume cultivation at the Dharma Dissemination Dojo, where she remained on the mountain.

• Lu Mingzhao chose not to unleash the Azure Frost Sword and promised to send Zhou Qing fifty Gold-Melting Pills, while Zhou Qing left after ensuring the Flowing Tribe had escaped.
• Old Softshell Turtle brought the Flowing Tribe to Western Serenity Continent, where Zhou Qing arrived and met with its six saints and Wang Miaoyun.
• Zhou Qing ordered the Flowing Tribe to establish a unified Divine Dynasty governed by a Council of Elders, with deification education and the recruitment of talented mortals among its duties.
• Zhou Qing returned Wang Miaoyun to Xiang Lian and Mu Zhuosha and forbade her from leaving the mountain until she reached Golden Core.
• Wang Miaoyun devoted herself to cultivation, and later she and her two masters established Three Immortals Peak and Three Immortals Cave.

Zhou Qing explored the changes in his Dao Heart World and confronted the growing shortage of Gold-Melting Pills across Qionghua Continent. Fifteen years later, after advancing all his dantians to the eighth level of Foundation Establishment, he saw a river of stars shining in the Demonic Abyss.

• Nie Yunxi asked why Miao Yun, who had first ignited her Faith Fire, had not become Zhou Qing's follower, and Zhou Qing said she might not truly believe.
• Zhou Qing found that his Dao Heart World had expanded to nearly a thousand li, gained stronger spiritual energy and a sturdier, star-covered barrier linked to his believers.
• Zhou Qing sent Cao Yang to demand Gold-Melting Pills from Lu Mingzhao, but Lu Mingzhao refused to provide them and told Zhou Qing to come in person.
• Zhou Qing learned that Gold-Melting Pills were scarce across Qionghua Continent, leaving many Golden Core cultivators unable to attempt a breakthrough as cultivators returned to the mortal world.
• Over fifteen years, Zhou Qing raised all one hundred and ninety-five dantians to the eighth level of Foundation Establishment while the Divine Dynasty stabilized and his Dao Heart World grew to nearly three thousand li.
• Zhou Qing entered his Dao Heart World and saw flickering starlight in the Demonic Abyss, like a river of stars.

Zhou Qing noticed a pulsing speck of stardust, while Tan Qian learned that Hu Dalin was returning to destroy the Heavenly Saber Sect and overheard her father plan to send her away. As she mourned alone beneath the stars, an unseen voice spoke to her.

• Zhou Qing watched a yellow speck of stardust draw closer and began to sense a faint presence and sound from it.
• Tan Qian eavesdropped as Tan Yuan and his four disciples discussed Hu Dalin's challenge and the other sects' refusal to help.
• Tan Yuan told his disciples to leave with Tan Qian and protect her, and they agreed to take her away after making her fall asleep.
• Tan Qian ran to the back mountain, grieved at the thought of leaving, and resolved not to abandon her father.
• An unseen voice asked Tan Qian where she was, and she could not determine where it came from.

Zhou Qing connected with Tan Qian on Jade Spring Mountain and learned that she was in the Land of Oblivion, a separated region of Taixuan Continent. Tan Qian asked him to help the Heavenly Saber Sect face Hu Dalin, while Zhou Qing began assessing the sect’s strength and the unfamiliar cultivation system.

• Tan Qian searched for the unseen Zhou Qing, told him she was on Jade Spring Mountain, and explained that it was part of the Land of Oblivion, once connected to Taixuan Continent.
• Zhou Qing realized Tan Qian was beyond Qionghua Continent and considered using a lasting connection with her to explore the region and find spirit herbs.
• Zhou Qing claimed to be a god who answered sincere prayers, and Tan Qian asked whether he could help the Heavenly Saber Sect repel Hu Dalin.
• Tan Qian explained that her father was an Innate Master and Hu Dalin might be at the peak of the Innate Realm, then described the region’s Acquired, Innate, and Divine Ability realms.
• Tan Yuan arrived, told Tan Qian to prepare to descend the mountain the next day, and left without hearing about Zhou Qing.
• Zhou Qing judged Tan Yuan’s strength to be modest by his own standards and doubted that the local martial artists knew how to use spiritual qi properly.