Chapter Summaries

Zhou Qing told Tan Qian that he could only lend her power if she developed sincere conviction, then fell silent. After Tan Qian’s four senior brothers took her away from Jade Spring Mountain, she persuaded them to turn back and stand with Tan Yuan against Hu Dalin.

• Zhou Qing explained that he could help Tan Qian only if her conviction formed a connection across the vast distance between them.
• Tan Qian spent the night seeking to understand conviction, then told Tan Yuan she wanted to face the enemy with him.
• Tan Yuan knocked Tan Qian unconscious and sent her away with Hu Wending and the other three Wen-generation disciples.
• After waking in the forest, Tan Qian rebuked her senior brothers for leaving Tan Yuan and realized Zhou Qing was no longer answering her.
• Tan Qian argued that she should share her father's danger, and Hu Wending led the four disciples in deciding to return to Jade Spring Mountain.

Tan Qian and the four senior disciples returned to Jade Spring Mountain and found Hu Dalin defeating Tan Yuan at the Patriarchs' Hall. Just as Hu Dalin moved to kill Tan Yuan, Tan Qian’s plea summoned a divine will, and a pale hand stopped Hu Dalin’s saber.

• Tan Qian, Yang Wenchang, Hu Wending, and the others reached Jade Spring Mountain, found black-clad men guarding the paths, and hurried to the Patriarchs' Hall.
• The five found Tan Yuan wounded after Hu Dalin defeated him, and Hu Dalin mocked his former master and junior brothers.
• Hu Wending and the other three senior disciples attacked Hu Dalin together, but he defeated them with a single burst of saber qi.
• Hu Dalin declared that he would establish his own Heavenly Saber Sect and raised his saber to kill Tan Yuan.
• Tan Qian prayed for her family and senior brothers, a divine will descended upon her, and a pale hand caught Hu Dalin’s saber before it struck Tan Yuan.

Tan Qian used power granted by a true god to defeat Hu Dalin and wipe out the invading enemies at the Heavenly Saber Sect. She returned to her father and revealed that her power came from being connected to a god, not from reaching the Spirit-Connecting Realm.

• Tan Qian caught Hu Dalin's saber strike with her bare hands and shattered his saber, astonishing Tan Yuan and the others.
• Hu Dalin unleashed his Life-Slaying Saber Technique, but Tan Qian let the strike hit her without harm.
• Tan Qian used Five-Colored Divine Light to dissolve Hu Dalin completely.
• Tan Qian flew across Jade Spring Mountain and killed the remaining invaders who were looting the sect and attacking its disciples.
• Tan Yuan asked how Tan Qian had reached the Spirit-Connecting Realm, and she explained that she was connected to a true god who had helped her.

After Tan Qian explained how the deity saved the Heavenly Saber Sect, Zhou Qing learned that the world’s cultivation traditions came from a ruined temple in the Blackwater River. When Tan Qian showed him the sect’s Original Codex, he recognized it as a new set of Ancient Notes containing five previously unknown acupoints.

• Tan Yuan accepted Tan Qian’s account of the deity and entrusted her with the Heavenly Saber Sect’s affairs while he recuperated.
• Tan Qian returned to the back mountain and entered her intimate state with Zhou Qing, who asked about the origins of the world’s cultivation methods.
• Tan Qian explained that the five Holy Lands inherited their cultivation knowledge from a ruined temple once revealed by the Blackwater River.
• Zhou Qing learned that the Heavenly Saber Sect’s founder had brought back an Original Codex, and Tan Qian retrieved it from beneath a floor tile in the ruined Patriarch Hall.
• Tan Qian read the Original Codex so Zhou Qing could see it, and he recognized it as Ancient Notes containing five new acupoints.
• Zhou Qing concluded that the other Holy Lands’ Original Codices were likely Ancient Notes that had shaped the Land of Oblivion’s limited cultivation system.

Zhou Qing taught Tan Qian a superior cultivation method and arranged for her to seek spirit herbs while he advanced his cultivation. After learning that substitute Gold-Melting Pills produced only Half-step Nascent Soul cultivators, he agreed to bring the ailing Grandmaster Qingmu to Dao Rhythm Peak and asked Whitebrow how many Western Serenity cultivators awaited the new pill.

• Zhou Qing taught Tan Qian the Azure Cloud Sect's Qi Refinement method, warned her not to share it, and ended their connection.
• Zhou Qing sent Tan Qian High-Grade Spirit Stones and lists of spirit herbs to find, then spent three years opening and cultivating five new dantians to the eighth level of Foundation Establishment.
• Nie Yunxi told Zhou Qing that Grandmaster Qingmu had failed to break through to Nascent Soul after taking a substitute Gold-Melting Pill, leaving him with less than ten years to live.
• Nie Yunxi explained that Central Continent's substitute pills produced unstable Half-step Nascent Soul cultivators with limited power and no real potential for Spirit Transformation.
• Zhou Qing told Nie Yunxi to bring Grandmaster Qingmu to Dao Rhythm Peak, then asked Whitebrow how many Western Serenity cultivators awaited the new Gold-Melting Pill.
• Whitebrow said roughly twenty peak Gold Core cultivators were waiting to test the pill.

Zhou Qing banned the new Gold-Melting Pill and entered the Dao Heart World to return to the Land of Oblivion. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Saber Sect faced a gathering of factions trying to force out its supposed secret to entering Divine Communion, and Tan Yuan’s party went to confront them.

• Zhou Qing ordered Whitebrow to halt research into the new Gold-Melting Pill and returned to his seclusion to enter the Dao Heart World.
• Tan Qian’s search for spiritual herbs and other sects’ Original Codices fueled suspicions that the Heavenly Saber Sect held a secret to reaching Divine Communion.
• The remaining Holy Lands and other sects gathered at the Heavenly Saber Sect under the pretense of celebrating Tan Yuan’s birthday, intending to force out the secret.
• Tan Yuan, Tan Qian, and the Four Great Disciples went to the reception hall after the visitors began demanding their presence and insulting the sect.
• Kuang Shiyuan and Yun Haijiao proposed a martial contest, and Hu Wending objected because it was Tan Yuan’s birthday.

Yun Haijiao challenged the Heavenly Saber Sect at Tan Yuan’s birthday gathering and exposed Tan Yuan’s weakened cultivation while demanding the secret of Divine Connection. The gathered martial artists pressed Tan Yuan to reveal it, and Yang Wenchang accused them of using fellowship as an excuse to seize it by force.

• Yun Haijiao challenged Hu Wending to a saber match, and Tan Yuan accepted on his disciple’s behalf.
• Hu Wending gained the advantage, but Yun Haijiao unleashed the Three-Tiered Wave Force Technique and injured him with his saber qi before Tan Yuan intervened.
• Tan Yuan demanded to know how Yun Haijiao had learned the Surging Waves Sect’s secret art, and Yun Haijiao claimed it was his Great River Layered Wave Force.
• Yun Haijiao and the other guests inferred that Tan Yuan’s cultivation had declined and pressed the Heavenly Saber Sect for the secret of Divine Connection.
• Tan Yuan denied knowing the secret, while Yang Wenchang condemned the guests for disguising their attempt to seize it as concern for the martial world.

Tan Qian revealed her overwhelming power at the Heavenly Saber Sect’s birthday gathering, defeating Yun Haijiao and driving the gathered sects away. After healing Hu Wending, she told Zhou Qing that she had found most of the requested spirit herbs and reported a possible Face-Breaking Flower at a ruined temple by the Blackwater River.

• Tan Qian challenged Yun Haijiao after he fought Hu Wending, and her speed and invisible defense left him unable to harm her.
• Tan Qian drew Yun Haijiao’s saber to her and cleaved the training ground and Yun Haijiao in two with a single strike.
• Tan Qian challenged Kuang Shiyuan, who refused to fight, then ordered the other sects to return home and await invitations from the Heavenly Saber Sect.
• Tan Yuan thanked the deity for protecting the sect, and Tan Qian told him to select reliable disciples for the deity’s upcoming needs.
• Tan Qian used a healing spell to expel Yun Haijiao’s saber energy from Hu Wending and heal his injuries.
• Tan Qian told Zhou Qing that most requested spirit herbs had been found and that the ancestor’s account of a seven-colored flower guarded by a great snake might point to the Face-Breaking Flower.

Zhou Qing gathered spiritual herbs and Original Codices from the Land of Oblivion, then brought enough herbs back to support the refining of Gold-Melting Pills. After reassuring Whitebrow and the Sect Leader True Person, he left the future of the Nascent Soul path and the Demonic Abyss uncertain but more hopeful.

• Zhou Qing ordered Tan Qian to collect spiritual herbs and Original Codices, then spent half a year guiding her cultivation before returning to the Dharma Dissemination Dojo.
• Zhou Qing delivered spiritual herbs to Whitebrow, who said they were enough to refine a thousand Gold-Melting Pills.
• Zhou Qing told Whitebrow that only he could obtain these herbs, and Whitebrow began gathering alchemists to refine pills.
• Zhou Qing reunited with Qingyuan, Nie Yunxi, and old acquaintances at Dao Rhythm Peak.
• The Sect Leader True Person described the worsening dangers at the Demonic Abyss, and Zhou Qing predicted that more Nascent Soul True Lords would soon emerge.

After visiting his friends, Zhou Qing secluded himself to open his remaining acupoints and test his strong nuclear force, discovering that he could manipulate atomic nuclei. His first large-scale experiment produced a terrifying burst of energy, and he fled as a plasma fireball erupted behind him.

• Zhou Qing visited Grandmaster Qingmu, whose failed breakthrough had left him frail, and learned how his friends had progressed over the decades.
• Zhou Qing met Yuan Hongying, shared his research experience, and heard about her work combining Life Artifact Crafting with formations.
• Zhou Qing entered seclusion and used his magnetic field ability to split water molecules and combine protons into an atomic nucleus.
• Zhou Qing tested his strong nuclear force in a remote forest and spent more than fifty dantians breaking down a small amount of water.
• Zhou Qing fused the resulting protons, saw them release energy as a needle-tip point of light, and ran as it expanded into a blazing plasma fireball.

Zhou Qing tested a nuclear technique, then had Yuan Hongying create a bottle to store protons so he could use the attack more efficiently. As twenty-five cultivators attempted to reach the Nascent Soul realm with Gold-Melting Pills at the Dharma Dissemination Dojo, nine Spirit Transformation cultivators realized Zhou Qing had retained the pills and spirit-herb rootstocks for his own side.

• Zhou Qing tested his nuclear attack and decided to store stripped protons in advance to reduce its immense battle cost.
• Yuan Hongying delivered a rune-covered porcelain bottle with a looping storage space that let Zhou Qing keep and retrieve protons.
• Zhou Qing entered seclusion to cultivate and accumulate protons while the Dharma Dissemination Dojo refined 1,250 Gold-Melting Pills.
• Whitebrow summoned twenty-five qualified Gold Core cultivators and distributed three Gold-Melting Pills to each for their breakthroughs under the dojo's protection.
• Nine Spirit Transformation cultivators traveled to Two Realms Mountain and saw signs of many simultaneous Nascent Soul breakthroughs at the Dharma Dissemination Dojo.
• Lu Mingzhao and the others concluded that Zhou Qing had preserved Gold-Melting Pills and spirit-herb rootstocks, leaving their own factions without a path forward.

The nine Spirit Transformation cultivators decided Zhou Qing had become too dangerous to leave alive and set out to kill him. They attacked the Dharma Dissemination Dojo during twenty-five Golden Core cultivators’ breakthrough, but Zhou Qing arrived and faced them alone.

• Half-Maitreya warned the Spirit Transformation cultivators that Zhou Qing might possess the foundation for Celestial Spirit Pills, and Lu Mingzhao urged them to kill him.
• Lu Mingzhao convinced the others to pursue Zhou Qing with the Azure Frost Sword, despite Great Wisdom Arhat’s warning about the slaughtering karma.
• Twenty-five Golden Core cultivators gathered at Phoenix Cry Valley to attempt simultaneous breakthroughs to the Nascent Soul realm, while Whitebrow, the Sacred Lotus Maiden, and others watched over them.
• Ancestor Ziyun and the other Spirit Transformation cultivators descended on the valley, and Ancestor Ziyun’s attack disrupted the breakthroughs and injured many cultivators.
• Zhou Qing arrived from Dao Rhythm Peak, cut through Ancestor Ziyun’s palm with a deep-blue ray, and ordered Whitebrow and the others to evacuate the injured.
• The Sacred Lotus Maiden urged Mu Zhuosha to leave as Zhou Qing faced the nine Spirit Transformation cultivators alone.

Zhou Qing used a Miniature Nuclear Bomb to attack the Spirit Transformation cultivators, killing Ancestor Ziyun and Half-Maitreya and driving the survivors into flight. The chapter left Lu Mingzhao and six others scattering in different directions while Zhou Qing pursued them.

• Zhou Qing rejected the cultivators’ demand that he stay and fight, then sent a bean-sized Miniature Nuclear Bomb toward Ancestor Ziyun.
• The Nuclear Explosion destroyed Ziyun’s Dharma body and forced the other eight Spirit Transformation cultivators to flee.
• A second Miniature Nuclear Bomb appeared before Half-Maitreya, killing him and injuring the other seven cultivators.
• Lu Mingzhao scattered Sword Qi to track Zhou Qing, but Zhou Qing’s next explosion destroyed it and he pursued Lu Mingzhao through the mushroom cloud.
• Lu Mingzhao and the other six surviving Spirit Transformation cultivators split up and fled.

Zhou Qing hunted down Dao Yi and Moonlight Immortal, killing both with his Nuclear Explosion technique. Afterward, he told Old Softshell Turtle that he intended to spare the remaining Spirit Transformation cultivators except Lu Mingzhao.

• Dao Yi fled toward Southern Continent, but Zhou Qing caught him and pursued him underground.
• Zhou Qing left a speck of light near Dao Yi, and the resulting explosion killed him.
• Moonlight Immortal stopped over the Northern Ocean, where Zhou Qing found her with help from his allies among the sea creatures.
• Moonlight Immortal surrendered, but Zhou Qing killed her with a Nuclear Explosion, saying he could not appear weak by sparing one of the four who had hunted him.
• Zhou Qing explained to Old Softshell Turtle that his divine art concentrated energy more tightly than a True Immortal's spells and said he would spare the other Spirit Transformation cultivators except Lu Mingzhao.

Zhou Qing took command of Qionghua Continent's immortal Dao, organized its institutions and spread his faith while cultivating in seclusion. Fifteen years later, Tan Qian reached Foundation Establishment, and Zhou Qing descended upon her to prepare for their visit to the ruined temple in Blackwater River.

• Zhou Qing ordered the three absent Spirit Transformation cultivators to return, then retreated to the Flying Stone to cultivate.
• The three cultivators returned and accepted Zhou Qing's rule after he told them he had found the road to Taixuan Continent and could save Qionghua Continent.
• Zhou Qing assigned Nascent Soul cultivators to guard the Demonic Abyss and tasked the Divine Dynasty with governing the continents and spreading his faith.
• After ten years of seclusion, Zhou Qing had raised all 225 dantians to the ninth level of Foundation Establishment and focused on accumulating protons.
• Fifteen years later, Tan Qian advanced to Foundation Establishment and received Zhou Qing's silent prayer as he descended upon her consciousness.

Tan Qian reached the ruined temple in the Blackwater River with Zhou Qing’s guidance and encountered cultivators from the Heavenly Mountain Sect investigating a True Immortal’s ruins. After learning the river was formed from the True Immortal’s decayed body, she asked to accompany them below and observe.

• Tan Qian entrusted Guo Sheng with leading her disciples, then flew to the Blackwater River under Zhou Qing’s guidance.
• Tan Qian crossed the river and found a ruined temple surrounded by towering waters that an invisible force held back.
• Tan Qian discovered a freshly killed giant python, but Nan Di sprang from its mouth and trapped her in the stone floor.
• A gentle young woman introduced herself and the others as cultivators of the Heavenly Mountain Sect investigating a True Immortal’s inheritance.
• The woman explained that the Blackwater River was the True Immortal’s decayed body and warned Tan Qian to leave, but Tan Qian asked to go below with them and watch.

Tan Qian joined Shang Xiuning and the Heavenly Mountain Sect disciples as they descended into the True Immortal’s ruins, where she learned about the Demonic Abyss fiends and the dangers surrounding the ancient remains. The group reached a vast underground chamber dominated by the True Immortal’s enormous skull and its deadly orbiting flames.

• Tan Qian exchanged names with Shang Xiuning and learned that disciples from several major sects were exploring the ruins beneath the ruined temple.
• Shang Xiuning explained that Golden Core cultivators could trigger the True Immortal’s remaining Primordial Spirit, so the sects had sent talented disciples to retrieve the treasures as a trial.
• Shang Xiuning told Tan Qian that the True Immortal had been corrupted by the Demonic Abyss and that its lingering thoughts had become fiends guarding the core.
• As the group descended, the god’s power restored Tan Qian’s clarity against the Demonic Abyss’s influence, and she said her inheritance came from the Azure Cloud Sect.
• Tan Qian saw the colossal skull in the underground chamber and narrowly avoided an orbiting flame that Shang Xiuning warned could burn even a Golden Core cultivator to ashes.

Shang Xiuning sent an Ice Clone into the skull to investigate the monsters’ sudden retreat, but the darkness inside severed her senses and trapped her Primordial Spirit even after the clone dispersed. Outside, Shang Guangnan urged the others to enter and rescue her, while Cai Mao warned that they could become trapped too.

• Shang Xiuning introduced Tan Qian to Cai Mao, Huang Yuxiu, and Gongsun Sheng, and explained that she hoped to have Tan Qian accepted into the Heavenly Mountain Sect.
• Huang Yuxiu reported that the skull was dark and silent, and Shang Xiuning explained that the monsters had retreated inside two days earlier after months of fighting.
• Shang Xiuning created an Ice Clone and sent it through the skull’s eye socket to investigate while the others stayed behind.
• Inside the skull, Shang Xiuning lost all her senses and wandered through darkness before dispersing the Ice Clone, but her Primordial Spirit did not return to her body.
• After Shang Xiuning remained unconscious for a day, Shang Guangnan demanded that the group enter the skull to rescue her, and Cai Mao warned him against rushing in.

Zhou Qing projected himself into Tan Qian’s body and confronted the fused Eighteen-armed Demonic Minion to rescue Shang Xiuning. He brought Shang Xiuning out of the monster, while Cai Mao and the other surviving disciples remained trapped under attack from the rampaging fireballs.

• Cai Mao’s fire dragon entered the skull, whereupon the vanished monsters fused into the Eighteen-armed Demonic Minion.
• Cai Mao tried to lead the disciples away, but berserk fireballs killed many of them and the demonic minion blocked their escape.
• Tan Qian asked Zhou Qing to save Shang Xiuning, then let him project himself into her body.
• Zhou Qing pierced the demonic minion’s arms with Golden Light and found Shang Xiuning’s soul trapped inside its heart.
• Zhou Qing carried Shang Xiuning out of the demonic minion, which screamed and made the fireballs even more violent.

Zhou Qing saved Shang Xiuning’s group from the Eighteen-armed Demonic Minion, defeated it, and took the True Immortal’s skull and a mysterious box into the Dao Heart World. After Tan Qian reunited with the group and agreed to travel to the Central Lands, Zhou Qing began examining the memories of the True Immortal’s remnant Primordial Spirit.

• Zhou Qing arrived with Shang Xiuning and used divine light to destroy the fireballs threatening Cai Mao and the others, then helped Shang Xiuning’s Primordial Spirit return to her body.
• Shang Xiuning and her companions learned that Zhou Qing was controlling Tan Qian’s body, and Zhou Qing defeated the Eighteen-armed Demonic Minion with his Plasma Beam.
• Zhou Qing cleared away the monsters left by the Demonic Minion, then stored the True Immortal’s skull and a wooden box in the Dao Heart World.
• Zhou Qing left Tan Qian’s body, and Tan Qian agreed to travel with Shang Xiuning’s group to the Central Lands.
• Zhou Qing suppressed the True Immortal’s restless remnant Primordial Spirit in the Dao Heart World and began examining its fragmented memories.