Recaps

Zhang Yuan and Zheng Shutong posed as Deputy Cult Masters of the First God Cult, forced Deng Huachen and the Wen River Deng Clan to scout a garden, and entered with them. As they went deeper, the group discovered that the garden was making them shrink, leaving them facing an unknown danger.

• Zhang Yuan, disguised in a First God Cult robe, ordered Zheng Shutong to slap Deng Huachen after the Wen River Deng Clan leader challenged them.
• Zhang Yuan claimed that he and Zheng Shutong were Deputy Cult Masters, then had Zheng strike Deng Huachen again when he called them Cult Masters.
• Zhang Yuan ordered Deng Huachen to scout the garden, and Deng led the Wen River Deng Clan disciples inside while Qin Tianyi and the two disguised cultivators followed.
• The garden’s plants appeared to grow enormous as the group advanced, and they realized that they themselves were shrinking.
• Deng Huachen tried a spell to restore his size, failed, and warned the Wen River Deng Clan disciples to stay alert.

Zhang Yuan discovered that a Primordial Era formation was shrinking the group and destroyed its chessboard formation eye instead of solving the endgame. The formation ended, and he realized the skeletal remains had been concealing something connected to the [God-Calming Jade Seal].

• Chi Guanguan identified the [Three-Turn Size-Adjusting Wishful Formation] and explained that someone was controlling it from the garden’s center.
• Zhang Yuan used the [Eastern Mystic-Yang Fusang Banner] and the [Southern Flame-Bright Scarlet-Crimson Banner] to destroy the garden’s vegetation, then led the others toward the pavilion.
• Zhang Yuan, Wangyou True Person, Deng Huachen, and Qin Tianyi found the [God-Calming Jade Seal] beside a cultivator’s skeletal remains and read the invitation to solve the chess endgame.
• Deng Huachen planned to solve the endgame first, but Zhang Yuan entered the pavilion and claimed he could solve it.
• Zhang Yuan burned the chessboard and stone table, blasted apart the skeletal remains, and dispelled the formation.
• Zhang Yuan noticed something as the [God-Calming Jade Seal] rolled across the ground and said, “Oh, so it was you.”

Zhang Yuan learned that the sentient [God-Calming Jade Seal] had revealed Wonderous Dharma Adept was hiding on the [Immortal Ascension Terrace], waiting to revive by devouring those who stepped onto it. When Deng Qiuzhi and the others mounted the terrace, it cracked open and an Immortal’s figure announced his revival from the Elder Era.

• Zhang Yuan captured the [God-Calming Jade Seal] and discovered that it was a sentient Pre-Heaven Supreme Treasure.
• The [God-Calming Jade Seal] told Zhang Yuan that Wonderous Dharma Adept had not become a Great Luo but had become the Divine Master of the Qi Sea Uniting Spirit Dao.
• The [God-Calming Jade Seal] revealed that Wonderous Dharma Adept was hiding on the [Immortal Ascension Terrace] and planned to devour those who entered it to restore his strength.
• Deng Qiuzhi stepped onto the [Immortal Ascension Terrace], followed by Deng Fuchuan, Wenren Shangzhi, Lu Danyan, the First God Cult Master, and others.
• The [Immortal Ascension Terrace] cracked apart, and an illusory Immortal appeared and proclaimed his revival from the Elder Era.

Wonderous Dharma Adept awakened as a Divine Master and tried to seize the God-Calming Jade Seal and Wangyou True Person, but Zhang Yuan remained calm as help arrived from the Great Void. True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns and True Lord Qionghuan Yuanzong appeared to confront the awakened Divine Master.

• Wonderous Dharma Adept manifested on the Immortal Ascension Terrace and demanded that the cultivators kneel, but Deng Qiuzhi, Wenren Shangzhi, Cui Wenshan, and the others refused.
• Wonderous Dharma Adept realized the grotto-heaven held many Celestial Person cultivators and decided to attack Zhang Yuan’s blessed-land fragment for the God-Calming Jade Seal and Wangyou True Person.
• Zhang Yuan erased the God-Calming Jade Seal’s artifact spirit and told Wangyou True Person that help was about to arrive.
• A fissure opened above the grotto-heaven, and True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns’s deep cyan hand crushed Wonderous Dharma Adept’s jade-green hand.
• True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns and True Lord Qionghuan Yuanzong emerged from the Great Void and prepared to kill Wonderous Dharma Adept.

Several powerful clans and True Lords encircled Wonderous Dharma Adept after he emerged, while Zhang Yuan recognized scales on Dragon Lord Vast Sun Against the Light as ones he had found earlier. Wonderous Dharma Adept was bound and then cut in half by the Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess, leaving the others to follow her command and attack.

• Dragon Lord Vast Sun Against the Light emerged beside True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns and True Lord Qionghuan Yuanzong, and Zhang Yuan recognized his missing scales as the ones he had found.
• Wonderous Dharma Adept tried to flee, but True Lord Cloud-Shifting Floating Light bound his manifestation with a Cloud-Colored Iron Chain from afar.
• Wonderous Dharma Adept identified himself as a native of the Primordial Era, but Qionghuan Yuanzong urged Yuheng to attack while the gathered powers hesitated.
• The Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess struck Wonderous Dharma Adept with Sword Qi and sliced his manifestation in half.
• Qionghuan Yuanzong addressed the Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess as Ancestor and promised to attack at once.

Wonderous Dharma Adept gathered power for a desperate fight against the Lords of Heaven and Earth while Zhang Yuan attacked the Wen River Deng Clan disciples in the Garden Blessed Land. After Deng Qiuzhi failed to save Deng Huachen, he confronted Zhang Yuan, and the story left their clash poised to begin.

• Wonderous Dharma Adept healed his severed Dharma manifestation and absorbed the vitality and primordial spirit power of cultivators in the two crumbling Grotto-Heavens.
• Zhang Yuan revealed himself to Deng Huachen and killed several Wen River Deng Clan disciples with his sword.
• Deng Huachen fled toward the Immortal Ascension Terrace, but Qin Tianyi struck him down and Zhang Yuan pursued him.
• Deng Qiuzhi rushed to rescue Deng Huachen, but Zhang Yuan slowed him with Spring Harmony Scenery and killed Deng Huachen.
• Deng Qiuzhi arrived before Zhang Yuan and saw that Deng Huachen had been erased.

Zhang Yuan faced Deng Qiuzhi and the other cultivators after his identity was exposed, while Wangyou True Person drew off the First God Cult Master. Zhang Yuan’s powerful sword strike wounded Deng Qiuzhi but could not overcome his regenerative body, until [Dusk Veil] transformed Zhang Yuan’s attack.

• Zhang Yuan revealed himself to Deng Qiuzhi, who used [Calamity Mountain Root] to disrupt Zhang Yuan’s conceptual image and collapse the pavilion around him.
• Zhang Yuan urged Wangyou True Person to leave, but she stayed to hold off the First God Cult Master.
• Deng Qiuzhi attacked Zhang Yuan while [Calamity Mountain Root] was active, but Zhang Yuan stabilized his conceptual image and unleashed a Three-Colored Qi Light sword strike.
• Deng Qiuzhi endured Zhang Yuan’s [Fivefold Body-Rending Qi] and [Three Calamities Returning to Origin Divine Radiance], then regenerated his wounded fist with his Dao Domain’s vitality.
• As Wenren Shangzhi and the others approached, [Dusk Veil] weakened Zhang Yuan’s [Fivefold Body-Rending Qi] but gave it the ability to cut through Deng Qiuzhi’s flesh and physique.

Zhang Yuan rejected Wenren Shangzhi’s offer to surrender Ao Xiu and fought back when the South Sea Dragon Clan attacked. After Lu Danyan left to delay Cui Wenshan, Zhang Yuan prepared to face Wenren Shangzhi and Deng Qiuzhi with a sword strike he had honed for years.

• Deng Fuchuan, Wenren Shangzhi, and Lu Danyan surrounded Zhang Yuan, and Wenren Shangzhi offered to forgive him if he handed over Ao Xiu.
• Wenren Shangzhi attacked Zhang Yuan with a dragon claw, but Zhang Yuan wounded him with the [Primordial Form-Converging Sword].
• Lu Danyan recognized Zhang Yuan as the cultivator who had ambushed him at Spirit-True Mountain and left to intercept Cui Wenshan rather than fight.
• Zhang Yuan faced Wenren Shangzhi and Deng Qiuzhi, saying his sword strike would leave them gravely wounded.
• Zhang Yuan unleashed the Three-Colored Qi Light at Deng Qiuzhi and Wenren Shangzhi.

Zhang Yuan split the Grotto-Heaven, secured the God-Calming Jade Seal, and pressured the Great Heng Empress to help Xiao Yuanjun seize the Immortal Ascension Terrace. Ye Xiangning warned him that Xiao Yuanjun was about to enter the Seeking Truth realm.

• Zhang Yuan's Three-Colored Qi Light split the Grotto-Heaven and nearly struck Heaven-Reaching City, but the Great Heng Empress blocked it as the two halves began falling toward Great Heng.
• The Great Heng Empress saw powerful beings emerge from the Grotto-Heaven, while Wenren Shangzhi and Deng Qiuzhi fell grievously wounded and Zhang Yuan landed in the Imperial City with the God-Calming Jade Seal.
• Zhang Yuan refused to hand over the jade seal unless the Great Heng Empress helped Xiao Yuanjun seize the Immortal Ascension Terrace, and he threatened to sell it to Ye Xiangning.
• The Great Heng Empress agreed and rushed to help Xiao Yuanjun and Tan Chengcheng beneath the terrace.
• Ye Xiangning confronted Zhang Yuan, and he asked when she would support Tan Chengcheng's rise to Divine Master.
• Ye Xiangning said the Great Heng Founder could wait and warned Zhang Yuan that Xiao Yuanjun would soon be Seeking Truth.

Zhang Yuan wanted to help Xiao Yuanjun seek truth and attain the Dao, but Ye Xiangning and Chi Guanguan stopped him, warning that he could only make things worse. Xiao Yuanjun secured the great yin spirit qi from the [Immortal Ascension Terrace] and sent Tan Chengcheng away with the Great Heng Empress, leaving her next step ahead.

• Zhang Yuan sensed that Xiao Yuanjun had obtained solar true qi and was about to pursue Dao attainment, but Ye Xiangning held him back.
• Chi Guanguan told Zhang Yuan that Xiao Yuanjun had to seek truth alone and offered to help rescue her if she failed.
• Zhang Yuan asked about Xiao Yuanjun’s chances and whether he could snatch her away from the Lords of Heaven and Earth if she failed.
• Xiao Yuanjun used [Ninefold Harmonizing Qi] and [Myriad Forms Transformation] to extract the great yin spirit qi from the [Immortal Ascension Terrace].
• The Great Heng Empress arrived, and Xiao Yuanjun told Tan Chengcheng to leave with her and instructed the empress to give the [Immortal Ascension Terrace] to Zhang Yuan.

Xiao Yuanjun persuaded the Great Heng Empress to drag away the Immortal Ascension Terrace while she stayed behind, and Wonderous Dharma Adept fought the Lords of Heaven and Earth above. After they disabled his manifestation, the gathered powers prepared to let Second Deng deliver the finishing blow.

• Xiao Yuanjun told the Great Heng Empress that she and Tan Chengcheng would be safe if they dragged away the Immortal Ascension Terrace, and the Great Heng Empress began moving it.
• Wonderous Dharma Adept merged with his manifestation using the Self-Aspect Unity Method and struck True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns.
• True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns called for help, and True Lord Cloud-Shifting Floating Light stunned Wonderous Dharma Adept's manifestation with a jade bamboo treasure.
• True Lord Qionghuan Yuanzong suppressed the manifestation while Dragon Lord Vast Sun Against the Light tore off one of its arms.
• Wonderous Dharma Adept regained his senses, but the Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess severed the manifestation's other arm, and the Lords of Heaven and Earth called on Second Deng to finish him.

The Lords of Heaven and Earth annihilated the Divine Master of the Wonderous Dharma Immortal Terrace, ending every possibility of resurrection. Xiao Yuanjun then stopped the blood rain and prepared to seek truth, while True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns arranged for four cultivators to attack her.

• True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns struck the Divine Master of the Wonderous Dharma Immortal Terrace, and the Lords of Heaven and Earth destroyed its remaining fragments and means of revival.
• True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns claimed the Immortal Ascension Terrace, but the Great Heng Empress had already taken it away, revealing Xiao Yuanjun below.
• Xiao Yuanjun halted the blood rain and cleared the skies, prompting the Lords of Heaven and Earth to recognize her Celestial Person Perfection and discuss her attempt to seek truth.
• True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns restored Wenren Shangzhi and Deng Qiuzhi, then ordered them, Lu Danyan, and the First God Cult Master to attack Xiao Yuanjun.
• Xiao Yuanjun faced the four approaching cultivators, refined the Great Yin Spirit Qi with the Three Mystic Wonders, and placed it within her Dao Domain.

Xiao Yuanjun effortlessly suppressed four powerful cultivators with her mystic wonders and revealed that Ancient Bright Yang had gathered within her since birth. She refined its complete conceptual image into her own celestial conceptual image while the Lords of Heaven and Earth watched.

• Xiao Yuanjun declared Wenren Shangzhi and the others gravely wounded and dying, and her mystic wonders caused Wenren Shangzhi, Deng Qiuzhi, Lu Danyan, and the First God Cult Master to suffer those injuries.
• Xiao Yuanjun declared the four would die and be taken to the Nether Bureau, but True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns stopped the Ghost Soldier and cast the injured men aside.
• Xiao Yuanjun gathered the complete conceptual image of Ancient Bright Yang into her palm as the Lords of Heaven and Earth tried to discern her origin.
• Xiao Yuanjun declared that Ancient Bright Yang existed because she had been born, rather than her being a reincarnation of Bright Yang.
• Xiao Yuanjun refined the Bright Yang conceptual image, containing every such image from past to present, into her own celestial conceptual image.

Xiao Yuanjun borrowed Li Zhongshuang’s lesser yin cold qi to attain celestial person perfection, then used her mystic wonders and Zhang Yuan’s cultivation method to pursue the qi refining to immortality path. She became an Immortal Lord with the [Only-I Dao Fruit], having drawn nearly forty percent of the spiritual qi from the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm.

• Xiao Yuanjun asked for a strand of lesser yin cold qi, and Li Zhongshuang sent one across the Great Void.
• Xiao Yuanjun refined the strand and achieved celestial person perfection by cultivating all five skandhas and six qi.
• Xiao Yuanjun decided to prove an Immortal Lord Dao Fruit embryo before seeking truth and used her mystic wonders to summon the treasures needed to create spirit roots.
• Xiao Yuanjun refined treasures into supreme immortal spirit roots of all five elements, then drew on the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm’s spiritual qi to advance to the peak of the tribulation transcendence realm.
• Xiao Yuanjun condensed the [Only-I Dao Fruit] and became an Immortal Lord, while the watching True Lords prepared to intervene if she sought truth.

Xiao Yuanjun used her Immortal Lord realm and Only-I Dao Fruit to draw the upper Golden Position of the Great Beginning String to her and successfully proved the Dao. She announced her new titles as the Great Beginning Heaven-Governing Primordial Lady, the Great Beginning Perfect Self True Lord, and the Great Beginning Only-I Immortal Lord, while powerful figures gathered and prepared for what came next.

• Xiao Yuanjun used her Only-I Dao Fruit as part of her Truth-Seeking Rite to seek the Great Beginning String.
• The lords realized Xiao Yuanjun was pursuing an upper Golden Position and moved to stop her, but the Great Beginning String came to her as she walked through the Great Beginning.
• Xiao Yuanjun proved the Dao, took the Great Beginning String Golden Position, and became a True Lord.
• Xiao Yuanjun announced her new Dao titles across the Five Realms Heavens and the Outer Chaos, prompting living beings to congratulate her.
• True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns and other True Lords, Divine Masters, and Great Immortal Lords gathered around Xiao Yuanjun, ready for a confrontation.

Xiao Yuanjun attained the Great Beginning String golden position and immediately displayed its profound mystery against the True Lords who moved to challenge her. Her opponents realized she had already become the position’s master and could no longer be killed.

• Xiao Yuanjun ascended to the Great Beginning String, while the other True Lords debated whether to join forces against her.
• True Lord Qionghuan Yuanzong withdrew the Aohai Cui Clan from the conflict, while Chen Xinqiao and the Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess supported Xiao Yuanjun.
• True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns attacked Xiao Yuanjun with the Windy Reed Fruit’s enormous hand of profound mystery.
• Xiao Yuanjun stripped away nearly all the attack’s power with the Great Beginning String’s primordial one qi and dispersed what remained with Miasma Wind.
• True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns, True Lord Cloud-Shifting Floating Light, and True Lord Qingji Huiyu recognized that Xiao Yuanjun had mastered her golden position and could no longer be killed.

After becoming a True Lord, Xiao Yuanjun sentenced three hostile True Lords to die, and each chose to return home through death and rebirth. She declined to hold a Dharma Assembly and turned her attention to the Great Luo around Zhang Yuan, but Ye Xiangning vanished before Xiao Yuanjun could confront her.

• Xiao Yuanjun declared that True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns, True Lord Cloud-Shifting Floating Light, and True Lord Qingji Huiyu must atone with their deaths, and her words caused them to begin dying.
• True Lord Qingji Huiyu resisted death, while True Lord Cloud-Shifting Floating Light and True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns accepted it and were reborn at their respective clans.
• True Lord Qingji Huiyu gave up resisting and returned to life outside the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm, leaving all three True Lords back home.
• True Lord Qionghuan Yuanzong invited Xiao Yuanjun to hold a Dharma Assembly, but she declined and said she had other matters to handle first.
• Xiao Yuanjun looked toward Ye Xiangning and Chi Guanguan beside Zhang Yuan, and Chi Guanguan insisted on staying.
• Ye Xiangning vanished in motes of firelight, avoiding Xiao Yuanjun’s expected retaliation.

After Xiao Yuanjun attained the Dao, she prepared to leave for Sun-Moon Cliff, but first secretly kissed Zhang Yuan and departed. Zhang Yuan was then approached by True Lord Qionghuan Yuanzong of the Aohai Cui Clan, who tried to present himself as an acquaintance.

• Xiao Yuanjun failed to track down Ye Xiangning and congratulated Zhang Yuan after attaining the Dao.
• Xiao Yuanjun told Zhang Yuan she owed Li Huixi a visit at Sun-Moon Cliff, and a ray of Sun-Moon Mystic Light urged her to go at once.
• Before leaving, Xiao Yuanjun concealed herself and Zhang Yuan, kissed him on the cheek, and told him to cultivate diligently.
• Chi Guanguan blushed after witnessing the kiss, while the other powerful cultivators watched Zhang Yuan with curiosity.
• True Lord Qionghuan Yuanzong introduced himself to Zhang Yuan as a member of the Aohai Cui Clan and claimed Yuanxi had mentioned him.

After the powerful visitors left Heaven-Reaching City, Zhang Yuan reunited with Chen Xinqiao and the Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess, who gave him a protective bracelet but could not take him home. The Empress of Great Heng left him the Immortal Ascension Terrace, and Tan Chengcheng asked him to call her Chengcheng.

• True Lord Qionghuan Yuanzong and the other visitors departed, leaving Zhang Yuan in Heaven-Reaching City.
• Chen Xinqiao noticed the missing Mystic Pearls and gave Zhang Yuan a new protective Beaded Bracelet, but he insisted he would deliver Ao Xiu to the East Sea Dragon Lord.
• The Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess took Chen Xinqiao away, and the Empress of Great Heng tossed Zhang Yuan the Immortal Ascension Terrace before vanishing.
• Tan Chengcheng explained her mother's departure and asked Zhang Yuan to call her Chengcheng instead of using royal titles.

Zhang Yuan considered the dangers ahead, then entered his inner great void to inspect the gift Xiao Yuanjun had left him. There, he reassured Ao Xiu that he would not abandon her and told Chi Guanguan that Xiao Yuanjun had gone to meet his fiancée, Li Huixi; Chi Guanguan concluded she had gone to pick a fight.

• Zhang Yuan weighed the Great Heng Founder's threat, the coming Central Heaven conceptual image, and his plan to take Ao Xiu home, noting that Xiao Yuanjun's support offered him some protection.
• Chi Guanguan spotted Xiao Yuanjun's gift in the Dao Domain and called Zhang Yuan into his inner great void to inspect it.
• Ao Xiu asked Zhang Yuan not to release her, and he teased her before promising to keep her because she was useful.
• Chi Guanguan asked about Sun-Moon Cliff and the woman Xiao Yuanjun had mentioned, and Zhang Yuan explained that Sun-Moon Cliff was a True Lord's cultivation grounds and the woman was his fiancée, Li Huixi.
• Chi Guanguan decided Xiao Yuanjun had gone to Sun-Moon Cliff to pick a fight with Li Huixi, then urged Zhang Yuan to examine his Master's gift.

Zhang Yuan received Xiao Yuanjun’s Primordial One Qi, which protected Ao Xiu from the South Sea Dragon Clan’s divinations and guided him into creating his third Mystic Wonder. After forty-nine days of enlightenment, he awakened and tested whether he could borrow Li Huixi’s power through karma.

• Chi Guanguan shared her vision with Zhang Yuan, allowing him to see the Primordial One Qi above Xiao Yuanjun’s statue.
• The Primordial One Qi gave Ao Xiu the Divine Ability [Severing Past and Present, Leaving or Staying], concealing her karmic connection and whereabouts from the South Sea Dragon Clan.
• The Primordial One Qi entered Zhang Yuan’s Sea of Consciousness and guided him into forty-nine days of Dao comprehension.
• Zhang Yuan awakened and explained that his third Mystic Wonder, [Penetrating Heaven’s Subtleties], let him borrow power through [Myriad Coexistence] or a strong karmic connection.
• Zhang Yuan tried to borrow a Divine Ability from Li Huixi through karma, and a voice suddenly asked what he was doing.

After forty-nine days of Dao enlightenment, Zhang Yuan prepared to leave his Dao Domain while Chi Guanguan reassured him that the danger she sensed was likely imagined. Xiao Yuanjun flew to Sun-Moon Cliff in the Luoyuan Mountains, where Li Huixi challenged her and said she had taken the wrong path.

• Li Huixi contacted Zhang Yuan through Karma, and he concealed the exchange from Chi Guanguan, who sensed an ominous presence in his Dao Domain.
• Chi Guanguan inspected Zhang Yuan and his Dao Domain, then concluded the danger was probably only her imagination and offered to lend him her divine might if needed.
• After forty-nine days of Dao enlightenment, Zhang Yuan decided to leave his Dao Domain and see what had happened outside.
• Xiao Yuanjun flew across the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm and the South Sea of the Dust-Dyed Realm toward Sun-Moon Cliff in the Luoyuan Mountains.
• Li Huixi sent Sun-Moon Mystic Light at Xiao Yuanjun, who weakened it with [Substance Like the Primordial Beginning] and scattered it.
• Li Huixi assessed Xiao Yuanjun's [Great Beginning String] as merely not bad and told her she had taken the wrong path.

Li Huixi and Xiao Yuanjun fought across the Azure Firmament Dust-Dyed Realm, destroying half of it as they argued over Zhang Yuan and fate. Li Huixi paused to speak with Zhang Yuan through their karmic link, giving Xiao Yuanjun an opening to attack as the chapter ended.

• Li Huixi struck Xiao Yuanjun with a strengthened beam of Sun-Moon Mystic Light, and Xiao Yuanjun redirected it, erasing half the Azure Firmament Dust-Dyed Realm.
• Nearby True Lords fled the devastation and watched from the remaining territory while beings across the Five Realms turned their attention to the duel.
• Li Huixi told Xiao Yuanjun she was fated to meet Zhang Yuan, not be with him, and Xiao Yuanjun rejected the claim as they clashed with Sun-Moon Mystic Light and Primordial One Qi.
• Li Huixi tried to use [Sky-Leaping] to bypass Xiao Yuanjun's defenses, but a stir in their karmic threads interrupted her.
• Xiao Yuanjun seized the opening to launch [Fivefold Body-Rending Qi] and [Three Calamities Returning to Origin Divine Radiance] at Li Huixi.
• After speaking with Zhang Yuan through their karmic link, Li Huixi countered by imbuing her hairpin with [World Annihilation], [Sky-Leaping], and [Limitless].

After returning from the Great Void, Zhang Yuan found the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm shaken by a battle in the Azure Firmament Dust-Dyed Realm. Tan Chengcheng reminded him that he was Great Heng’s emperor, and he introduced Ao Xiu as a trusted companion while reflecting on the strange company gathered on his shoulders.

• The Three-Colored Qi Light cleared to reveal that the damaged Azure Firmament Dust-Dyed Realm had been restored, while Li Huixi and Xiao Yuanjun had vanished; the True Lords chose not to investigate.
• Zhang Yuan returned to his bedroom and sensed tremors across the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm, which he suspected came from a True Lord battle in the Azure Firmament Dust-Dyed Realm.
• Tan Chengcheng asked Zhang Yuan to call her Chengcheng and reminded him that he was Great Heng’s emperor, not an unregistered resident.
• When Zhang Yuan asked whether her mother had caused trouble, Tan Chengcheng wondered if he wanted to be her Imperial Father, so he rapped her on the head.
• Tan Chengcheng noticed Ao Xiu on Zhang Yuan’s shoulder, and Zhang Yuan introduced the true dragon as a trustworthy spirit pet.
• Zhang Yuan realized that Chi Guanguan and Ao Xiu now sat on opposite shoulders and accepted that their company would make his life livelier.

After Zhang Yuan returned from disappearing for forty-nine days, Tan Chengcheng explained that rumors of the Great Heng Emperor’s death had plunged the court into turmoil. Unable to pass the emperor’s divine power to Tan Chengcheng without risking the Great Heng Founder’s revival, Zhang Yuan agreed to impersonate the emperor at an immediate court assembly.

• Tan Chengcheng told Zhang Yuan that the Great Heng Empress had stabilized the realm after the Grotto-Heaven fell, but the court remained chaotic because rumors claimed the emperor was dead.
• Zhang Yuan blamed Ji Guang for spreading the rumors, and Tan Chengcheng asked him to impersonate her Imperial Father at a court assembly.
• Zhang Yuan offered to give Tan Chengcheng the Great Heng Emperor’s divine power, but she warned that gathering too much power could revive the Great Heng Founder.
• Zhang Yuan proposed using the [God-Calming Jade Seal] to suppress the Founder’s consciousness, but Chi Guanguan and Tan Chengcheng doubted it would work.
• Tan Chengcheng dressed Zhang Yuan in imperial robes and declared that the court assembly would begin immediately, so Zhang Yuan set out with her for the Golden Throne Hall.