Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Following the Token’s directions, Zhang Yuan reaches the Three Suns Altar, a vast military formation built over the former Three Suns City. Its blood-colored light is linked to Array Disks around the border and protected by formidable Qi Refinement cultivators.
• Xiao Yuanjun recognizes the site as the old stronghold of the Wenshui Deng and recalls stealing a technique from its treasury. Zhang Yuan notes that the formation is likely harder to overcome than its guards.
• Cui Jingtong, a ninth-turn swordsman of the Ya East Cui, attacks the formation to test its defenses. Deng Lingjun of the Wenshui Deng counters with the Blood Rainbow technique, killing Cui instantly despite his threat of clan retaliation.
• The formation lets its defenders wield immense power, but each use of their abilities consumes the blood essence of roughly a hundred thousand mortals. The Wen Kingdom treats these people as expendable resources.
• Terrified by Cui’s death, most of the assembled cultivators withdraw. Zhang Yuan stays, studies the Blood Rainbow, and decides to test a counterattack.
• To conceal that he is stronger than his official eighth-turn rank, Zhang Yuan combines two abilities into a single sword-like strike, imitating a technique associated with ninth-turn sword cultivation.
• Deng Lingjun launches another Blood Rainbow, but Zhang Yuan’s qi-light neutralizes it instantly, ending the chapter on an unexpected reversal.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan is cautious and observant, gathering information before acting. He also shows tactical ingenuity by concealing his true cultivation while experimenting with a possible weakness in the formation.
• Xiao Yuanjun provides useful historical knowledge, connecting the altar to the Wenshui Deng’s former city and revealing Zhang Yuan’s limited familiarity with the region.
• Cui Jingtong is introduced as a confident, renowned swordsman, but his confidence proves insufficient against the formation. His death demonstrates the danger facing the attackers.
• Deng Lingjun presents himself as an arrogant, formidable defender, openly belittling the Ya East Cui and daring others to challenge him.
• The surrounding cultivators react to Cui’s death with fear, and most choose survival over the remaining military merit.

Significant themes

• Human lives treated as resources: The formation’s power depends on mass sacrifice, exposing the Wen Kingdom’s ruthless attitude toward ordinary people.
• Power and inherited status: Deng dismisses Cui’s clan as inferior, while the battle shows that reputation and lineage offer little protection against overwhelming force.
• Caution, deception, and strategy: Zhang Yuan’s decision to observe, conceal his strength, and combine abilities contrasts with Cui’s direct challenge.
• The danger of appearances: Zhang Yuan’s supposedly eighth-turn attack defeats a technique that had just killed a ninth-turn cultivator, suggesting that the formation may have a vulnerability.

Plot and events

• Zhang Yuan’s combined Fivefold Body-Rending Qi and Three Calamities Return-to-Origin Divine Radiance cleaves Deng Lingjun in half. Deng survives by rejoining his body, thanks to the Blazing Fire, Burning Blood Formation, which redirects most of the damage suffered by its defenders onto Wen Kingdom mortals.
• Zhang Yuan realizes the formation makes its protected cultivators extremely difficult to kill. Liu Yihong offers a brutal solution: she enters the formation and repeatedly hacks an eighth-turn cultivator into paste, ensuring he cannot regenerate. Zhang Yuan is impressed and adopts the idea.
• Zhang Yuan uses a Celestial Season Orb, a supreme treasure, to crush Deng Lingjun into blood mist, killing him outright. He then strikes the Three Suns Altar with the orb, disrupting the formation.
• Lu Zhiming and other allied cultivators seize the opening and charge into the formation. The fight turns decisively against its defenders: Liu Yihong rampages with her saber, while Zhang Yuan attacks with his sword and orb. Xiao Yuanjun remains concealed nearby to protect Zhang Yuan.
• Above the battlefield, Foundation-Building Celestial People observe. An old man, Senior Shoulder Mountain, grieves and rages over Deng Lingjun’s death, but the others insist that he cannot break the rules of their conflict. Cui Wenshan mocks him for claiming seniority without attaining the Mountain-Suppressing Bone.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan proves both formidable and practical. He notices the formation’s horrifying cost to mortals, quickly adapts to Liu Yihong’s method of preventing regeneration, and reveals the overwhelming power of his treasure.
• Liu Yihong emerges as a fearless, savage fighter whose decisive intervention changes how the battle is fought. Zhang Yuan admires her ingenuity.
• Lu Zhiming initially praises Zhang Yuan’s treasure, then privately considers whether Zhang’s supposed Li clan connections might make the orb something he could claim.
• Senior Shoulder Mountain is devastated by the death of his talented junior, Deng Lingjun, but restrains himself from intervening directly. Cui Wenshan and the other Celestial People challenge his pretensions and enforce the rules.
• Xiao Yuanjun stays in the background, discreetly guarding Zhang Yuan.

Significant themes

• The battle exposes cultivators’ disregard for mortal lives: the formation diverts damage onto ordinary people, treating them as expendable.
• Power and ingenuity determine survival. When regeneration defeats ordinary attacks, Liu Yihong’s brutality and Zhang Yuan’s superior treasure provide the answer.
• The chapter also highlights the limits and politics of status: a supreme treasure inspires envy, while even powerful Celestial People are bound by rules and disputes over who deserves to claim seniority.

Summary

• After the battle at the Three Suns Altar, Cui Wenshan provokes the Celestial Person known as Shoulder Mountain by pointing out that his cultivation of the Mountain-Suppressing Bone method can no longer lead him to become a True Lord. The two nearly come to blows, but Mystic Scenery City’s commander, Sheng Lichuan, ends the dispute and orders everyone to report the results.
• Zhang Yuan’s identity draws attention. When asked about him, Cui Wenshan gives only his surname and says he is a friend of a junior in the Cui clan. He remembers that the clan’s ancestor warned him never to reveal Zhang Yuan’s name outright.
• The Three Suns Altar is destroyed. Zhang Yuan has already dismantled its formation and killed the Wen Kingdom cultivators guarding it. Impressed by his strength and treasure, Lu Zhiming begins scheming to acquire the treasure, while flattering Zhao Yan encourages him.
• Back in Mystic Scenery City, Zhang Yuan learns that the battle has earned him 120,000 military merit. He is pleased with his progress toward purchasing the Ascension Heavenly Dipper, but recognizes that earning the rest will take time. He rejects the idea of attacking civilians for merit, both because it violates his principles and because it could provoke a dangerous response.
• Liu Yihong arrives with a proposal: destroy the White Jade Capital, a twelve-story tower in the Wen Kingdom capital whose twelve treasures can combine into a formidable divine ability. The mission would earn each participant 300,000 military merit. Xiao Yuanjun enthusiastically accepts, confident that her hidden presence will protect them; Zhang Yuan is still considering the risk.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan demonstrates exceptional combat power but remains cautious and principled. He is focused on earning merit without resorting to indiscriminate slaughter.
• Cui Wenshan is more confident after Wang Dingzhong’s death, but remains guarded about Zhang Yuan’s identity.
• Lu Zhiming reveals acquisitive intentions beneath his polite talk, while Zhao Yan eagerly plays along.
• Xiao Yuanjun is bold and overconfident in her ability to keep Zhang Yuan safe.
• Liu Yihong’s impeccable, aristocratic manners contrast sharply with her bloodstained robes, creating an unsettling impression.

Significant themes

• Ambition and rivalry: disputes over status, cultivation paths, and powerful treasures shape the characters’ conduct.
• Power and secrecy: Zhang Yuan’s unusual abilities and protected identity attract attention, making concealment increasingly difficult.
• Principles versus expediency: Zhang Yuan refuses an easy but morally unacceptable route to military merit.
• Confidence versus caution: Xiao Yuanjun’s assurance contrasts with Zhang Yuan’s awareness of the dangers ahead.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Zhiming consults his clan uncle, Celestial Person Lu Jianqing, before approaching Zhang Yuan to trade for one of Zhang’s [Celestial Season Orbs]. Lu Jianqing believes the exchange should be possible, mistakenly assuming Zhang belongs to a declining branch of the Li clan.
• Zhang Yuan is speaking with Liu Yihong and Xiao Yuanjun when Lu Zhiming arrives with Zhao Yan. He offers Zhang a fine but ordinary sword in exchange for the orb, invoking the prestige of the Hengyang Lu clan and his uncle’s presence in the city.
• Zhang recognizes the offer as laughably inadequate. He takes the sword, then suddenly attacks Lu Zhiming with a powerful combination of divine abilities, severing and destroying his right hand.
• Lu Zhiming escapes with Zhao Yan. He later suppresses the lingering radiance in the wound to preserve the chance of regrowing his arm.
• Liu Yihong observes that Zhang’s second strike was slow enough for Lu to flee. Zhang agrees, but privately reveals he deliberately gave Lu time to escape because he is wary of Lu Jianqing. He still plans to join Xiao Yuanjun that night and kill Lu.
• Zhao Yan, shaken by the attack, now considers Zhang even more dangerous than Liu Yihong.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan shows that he responds to coercion and insult with immediate, extreme violence. Though he appears to let Lu escape, he is calculating rather than merciful and intends to pursue him later.
• Lu Zhiming is careful enough to seek advice before acting, but his confidence in clan status and a poor trade offer leads to disaster. Injured and frightened, he recognizes Zhang as a “lunatic.”
• Lu Jianqing supports his nephew’s plan, confident that the Li clan will be amenable to a deal, but his assumptions about Zhang’s identity and temperament prove badly mistaken.
• Liu Yihong calmly critiques Zhang’s combat execution, while sharing his bold, lethal outlook.
• Zhao Yan witnesses the attack and becomes much more wary of Zhang.
• The encounter highlights the tension between Zhang’s immediate circle and the powerful Hengyang Lu clan, setting up a likely confrontation.

Significant themes

• Power and value: An ordinary sword cannot compare to a True Lord-crafted treasure, and clan prestige cannot compel Zhang to surrender his orb.
• Violence and reputation: Zhang’s willingness to attack in broad daylight makes him frightening even to formidable cultivators.
• Caution versus miscalculation: Lu consults an elder but still misjudges both Zhang’s temperament and the worth of his offer.
• Restraint as strategy: Zhang’s apparent failure to finish Lu is intentional, shaped by concern over the elder’s presence—not compassion.

Key plot points and events

• The Golden Register’s spirit delivers Lu Jianqing a warning from the Lu clan’s True Lord: Zhang Yuan has a powerful backing and must be treated with courtesy. Recognizing Zhang Yuan as the man he recently sent Lu Zhiming to rob, Jianqing realizes the danger and tries to summon his nephew back.
• Lu Zhiming returns before Jianqing can act, having lost his right arm in a clash with Zhang Yuan. He demands justice, but Jianqing refuses, explains Zhang Yuan’s standing, and orders him to recover before compensating Zhang Yuan.
• At the Cui Residence, Cui Yuanxi idly wonders when Zhang Yuan will return. Chen Xinqiao explains she does not know, while the narration notes that Xinqiao has recently killed the Liu family members who might have caused trouble for Zhang Yuan.
• Cui Wenshan reports to Cloud Ao Bearing Mountain True Lord that the Blazing Fire, Burning Blood Formation has been broken and that the Deng Clan’s death has intensified pressure on the Cui clan to send its young descendants into the war. The True Lord orders Yuanxi to prepare, saying the war is her opportunity to attain Celestial Person status.
• The True Lord worries that Yuanxi may have developed real feelings for Zhang Yuan, whose power and temper could put the clan in conflict with him.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Jianqing shifts from casually encouraging a theft to urgently trying to prevent its consequences. Once he learns Zhang Yuan’s backing is formidable, he makes Lu Zhiming responsible for repairing the damage.
• Lu Zhiming returns injured and indignant, but his uncle’s response overturns his expectations: instead of avenging him, Jianqing insists he make restitution.
• Cui Yuanxi remains restless in confinement and preoccupied with Zhang Yuan, though she cannot even remember his name correctly.
• Chen Xinqiao is studious and matter-of-fact, but has also acted decisively on Zhang Yuan’s behalf by eliminating potential sources of future trouble.
• Cloud Ao Bearing Mountain True Lord prioritizes Yuanxi’s destiny and the clan’s interests. His concern about her attachment to Zhang Yuan reveals both his protectiveness and his fear of confronting Zhang Yuan.

Significant themes

• Power and deference: A person’s hidden backing can instantly change how others treat them; the Lu clan’s warning turns a planned robbery into an obligation to apologize.
• Family duty versus personal feeling: Yuanxi is expected to enter the war and fulfill her destiny, while her possible affection for Zhang Yuan threatens the clan’s marriage plans.
• Consequences and responsibility: Jianqing’s attempt to act on incomplete information leads to Lu Zhiming’s injury and a demand for restitution.
• Protective violence: Xinqiao’s killings are presented as a practical effort to prevent future trouble for someone she considers good.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun set out to kill Lu Zhiming before leaving Mysterious Scenery City. They find only his cousin, Lu Zhiyu, at the Lu Residence, so Lu Zhiming escapes them for now.
• At the city gate, they meet Liu Yihong and travel with her toward the Wen Kingdom’s capital. Zhang Yuan stays cautious and asks why Liu wants his help destroying the capital’s White Jade Capital despite his being only at the Eighth Turn. She explains that his water-aligned [Weather and Season Mystic Pearls] counter the White Jade Capital’s fire affinity.
• Zhang Yuan realizes the “coincidence” is part of an open scheme by [True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts]. By giving him the pearls, the True Lord nudged him toward the war, where he would be driven to use them against the Wen Kingdom’s defenses. Zhang Yuan concludes he can still pursue the Calamity-Transforming Pill and the Five Blessings Heavenly Gang while trying to profit from the scheme and survive.
• On arriving at the capital, the group finds it devastated: people and buildings lie in ruins, while a radiant twelve-story tower remains intact.
• Liu Yihong intervenes when cultivators pursue a purple-clad child, killing the pursuers. The child reveals himself as a royal prince and insults his rescuers, threatening their families. Liu Yihong kills him with a single saber strike.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan remains vigilant, questioning Liu Yihong’s motives and recognizing the hidden design behind the apparent coincidences. Rather than simply resist the True Lord’s influence, he resolves to seek advantage within it.
• Xiao Yuanjun follows Zhang Yuan’s lead, shares his surprise at Liu Yihong’s compassion, and frowns at the prince’s arrogance.
• Liu Yihong appears unexpectedly compassionate when she saves the child, but her swift execution of him shows she will not tolerate his abuse or threats.
• The prince is proud and entitled even while in danger; his threatening response to those who save him ends in his immediate death.
• Zhang Yuan and Liu Yihong’s exchange establishes a practical alliance, while Zhang Yuan’s wariness keeps their relationship tentative.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and agency: The True Lord’s scheme works through circumstances and Zhang Yuan’s own choices, rather than overt coercion.
• Coincidence and pattern recognition: Zhang Yuan’s habit of questioning events lets him perceive the hidden purpose behind the pearls and the war.
• Power, peril, and opportunity: Zhang Yuan accepts that danger may be unavoidable, but hopes to turn the scheme to his benefit.
• Compassion and justice: Liu Yihong’s rescue of the prince contrasts with her refusal to spare him after his arrogant, threatening outburst.

Plot points and events

• Liu Yihong kills the purple-robed child, then claims he was a disguised demonic cultivator. Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun accept her explanation, though Xiao regrets that they lost the chance to question him.
• The trio heads toward the White Jade Capital, the only part of the fallen Wen Kingdom capital still standing. There they meet a ragged old man whom Zhang Yuan recognizes as the Blood Miasma Celestial.
• The old man reveals that he is Wang Chengtian, ancestor of the Dragon Creek City Wang Clan. He regrets pursuing the rank of True Lord and blames himself for the clan’s ruin, which he connects to the machinations of True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts.
• Wang asks Zhang Yuan to help break the tower and retrieve its formation plate, offering his complete celestial-person-perfection inheritance—including his cultivation method and alchemy knowledge. The tower’s restrictions permit only Qi Refining Perfected Persons to enter, so Wang cannot deal with it himself.
• Xiao Yuanjun instead brings out the Weather and Season Mystic Pearls to attack the tower from outside. Wang recognizes them as a supreme treasure refined by True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts, and infers that Zhang and Xiao must have stolen them after defeating his avatar.
• Xiao claims that all twenty-four pearls are present. The twelve visible pearls multiply into twenty-four, unveiling the full cycle of the seasons as the White Jade Capital prepares to withstand their power.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan remains wary of Wang because of his ties to the Wang Clan, which Zhang helped destroy. Once Wang seems non-hostile, Zhang accepts his request but carefully asks why he cannot act himself.
• Wang Chengtian shifts from a feared demonic cultivator to a regretful, humbled figure who sees himself as his clan’s sinner. His recognition of Zhang and Xiao’s defiance wins their actions his approval, and he becomes eager to pass on his legacy.
• Xiao Yuanjun protects Zhang, reassures him about the tower’s restrictions, and takes the initiative with the Mystic Pearls. Zhang trusts her despite her unpredictability.
• Liu Yihong is decisive and composed, but her quick killing leaves the group without information from the child.

Significant themes

• Regret and responsibility: Wang reflects on ambition and the devastation it brought to his clan.
• Trust amid past wrongdoing: Zhang cautiously negotiates with a man whose family he helped destroy.
• Power and audacity: The Mystic Pearls reveal the group’s willingness to challenge a powerful True Lord and turn a difficult task into a show of force.

Key plot points and events

• Xiao Yuanjun destroys the White Jade Capital’s twelve-story tower using the Weather and Season Mystic Pearls. Wang Chengtian collects its twelve Artifact Treasures and Formation Diagram.
• Wang admits the artifacts are a way to borrow power for a desperate fight against True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts. He gives Xiao Yuanjun a Jade Slip recording his thousand years of cultivation, which Xiao says she will study before sharing with Zhang Yuan.
• The group records the Capital City’s destruction with their military Command Tokens, earning battle merit, then returns to Mysterious Scenery City.
• The next morning, the Battle Merit Golden Register shows Li## in first place with 430,000 merit, Liu Yihong with 350,000, and Xiao Yuanjun with 300,000. The sudden jump shocks the city’s cultivators.
• Commander Jiang Shenglichuan explains that the three destroyed the White Jade Capital. When Zhao Yan asks to see proof, the Register conjures an image of the bloodied city. Onlookers mistake the scene for a massacre, and Zhao Yan flees in fear to seek out Lu Zhiming.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Chengtian accepts his limits and relies on borrowed power, but remains candid and grateful. He thanks Zhang Yuan and departs after handing over his cultivation record.
• Xiao Yuanjun is shown to wield Celestial Person-level power despite appearing on the Qi Refining merit list. Her unexplained presence raises Liu Yihong’s suspicions about the scheme behind the Register.
• Zhang Yuan trusts Xiao’s judgment and defers to her about studying Wang’s Jade Slip.
• Liu Yihong handles the merit recording and return journey; she has done little of the fighting but benefits from the mission’s success.
• Zhao Yan moves from envy of the trio’s huge merit gains to fear after seeing the city’s destruction. He recalls his debt to Lu Zhiming and decides to seek his protection.

Significant themes

• Power and its limits: Wang’s reliance on external artifacts contrasts with Xiao Yuanjun’s extraordinary personal ability.
• Merit, reputation, and appearances: The Register rewards the mission, while its dramatic evidence leads bystanders to misinterpret what happened.
• Cultivator self-interest and loyalty: Zhao Yan regards Lu Zhiming’s past help as kindness, even while rationalizing Lu’s attempt to seize Zhang Yuan’s treasure as ordinary competition.

Zhang Yuan decided to pursue ten-turn qi refining immediately, exchanging battle merit for the [ascension heavenly gang] after assessing his chances of celestial attainment. Lu Zhiyu arrived with Zhao Yan and offered Zhang Yuan a sword as an apology for Lu Zhiming’s offense.

• Zhao Yan met Lu Zhiyu outside the Lu Residence and followed him to apologize to Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun.
• Zhang Yuan chose to spend battle merit on a heavenly gang rather than save for a Calamity-Transforming Pill, hoping ten-turn qi refining would help him survive future schemes.
• Xiao Yuanjun explained the differences between three heavenly gang and said their karmic connection could raise Zhang Yuan’s chance of celestial attainment.
• Zhang Yuan exchanged 200,000 battle merit for the [ascension heavenly gang] and noticed the costly 'Record of Ancient Immortal Caves' on the list.
• Lu Zhiyu entered with Zhao Yan and offered Zhang Yuan an Outer Dao Dharma Treasure sword as an apology.

Plot points and events

• Lu Zhiyu visits Zhang Yuan with gifts: a spiritual sword and a Nine-Pattern Immortal Pill, supposedly made from Lu Zhiming. The pill promises a ten-percent increase in the chance of becoming a Celestial Person.
• Lu Zhiyu reveals that Lu Zhiming’s soul is preserved in a lamp. His clan plans to place it in a female body, teach him an Outer Dao Golden Core method, and make him serve Zhang Yuan for eight hundred years.
• Zhao Yan, Lu Zhiming’s friend, denounces the Lu Clan for refining a living person into a pill and enslaving his soul. Lu Zhiyu knocks him down and dismisses him as a disobedient dog.
• After Lu Zhiyu leaves, Zhang Yuan destroys the pill rather than accept power gained through Lu Zhiming’s suffering.
• Zhang Yuan recognizes that even powerful cultivators can be treated as material by those above them. He declares his ambition to become a True Lord, believing that only then can he escape that fate.
• Asked what he will do about Lu Zhiming, Zhang Yuan says he may release him through reincarnation if no other solution is possible.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan initially accepts Lu Zhiyu’s gifts graciously, but refuses the pill once he understands its cost. His moral choice clarifies his priorities, while the discovery that cultivators remain vulnerable at every level sharpens his ambition.
• Lu Zhiyu presents the Lu Clan’s brutality as proper discipline and insists on delivering Lu Zhiming as a servant. His courteous manner contrasts with his cold treatment of both kin and Zhao Yan.
• Zhao Yan risks speaking up for Lu Zhiming, condemning the Lu Clan despite his fear. Lu Zhiyu’s forceful response drives him to flee.
• Xiao Yuanjun supports Zhang Yuan’s aspiration to become a True Lord and suggests they pursue that goal together as master and disciple.

Significant themes

• Power and exploitation: People at every cultivation level can be reduced to resources by stronger forces.
• Moral cost of advancement: Zhang Yuan rejects a chance at greater power because it depends on consuming a person.
• Ambition beyond survival: Becoming a Celestial Person is no longer enough; Zhang Yuan sees becoming a True Lord as the only way to escape exploitation.
• Cruelty disguised as order: The Lu Clan frames its violence as family discipline, exposing the horror beneath its respectable façade.

After refining the [ascension heavenly gang], Zhang Yuan became the second person to reach ten-turn qi refining and discovered he could leave his body with his primordial spirit. His flight beyond the Azure Firmament Dust-Dyed Realm ended when a powerful voice drove off a golden hand and dragged him back, leaving him shaken by the beings in the Outer Chaos.

• Zhang Yuan chose the [ascension heavenly gang] from the available heavenly gang and refined it in a quarter of an hour, becoming the second person to achieve ten-turn qi refining.
• Zhang Yuan's primordial spirit left his body, and Xiao Yuanjun explained that he could ascend and explore because his primordial spirit was unusually resilient.
• Zhang Yuan flew beyond the Azure Firmament Dust-Dyed Realm and saw the world among countless other lights in the Outer Chaos.
• A huge golden hand reached for Zhang Yuan, but a voice from the Azure Firmament Dust-Dyed Realm shouted, "Fuck off!" and destroyed it.
• A mighty power pulled Zhang Yuan's primordial spirit back into his body, and he concluded that he must never provoke the True Lord behind the voice.

After reaching Ten-Turn Qi Refining, Zhang Yuan learned that a powerful cultivator from another realm had tried to capture him during his ascension and discovered his fourth divine ability, [Great Grotto Yin-Scenery Immortal Domain]. He decided against risking his life to reach Celestial Person power, while Xiao Yuanjun stayed with him and he found a new talent choice.

• Xiao Yuanjun explained that the realms beyond the heavens included the Mountain-Sea Profound Yellow Realm and the Shared-Sorrow Lotus Realm, and suspected a Buddhist cultivator had tried to capture Zhang Yuan.
• Zhang Yuan discovered his fourth divine ability, [Great Grotto Yin-Scenery Immortal Domain], which could empower other divine abilities beyond their limits.
• Zhang Yuan used the new ability to empower [Myriad Coexistence], allowing him to wield six divine abilities at once.
• Zhang Yuan asked whether combining his domain with Xiao Yuanjun's could give him Celestial Person power, but Xiao Yuanjun warned that the attempt could destroy him, so he abandoned the idea.
• Xiao Yuanjun told Zhang Yuan to stabilize his realm and seek her out if the Heaven-and-Earth Trial arrived, then settled down to sleep beside him.
• Zhang Yuan checked his talent panel and found a new chance to choose a talent.

Summary

Zhang Yuan reviews three possible talents and rejects Fated Bodhisattva, since it would require him to abandon worldly life, and Same Breath, Connected Branches, because he already has abundant fortune and believes extra fortune could attract the attention of powerful Golden Core True Lords. He chooses First of All Time, which confirms him as a ten-turn qi refiner who has surpassed his master, Xiao Yuanjun, and weakens opponents’ divine abilities and spells. He believes this could help him survive an encounter with a Foundation Establishment Celestial without his master’s intervention.
His confidence is short-lived: Heaven’s Sight reveals three grim futures. In each, the Wen Kingdom’s capital has been massacred, Zhang is blamed, and he faces the kingdom’s Celestial Persons. Fleeing or confessing leads to his death; denying involvement gives him a slim chance of survival, thanks to outside Celestial Persons and Xiao Yuanjun intervening. Zhang is stunned by the accusation and begins considering how to respond.
Meanwhile, three Wen Kingdom Celestial Persons arrive at Mysterious Scenery City demanding that city lord Sheng Lichuan answer for the massacre. They are Sun Wulie, a furious military commander; Deng Qiuzhi, a powerful Celestial Person from the Wen River Deng Clan; and Liu Zezheng, the kingdom’s crown prince. Sheng realizes the accusation concerns a massacre beyond the military mission’s authorized destruction of the White Jade Capital. He denies knowing what they mean. Deng Qiuzhi produces portraits of Zhang Yuan and Liu Yihong, but Sheng questions the claim, noting that they are only eight-turn qi refiners and asking whether the Wen representatives have mistaken them for the culprits.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan becomes markedly stronger, but his new confidence is undermined by a future vision that suggests he may be framed or held responsible for a mass killing.
• Sheng Lichuan stays composed and cautious despite being outmatched by the three visitors, then challenges the accusation’s plausibility.
• Sun Wulie is consumed by anger and is ready to attack the city, while Deng Qiuzhi restrains him and steers the confrontation toward identifying suspects.
• The Wen Kingdom’s military, imperial family, and Deng Clan present a united front in confronting Sheng, who represents Mysterious Scenery City.

Significant themes

• Power versus fortune: Zhang trusts his combat strength more than intangible luck, which may draw dangerous attention.
• Fate and uncertainty: Heaven’s Sight offers possible futures, but each is disastrous, leaving Zhang with difficult choices rather than certainty.
• Responsibility and political blame: The distinction between an authorized military objective and a massacre drives the confrontation, while the portraits point toward Zhang and Liu Yihong as convenient suspects.

Plot points and events

• Deng Qiuzhi accuses Zhang Yuan and Liu Yihong of slaughtering the Wen Kingdom’s capital, arguing that their strength makes them capable of it. Crown Prince Liu Zezheng asks General Sheng Lichuan to summon them so they can be questioned.
• Zhang Yuan, Liu Yihong, and the newly awakened Xiao Yuanjun arrive. Zhang Yuan feigns surprise when confronted, but Sun Wulie loses patience and attacks him without questioning him further.
• Cui Wenshan arrives in time to block Sun Wulie, mocking him as a fool. He openly defends the massacre with the absurdly narrow argument that the capital was not a frontier city and its people were not mortal soldiers. The exchange exposes how the conflict is entangled in legal technicalities and factional politics.
• When the three visitors decide to use force, Cui and Sheng stay behind to protect the city while Zhang Yuan and Liu Yihong are told to withdraw. The five Celestial People clash, but Deng Qiuzhi’s superior strength puts Cui and Sheng at a disadvantage.
• Deng sends Liu Zezheng and Sun Wulie into the city to find Zhang Yuan and Liu Yihong, warning them not to harm anyone else.
• At the Lu residence, Lu Jianqing watches events unfold and decides his family should stay out of the fight. He suspects the confrontation is part of a larger contest among True Lords. Nevertheless, he tells Lu Zhiyu to continue the plan to place Knowing Fate’s soul in a young woman’s body.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan stays outwardly composed and uses feigned ignorance, while inwardly assessing Sun Wulie’s attack and his own chances of evading it.
• Xiao Yuanjun shows concern for Zhang Yuan and promises to protect him; Liu Yihong appears confident and attentive to him.
• Cui Wenshan intervenes decisively and defends Zhang Yuan, combining combat support with provocative, technically minded argument.
• Sheng Lichuan follows his duty by summoning Zhang Yuan and later joins Cui in defending the city.
• Deng Qiuzhi shifts from accusation to combat, using his greater strength to pin down Cui and Sheng while his allies pursue the targets.
• Lu Jianqing prioritizes caution over intervention, believing the dispute involves powers far above his family.

Significant themes

• Power and accountability: The characters argue over whether the capital’s destruction was justified, but force soon replaces any real pursuit of truth.
• Legalism and loopholes: Cui’s distinction between a capital and a frontier city exposes how rules can be twisted to excuse violence.
• Factional maneuvering: Lu Jianqing’s suspicion that True Lords are orchestrating events frames the confrontation as one move in a larger political game.
• Duty versus self-preservation: Cui and Sheng defend the city, while the Lu family avoids involvement to protect itself.

Plot and key events

• Crown Prince Liu Zezheng and Sun Wulie locate Zhang Yuan, Xiao Yuanjun, and Liu Yihong in Mysterious Scenery City using the imperial Origin-Tracing Creation Plate, which pierces Xiao Yuanjun’s concealment.
• Xiao Yuanjun reveals that the treasure can even overcome her powerful concealment technique. Zhang Yuan suspects the pursuit is part of True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts’ scheme.
• Xiao Yuanjun dismisses the two Celestials as insignificant. When she orders Liu Zezheng down, a mysterious force knocks him from the sky, revealing that she is far stronger than her apparent cultivation suggests.
• Liu Zezheng’s real motive emerges: he wants Zhang Yuan’s Weather and Season Mystic Pearls. He believes collecting all twenty-four would create a supreme treasure powerful enough to overthrow the Wen Kingdom and claim its throne.
• Liu orders Sun Wulie to hold Xiao Yuanjun back. Sun unleashes his Blazing Sun Ascendant Dao Domain, whose intangible heart-fire provokes rage and attacks the mind.
• Zhang Yuan’s exceptionally stable Primordial Spirit resists the domain. Xiao Yuanjun recognizes his unusual resilience and wonders whether his claim to be a reincarnated True Lord might be true.
• Xiao Yuanjun uses twelve Mystic Pearls to summon rain, extinguishing Sun’s fire and clearing his rage-clouded thoughts. Sun realizes Liu Zezheng is plotting rebellion and turns against the Crown Prince.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Yuanjun remains supremely confident and demonstrates formidable, unexplained power, easily suppressing Liu Zezheng and countering Sun’s Dao Domain with the pearls.
• Zhang Yuan stays cautious and composed. His resistance to Sun’s mental attack further suggests that his Primordial Spirit is extraordinary.
• Liu Zezheng is exposed as an ambitious conspirator rather than a genuine avenger. He uses Sun as a subordinate and targets Zhang Yuan’s treasure to pursue the throne.
• Sun Wulie, initially loyal to the Crown Prince, regains his reason when Xiao’s rain breaks the Dao Domain’s influence. His duty to protect the king outweighs his obedience to Liu.
• Xiao Yuanjun protects Zhang Yuan while observing his unusual abilities; Zhang, in turn, urges caution even as she confidently takes charge.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus true power: Xiao Yuanjun’s apparent rank conceals overwhelming strength, while Zhang Yuan’s abilities exceed what his cultivation should allow.
• Ambition and betrayal: Liu Zezheng exploits a supposed justice-seeking mission to pursue a coup.
• Mind, emotion, and self-command: Sun’s Dao Domain manipulates emotion, but Zhang’s stable mind resists it and Xiao’s intervention restores Sun’s clarity.
• Destiny and identity: Zhang’s possible status as a reincarnated True Lord remains uncertain, but his unusual Primordial Spirit fuels the suspicion.

Plot and events

• From atop the western city wall, Commandant He Yang secretly divines Zhang Yuan’s identity and connections. He recognizes a link to a powerful True Lord, then quietly lends Sun Wulie additional strength—apparently to help Liu Zezheng pursue his ambitions.
• Sun Wulie regains his fighting spirit. His Dao Domain reignites, and his cultivation begins edging toward Celestial Person perfection, thanks to the wildfire power associated with the golden seat Blazing Embers.
• Xiao Yuanjun realizes the danger and urges Zhang Yuan to escape. She opens a path through Sun Wulie’s Dao Domain, then traps him with the twelve Weather and Season Mystic Pearls.
• Liu Zezheng pursues Zhang Yuan and demands the supreme treasure. Zhang Yuan layers defenses onto the Golden Carriage Luan Chariot and charges straight at him. The carriage’s extraordinary weight crushes Liu Zezheng’s arm and sends him flying, allowing Zhang Yuan to escape.
• Zhang Yuan considers raiding the Wen Kingdom’s weakened defenses to earn battle merit and obtain the Calamity-Transforming Pill. He then discovers Liu Yihong has been aboard the carriage all along.
• Liu Yihong explains that she killed the Xiang Family’s son to avoid a forced marriage alliance, then killed the Liu Family elders when they planned to hand her over.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yuan shows quick judgment and boldness, using the carriage’s weight and Celestial-level pearls to escape a vastly stronger opponent. He remains wary of Liu Yihong even after recognizing her.
• Xiao Yuanjun acts protectively, sacrificing her position to get Zhang Yuan clear and contain Sun Wulie.
• Liu Zezheng reveals that his pursuit is motivated by the treasure, not justice for the capital’s destruction. His confidence makes him underestimate Zhang Yuan’s carriage.
• Sun Wulie is manipulated back into battle and grows more powerful, becoming a serious threat even after his earlier setback.
• Liu Yihong calmly reveals the extent of her independence and ruthlessness. Her story creates an unsettling bond with Zhang Yuan, whose wedding clothes resemble her red robes.

Significant themes

• Hidden influence and manipulation: He Yang’s intervention shows how powerful figures can quietly shape events and strengthen pawns.
• Cunning against raw power: Zhang Yuan survives by exploiting an unexpected advantage rather than matching Liu Zezheng’s strength.
• Power and ambition: Liu Zezheng’s pursuit of the treasure and He Yang’s support of his imperial ambitions expose the self-interest behind public causes.
• Freedom at a brutal cost: Liu Yihong refuses to be forced into marriage or surrendered by her family, securing her autonomy through extreme violence.

Key plot points

• Zhang Yuan learns that Liu Yihong destroyed the Liu Family after her former patriarch tried to trade her to the Xiang Family for a way to evade the Nether Bureau.
• Liu explains that a True Lord granted her a Pre-Heaven Divine Ability at age seven. After ten years of storing power, she used it to kill the patriarch, who was already dying after losing a fight against a Nether Bureau Inspector.
• Zhang learns the rules governing lifespan: most beings are eventually collected and sent to reincarnate once they exceed their allotted Heavenly Lifespan. True Lord protection, rare calamity-avoidance methods, or defeating an Inspector can offer escape; certain cultivation breakthroughs also extend the limit.
• Liu reveals that the True Lord who awakened her ability was the True Lord of [Blazing Embers]. Zhang recognizes this as [True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts], a figure he already distrusts, and suspects Liu may be connected to his schemes.
• Liu proposes raiding the Wen Kingdom’s military treasury while its Foundation Establishment Celestials are absent, promising at least 500,000 Battle Merit. Zhang agrees, and she points out a border city upstream as their destination.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang remains curious and composed rather than frightened by Liu’s past. He weighs the danger of his own stolen lifespan, but is reassured that there are ways to evade the Nether Bureau.
• Liu speaks frankly about her family’s fate and shows a bold, opportunistic streak in proposing the raid. She admires Zhang’s apparent daring, though he privately insists he is more cautious than she thinks.
• Their conversation shifts from exchanging personal histories to forming a risky partnership. Zhang’s suspicions about the True Lord remain unspoken, while Liu believes the Lord may be benevolent.

Significant themes

• Mortality and cosmic law: Even apparently immortal Celestial Persons face limits imposed by the Heavenly Laws.
• Power, exploitation, and survival: Liu’s family sought to use her as a bargaining chip; she survived by turning accumulated power against them.
• Agency under pressure: Zhang recognizes that even when circumstances push him along, his choices shape the outcome.
• Trust and hidden schemes: Liu’s faith in the True Lord contrasts with Zhang’s experience of being manipulated by him.

Plot points and events

• Wang Chengtian enters the Candlelit Brightness Pavilion to challenge True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts. He brings a powerful array plate and twelve Celestial Person-level artifacts, supplied largely from the Wen Kingdom’s Liu Household collection.
• The True Lord recognizes the array plate’s connection to the golden position Blazing Embers. Wang Chengtian combines the artifacts’ power to exceed Celestial Person limits, but the True Lord kills him effortlessly with a candle’s falling flame. Wang’s ashes reform into a scroll; most of his treasures are trapped, though the supreme treasure escapes.
• The story shifts to Zhang Yuan and Liu Yihong, who reach Dragon-Subduing Pass in a golden carriage. Zhang wonders why their journey took three days despite the carriage’s extraordinary speed.
• Finding no Celestial Person in the city, Zhang and Liu crash into the City Lord’s Residence. Zhang bluntly orders Deng Lingqiong to bring out the city’s valuables. Deng refuses, confident that the pass’s nine Nine Turns Qi Refining cultivators can repel them.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Chengtian has abandoned his demonic title, Blood Miasma, and no longer hopes to continue his family line. He believes he has left his legacy to a promising junior and enters the battle with no personal ties to hold him back. His resolve cannot overcome the gulf between him and the True Lord.
• Zhang Yuan is direct and impatient, choosing intimidation over negotiation. Liu Yihong is eager for a fight and encourages a forceful assault.
• Deng Lingqiong responds to the intruders with formal politeness at first, then defiance, relying on his clan’s numbers and reputation.

Significant themes

• The limits of power: Even extraordinary preparations and a breakthrough beyond normal cultivation limits are useless against a True Lord.
• Legacy and futility: Wang rejects family succession in a world where descendants may become pawns, instead placing his hopes in a chosen junior.
• Overconfidence and misjudgment: The True Lord dismisses Wang as an ant; Deng may likewise be underestimating Zhang and Liu.
• Power and exploitation: Liu Chen’s bargain and the artifacts’ origins reflect the political violence and manipulation shaping the cultivation world.

Key plot points and events

• Deng Lingqiong’s reinforcements arrive: eight Nine-Turn Qi Refinement Perfected, surrounding Zhang Yuan and Liu Yihong. Confident in their numbers, Deng threatens the pair.
• Zhang Yuan appears to prepare a direct attack with his Three-Colored Divine Radiance, but uses it as a diversion. Hidden iron-chain Divine Abilities bind the cultivators and obstruct them from unleashing their own powers.
• Liu Yihong kills four opponents with swift saber strikes, while Zhang Yuan erases the other four with his divine radiance. Deng breaks free of the chains with a protective robe but is left alone.
• Deng claims that a True Dragon is imprisoned beneath Dragon-Suppressing Pass and that killing him will doom the world. Zhang Yuan doubts him and kills him anyway.
• Zhang and Liu plan to raid the pass’s military storehouse before the return of powerful pursuers. A junior Deng clansman arrives with news of a foreign envoy, mistakes Zhang for the new overseer, and asks him to receive the envoy.

Character developments

• Zhang Yuan demonstrates that his Ten-Turn cultivation gives him an overwhelming advantage over Nine-Turn opponents. He is strategic and deceptive in combat, but dismisses Deng’s last-minute warning as a desperate excuse.
• Liu Yihong proves equally formidable, dispatching half the reinforcements with precise, lethal saber work.
• Deng Lingqiong shifts from confident commander to terrified survivor. His appeal about the dragon fails to change Zhang’s decision.

Significant themes

• Strategy over appearances: Zhang disguises a binding attack behind a conspicuous offensive display, illustrating that combat rewards deception and preparation.
• The gulf between cultivation levels: The single-step difference between Nine and Ten Turns is presented as enormous in practical power.
• Power, fear, and self-preservation: Deng’s threat, escape attempt, and dragon story each reflect his growing desperation.
• Unresolved danger: The alleged True Dragon and the approaching pursuers remain potential threats, even as Zhang and Liu move on.

Character interactions

• Deng tries to intimidate Zhang and Liu with his reinforcements, then pleads for his life by invoking the dragon.
• Zhang and Liu coordinate their attack, with Liu engaging the bound cultivators while Zhang finishes the remaining opponents.
• Zhang briefly checks Liu’s reaction to Deng’s claim; she offers no confirmation, and they proceed as though it is unfounded.
• The arriving clansman inadvertently treats Zhang as Dragon-Suppressing Pass’s new authority, setting up an unexpected encounter with the foreign envoy.

Key events

• Zhang Yuan learns that Dragon-Suppressing Pass’s treasury is in the City Lord’s Estate, but discovers that Celestial Person Li Jiansong is waiting there. To avoid drawing suspicion, he meets Li while posing as a Wenshui Deng disciple, “Deng Lingyuan.”
• Li announces that the Heng Kingdom has fallen and that the Jing Kingdom has been renamed Jing-Heng, jointly ruled by the Jingyang Li and Hengyang Lu. The new rulers say they will stay out of the war among Wen, Ao, and Ya, but demand Junya Mountain in Ya.
• After Li departs, Zhang tells Liu Yihong to search the treasury. He and Liu strip it of valuables, including cultivation methods, treasures, pills, and rare forces, filling their storage spaces.
• Meanwhile, above Mystic Scenery City, Deng Qiuzhi has spent three days suppressing Cui Wenshan and Sheng Lichuan. He senses something wrong at Dragon-Suppressing Pass and realizes it may have been breached.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang remains pragmatic and composed: he improvises a false identity, handles Li respectfully, and prioritizes looting before leaving to exchange his merits for a Tribulation-Transforming Pill.
• Liu Yihong works alongside Zhang, carefully selecting the treasury’s best items while he takes everything.
• Li Jiansong acts as a messenger for Jing-Heng’s territorial demand, revealing a major shift in the regional balance of power.
• Deng Qiuzhi’s confidence turns to alarm when his celestial resonance warns him that Dragon-Suppressing Pass may be in danger.

Significant themes

• Political upheaval: Heng’s sudden collapse reshapes the war and raises questions about the Hengyang Lu’s future alliances.
• Pragmatism and survival: Zhang avoids confrontation, exploits his opportunity, and keeps his own goal—obtaining the pill—above broader political concerns.
• Power and vulnerability: Even a formidable Celestial Person like Deng Qiuzhi cannot control events everywhere, while Zhang’s actions at Dragon-Suppressing Pass may have crossed an expected boundary.