Chapter Summaries

Zhang Yuan took the [Broad Thunder Sword] from Shen Qiulan and Pei Chongtian, then spared them after they surrendered. Shen Qiulan recognized him as the Sword Immortal of the Ya East River and led Pei Chongtian away; Zhang Yuan and Cui Zhaowei then discussed the sword and another possible True Treasure.

• Zhang Yuan claimed the opportunity belonged to him, and his Celestial Person status suppressed Shen Qiulan and Pei Chongtian when they challenged him.
• Shen Qiulan and Pei Chongtian surrendered the [Broad Thunder Sword] and begged Zhang Yuan to spare their lives, which he did.
• Shen Qiulan recognized Zhang Yuan as the Sword Immortal of the Ya East River and warned Pei Chongtian of his record of killing, prompting them to flee to the south side of the mountain.
• Zhang Yuan told Cui Zhaowei he was not one to revel in slaughter, and Cui Zhaowei offered to ask her father about a different Pre-Heaven True Treasure.
• Zhang Yuan said he would first examine the miraculous effects of the [Broad Thunder Sword].

Zhang Yuan and Cui Zhaowei encountered Qin Tianyi fleeing from Wenren Xuange, a cultivator who could use divine abilities on Mount Junya. Wenren Xuange demanded Cui Zhaowei’s death for no reason beyond disliking her face, and Zhang Yuan stopped to confront him.

• Zhang Yuan and Cui Zhaowei set off toward Mount Junya’s summit after Zhang Yuan inspected the Broad Thunder Sword.
• Qin Tianyi fled from Wenren Xuange, spotted Zhang Yuan, and rolled behind him while pleading for help.
• Qin Tianyi explained that Wenren Xuange retained his Nine-Turn Qi Refining cultivation and divine abilities, but Zhang Yuan refused to get involved.
• Wenren Xuange stopped Zhang Yuan and demanded Cui Zhaowei’s head, saying he wanted to kill her because he disliked her cold face.
• Zhang Yuan learned Cui Zhaowei was the daughter of the Eastern Ya Cui Clan’s head, but Wenren Xuange remained determined to kill her.

Zhang Yuan killed Wenren Xuange on Mount Junya despite the mountain laws aiding him, then discovered a rare cultivation manual among Wenren Xuange’s belongings. Qin Tianyi revealed that the manual was an Elder Era scripture linked to a hidden Golden Position and the method Qin himself practiced.

• Zhang Yuan suppressed Wenren Xuange with his Celestial Person Status, but Mount Junya’s laws helped Wenren Xuange break free.
• Zhang Yuan attacked with the [Weather and Season Mystic Pearls], but Wenren Xuange’s defensive armor blocked the lightning bolts.
• Zhang Yuan used the [Lamp-Lighting Oil-Adding Pill] and a swift Sword Qi strike to kill Wenren Xuange, then took his armor, spear, and storage pouch.
• Zhang Yuan found a copy of the "Radiant Immortal-Shaking Scripture" in Wenren Xuange’s pouch, and Qin Tianyi recognized it.
• Zhang Yuan restrained Qin Tianyi and demanded an explanation, so Qin revealed that the scripture was an Elder Era cultivation method linked to a hidden Golden Position.

Zhang Yuan tried to leave Mount Junya with Cui Zhaowei, but the mountain’s renewed collapse and surging True Lord Laws made the trial impossible for her to pass. He linked their lives with [Myriad Coexistence] and carried her upward as lightning struck.

• Mount Junya crumbled into floating Glazed Jade Stones, revealing a Pre-Heaven True Treasure and a True Lord Inheritance while its True Lord Laws grew stronger.
• The pressure weakened Qin Tianyi and left Cui Zhaowei unable to walk, while Zhang Yuan remained unaffected by using [Heaven-Sundering Fourfold Immortal Domain].
• Zhang Yuan realized Cui Zhaowei would lose her cultivation if she failed [Ascending Mountain Pass], and offered to use [Myriad Coexistence] to link their Karma and lives.
• Cui Zhaowei agreed, and Zhang Yuan activated [Myriad Coexistence], binding their wrists with a chain.
• Lightning surged from the Glazed Jade Stones, and Zhang Yuan shielded Cui Zhaowei, lifted her around the waist, and sprang up the mountain.

Zhang Yuan helped Cui Zhaowei pass Mount Junya’s Ascending Mountain Pass, then claimed the treasures at the summit. After he took both, the laws’ suppression lifted, and the cultivators who rushed toward them fled or were killed.

• Zhang Yuan carried Cui Zhaowei up Mount Junya and helped her pass the Ascending Mountain Pass.
• Zhang Yuan took the Radiant Thunder Pivot Immortal-Quelling Scripture, intending to bargain with Qin Tianyi for it later.
• Zhang Yuan claimed the Eastern Mystic-Yang Fusang Banner and stored it in his Dao Domain.
• The laws’ suppression vanished after Zhang Yuan took both treasures, restoring the cultivators’ cultivation.
• A burly Seven-Turn Qi Refining Perfected Person tried to seize the treasures, but Cui Zhaowei killed him with her sword, and the other cultivators fled.

Summary

• Cui Qiezhe weighs the Ya Kingdom’s future. At the Chancellor’s Residence, he reflects on his decision to give up Junya Mountain in exchange for peace and relief from conscription. He expects the wider war to resume and eventually engulf every kingdom, but believes Ya should avoid choosing sides and submit to the eventual victor, limiting casualties.
• Jiang Peilan visits him about their daughter. Minister Sheng announces the arrival of the Frost-Repelling Sword Immortal, Cui’s wife. Despite rumors that Cui avoids home because he fears her formidable reputation, he reveals that he stays away because he simply does not want to see her. Jiang worries that their daughter, Zhaowei, may fail the Mountain-Climbing Trial. Cui reassures her that he has arranged for Zhang Yuan—whose Daoist name is Return to the True—to accompany Zhaowei. He then coldly tells Jiang to visit less often. Though hurt, she leaves quietly, briefly hopeful when he says he may return home after Zhang comes back.
• Xiao Yuanjun discovers Zhang Yuan is gone. At Clearheart Residence, she wakes expecting to share dinner with him, then uses her Myriad Coexistence ability to locate him. Sensing that he has connected the ability to someone else, she worries he might be drawn into a dangerous karmic entanglement. Taking her responsibility as his master seriously, she hurries to Junya Mountain to check on him.

Character developments and interactions

Cui is shown as a pragmatic, restrained statesman who prioritizes his people’s survival, but his private coldness toward Jiang contrasts with his public gentleness. Jiang is careful not to intrude, yet her concern for Zhaowei brings her to him; she accepts his arrangements despite the strain in their marriage. Xiao Yuanjun, usually somewhat unreliable, shows protective concern and a growing sense of responsibility toward Zhang Yuan.

Significant themes

The chapter contrasts the large-scale forces of war and political necessity with personal bonds and family tensions. It also explores duty and responsibility: Cui tries to protect his kingdom’s people, Jiang acts for her daughter, and Xiao Yuanjun intervenes to protect her disciple.

Zhang Yuan trapped the cultivators on Mount Junya and seized their treasures, then faced demands from Deng Yici, Cui Zhaowei, and Qin Tianyi for his inheritance. Before they could force a decision, Xiao Yuanjun arrived with overwhelming power and offered to kill anyone he chose.

• Zhang Yuan used his Dao Domain to trap the fleeing cultivators and demanded their Qiankun Pouches, killing those who defied or threatened him.
• Deng Yici demanded Zhang Yuan's Pre-Heaven Supreme Treasure and True Lord Inheritance, offering compensation and a place as her consort; Cui Zhaowei and Qin Tianyi also sought the inheritance.
• Zhang Yuan agreed to discuss the inheritance with Qin Tianyi later, while privately deciding not to kill him because he was a True Lord's chess piece.
• Twelve powerful Weather and Seasonal Mystic Pearls enclosed Deng Yici, Qin Tianyi, and the others, revealing the arrival of an expert.
• Xiao Yuanjun emerged from the Great Void and asked Zhang Yuan if there was anyone he wanted killed, while Deng Yici asked who she was.

Xiao Yuanjun arrived at Mount Junya and used her Mystic Wonder to gravely wound Deng Yici after learning that the Wen River Deng Clan was targeting Zhang Yuan. Deng Yici escaped after making Zhang Yuan an offer, and Xiao Yuanjun realized she had misread his connection with Cui Zhaowei and arrived at an awkward moment.

• Xiao Yuanjun attacked Deng Yici with the [Weather and Season Mystic Pearls], and her Mystic Wonder made Deng Yici gravely wounded despite her evasion.
• Qin Tianyi, Shen Qiulan, and Pei Chongtian distanced themselves from the Wen River Deng Clan, while Deng Yici recognized Xiao Yuanjun as the thief who had once stolen treasures from her clan.
• Xiao Yuanjun and Deng Yici discussed the Golden Positions they sought, and Xiao Yuanjun threatened to kill any Deng Clan members who came after her.
• Deng Yici promised Zhang Yuan two Pre-Heaven Supreme Treasures if he visited the Wen River Deng Clan, then escaped into the Great Void before Xiao Yuanjun could catch her.
• Xiao Yuanjun told Zhang Yuan she had come after sensing his [Myriad Coexistence] connect with someone and fearing he had been deceived, then remarked that his master had arrived at the wrong time.

Zhang Yuan returned from Mount Junya with Xiao Yuanjun and gave her the Radiant Thunder Pivot Immortal-Quelling Scripture to study, while explaining how he had helped Cui Zhaowei pass the trial. Cui Zhaowei returned safely to her family, and Jiang Peilan arranged a dinner invitation for Zhang Yuan, hoping to bring the two closer.

• Zhang Yuan presented Xiao Yuanjun with the Radiant Thunder Pivot Immortal-Quelling Scripture and the Eastern Mystic-Yang Fusang Banner, then invited Qin Tianyi to Brightheart Residence to discuss the cultivation art.
• Zhang Yuan escorted Cui Zhaowei home before returning to Brightheart Residence, where he explained to Xiao Yuanjun how he had helped Cui Zhaowei and settled his karmic debt to the Eastern Ya Cui Clan.
• Zhang Yuan reflected that various clans' True Lords had tried to influence his Dusty Bonds Trial by arranging potential replacements for Chen Xinqiao as the person through whom it unfolded.
• Cui Zhaowei told Jiang Peilan that Mount Junya's awakened True Lord Laws had made the trial dangerous and that Zhang Yuan's divine ability had helped her pass.
• Jiang Peilan sent Cui Zhaowei to invite Zhang Yuan to dinner, recognizing that her daughter was beginning to speak up for him and that the Eastern Ya Cui Clan hoped to bring them together.

Cui Qiezhe thanked Zhang Yuan for helping Cui Zhaowei and used dinner to suggest that Zhang Yuan find a Dao Companion and start a family. Back at Brightheart Residence, Zhang Yuan reassured Xiao Yuanjun that he would not betray her, and she declared that master and disciple were Dao Companions too.

• Cui Qiezhe gave Zhang Yuan a sword-shaped Pre-Heaven True Treasure in gratitude for helping Cui Zhaowei pass her trial, and Zhang Yuan accepted it.
• Cui Qiezhe and Jiang Peilan invited Zhang Yuan to dinner and urged him to consider romance and descendants, while Cui Zhaowei understood their intentions in silence.
• After returning to Brightheart Residence, Zhang Yuan reflected that his dangerous circumstances made it better to remain alone.
• Xiao Yuanjun appeared and accused Zhang Yuan of wanting to betray her, then struck his chest when he denied it.
• Xiao Yuanjun insisted that masters and disciples could be Dao Companions, and Zhang Yuan agreed that he and his master were.

Liu Zezheng reached the celestial peak and received a truth-seeking rite from the Daoist Attendant, then set off for Mount Junya to pursue True Lordhood. Back at his East Room, Zhang Yuan received a new cultivation method from Xiao Yuanjun and learned the three foundations of Celestial Person cultivation.

• Liu Zezheng replaced his heart with a Pre-Heaven True Treasure and advanced to the celestial peak.
• The Daoist Attendant gave Liu Zezheng a [golden palace sand] truth-seeking rite and told him about the Mountain Formed from a True Lord's Spine.
• Liu Zezheng begged the Daoist Attendant, then laughed wildly and flew toward Mount Junya.
• Zhang Yuan returned to his East Room with Xiao Yuanjun after preserving his status as Founding Senior Disciple.
• Xiao Yuanjun showed Zhang Yuan the Foundation Establishment Chapter of the "Pre-Heaven True Law Self-Salvation Great Method" and explained the mystic wonder, dao domain, and true nature required on the path of Celestial Person cultivation.

Xiao Yuanjun explained how Celestial Persons perfected Dao Domains by refining pure yin-yang and five-element essences to bear a golden position. She revealed that her method pursued a Perfect Golden Core, while Zhang Yuan learned that even newly established True Lords faced the threat of being knocked down before securing their positions.

• Xiao Yuanjun told Zhang Yuan that a Celestial Person had to make a golden position acknowledge them as its lord within a perfected Dao Domain to become a True Lord.
• Xiao Yuanjun described the six modern yin-yang essences, twelve branches, and ten five-element qi natures, and explained that ancient True Lords had altered some essences.
• Xiao Yuanjun revealed that her Pre-Heaven True Law Self-Salvation Great Method refined all six essences, twelve branches, and ten qi natures to pursue a Perfect Golden Core.
• Xiao Yuanjun said a Perfect Golden Core could rival long-established True Lords and resist attempts to knock its bearer out of True Lordhood.
• Xiao Yuanjun explained that True Person Qingxu had nearly secured [Heavenly Well Radiance] before several True Lords intervened, and Zhang Yuan worried that rogue cultivators could not safely pursue True Lordhood without powerful backing.

Zhang Yuan learned from Xiao Yuanjun about mystic wonders and the mystery of true nature, while Cui Qiezhe discovered that someone would Seek Truth on Mount Junya. The next morning, Qin Tianyi sought information about Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun before visiting them.

• Zhang Yuan asked Xiao Yuanjun whether refining Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements would let him pursue any Golden Position, and Xiao Yuanjun confirmed that her method prevented them from competing for the same one.
• Xiao Yuanjun explained how mystic wonders arose and warned Zhang Yuan that he needed at least three to Seek Truth, then said that the knowledge of true nature had been lost from most methods.
• Cui Qiezhe received a report that no other clans had openly come to Mount Junya, then used a Ritual Sword to ask the True Lord why the Aohai Cui Clan had stayed away.
• The True Lord told Cui Qiezhe that someone would Seek Truth on Mount Junya, leaving him alarmed by the danger to the Ya Kingdom.
• Qin Tianyi visited the Eastern Sunken Pavilion and asked about the backgrounds of Zhang Yuan and Xiao Yuanjun, who lived at Brightheart Residence.

Qin Tianyi bought gifts at the Eastern Sunken Pavilion to visit the Return to True Celestial Person, while Cui Yuanxi emerged from seclusion as a Nine-Turn Perfected Person and faced a trial requiring her to reach Brightheart Residence’s East Room. At the residence, she realized the Celestial Person Qin Tianyi had come to see was Zhang Yuan.

• Qin Tianyi paid a shop assistant for information about the Return to True Celestial Person and learned of Zhang Yuan’s violent exploits.
• Qin Tianyi bought a cheap Pre-Heaven True Treasure hairpin and a mysterious sheet marked with eighteen numbers as gifts for the Return to True Celestial Person.
• Cui Yuanxi emerged from seclusion after reaching nine turns and late-stage golden core, then invited Cui Zhaowei to accompany her to Brightheart Residence.
• Cui Yuanxi sensed that her first trial required her to reach Brightheart Residence’s East Room within a day, though she dreaded going there.
• Qin Tianyi arrived at Brightheart Residence with gifts and introduced himself to Cui Yuanxi and Cui Zhaowei as an old friend of the Return to True Celestial Person.
• Cui Yuanxi realized that Qin Tianyi’s Return to True Celestial Person was Zhang Yuan and was surprised he had already reached the Celestial Person realm.

Cui Yuanxi reached Nine Turns and began her Celestial Trials at Brightheart Residence, where she passed two trials with little effort. She had one trial remaining before Celestial attainment, while Zhang Yuan wondered at the ease of her progress.

• Cui Yuanxi emerged from seclusion after refining Heavenly Gang in less than seven days and told Zhang Yuan that her first Celestial Trial had fallen at Brightheart Residence.
• Cui Yuanxi passed the [Turning Trial] by reaching Zhang Yuan's Bedroom from Cui Zhaowei's home within one day.
• Cui Yuanxi asked for exactly two bites of food to fulfill the [Two-Bite Trial], and Xiao Yuanjun gave her a fresh pair of chopsticks.
• Cui Yuanxi ate two bites and passed her second trial, leaving her one trial away from Celestial attainment.

Zhang Yuan learned that cinnabar yang fire qi would soon emerge at Mount Junya and prepared to scout for it, while Cui Yuanxi offered to accompany him to pass her third trial. Suspecting [True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns] had arranged the trial to draw Cui Yuanxi into danger, Zhang Yuan feared that rival clans would kill her as soon as she attained the Celestial Person realm.

• Cui Zhaowei told Zhang Yuan that Cui Qiezhe wanted him to observe Mount Junya from afar and report any changes without intervening.
• Xiao Yuanjun divined that cinnabar yang fire qi would emerge at Mount Junya, and Zhang Yuan confirmed it through his own calculation.
• Cui Yuanxi asked to accompany Zhang Yuan, explaining that looking up at Mount Junya would let her pass the [Reverence Pass] and attain the Celestial Person realm.
• Zhang Yuan suspected [True Lord Imperial Balance Myriad Turns] had moved Cui Yuanxi's trial to Mount Junya to expose her to Foundation Establishment Celestials who would kill her after she ascended.

Zhang Yuan realized that the clans were targeting Cui Yuanxi at Mount Junya and prepared to face the danger with limited help. Qin Tianyi delivered a mysterious paper bearing eighteen digits from the Eastern Sunken Pavilion, and Zhang Yuan recruited him to help at the coming contest for Cinnabar Yang Fire Qi.

• Zhang Yuan suspected that other clans wanted Cui Yuanxi dead at Mount Junya, but decided he could not yet tell how to help her.
• Qin Tianyi arrived intending to give Zhang Yuan a hairpin and a cultivation method, but seeing Xiao Yuanjun, Cui Yuanxi, and Cui Zhaowei present, he offered only the method.
• Zhang Yuan recognized the eighteen digits on Qin Tianyi's paper and suspected True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts had sent it through the Eastern Sunken Pavilion.
• Zhang Yuan accepted the paper and the Radiant Thunder Pivot Immortal-Quelling Scripture, then asked Qin Tianyi to help him at Mount Junya.
• Qin Tianyi agreed to hold off several Celestial Persons while privately counting on his Mystic Wonder to escape if necessary.

Liu Zezheng arrived at Mount Junya and began refining the mountain into a Dharma Body, attracting Foundation Establishment Celestials. Lu Jianqing met Zhang Yuan and asked after Bai Fu, while Zhang Yuan concealed that he did not know where she was.

• Liu Zezheng reached Mount Junya two days late, then set the mountain ablaze to reshape it for his Dharma Body.
• Foundation Establishment Celestials gathered at Mount Junya after sensing cinnabar yang fire qi, and the Dragon Clan youth withdrew when he recognized Lu Jianqing's Hengyang Lu Clan origins.
• Zhang Yuan, Xiao Yuanjun, Cui Yuanxi, and Qin Tianyi emerged from the Great Void, while Cui Zhaowei had returned alone to the Cui Residence.
• Lu Jianqing approached Zhang Yuan and asked whether the maid his clan had given him was satisfactory.
• Zhang Yuan recognized Lu Jianqing as a Hengyang Lu Clan Celestial Person and falsely assured him that Bai Fu was safe at Brightheart Residence.

Zhang Yuan learned that Lu Jianqing had come with orders to join an attack on Cui Yuanxi, but Lu withdrew because he feared offending Zhang Yuan and revealed that other forces were also moving against them. The chapter left Zhang Yuan facing a larger threat than expected, with two Dragon Clan Celestial Persons apparently targeting him.

• Lu Jianqing told Zhang Yuan that Lu Zhiming had been spared from being refined into a pill by being placed in a woman's body and sent to serve him as Bai Fu.
• Lu Jianqing said the Hengyang Lu Clan had sent him to join the Jingyang Li and Wen River Deng clans in killing Cui Yuanxi, but he refused to act because Zhang Yuan was present.
• Zhang Yuan invited Lu Jianqing to help defend Cui Yuanxi, and Lu declined while warning that the Western Bian Chu Clan had pinned down the Aohai Cui Clan.
• Lu Jianqing warned that two Dragon Clan Celestial Persons had likely come to kill Zhang Yuan, leaving him worried that his group might not withstand the combined forces.

Zhang Yuan devised a plan to save Cui Yuanxi by defeating the two dragons before Mount Junya’s fire ended her Reverence Pass. He and Xiao Yuanjun ambushed the Flood Dragon, and Zhang Yuan began attacking it while the gathered Celestial Persons watched.

• Zhang Yuan learned Cui Yuanxi had sixteen hours left in her Reverence Pass, but feared Mount Junya would burn down in less than four.
• Zhang Yuan assigned Qin Tianyi to fight the younger Dragon Clan man while he and Xiao Yuanjun attacked the Flood Dragon.
• Xiao Yuanjun struck the Flood Dragon with all twelve autumn and winter Weather and Season Mystic Pearls, sending it crashing to the ground.
• The Celestial Persons saw Zhang Yuan’s array of pre-heaven artifact treasures, and the Flood Dragon questioned why he had attacked it.
• Zhang Yuan insulted the Flood Dragon for flying above his head and immediately slashed at it with the Flying Light Sword.