Chapter Summaries

Li Miaoxuan told Gu Yuanqing that the world could not sustain cultivation beyond the Fire Dao Realm and explained the three choices for anyone who surpassed it. After she left him a sealed Cosmic Bag, Yue Hong confronted Gu Yuanqing and demanded he hand it over.

• Li Miaoxuan told Gu Yuanqing that the Heaven Ascending Path would appear at the Lingxu Sect on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, when the Outsiders from Beyond finished their trial.
• Li Miaoxuan revealed that the world’s fragile boundaries let demonic qi seep in and that the Lingxu Sect existed to prevent the world from becoming part of the Demon Realm.
• Li Miaoxuan explained that someone who surpassed the Fire Dao Realm must leave through the Heaven Ascending Path, seal or cut down their cultivation, or drag the world into the Demon Realm.
• Li Miaoxuan gave Gu Yuanqing a sealed Cosmic Bag and departed before answering when they had first met.
• Yue Hong blocked Gu Yuanqing near North Spring Mountain and demanded the Storage Bag.

Gu Yuanqing refused Yue Hong’s demand for the Storage Bag and fought him outside North Spring Mountain. He crushed Yue Hong with a palm strike, then realized he had used far more force than intended.

• Yue Hong demanded that Gu Yuanqing return the Storage Bag, claiming it belonged in the Lingxu Sect’s custody, but Gu refused.
• Yue Hong threatened to keep Gu from reaching North Spring Mountain unless he surrendered the bag, and Gu prepared to fight.
• Yue Hong drew his saber and unleashed a sword attack, but Gu avoided the battlefield and continued toward the mountain.
• Yue Hong struck at Gu with saber qi, and Gu warned him that he would kill him if he kept blocking the way.
• Gu provoked Yue Hong into wavering by asking why Li Miaoxuan had given him the treasure, then pressed down with a palm strike.
• Gu’s strike shattered Yue Hong’s saber, extinguished his dao fire, and buried him beneath the ground, leaving Gu astonished by its power.

After killing Yue Hong, Gu Yuanqing realized he had clung too tightly to swordsmanship and began cultivating the broader Dao of his mountain, while Li Miaoxuan returned to the palace to say goodbye to her father and son. The chapter ended with Li Haotian understanding that her farewell meal might be their last.

• Gu Yuanqing reflected on how his mountain’s Dao resonance had suppressed Yue Hong’s true essence and killed him with one palm strike.
• Gu Yuanqing shifted his cultivation away from swordsmanship, awakening the vitality and changing nature of the Green Mountain within his Dao Embryo.
• Gu Yuanqing used his true essence to make a plum tree blossom, then erected a gravestone for Yue Hong.
• Li Miaoxuan visited the palace and held her infant son, Li Chengyi, who could see her when the others could not.
• Li Haotian arrived and questioned Li Miaoxuan about leaving the world; she asked to share one last meal with him.

Li Miaoxuan returned to the Lingxu Sect, where Gong Daoxian revealed that she would soon ascend through the Heaven Gate. On North Spring Mountain, Gu Yuanqing offered to teach Feng Tao cultivation, while the wounded Zuo Qiu received a former servant of Gu Yuanqing as a captive.

• The Lingxu Sect patriarch sent Kuang Tongyi to investigate Yue Hong's extinguished soul lamp, and Li Miaoxuan encountered him while returning to the sect.
• Elder Qin confronted Li Miaoxuan for leaving during the Mountain Sealing Order and attacked her, but Gong Daoxian intervened and told her to visit his courtyard.
• Gong Daoxian told Elder Qin that Li Miaoxuan would soon ascend through the Heaven Gate, and Elder Qin urged Qin Baijun to forget her.
• Gu Yuanqing told Feng Tao she no longer needed to bring him meals and offered to teach her a cultivation technique to strengthen her body and prolong her life.
• Zuo Qiu remained badly injured at the Crimson Dragon Cult's headquarters, and Ding Wanhe presented him with a man who had once served Gu Yuanqing.

Zuo Qiu escaped after a prolonged pursuit by Li Shi'an and Ji Dai, while Gu Yuanqing discovered valuable books and the Nine Nether Purgatory Scripture in Gong Xin's Storage Bag. As Gu Yuanqing studied the path to the Dao Fire Realm, Kuang Tongyi of the Lingxu Sect arrived and called for him to come down the mountain.

• Zuo Qiu fled the Crimson Dragon Cult's Valley with Gu Wenqi, but Li Shi'an and Ji Dai pursued him as Hemp Robe slowed his escape with poisoned needles and hidden attacks.
• Zuo Qiu wounded Ji Dai and escaped after burning his Burning Dao Embryo Essence Blood, leaving Ji Dai and Li Shi'an unable to capture him.
• Gu Yuanqing opened Gong Xin's Storage Bag with North Spring Mountain's power and found Spirit Stones, three books, and a Jade Slip containing the Nine Nether Purgatory Scripture.
• Gu Yuanqing studied the scripture and learned that advancing from the Dao Embryo Realm to the Dao Fire Realm required enduring the Yin Fire Tribulation.
• Kuang Tongyi of the Lingxu Sect arrived at North Spring Mountain and asked Gu Yuanqing to come down and meet him.

Gu Yuanqing faced Kuang Tongyi of the Lingxu Sect, who challenged him over Yue Hong’s death. Their battle at the foot of North Spring Mountain showed Gu Yuanqing’s formidable dao resonance, but Kuang Tongyi remained unharmed and the duel was unresolved.

• Gu Yuanqing saw Kuang Tongyi standing at Yue Hong’s grave and went down to meet him.
• Kuang Tongyi freed the Imperial Guard soldiers from his aura and challenged Gu Yuanqing to a duel over Yue Hong’s death.
• Gu Yuanqing and Kuang Tongyi moved their fight outside North Spring Mountain and exchanged powerful techniques.
• Gu Yuanqing’s green mountain broke Kuang Tongyi’s Void Great Hand Seal, but Kuang Tongyi shattered the mountain with his Void Breaking Finger.
• Gu Yuanqing summoned North Spring Mountain’s phantom to withstand the Void Breaking Finger and struck Kuang Tongyi with a palm.
• Kuang Tongyi used a secret art to move ten zhang away, while Gu Yuanqing revealed that he had pulled back to avoid killing him.

Gu Yuanqing fought Kuang Tongyi, who invited him to seek the Heaven Ascending Path at Guixu Island, leaving him uncertain whether to leave North Spring Mountain. In the Spiritual Mountain Trial, Li Miaoxuan defeated him repeatedly, and he later saw water returning to North Spring Mountain’s Spirit Spring; meanwhile, Kuang Tongyi returned to Lingxu Mountain and was asked whether he had killed Yue Hong’s killer.

• Gu Yuanqing and Kuang Tongyi fought until Kuang Tongyi withdrew and praised Gu Yuanqing’s cultivation.
• Kuang Tongyi invited Gu Yuanqing to Guixu Island before the eleventh day of the eleventh month to take his chances on the Heaven Ascending Path, and Gu Yuanqing admitted he was unsure whether to leave North Spring Mountain.
• Gu Yuanqing reviewed their battle and then lost three times to Li Miaoxuan in the Spiritual Mountain Trial, each time in fewer than twenty moves.
• Gu Yuanqing read scrolls from Gong Xin and discovered spirit herbs growing on North Spring Mountain.
• Gu Yuanqing found water returning to the mountain’s Spirit Spring and saw birds and beasts gather to drink.
• Kuang Tongyi returned to Lingxu Mountain and reported Yue Hong’s death, and a gray-robed old man asked whether he had killed the culprit.

Gu Yuanqing focused on advancing his cultivation on North Spring Mountain, but discovered that the growing mountain was crushing space and opening rifts into the Demon Realm. Before he could seek a solution, Feng Zhong arrived to take him to the Lingxu Sect for killing Yue Hong.

• Feng Zhong asked the Lingxu Sect’s ancestor for permission to capture Gu Yuanqing, and the ancestor granted it.
• Gu Yuanqing devoted himself to cultivation and teaching Feng Tao while deciding to prioritize reaching the next realm over perfecting his current combat techniques.
• Gu Yuanqing sensed Demonic Qi beneath North Spring Mountain and discovered that the mountain’s growing power had crushed space, creating rifts into the Demon Realm.
• Feng Zhong arrived at North Spring Mountain, overwhelmed the Imperial Guard soldiers with his aura, and demanded that Gu Yuanqing surrender for questioning and punishment.

Gu Yuanqing killed Feng Zhong of the Lingxu Sect after Feng Zhong attacked him with the Hun Tian Rope. Back inside North Spring Mountain, Gu Yuanqing discovered that the mountain transformed demonic qi into spiritual qi, while a man on Guixu Island noticed Feng Zhong’s death and chose not to investigate.

• Feng Zhong accused Gu Yuanqing of hiding his guilt and attacked him with the Hun Tian Rope, but Gu Yuanqing used North Spring Mountain’s power to seize the treasure.
• Gu Yuanqing crushed Feng Zhong with the Green Mountain Phantom, buried his body, and returned to North Spring Mountain as the Imperial Guard soldiers recovered from the battle.
• Zhang Zhuo took a Hundred Grass Pill, entered North Spring Mountain, and sat down to recover while Gu Yuanqing returned his attention to the mountain’s sea of consciousness.
• Gu Yuanqing discovered that North Spring Mountain converted demonic qi entering its boundary into spiritual qi, which could become true essence, and began gathering the demonic qi as nourishment.
• On Guixu Island, a dried-corpse-like man learned that Feng Zhong’s soul lamp had gone out and that his connection to the Hun Tian Rope had vanished, but decided not to investigate.

As North Spring Mountain grew richer in spiritual qi and physically taller, Gu Yuanqing continued cultivating and studying the world around him rather than rushing to advance. Zhang Zhuo learned of the mountain’s changes but decided not to report them, while Gu Yuanqing expanded his perception and deepened the Dao resonance in his Dao embryo.

• North Spring Mountain’s spiritual qi and spring water nourished its plants and animals, while Gu Yuanqing’s cultivation and Dao resonance continued to grow.
• Feng Tao began drawing drinking water from the Spirit Pool, and the mountain’s animals fought over a second pool until Gu Yuanqing arranged their drinking times.
• Zhang Zhuo and his soldiers noticed that North Spring Mountain had grown taller and that its spiritual qi had accelerated their cultivation.
• Zhang Zhuo’s trusted subordinate warned him that reporting the mountain’s changes could cost them their post, and Zhang Zhuo put away his brush without sending a report.
• Gu Yuanqing sensed the area around North Spring Mountain, ignored the soldiers’ use of its spiritual qi, and studied the world as new Dao resonance gathered in his Dao embryo.

Li Shi'an visited North Spring Mountain to ask Gu Yuanqing to help kill Zuo Qiu, whose injuries had nearly healed and who threatened the Great Qian. Gu Yuanqing refused to leave the mountain but offered Li Shi'an something that might help.

• Ji Dai fled a gambling house after its enforcers accused him of cheating, then discussed Zuo Qiu's return with Li Shi'an.
• Li Shi'an decided to visit Gu Yuanqing at North Spring Mountain while Ji Dai agreed to guard the Imperial Dynasty.
• Li Shi'an was astonished by North Spring Mountain's changed appearance and abundant spiritual qi when he arrived.
• Gu Yuanqing welcomed Li Shi'an and served him tea made with spirit spring water.
• Li Shi'an invited Gu Yuanqing to leave the mountain and help surround and kill Zuo Qiu, but Gu Yuanqing refused because he alone controlled the mountain's array formation.
• Gu Yuanqing offered to give Li Shi'an something that might help him fight Zuo Qiu.

Gu Yuanqing gave Li Shi'an a jade token containing the power of one strike as Li prepared to face Zuo Qiu. After Li left, Zuo Qiu watched North Spring Mountain from a distance before heading toward the royal capital, intent on recovering his losses through a Great Sacrifice.

• Li Shi'an explored North Spring Mountain and discovered its spirit pools, unusual water, and transformed plants and animals.
• Gu Yuanqing gave Li Shi'an a jade token containing one of his strikes, which Li accepted before returning to the royal capital to prepare for Zuo Qiu.
• Little Li arrived with a shipment of goods for Gu Yuanqing, who sensed Zuo Qiu watching North Spring Mountain from a distant peak.
• Zuo Qiu stayed beyond the mountain's effective range, then turned toward the royal capital and decided that only a Great Sacrifice could make up for his losses.

Zuo Qiu slaughtered people around Dayu Mountain while Great Qian's defenders struggled to track him, then revealed he had prepared an array beyond the reach of their defenses. He activated it despite Li Shi'an and Ji Dai's attempts to stop him, leaving Dayu Mountain enveloped by a curtain of bloody light as Li Shi'an remembered Gu Yuanqing's words.

• Daoist Xuanqing and Qin Wuya discussed Zuo Qiu's attacks and the danger he posed to Dayu Mountain's Array Formation.
• Ji Dai reported that he had failed to catch Zuo Qiu, while Li Shi'an suspected the killings around the mountain were part of an evil art.
• Zuo Qiu completed his preparations at a final site and later appeared in the open ground between Dayu Mountain and the capital, dragging nine bound Demon Suppression Division soldiers.
• Zuo Qiu killed the nine soldiers and claimed he had found flaws in the Imperial Dynasty's formation and Dayu Mountain's Array Formation that protected his position.
• Li Shi'an and Ji Dai attacked Zuo Qiu, but he defeated them and activated an array that sent more than three hundred blood-colored pillars skyward.
• Li Shi'an and Ji Dai failed to stop the bloody curtain from enclosing Dayu Mountain, and Li Shi'an remembered Gu Yuanqing's words.

Li Shi'an and Ji Dai used a jade token to summon Gu Yuanqing's Green Mountain Palm Seal against Zuo Qiu, while Li Haotian and the imperial forces supported the attack. Zuo Qiu escaped the combined assault, leaving Gu Yuanqing to conclude that Li Shi'an had failed to seize the opportunity.

• Lai Tianfeng and the soldiers of the Demon Suppression Division struck the Blood Demon Array, but their attacks could not break its pillar of blood.
• General-in-Chief Chen Ao and the armies attacked the array, while Li Haotian used the Golden Dragon Seal to send a golden dragon saber strike toward Zuo Qiu and collapsed from the effort.
• Li Shi'an threw a jade token at Zuo Qiu, and its shattered light summoned Gu Yuanqing's Green Mountain Palm Seal.
• Zuo Qiu unleashed his full power and secret arts against the Palm Seal, but Green Mountain continued to descend and suppress him.
• Gu Yuanqing disrupted Zuo Qiu's power as the golden dragon entered the battlefield, but Zuo Qiu burned his Dao Embryo Essence Blood, shattered his Blood Soul Saber, and escaped through a gap in the Palm Seal.
• Green Mountain struck the ground and blocked the pursuit, while Gu Yuanqing realized Zuo Qiu had escaped again and blamed Li Shi'an for failing to use the opening.

Li Haotian and his allies assessed the cost of driving Zuo Qiu away, while Gu Yuanqing’s jade token convinced them of his growing power. Zuo Qiu struggled to survive and fled, as North Spring Mountain’s transformation began changing its paths and defenses.

• Li Haotian, Li Shi'an, Ji Dai, and Prince Qing discussed their injuries, Zuo Qiu’s escape, and the power of Gu Yuanqing’s jade token.
• Zuo Qiu recovered by devouring animals, lamented his losses, and fled from pursuing Heavenly Strategy Gate constables.
• Gu Yuanqing observed North Spring Mountain growing taller and wider as its interior became increasingly separated from the outside.
• Zhang Zhuo investigated the mountain’s shifting paths and hostile monkeys, then ordered his soldiers to stay out except through the main entrance.
• Gu Yuanqing recognized that North Spring Mountain had begun transforming from a residence into a cultivation sanctuary.

As North Spring Mountain continued its mysterious transformation, Li Shi'an visited Gu Yuanqing and urged him to take the Heaven Ascending Path, but Gu Yuanqing refused. After Li Shi'an left, Gu Yuanqing reflected on the cost of leaving the mountain and on Li Miaoxuan's impending departure.

• North Spring Mountain grew taller and wider as its spiritual qi advanced to tier two, while Gu Yuanqing sensed deeper changes through Mountain Observation.
• Li Shi'an accidentally passed through the mountain when he first tried to enter, then met Gu Yuanqing and thanked him for helping save Great Qian.
• Li Shi'an asked whether Gu Yuanqing would take the Heaven Ascending Path and offered to help resolve his conflict with the Lingxu Sect, but Gu Yuanqing declined.
• Li Shi'an urged Gu Yuanqing to leave the small world before its limits trapped his cultivation, but Gu Yuanqing remained firm and hosted him for a meal.
• Li Shi'an departed after one final attempt to persuade Gu Yuanqing, who then contemplated losing the mountain's cultivation benefits and being separated from Li Miaoxuan.

Li Miaoxuan entered the Heaven Ascending Path as Ji Qingyun prepared to leave his post guarding the world, but an unexplained disturbance interrupted his departure. On North Spring Mountain, Gu Yuanqing sensed the same shaking and looked deep beneath the earth.

• Li Miaoxuan declined to return to Great Qian before leaving, while Kuang Tongyi lamented that Gu Yuanqing had refused to join her on the Heaven Ascending Path.
• Ji Qingyun emerged from his long seclusion and led the assembled cultivators in opening the Heaven Gate for Li Miaoxuan.
• Li Miaoxuan entered the gate, but Senior Brother Zhou tried to follow and was repelled, dying after his Dao Fire burned out.
• Ji Qingyun entrusted Kuang Tongyi with the bronze token and Silk Book, then began to depart after completing his five-hundred-year duty of guarding the world.
• A sudden earthquake interrupted Ji Qingyun's departure, and he sensed an unknown troublemaker on the continent.
• As Zuo Qiu vanished in the mountains west of Great Qian, Gu Yuanqing felt the shaking on North Spring Mountain and peered beneath the earth.

Gu Yuanqing experienced North Spring Mountain's Transformation as it absorbed demonic qi from the Demon Realm, becoming a high-grade spirit mountain and nascent cave heaven. He discovered new enhancements and realized the clouds beneath the cliffs concealed the Demon Realm, forming a Fishing Platform connected to Heavenly Fishing.

• North Spring Mountain absorbed demonic qi from the Demon Realm, which it purified into spiritual qi and used to complete its Transformation.
• Gu Yuanqing merged with the mountain through Mountain Observation as North Spring Mountain and his own body and cultivation evolved.
• Gu Yuanqing examined his panel and found that North Spring Mountain had become a high-grade spirit mountain and nascent cave heaven, with new Heavenly Fishing and Heaven and Earth Pool enhancements.
• Gu Yuanqing observed that North Spring Mountain sealed the rifts into the Demon Realm and absorbed escaping demonic qi without letting any reach the outside world.
• Gu Yuanqing found that clouds beneath the cliff repelled his awareness and true essence, then concluded that they concealed the Demon Realm and served as Heavenly Fishing's Fishing Platform.

The tremors across Great Qian prompted concern at North Spring Mountain, in the Imperial Palace, and on Lingxiao Mountain. Gu Yuanqing struggled to use heavenly fishing against the Demon Realm’s demonic qi and tried applying North Spring Mountain’s cleansing power to his fishing line.

• Zhang Zhuo’s Imperial Guard drilled their formation, and he rebuked a guard who suggested asking Gu Yuanqing to protect their cultivation opportunity.
• True Master Xuanqing told Li Haotian that the tremors might be connected to the Heaven Ascending Path opening and the trial people returning; Li Haotian mourned Li Miaoxuan’s departure, then went to see the little highness.
• Ji Qingyun told Kuang Tongyi to prepare to descend Lingxiao Mountain, suspecting the tremors signaled a major problem possibly related to the Demon Realm.
• Gu Yuanqing sent a true-essence fishing line through the clouds into the Demon Realm, but its demonic qi rapidly eroded his energy and divine sense.
• Gu Yuanqing summoned the North Spring Mountain phantom and used object control to apply it to the fishing line.

Gu Yuanqing discovered that Heavenly Fishing combined Mountain Observation and Object Control, then used the method to strengthen his Fishing Line and test his control over true essence and Divine Intent. After hooking a powerful Demon Realm wild boar, he hauled it through the Cloudmist and into North Spring Mountain, where it was suppressed.

• Gu Yuanqing found that combining Mountain Observation and Object Control prevented demonic qi from dissolving his Fishing Line, but his first attempts snapped when the same prey bit the bait.
• Gu Yuanqing wove strands of true essence into a stronger line and realized that maintaining the strands required divided attention and refined control over Divine Intent.
• Gu Yuanqing tested a line woven from fifty strands, deepening his understanding of Heavenly Fishing as a way to apply and temper Mountain Observation and Object Control.
• Gu Yuanqing lowered the thick line into the Demon Realm, where a ten-foot wild boar bit the bait and was caught by a hook that pierced its body and Divine Soul.
• Gu Yuanqing used the North Spring Mountain Phantom's empowerment to resist the boar's pull and hauled it into North Spring Mountain, where it was completely suppressed.