Chapter Summaries

Plot points

• Qin Shujian breaks through to the Divine Martial Realm, gaining a lifespan that exceeds the thousand-year threshold. His status panel now lists him as Divine Martial tenth level, though his domain and sect bonuses make him effectively peak Divine Martial within those territories.
• His fused cultivation method, the Origin Return Ancestral Canon, reaches high-grade divine tier. Its former traits are replaced by Ancient Wilderness Immortal Body, Invulnerable to All Laws, and Truth-Severing Red Lotus.
• Qin tests the Red Lotus briefly but cannot tell whether it retains the old Wisdom King Karmic Fire’s ability to refine demons and evil fiends into energy. He worries that losing this power would undermine the foundation behind his exceptionally powerful spirit god.
• He spends fortune points to upgrade his Dustless Immortal Garment to a Three-Mark Dao Artifact, then prepares to repair damaged array disks.
• At the Origin Sect, envoy Wu Lang has been waiting to meet Qin. Qin appears through a pure-yang spirit god functioning as an external incarnation, astonishing Wu Lang with how advanced and lifelike it is.

Character developments

• Qin’s breakthrough confirms his extraordinary strength and gives him a powerful new body and abilities. He is pleased with the cultivation method’s high grade, but anxious about whether the Red Lotus preserves the old karmic fire’s function.
• Wu Lang’s curiosity and uncertainty give way to respect. He recognizes that Qin’s spirit-god incarnation is far beyond what he himself can achieve and predicts Qin may soon become a Heavenly Being.

Themes and interactions

• The chapter emphasizes the exceptional rewards—and risks—of advancement: Qin gains longevity and immense power, but the transformation may have cost him a crucial ability.
• Qin’s rapid progress inspires confidence among Origin Sect disciples, while also deepening outsiders’ awe of him.
• Wu Lang consults Zheng Fang about Qin’s absence, then greets Qin formally when he arrives. Qin’s brief confirmation of the incarnation’s nature leaves Wu Lang even more impressed.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Lang tells Qin Shujian that otherworlders have broken seals across Great Zhao, releasing evil fiends and causing demon calamities in every prefecture except Northcloud. The Imperial Court asks Qin to help, citing his past success against powerful demons, and promises compensation.
• Qin is eager to accept because killing evil fiends will replenish his fortune value, which he needs for further cultivation and equipment upgrades. He nevertheless asks about compensation before agreeing. Wu Lang says he must report back to the court, which will provide the mission details later.
• Qin’s spirit god avatar disappears from the meeting. Back at Liangshan Summit, he finishes repairing the Array Disk and reflects that his remaining fortune value is insufficient for his larger ambitions.
• Qin visits the Forging Hall and asks its hall master, Shen Yuqing, how much tier-six-or-higher material is in storage. On learning there is about eight hundred jin, he tells Shen to calculate its contribution-point value because he wants to buy it all.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian is powerful enough to project a spirit god avatar, but still thinks strategically about resources and rewards. His eagerness to hunt evil fiends is driven both by duty and by the fortune value they can provide.
• Wu Lang approaches Qin as an Imperial Court envoy. He is awed by Qin’s avatar and recognizes that Qin’s experience makes him a valuable ally, while leaving negotiations over compensation to the court.
• Zheng Fang is impressed by Qin’s breakthrough and feels the gap between his own cultivation and his sect master’s.
• Shen Yuqing respectfully welcomes Qin and answers his inventory question, though Qin’s sudden visit surprises the Forging Hall’s disciples.

Significant themes

• Power and status: The spirit god avatar demonstrates the gulf between Divine Martial Realm cultivators and those below them.
• Pragmatic duty: Qin is willing to serve the human race, but also weighs the material benefits of doing so.
• Resource management and ambition: Qin’s plans depend on acquiring fortune value and high-grade materials.
• The blurring of game and reality: Players have spent so long in the world that their habits increasingly resemble those of its native inhabitants.

Key plot points

• Qin Shujian takes all sixth-tier and higher materials from the Forging Hall, compensating the hall with contribution points and planning to replenish supplies through missions.
• He orders a full census of the Origin Sect’s members. The count comes to 23,274 people.
• Using sixteen spirit-god avatars, Qin rapidly forges new Identity Tokens for the sect’s large population.
• He announces an overhaul of the contribution-point system: members will exchange their old tokens, and redemption privileges will depend on rank. Members may trade eligible items with peers of the same rank, but not pass higher-tier goods down to lower-ranked members. Violations bring heavy fines, part of which goes to the reporter.
• A new Miscellaneous Goods Hall, overseen by Xu Yuanming, will centralize items submitted for contribution points and give ordinary disciples access to materials.
• Qin proposes an Origin Pavilion in Liangshan City, where people can post and accept missions. The sect will take commissions; completed missions can earn contribution points and raise a person’s rank, unlocking better goods—including manuals and martial arts—from the sect.
• An elder worries that selling sect techniques will expose the Origin Sect’s legacy. Qin argues that techniques alone do not guarantee success, and that outsiders gaining power would not necessarily threaten the sect.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian shows how his Divine Martial breakthrough has expanded his capabilities: his spirit-god avatars let him handle large-scale forging efficiently. He also acts as an increasingly ambitious institution-builder, designing systems to manage the sect’s growth and extend its influence beyond its membership.
• Shen Yuqing objects briefly to emptying the Forging Hall’s reserves, but accepts Qin’s authority and follows his order.
• Zheng Fang efficiently compiles the census and is initially composed during the meeting, though the Origin Pavilion proposal finally surprises him.
• Xu Yuanming gains formal authority over the new Miscellaneous Goods Hall. He welcomes the appointment, recognizing that it elevates his standing.
• The elders debate Qin’s reforms. Their concerns about protecting the sect’s techniques contrast with Qin’s confidence that talent and practical ability matter more than secrecy.

Significant themes

• Institutional growth and governance: Qin responds to the sect’s expanding population by building rules and dedicated administrative structures.
• Merit, access, and control: Redemption limits and reporting penalties aim to prevent rank-based privileges from being bypassed, while the Miscellaneous Goods Hall broadens access to resources.
• Expansion beyond the sect: The Origin Pavilion turns contribution points into a wider mission-and-reward system, potentially drawing outsiders into the Origin Sect’s economy.
• Knowledge versus capability: Qin challenges the idea that keeping manuals secret is the best defense, emphasizing that possessing a technique does not equal mastering it.

Key plot points

• Qin Shujian defends his plan to establish an Origin Pavilion, where outsiders can exchange contribution points for the sect’s pills, weapons, cultivation methods, and martial arts. To discourage unauthorized resale, the sect will punish profiteers and reward verified reports.
• To prevent sect disciples from feeling that outsiders receive equal treatment, outsiders will pay higher prices. A high Origin Pavilion rank will reduce the surcharge, but never eliminate it.
• Xu Yuanming proposes opening an Origin Pavilion in every city within the Origin Sect’s territory, while Zheng Fang suggests letting outsiders trade treasures for contribution points and charging mission fees in contribution points. Qin accepts the refinements, and the plan is approved.
• The sect collects all existing Identity Tokens. Qin recovers their life source by destroying them, then uses his divine sense to inscribe the disciples’ information onto replacement tokens. The new tokens are distributed, and news of the reform sparks another uproar among the disciples.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian shows confidence in his commercial strategy and pragmatism about managing resentment, enforcement, and manpower. He welcomes useful suggestions and is pleased to discover that old Identity Tokens can be recycled for their full life-source value.
• Zheng Fang voices concern about fairness to sect disciples, then helps improve the plan by proposing contribution-point fees and exchanges.
• Xu Yuanming recognizes the proposal’s potential to boost the sect’s influence and urges a broad rollout across its territory.
• The elders discuss and ultimately support Qin’s reforms, helping contain the disturbance during the token exchange.

Significant themes

• Openness as a source of influence: Sharing access to sect resources could increase the Origin Sect’s standing, even if rivals imitate the model.
• Balancing fairness and advantage: Premium pricing gives outsiders access while preserving a clear benefit for disciples.
• Pragmatism and incentives: Punishments, reporting rewards, fees, and rankings are designed to limit abuse and make the system profitable.
• Resourcefulness: Qin turns an administrative overhaul into an opportunity to recover scarce life source.

Plot and key events

• The Origin Sect overhauls its contribution-point system. Disciples face limits on which treasures and pills they can exchange for, based on rank.
• Promotion now requires both contribution points and sufficient cultivation: Outer Sect Disciples must reach the true martial realm to become Inner Sect Disciples; Inner Sect Disciples must reach the spirit god realm to become Elites; Personal Disciples need the sky-soaring realm.
• The reforms catch players who had hoarded points and avoided difficult assessments off guard. Many discover they cannot advance—or access the resources they want—without improving their cultivation. The Dao artifact is also restricted to True Disciples and senior sect officials.
• The changes prompt a new cultivation push among players and signal that the Origin Sect is building lasting institutional strength, rather than relying solely on Qin Shujian’s reputation.
• Other sects in the Liangshan Spirit Domain consider copying the reforms. The Azure Cloud Sect’s master, Qingxu, worries that the Origin Sect’s growing power leaves his sect little room to expand, though he hopes it will honor a promise to give them twenty years to recover.
• The chapter ends with a major tease: Origin Pavilions open across the Thirteen Prefectures of Great Zhao, and the cultivation world erupts upon learning their purpose.

Character developments and interactions

• Liu Dazhong reacts with outrage and regret. His large stockpile of points and Inner Sect rank no longer guarantee an easy path to better status or resources.
• Miao Yuqing recognizes that the reforms are deliberately designed to prevent disciples from slacking off; Liu’s reaction reflects the broader frustration among players.
• Qin Shujian is not directly present, but his authority shapes the reforms. His centralized rule lets the sect implement sweeping changes quickly.
• Qingxu appears anxious and politically constrained. He sees the Origin Sect as both a powerful protector and a potential threat to the Azure Cloud Sect’s future.

Significant themes

• Merit and institutional discipline: Rank, cultivation, and access to resources are tied together, forcing disciples to keep progressing.
• Short-term frustration versus long-term strength: The reforms hurt those who relied on loopholes, but aim to build a more capable and sustainable sect.
• Power and dependence: The Origin Sect’s rise offers nearby allies security while limiting their independence.
• Centralized authority: Qin Shujian’s decisive control enables rapid reform, but also makes the sect’s direction dependent on one leader.

• The Heavenly Array Sect debates its response: Sect Master Mu Liang wants to destroy the Origin Pavilions in his territory, arguing that the Origin Sect threatens the foundations of every sect. Supreme Elder Fang Xinglan rejects an all-out confrontation: the Pavilions offer independent cultivators and struggling sects access to techniques, resources, pills, and spirit weapons, giving them powerful reasons to support the Origin Sect.
• Fang Xinglan warns of the risks: Fighting the Pavilions could ignite a broad conflict between sects and independent cultivators. He also cautions that Qin Shujian may be far more formidable than Mu Liang assumes, possibly a reincarnation of an expert from as high as the Third Grandmaster Realm. He advises the Heavenly Array Sect to restrain the Pavilions’ growth without destroying them and to let other factions take the initiative. Mu Liang accepts his counsel and leaves respectfully.
• The wider cultivation world reacts: The Origin Pavilion spreads across Great Zhao’s Thirteen Prefectures in a single day. Many sects initially consider attacking, but most hold back, deterred by the Origin Sect’s strength and Qin Shujian’s reputation—including his recent breakthrough to the Divine Martial Realm. Some confident sects nevertheless attack Pavilions outside Northcloud Prefecture, causing casualties.
• The Origin Sect considers its strategy: In the Martial Inheritance Hall, Zhang Tieniu reports the resistance and warns that the plan may fail without a response. Fu Gang urges caution about provoking too many sects. Qin Shujian asks Grand Elder Zheng Fang for advice, and Zheng Fang recommends withdrawing from the other prefectures for now and concentrating on operating successfully in Northcloud Prefecture. From there, the sect can build support among independent cultivators and declining clans and sects, then expand when conditions improve.
  Character developments and interactions: Mu Liang’s anger and confidence are tempered by Fang Xinglan’s strategic perspective and warnings about Qin Shujian. Fang Xinglan emerges as cautious and politically perceptive, while Zheng Fang advocates patience and gradual influence. Qin Shujian listens rather than rushing into retaliation.
  Key themes: The conflict between sects’ control of cultivation knowledge and broader access to it; the political power created by resources and opportunity; and the value of restraint, coalition-building, and timing over immediate confrontation.

Plot points

• The Origin Sect debates whether to retreat from its effort to establish Origin Pavilions after other sects move against them. Xu Yuanming acknowledges that his earlier proposal helped create the crisis, while Grand Elder Zheng Fang and others favor avoiding a direct clash.
• Sect Master Qin Shujian refuses to back down, arguing that the sect’s authority rests on its reputation for decisive force. He fears that retreat would invite even more opposition.
• Zhang Tieniu reports that 53 sects have actively opposed the Origin Pavilions: one top-tier great sect, thirteen great-domain great sects, thirty-one ordinary great-domain sects, and eight spirit-domain great sects. The elders recognize that the Origin Sect may not yet be strong enough to face them all.
• Qin orders the Disciplinary Elder to post bounties against all 53 sects in every Origin Pavilion by the next day. He also recalls Zhao Shanlin and the other elders away on fiend-slaying missions, along with the sect’s powerful Dao artifacts, in preparation for war.
• At an Origin Pavilion, independent cultivators and players await the first missions. When the board fills with rewards for killing disciples and destroying sects—including the Heavenly Corpse Sect—excitement turns to unease at the scale of the retaliation.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian reveals himself as uncompromising and intent on protecting the sect’s momentum, even at the risk of a costly conflict. He takes charge directly and sets the counterattack in motion.
• Xu Yuanming admits his earlier judgment was flawed and backs Zheng Fang’s caution.
• Zheng Fang and the elders, including Fu Gang, understand the dangers of escalation but lack the authority to overrule Qin.
• Zhang Tieniu delivers the opposition’s strength and accepts Qin’s order, aware that the posted bounties may trigger open war.
• Independent cultivators and less-privileged players are drawn to the Pavilion because it offers access to advancement otherwise controlled by established sects. The missions promise opportunity, but also implicate them in a dangerous conflict.

Significant themes

• Power and reputation: The Origin Sect’s influence depends not only on its status but on its perceived willingness to destroy challengers.
• Escalation versus restraint: Retreat might preserve resources, but Qin believes it would undermine deterrence and invite broader resistance.
• Unequal access to cultivation: Small-sect disciples and independent cultivators are trapped by limited resources and restricted knowledge; the Origin Pavilion offers them a possible way forward.
• Opportunity’s cost: The mission system opens doors for the disadvantaged while turning the sect dispute into a market for violence.

Key events

• The Origin Pavilion unveils bounties against 53 sects accused of resisting or destroying its branches. The targets include powerful regional sects and the top-tier Heavenly Corpse Sect.
• Observers recognize that the listed sects closely match those that attacked the Pavilion. They conclude that the Origin Sect is effectively challenging all 53.
• Players welcome the missions as opportunities for rewards. Independent cultivators, initially unsure the Origin Sect would stand firm, begin rallying behind it, seeing the Pavilion as a rare chance to escape the sects’ control of cultivation resources.
• Pavilion manager Jiang Quan explains how to join: applicants need contribution points, a 100-point registration fee, and an Origin Pavilion Identity Token. Silver can be exchanged at 200 taels per point, and valuable items can also be traded in.
• The token offers protection, while completing missions raises members through Iron, Copper, Silver, and higher ranks. Higher ranks unlock more exchanges at lower prices; sufficiently ranked members can obtain rare treasures such as divine-tier manuals, ninth-tier pills, Spirit Weapons, dao artifacts, and Grandmaster-level formations.
• Many people immediately exchange their money and possessions or hurry home to gather them. The announcement spreads the Origin Sect’s and Pavilion’s names across Great Zhao.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Quan acts as the Pavilion’s authoritative spokesperson, controlling the crowd and explaining its rules and rewards. His confidence reflects the Origin Sect’s resources and ambitions.
• Independent cultivators shift from apprehension to determination. They view the sects’ monopolies as a threat to their future and decide that backing the Origin Sect is worth the risk.
• Players remain primarily motivated by missions and rewards, and enthusiastically support the escalation.
• The crowd’s exchanges with Jiang Quan turn initial excitement into practical action: people ask how to enlist, learn the costs and benefits, and begin preparing to register.

Significant themes

• Access versus monopoly: The Origin Pavilion offers independent cultivators a path to manuals, training, and advancement in a world where sects control most resources.
• Opportunity and risk: The conflict gives outsiders a rare chance to improve their standing, even if it means opposing powerful sects.
• Power through organization: Mission rewards, contribution points, ranks, and identity tokens create a structured system for mobilizing supporters.
• Escalation: By targeting 53 sects—including a top-tier rival—the Origin Sect turns local resistance into a broad confrontation.

Plot points and events

• The Origin Sect openly declares war on fifty-three sects after they attack its Origin Pavilion branches. The move shocks the cultivation world, where many sects had been waiting to see whether Qin Shujian would retaliate.
• The Heavenly Array Sect’s Mu Liang condemns Qin as reckless, though he privately hopes the conflict will weaken the Origin Sect and remove a rival Array Dao Grandmaster.
• The Origin Pavilion posts bounty missions against the hostile sects. Independent cultivators, small factions, and many players accept them, often concealing their identities. The Pavilion’s broad selection of goods makes its missions appealing even at high prices.
• Qin visits the Alchemy Hall and learns it has trained fifty-three Low-Grade Alchemists and more than six hundred apprentices. He realizes the sect needs stronger alchemy expertise.
• Shen Yuhua estimates she is about ten years from becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster, but says a Grandmaster manual could shorten the time to under three years. Qin promises to obtain one.
• Qin orders the Alchemy Hall to mass-produce lower-tier pills for half a month, then takes its remaining high-tier ingredients, along with the Miscellaneous Goods Hall’s stock.
• He prepares to refine ninth-tier Pure Yang Pills, which are valuable but relatively inexpensive to make. He plans to sell or trade them for the resources needed to support the Origin Pavilion’s campaign.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian remains composed despite the declaration of war. He treats the conflict as a calculated investment, willing to spend heavily to establish the Pavilion and recoup the cost later. He also takes a more active role in strengthening the Alchemy Hall.
• Mu Liang moves from shock to contempt, interpreting Qin’s declaration as arrogance and an opportunity for the Heavenly Array Sect.
• Shen Yuhua demonstrates confidence in her alchemical talent and restraint in her feelings toward Qin. As their difference in status and ability grows, she has gradually set aside her earlier attraction; she responds professionally and agrees to his requests without questioning them.
• Qin and Shen’s exchange centers on the Alchemy Hall’s capabilities: he assesses her progress and promises the manual she needs, while she provides an honest estimate of how quickly she could advance.

Significant themes

• Escalation and deterrence: Qin answers an attack with an unmistakable declaration of war, forcing the wider cultivation world to reconsider the Origin Sect’s resolve.
• Pragmatic investment: Qin frames both the military campaign and pill refining as business—resources spent now to secure the Origin Pavilion’s future.
• Institution-building: The sect’s long-term strength depends on training specialists, especially in alchemy, not just winning immediate battles.
• Ambition and distance: Shen’s growing respect for Qin is paired with an awareness of the widening gap between them, showing how power and achievement can reshape personal feelings.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Shujian explains the Origin Pavilion’s economics: cultivators fund it by buying contribution points, while the sect sells goods at a markup. The system brings resources into the sect, though supporting more than twenty thousand disciples remains costly.
• He completes the refinement of five ninth-tier Pure Yang Pills, using tribulation lightning to give them their breakthrough-enabling power and faint spirituality. He gives them to Xu Yuanming to exchange for needed resources.
• Xu Yuanming warns that the Origin Sect’s reserves may run low within a month or two and that the fifty-three sects could soon attack. Qin suspects the Heavenly Corpse Sect is leading them.
• Qin considers striking the Heavenly Corpse Sect. He judges its sect master—who entered the Heavenly Human Realm 537 years ago—to be unlikely to have advanced beyond the second level, and believes he can contend with that strength. He postpones the decision for a few days.
• Origin Pavilion missions gain credibility as independent cultivators and Otherworlders complete them. Meanwhile, most other sects watch cautiously rather than risk being drawn into the conflict.
• Qin realizes the Pavilion’s mission-takers are not his subordinates: their attacks on the fifty-three sects bring him no additional life source.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian shows himself to be both a strategic administrator and an ambitious fighter. He balances the sect’s finances and cultivation needs, while remaining confident about confronting the Heavenly Corpse Sect.
• Xu Yuanming acts as a practical adviser: he handles the pills, reports on Pavilion activity, and voices concern about the sect’s finances and military prospects. Qin listens but ultimately sets the pace himself.
• Independent cultivators and Otherworlders become an increasingly effective force through the Pavilion, though they remain institutionally separate from Qin’s sect.

Significant themes

• Institution-building and resource management: The Origin Sect’s growth depends on balancing generous disciple support, selective investment, and new revenue.
• Power and risk: The sect’s strength deters potential enemies, but a coalition of fifty-three factions could pose a serious threat.
• Limits of control and reward: Qin can organize outsiders through the Pavilion, but their actions do not count as his own for gaining life source.
• Confidence versus uncertainty: Qin believes he can face the Heavenly Corpse Sect, yet delays committing to an attack while the situation develops.

Key plot points and events

• Shi Jianfeng of the Origin Sect arrives alone at the Astral Image Sect, carrying the Three-Mark Dao Artifact Thousand Mountain Blood.
• The sect’s guardians activate their protective formation, but Thousand Mountain Blood shatters it with a single strike, exposing the sect.
• Sect Master Fu Yi recognizes the artifact and is alarmed: his sect possesses only a weaker, two-mark Dao Artifact.
• Fu Yi recalls that the Astral Image Sect joined the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s summons and destroyed Origin Pavilion branches. The Origin Sect’s bounty campaign has since cost the Astral Image Sect many disciples, intensifying his hatred.
• Shi Jianfeng dismisses the sect as an opponent he can handle alone and attacks without further discussion.
• Fu Yi confronts him while Thousand Mountain Blood clashes with the Astral Image Sect’s own sect-guarding sword. Six elders—five Sky-Soaring Realm cultivators and one Manifestation Realm cultivator—join the fight.
• Shi Jianfeng’s speed and lethal sword intent let him hold off the elders, but a Manifestation Realm elder’s spirit god lands a powerful attack. The chapter ends as Shi Jianfeng remains composed and counters with another sword strike.

Character developments

• Shi Jianfeng is established as cold, decisive, and supremely confident. He is willing to challenge an entire major sect alone and demonstrates strength beyond the ordinary limits of the Sky-Soaring Realm.
• Fu Yi is revealed as furious over the Origin Sect’s retaliation but also strategically cautious. He believes the Astral Image Sect can rely on its alliance and distance from the Origin Sect—though Shi Jianfeng’s solo arrival disrupts his expectations.

Significant themes

• Retaliation and escalating conflict: The Origin Sect’s bounty campaign and Shi Jianfeng’s direct assault are consequences of the Astral Image Sect’s earlier attacks on Origin Pavilion branches.
• Power and intimidation: The Three-Mark Dao Artifact changes the balance of the confrontation before the battle even begins.
• Confidence versus numbers: Shi Jianfeng faces overwhelming opposition alone, while the Astral Image Sect relies on its elders and alliance for security.

Character interactions

• Shi Jianfeng remains terse and dismissive toward Fu Yi, rejecting the sect master’s attempt to discuss the consequences of their confrontation.
• Fu Yi responds with anger and suspicion, underestimating the significance of Shi Jianfeng’s individual threat even as he recognizes the danger of the artifact.
• The Astral Image Sect’s elders act collectively, abandoning any pretense of fairness to kill the intruder as quickly as possible.

Key plot points and events

• Shi Jianfeng unleashes a sword technique that creates forty-two afterimages, each indistinguishable even to the Astral Image Sect’s Star Mirror, which is designed to expose illusions.
• The elders mistakenly assume only one image is real. Shi Jianfeng’s attacks reveal that the images can all strike with lethal force: three Sky-Soaring Realm elders are killed in the first exchange, while others are badly wounded.
• Shi Jianfeng repeats his devastating Gods and Ghosts Seven-Kill Reverse Star Dipper. He kills the fleeing elders and overwhelms the remaining defenders, leaving only the Manifestation Realm elder.
• Using hundreds of precise thrusts to concentrate force on one point, Shi Jianfeng cracks and disables the Star Mirror, then kills its wielder.
• In a separate battle, Fu Yi and his dao artifact sword gain the upper hand against Thousand Mountain Blood, whose power is limited because no cultivator is controlling it.

Character developments

• Shi Jianfeng is revealed to be far stronger and more skilled than the Astral Image Sect expected. His improved afterimage technique and formidable sword make him seem nearly impossible to counter.
• The Astral Image Sect elders move from confidence to confusion, fear, and desperation as their defensive assumptions fail and their numbers are rapidly depleted.
• Fu Yi demonstrates that a capable Manifestation Realm cultivator wielding a powerful dao artifact can outperform an even higher-ranked artifact left without a wielder.

Significant themes

• Perception versus reality: The elders’ reliance on identifying a single “real” image fails when every afterimage is lethal.
• Skill and mastery: Shi Jianfeng’s precision and technique overcome defenses that seemed dependable.
• Power depends on the wielder: An artifact’s rank alone does not determine its effectiveness; the user’s strength and control matter.
• Overconfidence and misjudgment: The elders’ assumptions leave them unprepared for Shi Jianfeng’s abilities.

Character interactions

• Shi Jianfeng confronts the Astral Image Sect elders directly, forcing them to abandon offense for defense and then to flee.
• The Manifestation Realm elder relies on the Star Mirror to counter Shi Jianfeng, but Shi destroys it through focused, repeated strikes.
• Fu Yi’s coordinated use of his dao artifact against Thousand Mountain Blood contrasts with the Sect’s failed attempt to rely on a spirit weapon alone.

Plot points and events

• Fu Yi covets Thousand Mountain Blood, the Origin Sect’s Three-Mark Dao Artifact. Having already suppressed it, he decides to seize it for the Astral Image Sect, believing the powerful weapon could elevate his sect and help it withstand the Origin Sect.
• Shi Jianfeng intervenes, striking Fu Yi and easing the pressure on the saber. Fu Yi discovers that Shi has defeated and killed the Astral Image Sect’s elders—five Sky-Soaring Realm elders and one Manifestation Realm elder—leaving the sect badly weakened.
• Shi Jianfeng and Thousand Mountain Blood join forces against Fu Yi. Their battle creates enormous disturbances that draw the attention of cultivators throughout the Tranquil Water Spirit Domain. Many assume the Origin Sect has launched a full-scale attack.
• Players and other bounty hunters rush into the Astral Image Sect, hoping to exploit the supposed invasion. They find no Origin Sect army—only the sect’s assembled disciples and the battle overhead. With retreat difficult and the elders apparently dead, both sides clash.
• In the sky, Fu Yi struggles against the combined assault. He recognizes Shi Jianfeng’s swordsmanship and movement as extraordinary, and realizes that even if he could defeat either opponent alone, he cannot overcome both together. The fight continues as Shi and Thousand Mountain Blood press their advantage.

Character developments and interactions

• Fu Yi shifts from trying to suppress the artifact to openly coveting it, driven by ambition and fear for his sect’s future. His confidence gives way to alarm as Shi Jianfeng’s strength and the artifact’s support overwhelm him.
• Shi Jianfeng remains focused and terse, answering Fu Yi’s anger with a challenge. His mastery of the Ji Family’s Gods and Ghosts Seven-Kill Reverse Star Dipper has advanced beyond its former limits.
• Thousand Mountain Blood is portrayed as a proud, powerful sect-guarding artifact. Resentful of being suppressed, it attacks Fu Yi as soon as Shi’s intervention gives it room.
• The players and bounty hunters mistake the duel for a broader Origin Sect invasion. Their eagerness to exploit the confusion turns into a direct fight with the Astral Image Sect’s disciples.

Significant themes

• Ambition and consequences: Fu Yi’s attempt to steal a powerful artifact deepens an already irreparable conflict.
• Power through cooperation: Shi Jianfeng and Thousand Mountain Blood together pose a threat neither could create as easily alone.
• Miscalculation and opportunity: Rumors and appearances shape the players’ decisions, while the apparent chaos encourages them to take risks.
• A sect’s vulnerability: The Astral Image Sect’s loss of its elders leaves its disciples exposed just as outsiders enter its grounds.

Key plot points and events

• Shi Jianfeng defeats Fu Yi, the Astral Image Sect’s master, using Thousand Mountain Blood, a three-mark Dao artifact. After a prolonged assault, he wounds Fu Yi badly enough that Fu Yi flees.
• With its leader gone and its forces demoralized, the Astral Image Sect collapses. Shi Jianfeng demolishes its main hall and gate stele, declares the sect destroyed, and orders everyone to leave.
• Players, independent cultivators, and fleeing disciples clear out. Shi Jianfeng searches the treasury and takes its most valuable contents; others later loot what remains. The sect’s destruction is complete.
• Back at the Origin Sect, Qin Shujian upgrades the Heaven and Earth Bow and Cloud-Piercing Arrow to three-mark Dao artifacts.
• He notices the Origin Sect is close to becoming a sixth-level faction, but his Dharma Eye reveals a trace of black misfortune in his own fortune. He suspects the Imperial Court will retaliate if the sect crosses that threshold, so he decides to postpone further advancement and converts his remaining Fortune Value into Life Source.

Character developments

• Shi Jianfeng proves capable of defeating a powerful sect master and destroying a major sect almost single-handedly. Influenced by Qin Shujian, he has also become more practical: rather than leaving empty-handed, he takes valuables from the treasury.
• Fu Yi shifts from confidence in his sect’s strength to shock, defeat, and hatred. He escapes, but recognizes that his sect’s centuries-old foundation is lost.
• Qin Shujian shows caution and political awareness. Though he strengthens the Origin Sect’s weapons, he refuses to push the sect into a dangerous new rank before he can withstand the Imperial Court.

Significant themes

• Power and collapse: One exceptional fighter, aided by a powerful artifact, can overturn the balance of an entire sect.
• Ambition versus survival: The Origin Sect is near a major advancement, but greater status brings greater danger.
• The cost of conflict: The Astral Image Sect’s destruction leads to widespread killing and looting, not merely a change in leadership.

Character interactions

• Shi Jianfeng and Fu Yi’s battle ends with Fu Yi’s flight, which breaks the Astral Image Sect’s morale.
• Shi Jianfeng’s threat forces both the sect’s members and outside participants to withdraw, after which he claims the treasury.
• Qin Shujian’s decisions reflect the influence of his experience and his recognition that the Origin Sect’s growth is constrained by the Imperial Court.

Chapter summary

Key events

• Qin Shujian spends 200 million life-source points to raise the Origin Return Ancestral Canon to level 32. His body and true essence undergo a major transformation, greatly increasing his strength.
• He decides against further fusions or cultivating additional manuals for now: both would consume too much life source, and further fusion might erase the valuable Truth-Severing Red Lotus trait.
• He advances the Great Wilderness Demon-Suppressing Seal to Dao Entry, gaining the true meaning of sealing, which focuses on confinement and suppression. He also raises the Golden Immortal Shattering God Chant to Heaven-Man Unity. Qin concludes he has reached the limit of his short-term advancement.
• Shi Jianfeng returns and reports that he destroyed the Astral Image Sect, one of the fifty-three sects targeted by the Origin Pavilion’s bounties. He offers its treasury to the sect, but Qin tells him to keep the resources for his own disciples. Shi returns Qin’s Dao artifact, Thousand Mountain Blood.
• Qin gathers the elders and announces that the Origin Sect will launch an all-out attack on the Heavenly Corpse Sect in three days. He warns other powers not to interfere, threatening them with the Astral Image Sect’s fate.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin grows more cautious about sacrificing the Origin Return Ancestral Canon’s distinctive traits, even while continuing to optimize his strength. With his advancement temporarily complete, he shifts from training to decisive action.
• Shi Jianfeng’s destruction of a powerful sect reveals that Qin had underestimated his strength and resolve. Shi also shows loyalty by offering the spoils and returning the borrowed Dao artifact.
• Qin declines the treasury but reminds Shi of his responsibility to train his disciples. Shi accepts the point and resolves to take his teaching role more seriously.

Significant themes

• Power and restraint: Qin pursues strength aggressively but weighs the risks of further upgrades and fusions.
• Responsibility and loyalty: Shi’s offering, the return of Thousand Mountain Blood, and Qin’s counsel emphasize obligations to the sect and to one’s disciples.
• Deterrence and escalation: The Origin Sect’s bounty campaign moves toward open war, with Qin using the Astral Image Sect’s destruction as a warning to potential allies of the Heavenly Corpse Sect.

Plot points and events

• At a meeting of Origin Sect elders, Qin Shujian announces that the sect will go to war with the Heavenly Corpse Sect. News of Elder Shi Jianfeng’s destruction of the Astral Image Sect has reached the gathering, shocking the elders and demonstrating the Origin Sect’s power.
• Elder Xiang Haoqian warns that the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s long history, powerful cultivators, and heavenly-being expert could make a direct war costly. Qin responds that the sect can win by eliminating that expert, and orders all cultivators at spirit martial realm or higher to attack in three days, leaving enough disciples behind to defend their home.
• The declaration spreads through the cultivation world. Many see the plan as a bold attempt to break the resistance of the other sects by defeating the Heavenly Corpse Sect first.
• At the Heavenly Corpse Sect, its elders dismiss the Origin Sect as a newly risen force that depends too heavily on Qin. They eagerly accept the challenge, confident in their sect’s accumulated strength. Sect Master Lian Guming reads the declaration but has not yet revealed his response.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian remains calm under criticism and projects strong confidence in his ability to defeat the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s heavenly-being expert. His decisiveness wins the elders’ compliance.
• Xiang Haoqian voices practical concerns about the danger of war, but ultimately falls silent, acknowledging Qin’s mysterious strength and reputation as an array dao grandmaster.
• The Origin Sect’s elders are initially shaken by the scale of the proposed conflict, yet their faith in Qin and their growing loyalty to the sect keep them united behind him.
• Lian Guming appears composed and faintly amused as his elders boast. Their confidence reflects the sect’s deep-rooted pride, though his own intentions remain unclear.

Significant themes

• Confidence versus caution: The Origin Sect accepts a dangerous war based on faith in Qin’s strength, while the Heavenly Corpse Sect trusts its long history and numbers.
• Leadership and collective loyalty: Qin’s authority and the elders’ sense of belonging hold the Origin Sect together despite their fears.
• Reputation and deterrence: The Astral Image Sect’s destruction amplifies the Origin Sect’s reputation and makes its declaration of war seem credible—and audacious.
• The decisive role of peak fighters: Both sides’ broader strengths matter, but observers believe the outcome will hinge on the clash between Qin and the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s heavenly-being expert.

Key plot points

• Qin Shujian sends a spirit-god avatar to the Heavenly Corpse Sect, revealing himself as the Origin Sect’s master and delivering a challenge to sect master Lian Guming.
• He briefly tests Lian with a spirit-god attack. Lian calmly neutralizes it and accepts the challenge, setting the battle for two days later.
• Lian orders the Heavenly Corpse Sect to prepare for war. Rather than seek allies, he plans to invite other sects to witness the fight and showcase his sect’s strength.
• News spreads through the cultivation world. At the Heavenly Array Sect, Mu Liang and Fang Xinglan discuss the looming conflict. Fang advises the sect to stay out of it, since either side could become a dangerous enemy.
• Mu Liang asks whom to send as a witness. Fang leaves the decision to him and ends the conversation, frustrated by the difficulty of reaching the heavenly human realm.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian appears bold and confident, openly challenging a powerful opponent and using the encounter to gauge Lian’s strength. His unusually powerful avatar reinforces rumors about his thousand-foot spirit god.
• Lian Guming remains composed under pressure. He accepts the challenge without seeking military support, balancing pride with a plan to turn the battle into a public demonstration of the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s prestige.
• Fang Xinglan shows caution and hard-earned realism. He understands that top-tier sects avoid conflict because heavenly beings are difficult to kill and can retaliate against entire factions. His own failed progress toward that realm also weighs on him.
• Mu Liang defers to Fang despite being sect master, reflecting Fang’s influence as the Heavenly Array Sect’s stabilizing pillar.

Significant themes

• Pride and confidence: Qin’s direct challenge and Lian’s refusal to seek help make the conflict a test of status as much as strength.
• Deterrence and mutual destruction: Powerful sects hesitate to intervene because retaliation could devastate them, even after a battle’s outcome is decided.
• The limits of cultivation: Fang’s reflections contrast the long lifespan and power of heavenly beings with the frustration of remaining just short of that threshold.
• Reputation and spectacle: Lian intends to use witnesses to turn the coming battle into an opportunity to elevate his sect’s prestige.

Key plot points and events

• The Origin Sect and the Heavenly Corpse Sect prepare for war after months of attacks on each other’s businesses. Both mobilize their forces, while other sects send observers hoping to witness a clash between top-tier powers.
• More than a thousand Origin Sect cultivators arrive in Southwind Prefecture through Teleportation Gates. Qin Shujian leads them directly toward the Heavenly Corpse Sect.
• The Heavenly Corpse Sect gathers its branch forces and prepares to defend its territory. Sect Master Lian Guming hopes to use the battle to kill Qin Shujian, whose power as an Array Dao Grandmaster could remain a threat even if the Origin Sect were destroyed.
• Qin receives system warnings for entering another faction’s territory but ignores them, believing such restrictions matter only to those too weak to defy them.
• Qin sees the two sects’ fortune take the form of opposing Yellow-Cloud Qilins. They confront one another but do not clash before the fighting begins.
• When a Heavenly Corpse Sect patrolman tries to stop the Origin Sect, a sword attack kills him instantly. Qin orders his forces to kill anyone who blocks their way. The invasion is revealed to the sect’s ordinary disciples, while hidden observers debate whether the young Origin Sect has enough strength to challenge its opponent.

Character developments

• Qin Shujian is decisive and openly defiant. He treats the system’s territorial warnings as irrelevant and commits his forces to a direct assault, showing confidence in his strength and willingness to use lethal force.
• Lian Guming remains outwardly calm but harbors intense murderous intent toward Qin. He views the Origin Sect’s cross-prefecture attack as a tactical opportunity to eliminate him.
• The Heavenly Corpse Sect’s disciples and patrols are caught between defending their sect’s dignity and fearing the much larger force before them.

Character interactions

• Qin leads Zhang Tieniu and the Origin Sect’s gathered cultivators toward the enemy headquarters.
• Lian Guming receives reports from his elders and orders the sect and its branches to prepare for battle.
• Qin’s forces kill a patrolman who attempts to halt them, turning the advance into an unmistakable invasion.
• Observers from other sects watch from concealment and judge both sides’ prospects.

Significant themes

• Power and authority: Territorial rules and warnings hold little force against someone strong enough to ignore them.
• War and escalation: Repeated attacks on each sect’s holdings have made open conflict seem inevitable.
• Fortune and conflict: The opposing qilins symbolize the sects’ competing fortunes, which may influence the war’s outcome.
• Pride and resolve: Both sides refuse to yield—Qin presses forward, while the Heavenly Corpse Sect faces the invasion rather than retreating.

Plot and key events

• Sect leaders and hidden observers hesitate to intervene in the conflict between the Origin Sect and the Heavenly Corpse Sect—until a terrifying aura reveals that Heavenly Corpse Sect Master Lian Guming has entered the battlefield.
• Lian arrives with more than twenty Divine Martial Realm experts and nearly two thousand Spirit Martial Realm cultivators, displaying the depth of his sect’s reserves.
• Lian offers to spare the Origin Sect if it withdraws and closes the Origin Pavilion. Qin Shujian counters that the Heavenly Corpse Sect must apologize and let the Pavilion operate in its territory; neither yields.
• Lian attacks with a palm strike aimed at Qin and the entire Origin Sect force. Qin deploys eighteen array disks, forming a Grandmaster-level formation that shatters the attack and traps Lian.
• Qin orders the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s forces wiped out and joins the fighting with his Dao artifact, Thousand Mountain Blood. He kills the Divine Martial Realm cultivator Ao Xiuwen almost instantly.
• The battle becomes fierce. Though outnumbered and weaker overall, the Origin Sect holds its ground with Qin’s strength and its own Dao artifacts.
• Zhang Ergou, despite being only at the Spirit God Realm, fights with the Three-Mark Dao artifacts Heaven and Earth Bow and Cloud-Piercing Arrow. After the bow mocks his first attempt, he fires again, destroying a Sky-Soaring Realm opponent and continuing toward his original target.
• Heavenly Corpse Sect Elder Meng Yi responds to the attack by unleashing the sect’s body-refinement technique, the Heavenly Net Supreme Saint Art. The chapter ends as his powerful physical defenses are emphasized.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian remains composed in the face of Lian’s overwhelming presence, rejects his ultimatum, and quickly turns the confrontation into battle by trapping him and leading the charge.
• Lian Guming is confident in his status as a Heavenly Being and dismisses Qin’s past victory over a Demon King as unremarkable because it occurred in a true domain. His confidence is checked when Qin’s formation captures him.
• Zhang Ergou shows that artifacts can let a lower-realm cultivator threaten much stronger opponents, though his first shot falls short. His banter with the bow adds a comic note amid the battle.
• Meng Yi demonstrates the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s pride in its body-refinement tradition by relying on his own cultivated body rather than armor.

Significant themes

• The gulf between realms—and ways to overcome it: Heavenly Beings are portrayed as nearly divine, yet Qin’s array mastery lets him challenge one.
• Hidden institutional strength: The Heavenly Corpse Sect’s large force reveals how much power a top-tier sect can conceal.
• Preparation and specialized tools: Qin’s formation and the Origin Sect’s Dao artifacts compensate for their numerical disadvantage.
• Resolve and pride: Qin and Lian refuse compromise, making conflict inevitable.

Key plot points and events

• Meng Yi, a powerful Heavenly Corpse Sect cultivator, confronts Zhang Ergou and the paired Heaven and Earth Bow and Cloud-Piercing Arrow. Though his body is extraordinarily durable, the Cloud-Piercing Arrow breaks through his defenses and lodges in his arm.
• Zhang Ergou follows up with a barrage of spiritual arrows, forcing Meng Yi to flee. He then unleashes a devastating shot that scatters into ten thousand points of light, killing Meng Yi and several other Heavenly Corpse Sect cultivators while injuring others.
• Observers are astonished by the paired Dao Artifacts’ strength and by how quickly the battle has turned against the Heavenly Corpse Sect. Qin Shujian has already trapped Lian Guming in a formation, leaving the sect’s forces without their leader’s immediate support.
• Taking advantage of Lian Guming’s confinement, Qin Shujian targets the enemy’s strongest fighters. He clashes with Wan Yuanzhou, one of the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s Grand Elders and a Divine Martial peak expert. Their fight ends the chapter unresolved, with both exchanging devastating blows.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Ergou displays precision and resolve, using the bow’s power to defeat Meng Yi and pursue him rather than letting him escape.
• Meng Yi shifts from confidence in his formidable body to desperation once his defenses are pierced; he is ultimately killed by Zhang Ergou’s final attack.
• Qin Shujian acts strategically, avoiding a direct confrontation with the trapped Lian Guming and focusing instead on eliminating the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s high-level fighters.
• Wan Yuanzhou emerges as one of the sect’s strongest cultivators and a potential future heavenly being. He meets Qin Shujian head-on, and neither appears to have an advantage.
• Hidden observers from other sects discuss the weapons and fighters with alarm, recognizing that the battle’s outcome may be decided by the loss of the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s top experts.

Significant themes

• Strategy over brute force: Qin Shujian exploits the formation trapping Lian Guming to strike at the sect’s other leaders.
• Strength and vulnerability: The Heavenly Corpse Sect’s reliance on powerful bodies becomes a weakness once those defenses are breached.
• Escalating stakes: The rapid deaths and the duel between Qin Shujian and Wan Yuanzhou show that the conflict is becoming a major test of power between the two sects.