Chapter Summaries

Key events

• The Moxialuo Clan is destroyed less than half a day after the Yezuo Clan’s fall. The armies then set out to join the force attacking the Baheduo Clan.
• The Dog Emperor and Chu Kuangtu note that the Baheduo Clan is unlikely to withstand the Celestial Court’s strongest army, led by the Central Origin Emperor and Xiao Chengfeng. Chu also reveals that Niu Dali is powerful enough to kill seventh-level immortals and contend with eighth-level ones.
• En route, the allied armies meet Emperor Zhao’s force, which has already destroyed the Baheduo Clan with Niu Dali’s help. With all three great clans eliminated, the armies prepare to return.
• To prevent surviving Void Fiends from infiltrating the myriad races after defenses are reduced, Emperor Zhao dispatches two hundred true immortals and their teams to search the Otherworldly Void. Each places a trace of their soul in a seven-colored Soul Lamp for monitoring; they are warned not to enter the Demon Abyss. The search is to last no more than three years.

Character developments and interactions

• Niu Dali emerges as one of the Celestial Court’s strongest figures, ranked among its top three alongside Qin Shujian and Chu Kuangtu.
• Emperor Zhao shifts attention from the clan war to the lingering danger of hidden Void Fiends, organizing a broad, cautious search.
• The Dog Emperor and Chu Kuangtu assess the military situation and reassure the others that the Baheduo Clan is likely doomed.
• Some players leave for the Outer Battlefield once the war’s outcome seems certain. The emperors allow them to go, viewing them mainly as expendable frontline troops.

Themes

• Victory and vigilance: Destroying the three clans does not end the threat; survivors must still be hunted down.
• Collective military strength: The allied forces coordinate across armies and deploy large search teams to secure their victory.
• The instrumental treatment of outsiders: Players are regarded as cannon fodder and valued chiefly for reducing casualties among the myriad races.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Shujian’s battle against powerful Star Beasts shakes the Outer Battlefield. Nearby cultivators watch from a safe distance, hoping to collect Star Beast blood rather than risk confronting the beasts themselves.
• Fu Moyan asks Qin Yi, the Heavenly Emperor’s avatar in his consciousness, whether Star Beast blood can help him cultivate. Qin Yi explains that it can greatly strengthen the body, but is far too dangerous for Fu Moyan to handle at his current level. The weakest Star Beasts are already mid-tier True Immortals.
• Qin Yi reassures Fu Moyan that Qin Shujian can likely give him some blood later. For now, Fu Moyan should focus on improving his strength.
• Fu Moyan heads to the Celestial Court Branch to exchange his resources for fiendstones and body-tempering treasures. He plans to complete the first volume of the Violetcloud Divine Thunder Scripture and reach Heavenly Human fourth level before using Star Beast blood.

Character developments

• Fu Moyan has grown from True Martial to Spirit Martial under Qin Yi’s guidance, but his progress has slowed. He becomes more strategic, choosing resources suited to his advancement rather than chasing a dangerous shortcut.
• He also recognizes the advantage of having Qin Yi—and, through him, Qin Shujian—supporting him. This realization changes how he thinks about acquiring manuals, training resources, and rare treasures.
• Qin Yi acts as both mentor and practical adviser, warning Fu Moyan about the risks of Star Beast blood and helping him plan his cultivation.

Significant themes

• Power has limits: Even a valuable treasure can be fatal when used by someone who lacks the strength to control it.
• Preparation over shortcuts: Fu Moyan must build his foundation before attempting to use Star Beast blood.
• Patronage and opportunity: Having powerful backing gives Fu Moyan access to resources he could not obtain alone.
• War’s aftermath and scarcity: With most cultivators away with the Celestial Court’s army, the Outer Battlefield and its branch exchange are unusually quiet.

Character interactions

• Fu Moyan seeks Qin Yi’s advice about collecting and using Star Beast blood. Qin Yi refuses to encourage reckless action, instead explaining the danger and offering a safer path.
• Qin Yi’s promise that Qin Shujian may provide blood later prompts Fu Moyan to reconsider what he needs to buy and how best to use his resources.

Plot and events

• Fu Moyan approaches a bored stallholder to buy Heavenly Being Crystals and body-tempering treasures, intending to strengthen his body and pursue fleshly sainthood.
• The stallholder explains that crystals have a fixed exchange value but sells them at a markup, with higher-grade crystals costing increasingly more.
• Fu Moyan considers buying a powerful crystal, but decides against it: the experience could trigger multiple breakthroughs, and his cultivation method would bring repeated heavenly tribulations that his body might not survive.
• He offers to buy ten first-level crystals for 500 true immortal merit points. The stallholder counters at 800, but Fu Moyan refuses and walks away.
• Assuming Fu Moyan is bluffing, the stallholder initially lets him go. When Fu Moyan approaches another stall, he calls him back and agrees to negotiate.

Character developments and interactions

• Fu Moyan is cautious and strategic: he weighs the benefits of rapid cultivation against the danger of repeated tribulations, and uses his valuable true immortal merit points as bargaining leverage.
• The stallholder shifts from bored indifference to keen interest, then becomes dismissive and overconfident during negotiations. He misreads Fu Moyan’s departure as a bluff until he risks losing the sale.

Themes

• Risk and restraint: Faster cultivation is not always worth the dangers it brings.
• Value and bargaining: Merit points have different practical worth, and both sides try to gain the better deal.
• Confidence versus misjudgment: The stallholder’s certainty about Fu Moyan’s tactics nearly costs him the transaction.

Key plot points and events

• Fu Moyan renegotiates a deal for ten Heavenly Human First Level fiendstones, lowering the price from 500 to 400 true immortal merit points. He argues that the Celestial Court’s campaign against the Three Great Clans will soon eliminate most opportunities to earn merit points, making them more valuable later. The stallholder accepts, though cautiously.
• In the Otherworldly Void, Qin Shujian continues releasing and killing Star Beasts. Their star cores strengthen the Heavenly Cycle Star Chart, bringing it to intermediate Eight-Calamity Ancestral Weapon grade.
• The Godslayer Saber is close to its seventh tribulation. It needs the equivalent of two upper third-tier immortals or roughly ten sixth-stage immortals, and is eager to become the strongest Ancestral Weapon of the age.
• Qin shatters another star and releases an exceptionally powerful Star Beast. Recognizing the danger to the nearby Outer Battlefield, he strikes it to provoke it, then lures it deeper into the void. He identifies it as a half-step Dao Fruit being.

Character developments and interactions

• Fu Moyan shows confidence and strategic bargaining skill, using the coming war and likely scarcity of merit points to justify his offer. The stallholder is reluctant but persuaded by the logic.
• Qin Shujian remains focused and calculating: he weighs the power needed for the Godslayer Saber’s tribulation while also taking care to protect the Outer Battlefield.
• The Godslayer Saber is increasingly excited about its imminent seventh tribulation, though it recognizes that an eighth would be likely fatal.
• Qin and the Saber discuss the newly awakened beast’s strength; Qin confirms the Saber’s suspicion that it has reached half-step Dao Fruit.

Significant themes

• Scarcity and value: Merit points may become more valuable when their source disappears.
• Ambition and risk: The Saber seeks historic greatness despite the lethal dangers of higher tribulations.
• Power and responsibility: Qin pursues stronger weapons and enemies, but draws the fight away from vulnerable territory to limit collateral damage.

Plot points and events

• Qin Shujian draws a newly emerged star beast into the depths of the void to keep their battle from damaging the Great Thousand World.
• The two beings’ auras pass near the returning Celestial Court and allied armies, frightening even powerful True Immortals.
• Chu Kuangtu and Niu Dali identify the auras: one belongs to Qin Shujian, the other to a star beast. They confirm that both combatants are at the half-step Dao Fruit level and that no one present can intervene.
• Chu Kuangtu reassures the army that Qin is unlikely to be defeated, and may even kill the beast, thanks to his immense strength and the completed Heavenly Cycle Star Chart.
• The army resumes its journey with its immediate fears eased, though Qin’s battle remains unresolved.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian is shown to be powerful enough to face a half-step Dao Fruit opponent, but he admits that defeating one is not certain. His choice to lead the beast away also reflects his concern for the world.
• Chu Kuangtu demonstrates keen perception and knowledge, accurately identifying both auras and explaining the stakes to the others.
• Niu Dali supports Chu’s assessment and stresses that even he and Chu are not yet strong enough to help.
• Emperor Zhao, Xiao Chengfeng, the Demon Emperor, and the assembled Immortals are shaken by the power they sense. Their admiration for Qin grows, while Emperor Zhao voices concern over the consequences should Qin fall.

Significant themes

• The scale of power: Even upper-tier True Immortals are insignificant before half-step Dao Fruit beings.
• Responsibility and restraint: Qin takes the battle away from the Great Thousand World to protect it from collateral destruction.
• Uneven advancement and humility: Past status or reincarnation offers little advantage against beings at the highest level; even formidable cultivators recognize their limits.
• The looming threat: Qin’s survival matters not only for the current battle but also because the Demon Abyss is approaching and the world needs a supreme defender.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Shujian flees through the void with a star-beast emperor in pursuit. He detects the returning Celestial Court army and changes course to avoid bringing the half-step Dao Fruit-level combatants near its tens of billions of soldiers.
• The two pass close enough for their leaking auras to shatter space and send destructive shock waves toward the army. Emperor Zhao, Chu Kuangtu, Niu Dali, and the other Heavenly Court immortals and gods combine their strength to hold back the impact.
• Chu Kuangtu realizes Qin is deliberately drawing the beast away and warns that a real battle nearby would kill the army’s other cultivators. The Celestial Court retreats toward the Outer Battlefield.
• Far from the army, Qin stops and prepares to fight. He uses the Heavenly Emperor Bell and Heaven-Connecting Mirror to briefly impede the beast, then deploys the Heavenly Cycle Star Chart and traps it in the Zhou Tian Star-Dipper Grand Formation.
• Qin intends to use the formation’s power—summoning stars to strike the beast—to overcome an opponent he doubts he could kill without the chart.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian shows both restraint and strategic confidence: he diverts the pursuit to protect the Celestial Court’s army, then chooses a remote battlefield where he can use his full strength.
• The star-beast emperor is driven by vengeance for Qin’s slaughter of its kind. It ignores Qin’s change of course and attacks relentlessly.
• Emperor Zhao leads the army’s defense against the shock waves, while Chu Kuangtu identifies Qin’s motive and urges an immediate retreat. Niu Dali also contributes to stopping the danger.

Significant themes

• The scale of overwhelming power: Even the stray force from a half-step Dao Fruit battle threatens an enormous army.
• Responsibility and restraint: Qin avoids causing needless casualties, despite being pursued by a mortal enemy.
• Preparation and tactical advantage: Qin chooses the battlefield carefully and combines several treasures to restrain a stronger foe.
• Revenge and collective identity: The star-beast emperor sees Qin’s killings as an insult to its entire race, not merely a personal grievance.

Plot points and events

• Qin Shujian traps a powerful star beast inside the Zhou Tian Star-Dipper Grand Formation and controls the battle from outside.
• The beast resists the formation’s attacks, first smashing falling stars and then meeting a devastating river of stars with its fists.
• Qin summons 365 star-beast manifestations, each as strong as a fifth-stage immortal. They attack in waves, but the trapped beast kills them repeatedly, causing the formation to weaken.
• The Heavenly Emperor Bell and Heaven-Connecting Mirror reinforce the formation before it can fracture.
• Qin identifies the creature as the Beast Emperor, ruler and strongest member of the star beast race, and a half-step Dao Fruit expert.
• Rather than trying to defeat it outright, Qin repeatedly restores the slain manifestations, intending to wear the Beast Emperor down through attrition.

Character developments

• Qin remains composed and confident even as the Beast Emperor overwhelms the formation’s summoned creatures. He recognizes the limits of the formation’s force but trusts his own reserves and endurance.
• The Beast Emperor is established as extraordinarily powerful: it withstands the formation and destroys its manifestations in large numbers, though it is still contained and suppressed.

Character interactions

• Qin and the Beast Emperor are locked in a battle of endurance: Qin directs the formation and replenishes its forces, while the Beast Emperor fights its way through them.
• Qin also mentally compares the Beast Emperor with other half-step Dao Fruit beings and reflects on who might eventually reach the Dao Fruit realm, including Emperor Zhao, Xiao Chengfeng, the Demon Emperor, and the Dog Emperor. He notes that Baheduo, once a strong candidate, has already died.

Significant themes

• Endurance versus strength: The Beast Emperor’s overwhelming power is challenged by Qin’s ability to sustain the formation and continually replace its forces.
• Strategic combat: Qin adapts when direct attacks fail, using repeated waves and the formation’s compatibility with star beasts to keep pressure on his enemy.
• Potential and mortality: The chapter considers which powerful beings may advance to Dao Fruit, while underscoring that death can erase even immense potential.

Key plot points

• Qin Shujian traps the Beast Emperor inside the Zhou Tian Star-Dipper Grand Formation, where fallen Star Beasts repeatedly revive and wear down the Beast Emperor’s energy.
• The Beast Emperor’s immense strength lets it slaughter the Star Beasts and shatter the void, but its simple, overwhelming attacks cannot overcome the formation.
• Qin activates the World-Destroying Millstone, formed from the fused forces of the Solar and Lunar Stars. It wounds the Beast Emperor for the first time and repeatedly tears open its enormous body.
• The Heavenly Emperor Bell and Heaven-Connecting Mirror then restrain the Beast Emperor, while the Heavenly Cycle Star Chart amplifies their effects. This combination leaves the Beast Emperor almost unable to fight back.
• Qin believes victory is only a matter of time. He reflects that the formation would be even stronger with the lost Eastern Emperor Bell and considers upgrading its current treasures.

Character developments

• Qin Shujian displays confidence in his endurance and command of the formation. His planning is evident: he forged the Bell and Mirror to complement the Star Chart, turning the formation into a coordinated weapon.
• The Beast Emperor shifts from furious confidence to shock and pain as it is injured for the first time. Though powerful and relentless, it cannot adapt to the formation’s restraints and repeated attacks.

Significant themes

• Preparation and synergy: The formation’s strength comes not only from its design, but from treasures whose abilities work together.
• Power versus strategy: The Beast Emperor has formidable physical strength, yet Qin’s layered tactics and control of the battlefield steadily overwhelm it.
• Attrition and inevitability: Endless revived enemies and Qin’s deep reserves make prolonged combat increasingly favor him.

Character interactions

• Qin and the Beast Emperor engage in a one-sided contest of tactics against force: Qin controls the battlefield and directs the formation, while the Beast Emperor responds with increasingly furious attacks.
• The Heavenly Emperor Bell and Heaven-Connecting Mirror repeatedly immobilize the Beast Emperor, creating openings for the World-Destroying Millstone to strike.

Key plot points

• Qin Shujian keeps the Beast Emperor trapped in the Zhou Tian Star-Dipper Grand Formation, where the World-Destroying Millstone steadily wears down its strength.
• Once the Beast Emperor is close to exhaustion, Qin withdraws the formation and strikes with the Godslayer Saber. The dying emperor launches a desperate counterattack, but Qin’s blow cleaves its body in two and erodes its will.
• Qin uses the Heavenly Cycle Star Chart, Heavenly Emperor Bell, and Heaven-Connecting Mirror to suppress the two halves, preventing the Beast Emperor from regenerating. The Godslayer Saber begins absorbing one portion.
• Qin extracts the Beast Emperor’s seven-colored star core. He believes it could greatly strengthen the Heavenly Cycle Star Chart—possibly advancing it toward the power of a nine-tribulation ancestral weapon.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian shows patience and strategic caution: he refuses to let the Godslayer Saber attack too early, anticipating the Beast Emperor’s last burst of strength. After the kill, his excitement over the star core reveals his growing ambition and confidence.
• The Godslayer Saber eagerly asks to deliver the finishing blow, hoping the Beast Emperor’s immense power will help it undergo its seventh tribulation. Qin makes it wait, then allows it to absorb part of the remains.
• The Beast Emperor shifts from defiant resistance to fear as death approaches, but its pride and ferocity drive it to fight back even when escape is impossible.

Significant themes

• Strength earned through restraint and preparation: Qin’s victory depends not only on force but on weakening the Beast Emperor and choosing the right moment to strike.
• Power gained through conflict: The Beast Emperor’s death offers advancement for both the Godslayer Saber and the Heavenly Cycle Star Chart.
• Confidence and ambition: Qin sees the potential to create a treasure capable of challenging Dao Fruit experts, strengthening his position against ancient powers and the unresolved threat of the Demon Abyss.

Plot points and events

• With the Void Fiend clans destroyed, Qin Shujian turns his attention to the approaching Demon Abyss, a formidable threat born from a Dao Fruit cultivator’s remains and strong enough to have destroyed the Primordial Heavenly Court a million years earlier.
• Qin merges the Beast Emperor’s core into the Heavenly Cycle Star Chart. Its power surges, and the chart reaches the pinnacle of an Eight-Calamity Ancestral Weapon.
• Qin reflects that the Beast Emperor’s immense physical strength could make the rules resonate even without understanding them. He recognizes that defeating it had depended partly on the Star Chart.
• Meanwhile, the Godslayer Saber finishes absorbing the power in another portion of the Beast Emperor’s remains. It triggers its seventh tribulation.
• Qin withdraws himself and his other treasures before the tribulation strikes. He observes that higher-level Ancestral Weapon tribulations approach Dao Fruit strength, explaining why weapons beyond seven tribulations are so rare.

Character development and interactions

• Qin Shujian is both pleased by the Star Chart’s advancement and clear-eyed about his limits. He respects the Beast Emperor’s strength and remains wary of the Demon Abyss, though the upgraded chart gives him confidence to confront it.
• The Godslayer Saber announces its imminent tribulation, but the lightning arrives before it can finish speaking. Qin promptly clears the area to protect his other treasures and himself.
• Qin’s reflections establish the difference between the Star Chart and a true Ancestral Weapon: despite its extraordinary strength, it lacks the power of faith or reality needed to affect reality itself.

Significant themes

• Power and preparation: Qin believes strength is essential to facing the Demon Abyss, and the Star Chart’s upgrade changes his confidence.
• The cost of advancement: Greater power brings increasingly dangerous tribulations, making the path to stronger Ancestral Weapons difficult.
• Limits of strength: Physical might can make the rules resonate, but without understanding, it cannot fully harness them. Likewise, the Star Chart’s power has a boundary: it cannot influence reality without rare forms of power.
• Caution amid confidence: Qin is optimistic about the Star Chart’s practical use, but does not mistake it for a solution to every threat.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Shujian considers how the Demon Abyss’s evil fiends might be killed. He suspects their immortality is not absolute: sufficiently powerful attacks—such as those from epoch-level supreme treasures—may destroy them, while the Truth-Severing Red Lotus could also threaten them.
• He hopes to strengthen the Red Lotus by refining powerful beings, including the remaining star beasts. However, those beasts may instead be needed to help the Godslayer Saber advance to its eighth tribulation.
• The Godslayer Saber faces the seventh heavenly tribulation. Though the lightning storm is immense, he survives and becomes a seven-tribulation Ancestral Weapon.
• Qin Shujian asks whether he will continue advancing or stop. After wrestling with the danger and his fear of falling behind Qin Shujian, the saber declares that he wants to try.

Character developments

• Qin Shujian weighs the future value of his weapons and recognizes that the Godslayer Saber must keep growing to remain useful as his own power rises. He does not pressure the saber, leaving the decision to him.
• The Godslayer Saber moves from elation at reaching a historic peak to uncertainty about risking another tribulation. His desire to remain beside Qin Shujian ultimately overcomes his fear, and he chooses to continue.

Significant themes

• Growth and obsolescence: Power that once seemed sufficient may become inadequate as stronger figures advance.
• Risk and ambition: Reaching a historic milestone does not necessarily satisfy someone who can see greater heights ahead.
• Choice and autonomy: Qin Shujian lets the saber decide its own path, even though the outcome may affect their future partnership.
• The nature of immortality: Qin Shujian questions whether the evil fiends’ apparent immortality can withstand overwhelming power.

Character interactions

• Qin Shujian congratulates the Godslayer Saber on surviving the tribulation, then directly asks whether he will continue. He keeps his private thoughts about potentially replacing or passing on the saber to himself, leaving the weapon free to choose.

Plot points and events

• The Godslayer Saber chooses to keep following Qin Shujian and pursue higher tribulations, despite the danger. His recent breakthrough to a Seven-Calamity Ancestral Weapon has convinced him that reaching eight or nine calamities may be possible.
• Qin Shujian supports the decision and tells him to absorb the remaining piece of the Beast Emperor’s body, whose immense energy can help prepare him for the next tribulation.
• The Godslayer Saber absorbs the remains over three days. The Beast Emperor’s last remnant of will disappears, completing his death.
• The universe mourns the fall of the Half-Step Dao Fruit: blood rains throughout the Otherworldly Void and the Great Thousand World.
• Qin Shujian takes the event as a reminder that even supreme beings can die. He resolves to surpass the limits of his former life if he wants true immortality.
• In the Death Sea, Yang awakens and recognizes the blood rain as a sign that a supreme powerhouse has fallen, recalling the death of Heavenly Emperor Qin Cang a million years earlier.

Character developments and interactions

• Godslayer Saber: Moves from accepting that he may die before advancing further to choosing a risky but meaningful path toward greater strength and service to the Human Race. He trusts that following Qin Shujian improves his chances.
• Qin Shujian: Encourages the Saber’s ambition and provides the Beast Emperor’s remains as a resource. The universal mourning also reinforces his awareness of his own mortality and his determination to grow beyond his past limits.
• Yang: Awakens from a long slumber and shows unexpected melancholy, recognizing the significance of the cosmic mourning.

Significant themes

• Ambition and sacrifice: The Godslayer Saber accepts danger for the sake of greater power and the Human Race.
• Mortality and impermanence: Even a Half-Step Dao Fruit can fall; immense strength does not guarantee eternal life.
• Trust and opportunity: The Saber believes Qin Shujian’s protection and fortune can improve his odds of survival.
• The scale of power: The universe’s mourning emphasizes how rare and consequential the death of a supreme being is.

Chapter Summary

Key events

• A blood rain begins falling across the entire Great Thousand World, and every living being feels an unexplained sadness. Unlike ordinary blood rain—which follows the death of a True Immortal and usually affects only that being’s race—this phenomenon spans all four continents and even penetrates the Celestial Court’s formations.
• The Immortal Gods are alarmed because no known True Immortal has died. Xiao Chengfeng suspects the event may be connected to the Outer Battlefield and urges the others to check whether the blood rain is falling there as well.
• Messages confirm that the Outer Battlefield is also affected. Xiao Chengfeng explains that this world-spanning phenomenon has occurred only at the ends of previous eras, when a half-step Dao Fruit powerhouse died.
• The gods realize that either Qin Shujian or the star-beast powerhouse must have fallen. Xiao Chengfeng argues that Qin Shujian is unlikely to be dead, reasoning that he is powerful and would have been able to escape if necessary. He concludes that the star beast is probably the one who died.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Chengfeng moves from stunned recognition to taking charge: he calls for information from the battlefield, explains the historical meaning of the blood rain, and reassures the others about Qin Shujian’s likely survival. His confidence also reflects his strong trust in Qin.
• Emperor Zhao admits that even his extensive knowledge cannot explain the event, then helps verify conditions at the Outer Battlefield.
• The Dog Emperor and other Immortal Gods look to Xiao Chengfeng and Emperor Zhao for answers. Their reactions shift from confusion to shock, then to cautious relief—though some remain wary.
• The gods’ concern is not only personal: if Qin has died, the Celestial Court could lose its stability, and the remaining threat of the Demon Abyss might become impossible to confront.

Significant themes

• Omens and uncertainty: The blood rain signals a death powerful enough to affect the rules of the universe, but it does not reveal who has died.
• Power and political stability: Qin’s survival is crucial to the Celestial Court’s authority and to the balance among the myriad races.
• Faith versus proof: Xiao Chengfeng trusts Qin’s judgment and ability, but acknowledges that certainty is lacking. He also recognizes that spreading the possibility of Qin’s death could undermine unity.

Plot and events

• The fall of a powerful Star Beast causes blood rain and awakens the Star Beasts sealed in the Ancient Stars. The stars shake as the beasts batter their seals.
• The Thousand-Eyed Emperor warns the Celestial Court that more than two hundred Star Beasts may soon break free. Even the weakest are Fourth-Stage Immortals, making them far stronger in number than the Court can handle.
• At the Celestial Court, Emperor Zhao convenes the Immortal Gods. Xiao Chengfeng concludes that the fallen being was the half-step Dao Fruit Star Beast—and likely the Star Beast Emperor—rather than Qin Shujian.
• The gods debate whether to fight or withdraw. The Demon Emperor urges retreat, arguing the Court lacks the strength to oppose such a force and that the Star Beasts are not an immediate threat to the Great Thousand World.
• Emperor Zhao chooses a cautious compromise: the Court will face the Star Beasts first to preserve its prestige, while other cultivators on the Outer Battlefield prepare to withdraw if necessary.

Character developments and interactions

• Thousand-Eyed Emperor reacts quickly to the stars’ upheaval, reports it to the Court, and recognizes that retreat may be unavoidable.
• Xiao Chengfeng gains certainty about the fallen Star Beast’s identity and importance.
• The Demon Emperor argues pragmatically for retreat, emphasizing the vast imbalance in strength and the danger to even powerful allies.
• Emperor Zhao weighs military reality against the Court’s reputation, ultimately ordering a limited stand with evacuation preparations.
• The other Immortal Gods largely agree that fighting the Star Beasts is unnecessary, but defer the final decision to the Five Directional Emperors.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism versus prestige: The Court must choose between avoiding a disastrous battle and preserving its authority.
• The limits of power: Even a formidable force may be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
• Preparedness amid uncertainty: Qin Shujian’s absence and the unknown timing of the Star Beasts’ escape force the Court to plan before the threat fully emerges.

Plot points and events

• Emperor Zhao refuses to retreat from the sealed Star Beast without first fighting it. He argues that withdrawing without resistance would damage the Celestial Court’s prestige and encourage future challenges, even if the Star Beast proves unbeatable.
• The Demon Emperor considers objecting but backs down under Zhao’s authority. Though the Five Directional Emperors appear equal, Zhao’s position as Central Origin Emperor and Human Emperor gives him decisive power.
• Zhao orders the Celestial Court’s Immortal Gods to prepare for battle. They comply rather than risk antagonizing the powerful Human Race.
• Later, the Earth Emperor visits the displeased Demon Emperor. He argues that the Human Race’s growing control of Celestial Court positions—already holding five divine seats—could eventually leave the other races powerless.
• The Earth Emperor proposes uniting dissatisfied Immortal Gods to block the Human Race from gaining future seats. He offers to introduce the Demon Emperor to the other potential allies.

Character developments and interactions

• Emperor Zhao shows himself as politically calculating as well as authoritative: he prioritizes the Celestial Court’s reputation and insists on demonstrating strength before any retreat.
• The Demon Emperor is frustrated by Zhao’s dominance but recognizes that he cannot oppose the Human Race alone. He is also skeptical of the Earth Emperor’s proposal, demanding practical solutions rather than rhetoric.
• The Earth Emperor presents himself as a careful organizer, using a friendly tea conversation to open a serious political discussion and recruit the Demon Emperor into a broader coalition.
• The chapter highlights the unequal relationship among the Five Directional Emperors: formal rank does not translate to equal influence, especially when Zhao speaks for the dominant Human Race.

Significant themes

• Prestige and political legitimacy: Even a tactical retreat can weaken authority if it appears cowardly.
• Power and hierarchy: Shared titles conceal real differences in strength and influence.
• Collective resistance: The Earth Emperor believes weaker factions must unite to counter a dominant power.
• Growing tension within the Celestial Court: The Human Race’s influence is turning the court’s internal balance into a source of political conflict.

Plot points and events

• The Earth Emperor meets with the Demon Emperor and argues that the Myriad Races must prevent the Human Race from becoming too powerful within the Celestial Court—especially in case Qin Shujian is no longer Heavenly Emperor.
• Three Godhood seats, tied to the Alchemy, Array, and Forging Daos, are at stake. The Human Race is far ahead in these fields, so the Earth Emperor expects them eventually to claim all three.
• He proposes stopping that outcome by eliminating promising human cultivators who could earn those seats.
• The Demon Emperor challenges the Earth Emperor’s motives, asking why he needs help. The Earth Emperor explains that an operation inside human territory would require the combined strength of multiple races, while political resistance at court also needs powerful allies.
• After considering the risks and benefits, the Demon Emperor agrees to cooperate. The two seal the deal with a toast.

Character developments

• Earth Emperor: Reveals himself as deeply wary of the Human Race’s growing influence. Though he frames his plan as protecting the Myriad Races, he is also motivated by his own diminished standing in the Celestial Court.
• Demon Emperor: Remains cautious and pragmatic, probing the Earth Emperor’s real intentions before agreeing to an alliance.

Character interactions

• The Earth Emperor appeals to the Demon Emperor’s concern for the Myriad Races and seeks both political and military cooperation.
• The Demon Emperor questions whether the proposed campaign is justified and whether the Earth Emperor is trying to use him for a larger scheme.
• Their discussion ends in an agreement, though the partnership rests on shared interests rather than trust or enduring loyalty.

Significant themes

• Power and representation: The Myriad Races fear that growing human influence could leave them politically powerless.
• Temporary alliances: Both emperors treat alliances as practical arrangements that can be abandoned when circumstances change.
• Preemptive violence and political manipulation: The Earth Emperor seeks to block human advancement through both court politics and covert action.
• Fear of future rule: The possibility of Qin Shujian’s eventual departure fuels distrust of whoever might succeed him.

Plot points and events

• After the Void Fiends’ defeat, news spreads that the Star Beasts are about to escape their seals and threaten the Outer Battlefield.
• The Celestial Court commits its strongest forces to fight them, excluding cultivators below the True Immortal realm. Its large force of Heavenly Soldiers and Generals will participate.
• Most ordinary cultivators prepare to retreat or remain safely in the rear, while some stay in hopes of collecting spoils. Players are especially eager, having heard that Star Beast remains can be extraordinarily valuable.
• Liu Qinghong’s party plans to collect Star Beast blood during the coming battle. They have bought specialized containers from Great Zhao’s Directorate of Celestial Observations, along with tools to suppress the blood’s power.
• The containers are costly and can hold only one drop each, limited to blood at the Fourth-Stage Immortal level. Stronger blood could overwhelm them and escape.

Character developments and interactions

• Liu Qinghong takes a cautious, practical leadership role, explaining the potential rewards and risks to his party. He sees Star Beast blood as useful both for players pursuing bodily cultivation and as valuable trade goods.
• Cao Hong supports the plan by revealing that he secured the specialized containers.
• The party members listen, ask about the challenge of collecting the blood, and accept Liu’s instructions. The group has invested nearly all its savings in the scheme, showing its commitment despite the danger.

Significant themes

• Risk and opportunity: Major battles are dangerous, but they also create chances to gain wealth and rare resources.
• Power and survival: Ordinary cultivators cannot face the Star Beasts, underscoring the vast gulf between them and True Immortals.
• Player ambition and progress: Players view immortality as attainable and treat the achievements of the Myriad Races as a model for their own advancement.
• Pragmatism amid conflict: The Celestial Court’s elite take on the fight, while others focus on staying safe or profiting from its aftermath.

Key plot points and events

• Liu Qinghong notices that team member Chen Hao has been absent for several days and cannot be reached. Since one teammate knows where he lives, Liu orders them to check on him after the team finishes its current work.
• Liu warns the team that the Wilds Great World has become increasingly dangerous: powerful figures are disappearing, being assassinated, or dying mysteriously. Cao Hong confirms that the reports are credible, citing the recent one-strike killing of a Spirit Martial Fifth Layer expert.
• The team completes preparations to collect Star Beast blood, which Liu considers essential to recouping their costs. Players and cultivators withdraw from the Outer Battlefield, leaving it much emptier.
• Celestial Court Immortal Gods emerge through the Heaven-Earth Passage, followed by silver-armored troops carrying spears—identified as Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals.

Character developments and interactions

• Liu Qinghong takes charge, showing concern about Chen Hao while urging the team to stay alert. He believes strength is the best protection and privately plans to use a Heavenly Human Realm manual obtained through the Heavenly Alliance to advance both in-game and in real life.
• Liu has also discovered that real-world cultivation manuals can be used in the game, including a rare divine-comprehension manual. He and other Heavenly Alliance members keep this advantage secret to preserve their lead.
• Cao Hong supports Liu’s warning and offers to help teammates investigate anything suspicious.
• Liu Qingqing moves closer to Liu Qinghong when she hears how dangerous the situation has become, showing her unease and trust in him.
• The team shifts from casual concern to serious caution, though Liu reassures them that they should first complete their immediate task.

Significant themes

• Growing instability: The spread of cultivation is making an already dangerous world harder to control.
• Power and self-preservation: Liu sees personal strength as the surest defense against threats.
• Secrecy and advantage: Heavenly Alliance members conceal their access to powerful manuals to stay ahead of others.
• Foreshadowing: Chen Hao’s unexplained absence and the arrival of the Celestial Court’s forces suggest larger dangers and developments ahead.

Plot points and events

• As sealed Star Beasts begin struggling to break free, the Immortal Gods prepare for a major battle. Emperor Zhao predicts that the beasts in several medium-sized stars will escape first and orders the Four Pole War Gods to form up the Heavenly Soldiers around them.
• More than a hundred thousand soldiers assemble into four formations. Array Dao experts watching from the Outer Battlefield realize these formations also combine into one vast, intricately linked formation.
• Fang Xinglan, a near-third-realm Array Dao Grandmaster, is overwhelmed by the formation’s depth. He concludes that only the Heavenly Emperor, Qin Shujian, could have devised it.
• Fang hopes that studying the formation could help him advance in Array Dao, qualify for godhood, and eventually break through to True Immortal. But access to its secrets—and to the secluded Heavenly Emperor—seems unlikely.
• Before he can pursue the matter, Fang senses that someone intends to harm him. Finding no evidence, he retreats from the Outer Battlefield to the Qianyuan Sacred Ground to consider the warning.

Character developments and interactions

• Emperor Zhao demonstrates tactical judgment by identifying which stars are likely to release their Star Beasts first and concentrating the Heavenly Soldiers there.
• Xiao Chengfeng and the Four Pole War Gods promptly carry out Zhao’s orders, leading the troops into position.
• Fang Xinglan shifts from professional admiration to intense ambition: the formation represents a possible path to greater mastery and cultivation. His caution ultimately outweighs his curiosity when he senses danger.
• The observing Array Dao experts and Immortal Gods react with awe and concern—both at the formation’s sophistication and at the powerful Star Beasts approaching.

Significant themes

• Collective strength and hidden power: The Heavenly Soldiers’ force comes not only from their numbers but from their coordinated, layered formation.
• Knowledge as a path to advancement: Fang sees the formation as a key to improving his Array Dao and rising beyond his current limits.
• Restricted access and hierarchy: Even exceptional cultivators cannot freely study the Celestial Court’s secrets or approach the Heavenly Emperor.
• Ominous uncertainty: Fang’s unexplained premonition introduces a personal threat alongside the looming battle.

Key plot points and events

• Fang Xinglan withdraws from the Outer Battlefield, wary of an unknown threat and expecting the coming war against the Star Beast to leave him vulnerable. He heads for the Qianyuan Sacred Ground, where he believes he will be safe from anyone below the True Immortal level.
• Other cultivators also quietly leave as attention turns to the Celestial Court’s preparations.
• The star suddenly cracks apart, releasing a gigantic, enraged Star Beast. The Heavenly Soldiers withstand the flying debris and activate the Ten Directions Immortal-Slaying Formation.
• The formation manifests a colossal warrior wielding an unfamiliar spear-like weapon. It clashes with the Star Beast, whose strength is at least that of a mid three-level True Immortal.
• Xiao Chengfeng cannot identify the manifested warrior. Niu Dali explains that the weapon is the Three-Pointed, Double-Edged Blade, belonging to a half-step Dao Fruit expert from the First Era. The expert is long dead, but the formation can draw on the power imprint he left in the universe.

Character developments and interactions

• Fang Xinglan’s caution defines his actions: with no clear information about who might target him, he prioritizes returning to a secure stronghold.
• Xiao Chengfeng admits that his knowledge of past eras is limited and asks Niu Dali to identify the formation’s warrior.
• Niu Dali demonstrates his knowledge of ancient history and the workings of power imprints. The Celestial Court’s Immortals and Gods listen respectfully, impressed by both his explanation and the formation’s power.

Significant themes

• Preparedness amid uncertainty: Fang Xinglan’s retreat reflects the risks of remaining near a battlefield as war approaches.
• The weight of history: Though ancient experts are dead, their lingering power imprints can still shape the present.
• The Celestial Court’s strength and ingenuity: Its formation channels the power of a past half-step Dao Fruit expert, revealing the sophistication of Qin Shujian’s Array Dao and the military’s capabilities.