Chapter Summaries

Xu Xuan provoked Baoqiu and Changsun Jun into unleashing their strongest abilities, hoping to break the Thunder Pavilion’s formation and uncover its altar-thunder core. Baoqiu summoned the Star-Replacing Golden Man, and the secret realm collapsed as lesser-yang radiance blasted open the doorway.

• Xu Xuan recognized the silver lightning legacy as the Thunder-Expounding Edict for Purifying Spirits and noticed the Thunder Pavilion’s formation had a hidden core.
• Baoqiu and Changsun Jun fought over the azure-thunder divine egg, while Xu Xuan attacked Baoqiu and drew both cultivators into a wider battle.
• Changsun Jun unleashed Flintfire Extraction, and Xu Xuan raised his thunder marsh and Five-Thunder Linked Drums, shaking the pavilion and cracking the divine egg.
• Baoqiu summoned the Daoist Canon Star-Replacing Golden Man and used the Golden Man Seal to overwhelm Xu Xuan and Changsun Jun’s combined abilities.
• The divine egg shattered, the worn formation failed, and lesser-yang mysterious radiance blasted open the collapsing secret realm.

Tiantuo and Liu Xiaowen fought their way through the collapsing Thunder Pavilion, defeating their pursuers and seizing one of the altar’s Law Script lines before escaping. Xu Xuan also obtained a line of Law Script, while Baoqiu secured the sky thunder divine egg and considered its meaning.

• Tiantuo used the Upper Firmament Thunder Arts and his Spirit Treasures to defeat Huaman and Thunder Execution, then drove off the ghost-robed woman.
• As the Thunder Pavilion collapsed, Liu Xiaowen and Tiantuo fought Gold-Sunder and Huaman; Liu Xiaowen used a tribulation-punishment sword beam to cripple Gold-Sunder and captured his Sword Pellet.
• Liu Xiaowen took a Law Script line, and he and Tiantuo escaped into the grotto-heaven while Huaman and Thunder Execution abandoned the pursuit.
• The Golden Man secured the damaged sky thunder divine egg as Xu Xuan, Changsun Jun, and Baoqiu gathered fragments and withdrew; Xu Xuan kept the Law Script line [Austere Instruction].
• Baoqiu emerged from the Golden Man with the egg and remarked that when punishment failed, rites had to be used.

Tiantuo and Liu Xiaowen recovered from their battle and examined ancient thunder laws and a Yuejue sword inheritance. After discovering that the mystic pavilions held Daoist canons, they learned from a wood spirit about the pavilions and set out to explore them for scriptures.

• Tiantuo healed Liu Xiaowen and himself with origin-wood radiance, and Liu Xiaowen examined the Sealing Recognition law text and the Great Evolution Five-Metal Flying Sword inheritance.
• Tiantuo sensed a spirit hiding in the woodland, captured him, raised his cultivation, and named him Green Elder.
• Green Elder told Tiantuo that the Twenty-Four Pavilions held scriptures and that the supreme Immortal Canon was within the Constructive Wood.
• Green Elder identified a thunder spirit called Crowned Eagle and directed Tiantuo and Liu Xiaowen southeast, beyond Black Iron Treasure Mountain, toward pavilions with wood and fire inheritances.
• Tiantuo stored Green Elder as a treasure leaf, and he and Liu Xiaowen decided to explore the Dao pavilions, including Heavenly Leaf.

Guang Su entered the Mengzhang Dao Palace with Chang Mao, learned about its ancient master, and offered incense to honor the Heavenly Dreary Sea Dragon Lord. After Chang Mao vanished and she received the Pan Yang Pagoda, a powerful spirit thunder dragon cry sounded from the grotto-heaven’s core, and Guang Su set out toward it.

• Guang Su met Chang Mao outside the Mengzhang Dao Palace, and he proposed that they travel together as surviving branches of the Heavenly Leaf.
• Chang Mao explained the palace’s master’s titles and the ancient seas once governed by Dragon Lords, including the lost Pan Sea.
• Guang Su offered incense to the immortal statue, honoring the lineage her Azure Radiance Dao had sought to inherit.
• Chang Mao disappeared, and the palace formation released the Pan Yang Pagoda, which Guang Su received.
• A powerful spirit thunder dragon cry rang out from the grotto-heaven’s core, and Guang Su followed the wooden dragon remnants’ guidance toward it.

Baoqiu gathered the Dui wind from Black Iron Mountain and met Tiantuo and Liu Xiaowen before they approached the mystic pavilions. Tiantuo and Liu Xiaowen parted ways, leaving Liu Xiaowen waiting outside the Former Chu Bing Radiance pavilion and considering its ancient Bing fire tradition.

• Baoqiu collected the Dui wind and stored Black Iron Mountain before revealing Tiantuo and Liu Xiaowen, who had been hiding nearby.
• Baoqiu recognized Tiantuo and Liu Xiaowen, invited their masters to visit the Many-Treasure Golden Palace, and then departed on urgent business.
• Tiantuo returned the Great Wind Shaking Xun Fan to Liu Xiaowen and rode away toward the origin wood pavilion.
• Liu Xiaowen reached the Former Chu Bing Radiance pavilion and waited for its protective radiance to recede.
• Liu Xiaowen studied the nearby cultivators and considered how the pavilion’s Bing fire tradition connected shamanic invocations with ritual.

Liu Xiaowen entered the Golden-Red Mystic Pavilion with Si Wenchuan and Kong Zhao to claim its treasures, including the Great Radiance Shamanic Fire and a Red Jade Dao text. After the three fought over the altar, Liu Xiaowen defeated Kong Zhao and struck down Si Wenchuan, leaving himself poised to claim the remaining treasures.

• Liu Xiaowen saw Si Wenchuan and Kong Zhao emerge, and the three entered the Golden-Red Mystic Pavilion.
• The cultivators discovered the Great Radiance Shamanic Fire and four jade Dao texts, then each seized a white jade book while the red book remained beneath the flame.
• Kong Zhao attacked Liu Xiaowen and Si Wenchuan with his Five-Colored Divine Light and other abilities, but they resisted his assaults.
• Kong Zhao charged for the spirit fire, and Liu Xiaowen knocked him from the air with the Great Flame Horn Furnace.
• Si Wenchuan tried to seize the bronze altar, so Liu Xiaowen attacked him with the furnace and sent him plunging down after he spat blood.

Liu Xiaowen defeated Kong Zhao with a Greater Yang artifact, seized the spirit-flame Dao Text from the bronze altar, and escaped the Mystic Pavilion. Kong Zhao pursued him, while Si Wenchuan was left questioning the fate of his Yi Wood lineage before setting out to retrieve the Zhengwei Dao Lineage’s inheritance.

• Kong Zhao used Five-Colored Divine Light to sweep Liu Xiaowen and Si Wenchuan aside and tried to draw the bronze altar into his Void Grotto.
• Liu Xiaowen struck Kong Zhao with a Greater Yang artifact, blinding him and leaving him rigid on the ground.
• Liu Xiaowen reached the bronze altar, collected the spirit-flame Dao Text, and fled the Mystic Pavilion as Kong Zhao pursued in his peacock form.
• Si Wenchuan reflected on the decline of the ancient Yi Wood methods and grew uncertain whether he should continue cultivating them.
• Si Wenchuan decided to retrieve what the Zhengwei Dao Lineage had left behind and departed the Mystic Pavilion.

Tiantuo discovered ancient Origin Wood and Sword Dao legacies in a pavilion and suspected Heavenly Leaf’s destruction was tied to a conflict between Bright Day and Bright Leisure. Meanwhile, Liu Xiaowen escaped Kong Zhao, reached a volcanic treasure land, and obtained ancient Bing Fire teachings that could help him investigate the origins of Bing Fire.

• Tiantuo found the [Dao Music Prelude from Phoenix Terrace] and inferred that True Lord Jiansui had used [Mutual Usurpation] to absorb the jue note.
• Tiantuo retrieved a damaged Dharma Sword and the [Sword Canon of the Azure Leisure Profound Lord], then suspected Heavenly Leaf’s destruction was connected to a struggle between Bright Day and Bright Leisure.
• Tiantuo searched the chaotic qi around the Bing Fire pavilion but could not find Liu Xiaowen, so he continued deeper into the Grotto-Heaven.
• Liu Xiaowen used the [Longflame Radiance Bag] and his treasured furnace to send Kong Zhao plunging into a lake, then fled toward the Grotto-Heaven’s center.
• Liu Xiaowen entered a volcano, refined the [Great Radiance Shamanic Fire], and strengthened his Dharma Body.
• Liu Xiaowen studied the [Fire-Orthodox God Body] and the [Ancient King of Scarlet Radiance Canon], concluding the canon could help him investigate Bing Fire’s origins.

Liu Xiaowen studied Bing Fire’s history and recovered a scarlet crow statue, then weighed the dangers of exploring farther. Xu Xuan obtained a Chaos Qi stone that began repairing the Complete Heart Tripod, and Nine Firmaments explained how the Five Foundations once stabilized heaven and earth as the Constructive Wood and the immortal towers emerged.

• Liu Xiaowen read that Bing Fire had passed through several holders and concluded that the King of Chu was likely corrupted by its malignancy after borrowing its Dao.
• Liu Xiaowen refined the Great Radiance Shamanic Fire, recovered a three-headed scarlet crow statue made from Earth Scorch True Stone, and decided to explore cautiously rather than press farther inward.
• Xu Xuan defeated a Withering Qi cultivator from Wusheng Devil Court and entered a pavilion containing a Chaos Qi stone and the Heaven and Earth Treatise on Chaos.
• Xu Xuan drew the immovable stone into the Complete Heart Tripod, where it began repairing the artifact, then left the pavilion without testing his idea of using the Aperture Restoration Book.
• Nine Firmaments joined Xu Xuan as the Grotto-Heaven’s hidden cultivators stirred and the twelve immortal towers emerged around the Constructive Wood.
• Nine Firmaments explained that the Five Foundations once stabilized heaven and earth, but Emperor Xuan felled the Immortal Ladder and broke the Heaven-Pillar, leaving only Geng and Wu intact.

Xu Xuan and Nine Firmaments observed the Constructive Wood and learned about ancient Thunder Palace powers as the Grotto-Heaven’s spiritual currents shifted. Tiantuo arrived, discovered disturbing signs among several Spirit Treasures, and faced the colossal Lord Jiansui.

• Nine Firmaments told Xu Xuan why Gao Xu had felled the Constructive Wood and described Lesser Yin, the Five Risings, and the ancient Thunder Palace.
• The twelve towers and Constructive Wood triggered a brief upheaval of lightning and spiritual currents, which Nine Firmaments attributed to an immortal talisman left by True Lord Heavenly Thunder.
• Xu Xuan wondered why Dust-Sweeping had come and clashed with Dragonkind while overseas Purple Mansion cultivators waited near the ruins.
• Tiantuo arrived and secretly examined several Foundation Establishment Spirit Treasures, finding that the Spirit Thunder Pearl transformed into a flood-dragon serpent and injured him.
• The world around Tiantuo darkened, and a colossal being of flesh, blood, and Spirit Thunder appeared as a voice greeted Lord Jiansui.

Tiantuo survived Xuyi’s dragon blight with the protection of Jiang Li’s azure talisman, then witnessed Chang Mao transform jia into vast wood and ascend as a venerable. Xu Xuan claimed the Chaos Pool as the grotto-heaven’s transformations began releasing their treasures, while Chang Mao vanished into the Great Void and confronted his elder brother.

• Jiang Li’s azure talisman suppressed Xuyi’s dragon blight, and Xuyi withdrew after Jiang Li accused him of betraying the Dao and slaughtering Wanqu’s people.
• Tiantuo returned to the grotto-heaven, found the spirit treasures he had gathered shattered, and deduced that the twelve wooden towers were made from Constructive Wood.
• Chang Mao confronted Xuyi, transformed jia into vast wood, and combined an azure wooden dragon statue with his ruler to create the golden character [Leisure].
• Nine Firmaments said Chang Mao’s return would free the things suppressed in the twelve towers, and Xu Xuan seized the Chaos Pool with the Complete Heart Tripod.
• The wooden towers transformed into dragons as their suppressed treasures were released, while Xu Xuan’s tripod repaired itself and his [Thunderfall Marsh] grew stronger.
• Chang Mao invoked Profound Leisure, Wonder, and Constancy to borrow the Dao and ascend as a venerable through jia and vast wood, then vanished into the Great Void as a dragon roared and he accused his elder brother of coming to kill him.

The Grotto-Heaven revived under the immortal character [Leisure] as cultivators seized treasures and its connection to the Great Void widened. Tiantuo, Li Shangmi, and Xu Xuan claimed treasures, while Liu Xiaowen escaped through a Heavenly Gate into a strange theater.

• [Leisure] appeared in the sky as lesser yang light revived the Grotto-Heaven and its formations.
• Tiantuo took an ancient origin wood Spirit Treasure and fought his way toward a Northern Altar sky thunder talisman.
• Li Shangmi claimed a treasure that stirred his third Divine Ability, then left with Si Wenchuan.
• Xu Xuan seized Gu Che's thunder-shock treasure and noticed Jianzhuo fleeing First Sea as a True Lord arrived.
• Liu Xiaowen fled through a Heavenly Gate and found himself before a stage of smiling paper effigies.

Liu Xiaowen was trapped in the Emperor Xuan Central Earth Mystic Realm and forced to watch a shadow play depicting a clash between a thunderous dharma form and demonic powers. After the emperor’s court debated the battle and praised a plan to restore the nation, Liu Xiaowen turned around to bow and found the jade steps empty.

• A blue-robed old man stripped Liu Xiaowen of his powers, made him squat before the stage, and warned him not to turn around, rise, or speak.
• The emperor arrived, and the shadow play revealed a vast thunder marsh facing a demonic shadow that called out to Yin Qingchen.
• A red-robed dharma form challenged the thunder marsh to a battle Beyond the Heavens, and the vision shattered as radiant qi restored Liu Xiaowen.
• The emperor asked his ministers to judge the battle, and they debated the combatants before praising his plan to establish the Five Foundations and restore the nation.
• A woman's voice urged Liu Xiaowen to bow to the emperor, and he turned around to salute the empty jade steps.

Liu Xiaowen escaped the Ji Earth realm after receiving a message about the Grave Sheep Profound Canon, then returned to the mortal realm amid a devastating dragon war. He and Jianzhuo fled the Southern Sea’s calamity separately, while Jianzhuo realized Bingxiao carried a trace of Golden Core aura and examined the treasure leaf he had seized.

• The old man let Wang Qi escort Liu Xiaowen out of the Ji Earth realm after learning the Flame Palace had promised Wang Qi a mortal birth and a future as a great general.
• Bi Huanyong gave Liu Xiaowen a message about the Grave Sheep Profound Canon, and Wang Qi hurled him through the realm’s boundary with a warning not to reveal anything else.
• Liu Xiaowen emerged near the Western Sea, saw dragons at war, and fled from First Sea before Jianzhuo escaped the pursuing white dragon and reached him.
• Jianzhuo identified himself as a True Person of Yama Hall, and he and Liu Xiaowen parted after discussing how Jianzhuo’s pursuer had led danger to them both.
• Jianzhuo saw blood rain and Crimson Lightning mutate living beings across the Southern Sea as a huge mass of flesh fell near Vermilion Cliff, while Feilian fled toward the Southern Border.
• Jianzhuo observed that Bingxiao carried a trace of Golden Core aura and found that the azure treasure leaf could extend his master’s life by another fifty years.

Tianyu renewed the Constructive Wood and expounded the Jia Wood Dao, claiming its Fruit Position as Ye Cang while a battle among great powers loomed. Elsewhere, Tiantuo gained the Spirit Sword Azure Bamboo, met Baoqiu over a Sky Thunder treasure, and saw signs that Heavenly Vessel may have stolen the Spirit Thunder position.

• The Constructive Wood fused with the Dragonwood tree and was restored as Tianyu expounded the Dao, ascended to the Jia Wood Fruit Position, and took the name Ye Cang.
• A crimson force from the Eastern Sea challenged Heavenly Vessel to appear at Wanqu, while Xu Xuan tested his growing thunder power.
• Tiantuo learned that Origin Wood’s divine ability had changed into Jade-Tuning Flute and claimed the repaired Spirit Sword Azure Bamboo.
• Baoqiu offered Tiantuo a chance to trade for the Firmament Essence Compilation in ten days and demonstrated that Shock Thunder would soon flourish.
• Tiantuo saw the Southern Sea’s damaged sky being mended by the Pudu Holy Land and suspected Heavenly Vessel had stolen the Spirit Thunder position.

Xu Xuan merged the Mixed Thunder Treasure Pool into his Thunderfall Marsh and created an Innate Divine Statue that boosted his power and could cultivate separately. As Yang Yuanxin prepared to expand their influence across the Southern Sea and urged him to produce an heir, a wounded Devil Lord’s corpse fell from the rift in the sky.

• Xu Xuan refined the Mixed Thunder Treasure Pool into Thunderfall Marsh, carved seven apertures into its new divine statue, and sent it to cultivate another divine ability.
• Yang Yuanxin proposed expanding into Vermilion Cliff and Black Marsh, and Xu Xuan gave her Lightning Flash while ordering her to wait until Bo Chang had recovered.
• Bo Chang told Xu Xuan about a mysterious healer at Gray Cliff who had treated the injured Demon King Diyun, and Xu Xuan sent him to establish contact.
• Yang Yuanxin urged Xu Xuan to conceive an heir who could inherit shock thunder, arguing that their descendants would support his future path and clan.
• A female corpse fell from the heavenly rift and dissolved under the thunder, while the flowers outside Yang Yuanxin’s palace withered, leading Xu Xuan to suspect that the Devil Lord was badly wounded.

Liu Xiaowen returned from the Grotto-Heaven, brought the Thunder Palace’s sword inheritance to Liu Xingfang, and investigated Xu Fayan’s unusual cultivation. On Heavenly Tribulation Mountain, Liu Shu Han established her immortal foundation and asked to join the fighting at Wu City, while the arrival of the Nine-Infant drew her attention.

• Qi Zhengyi welcomed Liu Xiaowen back to White Cang and reported that Xu Fayan had returned to Red Cloud.
• Liu Xiaowen traveled through the Great Void to Heavenly Tribulation Mountain and gave Liu Xingfang the Tribulation Law Thunder-Proclaiming Sword Explanation.
• Liu Xingfang told Liu Xiaowen that Fa Yan lacked a cultivation method, and Liu Xiaowen went to see Xu Fayan.
• Xu Fayan explained that he had perfected the Great Sun Demon-Light Baleful Body and sensed a mysterious source of solar baleful energy; Liu Xiaowen warned him to stop cultivating it for now.
• Liu Shu Han emerged from seclusion after establishing the Chen Fengyou immortal foundation and asked to accompany Liu Xingfang to Wu City, but Liu Xiaowen and Liu Xingfang refused.
• Liu Shu Han recognized the aura of the Nine-Infant surging from the north.

Liu Shu Han emerged from seclusion after establishing her foundation and calmed the newly hatched Nine-Infant with her Withering Qi. At Heaven Pool, Yang Yuanxin revealed that Bai Su had brought the Lesser Yang treasure and insisted that Xu Xuan spend a month with her, leaving him trapped inside the palace as the formation closed.

• Hexin fled into the Gathering Nest as the newly hatched Nine-Infant rampaged, while Liu Yanyu tried to restrain it.
• Liu Shu Han arrived with Liu Lingxin, used the Black Snow Mystic Mark to calm the Nine-Infant, apologized to the disciples, and took the beast away.
• Liu Lingxin sensed that the Vast Wood energy had changed and felt close to advancing in her cultivation.
• Xu Xuan visited Yang Yuanxin’s palace and discovered that Bai Su had supplied the Lesser Yang treasure, apparently as part of a plan authorized by Bai Xuan.
• Yang Yuanxin rebuked Xu Xuan for treating her only as a fellow cultivator and threatened to complain to the old lord unless he stayed with her for a month.

Xu Xuan perfected [Fate-Extinguishing Purge] by completing the Thunder Oath, then learned that he still needed the Thunder Palace’s recognition to sense its ancient calamities. He decided his dragon body should approach the Dragon Lord of jia wood for insight into attaining the Dao, and left the secret realm to answer Tianchi’s summons.

• Xu Xuan swore the Thunder Oath, merging his nature and life with Heaven and Earth and perfecting his divine ability.
• Xu Xuan tested the black laws and found that they amplified his tribulations, but Tiantuo explained that he still needed a secret rite to gain the Thunder Palace’s recognition.
• Xu Xuan and Tiantuo discussed the Dragon Lord of jia wood, the [Eastern Pole Profound Bright Gate], and the uncertain condition of True Lord Xuanhun.
• Xu Xuan decided his dragon body should approach the Dragon Lord of jia wood to learn from the Golden Cores and seek a path to attaining the Dao.
• Xu Xuan left the secret realm and accepted a summons to the palace from Tianchi.

Xu Xuan met with Tianchi, who explained how Great Li’s Li Fire depended on burning Vast Wood and intended to stake the dynasty on a coming campaign against the Liao Lands. Tianchi revealed that Xu Xuan’s sect’s Flame Dynasty lineage could help him find a way forward, then sent him to meet Bai Jun about Rang'an.

• Tianchi explained that Great Li planned to use a great victory against the Liao Lands to strengthen Li Fire, even at the cost of the dynasty and its people.
• Tianchi warned Xu Xuan to plan for the future and revealed that Xu Xuan’s sect descended from the Flame Dynasty, whose returning lineage might have a role when Bing Fire’s Fruit Position was claimed.
• Tianchi said Great Li had found traces of Northern Thunder’s inheritance in the Imperial Palace of Feng Dai and wanted Xu Xuan to hold Wu City.
• Xu Xuan asked to meet Rang'an, and Tianchi said Rang'an had joined the Divine Dao as a retainer to Bai Jun, the white qilin establishing the Five Sacred Peaks.
• Tianchi gave Xu Xuan a decree directing him to Gaoyang in Qinhe Commandery, where he could meet Bai Jun and try to persuade him.