Chapter Summaries

Tiantuo inferred that Bing Fire’s orthodox Divine Ability was [Yang-Bearing Drying Heat], but his insight drew a dangerous reaction from the Golden Crow. After learning that his master Zhou You had broken through and would take charge of Azure Depths, Tiantuo left to seek the wood needed for [Whitewood Shrine], traveling with Liu Xiaowen and Liang Yong toward [Coiling Forest].

• Tiantuo perfected [Wind-Restoring Retribution] and considered which Origin Wood ability and Dao Path to pursue next.
• Tiantuo connected Bing Fire’s virtue of [Drying Heat] to [Yang-Bearing Origin], provoking a surge of black light and parching heat that warned him away from the Golden Crow.
• Lin Lang delivered a sect message announcing that Zhou You had broken through and would take over Azure Depths, freeing Tiantuo to leave.
• Tiantuo visited Liu Xiaowen at White Cang and asked to gather wood at [Coiling Forest] for [Whitewood Shrine].
• Liu Xiaowen agreed to travel with Tiantuo and brought Liang Yong along as their sect’s guardian.
• Tiantuo considered Liang Yong’s prospects in the Buddhist Way and wondered who might claim Ultimate Fire’s vacant Fruit Position.

Tiantuo visited Xu Xuan’s sect to arrange access to Coiling Forest and traded the Azure-Glow True-Gold Bamboo for the Azure Leisure Profound Lord’s Sword Canon. After Tiantuo departed, Xu Xuan gave Liu Xiaowen the Great Zhao King Mace, which Liu Xiaowen promptly tamed, prompting Xu Xuan to suspect a powerful bing fire figure had influenced his disciple.

• Tiantuo and Liu Xiaowen arrived at Red Cloud, where Xu Xuan welcomed Tiantuo and Azure Origin into the Main Hall.
• Tiantuo asked to use Coiling Forest to cultivate his divine ability, and Xu Xuan agreed after seeking Azure Radiance’s approval.
• Tiantuo exchanged the Azure-Glow True-Gold Bamboo for the Sword Canon of the Azure Leisure Profound Lord, and the two items reacted to each other when brought together.
• Tiantuo incorporated the golden bamboo into his divine ability and said he would return in a month to borrow Coiling Forest.
• Liu Xiaowen told Xu Xuan he had begun cultivating a second divine ability, and Xu Xuan gave him the Great Zhao King Mace.
• Liu Xiaowen subdued the mace’s black flame, and Xu Xuan suspected a Golden Core cultivator of the bing fire path had affected his disciple.

Xu Xuan arranged cultivation paths and responsibilities for his disciples and learned why Liang Yong could not pursue Purple Mansion. In the Many Treasures Grotto-Heaven, Baoqiu sought help for Longjue’s successor, but Jiang Suqiu warned that the conflict between White Governance and Reforming the Way made intervention dangerous.

• Xu Xuan praised Liu Xiaowen’s progress and said he could use the Longflame Radiance Bag once he mastered Kunwu Furnace.
• Xu Xuan offered Liang Yong the Great Heaven Asura Wrath-Contemplation Method, but Liang Yong explained that his Buddhist-tainted Great Wrathful Diamond Treasure Sutra left him no path to Purple Mansion.
• Xu Xuan gave Liu Xiaowen the Fallen Cang Daoist Canon to distribute and planned for Fa Yan to oversee overseas affairs while Liu Xiaowen returned to the sect.
• Xu Xuan said he would seek a way for Liu Xingfang to cultivate his divine ability at the former Tribulation Command site, then entered seclusion to heal.
• In the Many Treasures Grotto-Heaven, Baoqiu asked Jiang Suqiu to bring Longjue’s successor into the grotto-heaven, but Jiang Suqiu warned that the struggle between White Governance and Reforming the Way could not be reconciled.
• Jiang Suqiu told Baoqiu to urge Upper Firmament onward while Baoqiu considered writing letters about Azure Origin and Red Cloud.

Tuoba Cai visited Yelü Tan to have him examine Xu Xuan’s blood, and his tracing of the Xu lineage led him to the Jiang clan and ancient Sword Immortals. The bloodline disc unexpectedly drew Yelü Tan into Immortal Heaven, where a powerful cultivator who had perfected Lesser Yang confronted him.

• Tuoba Cai delivered King of Wei’s painting to Yelü Tan and asked him to examine Xu Xuan’s Silver Blood.
• Yelü Tan demanded a Purple Mansion Tier Water Transformation treasure pool in exchange, and Tuoba Cai agreed.
• Yelü Tan identified the Xu surname as a branch of the Jiang clan and named several notable Xu cultivators from history.
• Yelü Tan used the Unity Bloodline Disc to trace Xu Xuan’s blood, but the disc showed no connection to the Jiang clan before his awareness entered Immortal Heaven.
• A divine being challenged Yelü Tan for trespassing, and a voice from a dragon-drawn carriage suppressed him with the might of perfected Lesser Yang.

Tiantuo questioned Yelü Tan after Xu Xuan brought the captured Ancestral Spirit into the Eastern Radiance Heaven Realm. After learning of the Li Fire True Lord’s victory over Liao and the Rebirth Venerable, Tiantuo claimed this heavenly realm belonged to the Azure Lad Heavenly Lord.

• Yelü Tan was dragged through the vast heavenly realm to the Immortal-Granting Bureau and thrown before Tiantuo.
• Tiantuo healed Yelü Tan and demanded to know how he had entered the realm, and Yelü Tan explained that his True Spirit had been seized while he divined a bloodline.
• Tiantuo learned that the Bliss-Desire Demon Land had been probing bloodlines and that Yelü Tan was connected to the Shepherding Spirit Emperor.
• Yelü Tan recounted how the Li Founding Emperor defeated the Shepherding Spirit Emperor and later burned the Heavenly Lotus Supreme Victory Light Vow Venerable until True Lord Panmi intervened.
• Tiantuo threatened Yelü Tan with death for trespassing, then asked him to identify the realm’s master.
• Tiantuo declared that the realm belonged to the Azure Lad Heavenly Lord, also known as the lord of Lesser Yang and the lesser immortal beneath the Eastern Duke.

Tiantuo persuaded Yelü Tan that he was a powerful Immortal and that the Bliss-Desire Demon Land had brought him into danger, then demanded access to Yelü Tan’s true spirit. Xu Xuan and Tiantuo debated erasing his memories and sending him back under a Void Seal, and Xu Xuan agreed they could risk the plan.

• Yelü Tan inferred that Tiantuo was an ancient Immortal and begged to be spared, offering to help watch the Bliss-Desire Demon Land.
• Tiantuo told Yelü Tan that his connection to the ten thousand evils beast-demon dharma form made simple memory erasure impossible and demanded control of his true spirit.
• Yelü Tan submitted, and Tiantuo used clear qi to conceal the intervention from the dharma form.
• Xu Xuan arrived and said he could try using the Supreme Clarity Stele to erase Yelü Tan’s memories.
• Tiantuo proposed returning Yelü Tan under a Void Seal to influence the Liao Lands, and Xu Xuan agreed to take the risk.

Xu Xuan and Tiantuo manipulated Yelü Tan’s memories and left a mysterious Jiang character on him to make it seem that a powerful Jiang lord had intervened. Yelü Tan returned to Great Liao weakened and under suspicion, then went to Upper Spirit Heaven to confess his offense to the Shepherding Spirit Emperor.

• Xu Xuan extracted Yelü Tan’s recent memories, hid them beneath the Immortal Stele, and erased the traces of his intervention.
• Tiantuo wrote the character Jiang on Yelü Tan’s forehead to implicate a powerful Jiang lord and deter the Shepherding Spirit Emperor from acting rashly.
• Yelü Tan awoke at Ironfrost Witch Mountain with the Unity Bloodline Disc shattered and the Jiang character between his brows, while Tuoba Cai explained that he had been unresponsive.
• Yelü Tan discovered that his connection to the Ten Thousand Evils Beast-Demon Dharma Form had been weakened and accused Tuoba Cai’s Bliss-Desire Demon Land of deceiving him.
• Tuoba Cai defended her tradition’s actions and left, while Yelü Tan realized that a powerful figure had intervened and that the Emperor might punish him.
• Yelü Tan transformed into a divine statue and went to Upper Spirit Heaven to confess his offense to the Shepherding Spirit Emperor.

Bond Metal of the Many-Treasure Tradition visited Xu Xuan on behalf of True Person Baoqiu and invited Xu Ming to retrieve an ancestor’s spirit tablet from the Jiang clan’s grotto-heaven in six years. Xu Xuan agreed, while Tiantuo realized the tradition was also seeking him in Jianghuai.

• Liu Shu Han received Bond Metal at the mountain gate and escorted him to Xu Xuan.
• Bond Metal explained that the Xu clan descended from the Jiang and invited Xu Ming to retrieve Duke Xu Ping’s spirit tablet and other preserved belongings during the Jiang clan’s ancestral ceremony.
• Bond Metal said Xu Xuan could not safely enter the grotto-heaven because of his altar thunder and accumulated karma, but a metal spirit would escort Xu Ming in six years.
• Xu Xuan agreed to let Xu Ming make the journey, considering the benefits of connecting the White Ridge Xu clan to the Jiang clan.
• Bond Metal departed for Jianghuai, and Tiantuo recognized that the Many-Treasure Tradition was likely seeking him there.

Tiantuo consulted True Person Jade Bone about the Many-Treasure Tradition’s invitation and set out for the Autumn Sea. Meanwhile, Xu Xuan perfected Radiance Illuminates the Night and learned that Great Xia had conquered Sindhu, where a dragon descendant had been made a king.

• True Person Jade Bone warned Tiantuo that the Many-Treasure Tradition might seek origin wood cultivation methods and advised him to consider whether their meeting could lead to a contest of Daos.
• Tiantuo decided to travel by way of the Southern Sea and Pan Sea to visit the Many-Treasure Tradition in the Autumn Sea.
• Xu Xuan completed Radiance Illuminates the Night, greatly strengthening his thunder-based divine abilities.
• Hou Ni told Xu Xuan that Mu Sheng had succeeded in Qi Refining and Mu Yu was close to doing so.
• Hou Ni reported that Great Xia had conquered all twelve lands of Sindhu and that a direct-line descendant of dragonkind had become the River of the Cosmos King.

The Hope Sea Dragon King completed his transformation to the demonic thunder path but faced a shortage of blood offerings because demons were fleeing to Pan Sea. Jinghua then persuaded him to join a plot to kill True Person Azure Origin at sea, leaving the Dragon King committed to the Golden Core factions’ plan.

• Hope Sea Dragon King demonstrated his transformed demonic thunder, consumed the gathered aquatic creatures, and berated Qiao Bai for providing poor-quality blood offerings.
• Hope Sea blamed Pan Sea for drawing demons away and ordered Qiao Bai to gather more supplies before studying the Book of Lost Edict Fate Thunder.
• Jinghua arrived at the Water Palace and offered the Elder Lodging Devil Palace’s blood qi in exchange for Hope Sea killing True Person Azure Origin.
• Jinghua explained that Azure Origin would come to the sea to meet Bao Zi and that the Great Wind Mystic Firmament would not intervene.
• Hope Sea agreed to kill Azure Origin at sea, knowing the Golden Core factions had already decided the matter.

Xu Xuan traveled from Heaven Pool to Eastern Azure after Dragon King Cave Azure invited him to assess Mu Sheng’s cultivation, while Hou Ni explained the strength and history of the Heaven’s Eclipse branch. In Yearwood Sea, Tiantuo received a pill from Bixi and set out for Eastern Azure after sensing Xu Xuan’s signal, hoping to meet him there.

• Xu Xuan accepted Dragon King Cave Azure’s invitation and left for Eastern Azure with Hou Ni in the Bronze Thunder Chariot.
• Hou Ni told Xu Xuan about the Heaven’s Eclipse branch’s ancestors, its eleven divine ability cultivators, and its surviving Purple Mansion Dragon Kings.
• Xu Xuan learned that Tiantuo had arrived in the Southern Sea and realized they might meet in Eastern Azure.
• Tiantuo’s first offering of Golden Incense at the Clear Vast Hall went out and crumbled, but his second offering burned normally.
• Bixi gave Tiantuo a Spring Sacrifice Joy-Drinking Pill, and he left Yearwood Sea for the Pan Sea.

Xu Xuan visited Eastern Azure, learned from Cave Azure about ancient divine abilities, and reunited with Mu Sheng, who had advanced to Qi Refining. Cave Azure then asked Xu Xuan to escort True Person Azure Origin and help protect him from Eastern Vast, assigning him to deal with the Hope Sea Dragon King.

• Xu Xuan arrived at Meng Continent and followed Cave Azure to Split Mountain, where he learned about the Constructive Wood and the ancient five-tone divine abilities.
• Mu Sheng emerged from his training and told Xu Xuan that the body-tempering method taught by Cave Azure let him refine thunder into nourishment.
• Cave Azure received word that True Person Azure Origin had arrived and asked Xu Xuan to escort him, explaining that enemies sought to kill the sole inheritor of Azure Origin's Primordial Yang.
• Xu Xuan agreed to help in return for Eastern Azure's support for Heaven Pool, and Cave Azure named the Hope Sea Dragon King as his target.

Cave Azure explained the four proofs to Xu Xuan and offered him the Divine Yang Thunder-Breath Split Wood to help confront Hope Sea. The Split Wood could let Xu Xuan approach the Purple Mansion peak, and Cave Azure sent him to the Heavenly Treasury to choose a treasure while he went to meet Azure Origin True Person.

• Cave Azure revealed a secret realm containing the Divine Yang Thunder-Breath Split Wood, which became complete when Xu Xuan's two Great Thunder-Yang Sky-Breathing Roots fused and returned to it.
• Cave Azure explained numinous proof, numinous omen, position proof, mysterious proof, and Dao verification, and warned Xu Xuan that a fallen venerable position's proof must be reestablished by a successor.
• Cave Azure said the Split Wood could grant Xu Xuan an additional Jia Wood divine ability and let him approach the Purple Mansion peak, but he could only lend it because it was a legacy tied to True Person Shang Fan.
• Cave Azure summoned Jiao You and ordered the minor god to take Xu Xuan to the Heavenly Treasury to choose a fine treasure before Cave Azure left to meet Azure Origin True Person.

Tiantuo visited Dao Xian Palace to probe Eastern Azure’s ties to his sect and seek wood-virtue resources, but Cave Azure revealed that powerful factions were plotting to kill him. Tiantuo agreed to travel through the Hidden Autumn Sea Route toward Many Treasures to pursue origin wood, and Cave Azure introduced two guardians of the Dao.

• Tiantuo met Cave Azure at the Emperor Shepherding the First Yang stele and recognized the Azure Wan Ruler as a magic treasure of the Azure Radiance Immortal Sect.
• Cave Azure welcomed Tiantuo into Dao Xian Palace, where they discussed his visit and Tiantuo considered seeking spirit roots, precious soil, or access to Constructive Wood.
• Cave Azure revealed that Yuan Yan and Panmi had interfered with Tiantuo’s Jiansui Edict and warned that many powerful beings sought to kill him amid the coming celestial disorder.
• Cave Azure said Tiantuo would have to travel through the Hidden Autumn Sea Route to reach Many Treasures and pursue origin wood, and Tiantuo resolved to go despite the danger.
• Cave Azure said he could not leave the Pan Sea but had found Tiantuo two guardians of the Dao, and a veiled woman promised to deal with Long Abode’s Ji Yue.

Xu Xuan searched Eastern Azure’s Merchant Vault for a treasure that could help him counter Hope Sea’s Divine Thunder. He chose the ancient Jianwu statue known as the Wu Venerable and struggled to carry it out so he could refine it.

• Jiao You explained that he was a minor god of Meng Continent, sealed into service by his lord and bound to the Constructive Wood.
• Xu Xuan passed over several Spirit Treasures and ancient artifacts, including the Restore Mountains and Rivers Again Diagram and the Imperial Mandate Drum, because they carried too much risk or overlapped with his existing abilities.
• Jiao You showed Xu Xuan the Wu Venerable, a pottery statue depicting Jianwu and inherited from the Earthly Epoch.
• Xu Xuan chose the Wu Venerable, but his magical power and spiritual sense could not reach it, so Jiao You told him that a drop of blood would be needed to refine it.
• Jiao You failed to move the statue, while Xu Xuan lifted it with his physical strength and ordered Jiao You to lead him somewhere he could refine it.

Xu Xuan subdued the autonomous [Wu Venerable] and then joined a council planning an assault on Autumn Sea. After the others departed, Fellow Daoist Suhua hinted that Mist Marsh had concealed knowledge of [Moon Lake Reflection] from him.

• Xu Xuan poured his blood over the [Wu Venerable], endured its surprise stomp, and subdued it with [Austere Instruction] and Silver Thunder reins.
• Xu Xuan stored the [Wu Venerable] in his Inner Scenery and followed Jiao You to meet Cave Azure and True Person Azure Origin.
• Cave Azure explained that the group would enter Autumn Sea in three days, with Palace Master Wei blocking Long Abode while Hou Ni and a Jia Wood cultivator dealt with Hope Sea’s demons.
• Xu Xuan recognized the White Moon Palace Master as an exceptionally powerful Greater Yin cultivator and learned she called herself Fellow Daoist Suhua.
• Fellow Daoist Suhua told Xu Xuan that Mist Marsh had withheld knowledge of [Moon Lake Reflection] from him, then vanished in frosty radiance.

Ji Yue was stranded on Wisteria Isle by Palace Master Wei while Tiantuo crossed the Hidden Autumn Sea Route and was attacked by Guyang. Huan Biao intercepted Guyang with the Mutual Affliction Pearl, and distant thunder signaled that Mu Youdu had confronted the Great King with the Five Arts.

• Ji Yue questioned Palace Master Wei about interfering in wood virtue affairs, but she kept him trapped on Wisteria Isle with Moon's Winding Course.
• Tiantuo traveled through the Hidden Autumn Sea Route and used Azure Bamboo to repel Guyang's attack before fleeing on the Xun Wind.
• Huan Biao appeared and struck Guyang with Cloud-Rising Wood, then used the Mutual Affliction Pearl to afflict his wood and metal virtues.
• Guyang transformed and attacked Huan Biao with Three Baleful Forces Form Yin, but Huan Biao used the pearl and Leaf-Blinding to hold him back.
• Distant thunder revealed that Mu Youdu had confronted the Great King, and Guyang sensed the almost-complete divine ability Five Arts.

Hope Sea pursued True Person Azure Origin, but Xu Xuan used Tiantuo’s Substitute Death Puppet to trap the Dragon King in a Thunder Formation. Hope Sea broke free and revealed his Fortune Dragon lineage, then fought Xu Xuan with his Dharma Body as Xu Xuan answered with his own.

• Hope Sea abandoned his standoff with Xu Xuan and pursued True Person Azure Origin, while Xu Xuan stopped to hold Tiantuo’s Substitute Death Puppet.
• Hope Sea killed Tiantuo’s apparent body, but the puppet revealed a sword-wielding Dragon King form and unleashed Thunderfall Marsh; Xu Xuan used five kinds of thunder to seal Hope Sea in the Great Void.
• Xu Xuan summoned Yang-Breath Surge and strengthened the Thunder Formation, delaying Hope Sea while Tiantuo entered Autumn Sea through the substitution.
• Hope Sea broke the formation with Heavenly Lord’s Smile, revealed his Radiant Spirit Edict, and challenged Xu Xuan, declaring his hatred of sword wielders.
• Hope Sea and Xu Xuan manifested their Dharma Bodies and clashed; Hope Sea’s five Divine Abilities reached Xu Xuan’s divine face as he warned him that only Divine Abilities were the true path.

Xu Xuan and Hope Sea fought a devastating battle at sea, each combining powerful Divine Abilities in an effort to overcome the other. After Xu Xuan achieved Great Luo Attunement and wounded Hope Sea, the battle stalled, and both turned toward the approaching Evening Without Knowing.

• Hope Sea attacked Xu Xuan with Heavenly Lord's Smile, but Xu Xuan countered with Thunder-Shock Heavenly Thoroughfare and struck him with Radiance Illuminates the Night.
• Xu Xuan used Returning Dao Pivot and the Wu Venerable to suppress Hope Sea, then damaged his opponent with Li Fire and Sword Intent as both Dharma Bodies disintegrated.
• Xu Xuan healed rapidly while Hope Sea recovered more slowly, then Hope Sea unleashed Edict of Loss and covered the surrounding sea in corrosive demonic lightning.
• Xu Xuan combined his Divine Abilities through Returning Dao Pivot and performed Great Luo Attunement, overpowering Hope Sea's attack and revealing that his Sword Intent arose from the same Divine Ability.
• Hope Sea and Xu Xuan paused their fight, then both noticed Evening Without Knowing spreading near Autumn Sea.

Tiantuo fought Jinghua of the Long Abode Tradition as she used borrowed Divine Abilities and dragon spells to bar his path to the Autumn Sea. After resisting her attacks with protective talismans and [Coiled Image], he discovered that the sea passage had led him into the Long Abode Grotto-Heaven.

• Jinghua trapped Tiantuo in twilight with [Evening Without Knowing] and attacked him with a spell preserved by the Long Abode Mysterious Imprint.
• Tiantuo used the Eastern Azure Dawn-Yang Branch and the [Bimo Edict] talisman to resist Jinghua’s Divine Thunder.
• Tiantuo summoned True Person Yuanmiao’s [Yearly Ease and Desolation] talisman, breaking through the twilight and revealing the Autumn Sea.
• Jinghua unleashed [Wild-Grass Overgrowth] and [Withering Affliction], but Tiantuo used Jiang Li’s [Transgressive Portents] talisman to dispel them.
• Tiantuo rode the [Coiled Image] toward the Autumn Sea, then realized that the gateway ahead led to the Long Abode Grotto-Heaven.