Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian collected gold essence stones as the Corpse Demon army advanced, until Ghost Servant Madam Lu and the two-headed demonic body formed from Yuyangzi's demonic qi clashed in the valley. The demon unleashed the Great Sun Annihilation Palm and apparently annihilated Madam Lu, leaving Dongfang Yuejian to recognize the technique in shock.

• Xu Taiping let Dongfang Yuejian keep the gold essence stones she dug up for herself and Master Xuanzhi.
• Madam Lu sent the Headless Ghosts against the Corpse Demons while the golden cocoon around Yin God Su Yan formed at the altar.
• Yuyangzi's two-headed demonic body turned the Corpse Demons against one another, and the battle produced more powerful Flying Jiangshi.
• Madam Lu froze and shattered many Corpse Demons, then faced the two-headed demon after declaring that the sacrifice was complete and her lord's awakening could not be stopped.
• The two-headed demon devoured Corpse Demon remains, broke free of Madam Lu's ice seal, and struck her with a palm that annihilated her and the surrounding area.
• Dongfang Yuejian recognized the attack as the long-lost Great Sun Annihilation Palm.

Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian prepared to strike as Yin God Su Yan began awakening inside the golden cocoon. With Madam Lu and the two-headed demon exhausted after a night of battle, Xu Taiping called Blade Ghost and prepared for the possibility that they would have to abandon his clone and flee.

• Xu Taiping explained that the two-headed demon had taken the Great Sun Annihilation Palm from the corpses, while Madam Lu revealed that she survived as long as her lord lived.
• The two-headed demon broke free of Madam Lu’s ice seal and fought her while its demonic qi transformed corpses; Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian headed for the sacrificial altar to prepare.
• Xu Taiping gave Dongfang Yuejian a bag of Earth Fruit Seeds, and she used them to strengthen her preparations to recreate the killing power of the physique in his divine soul mark.
• After a night and a day, the two-headed demon and Madam Lu were badly weakened, and the golden cocoon began cracking as Yin God Su Yan awakened.
• Xu Taiping asked Dongfang Yuejian if she was ready, contacted Blade Ghost, and prepared to abandon his Origin Beginning Clone and flee with her if the saber strike failed.

Xu Taiping observed Blade Ghost’s control of his Origin Beginning Clone while preparing an escape, as Yuyangzi’s Demonic Qi transformed the frozen demon body into a powerful two-headed flood dragon. The flood dragon broke free and attacked Madam Lu’s defenses, while she prepared to use her remaining True God Power against it.

• Xu Taiping realized he could perceive the Origin Beginning Clone’s surroundings and Blade Ghost’s use of True Essence and Divine Soul through the clone’s eyes.
• Xu Taiping told Dongfang Yuejian to stand behind the Demon-Suppressing Coffin when she used the Power of One Stroke Opens Heaven.
• Blade Ghost assumed a blade-drawing stance, letting Xu Taiping sense the many changes in the clone’s True Essence, Qi and Blood, and Divine Soul Power.
• Yuyangzi’s Demonic Qi caused the two-headed demon body to grow stronger until it shattered Madam Lu’s ice and transformed into a gigantic two-headed flood dragon.
• The flood dragon breathed fire and Demonic Qi, driving the Headless Ghosts back and creating Demonic Beasts, while Madam Lu raised her remaining True God Power and the flood dragon struck at her icy dome.

Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian watched Madam Lu subdue Yuyangzi’s demonic dragon, then prepared to confront Yin God Su Yan as the Golden Silkworm Cocoon began to break. When Su Yan emerged, Xu Taiping recognized its exposed arm as its weakness.

• Madam Lu pierced Yuyangzi’s Two-Headed Demon Flood Dragon with a Golden Thread and put it to sleep beneath Golden Curse Inscriptions.
• Blade Ghost warned that Yuyangzi’s demonic qi could grow into a threat more terrifying than Madam Lu and Yin God Su Yan.
• The Golden Cocoon’s tremors intensified, and a fissure opened as Yin God Su Yan began to awaken.
• Dongfang Yuejian prepared to use One Stroke Opens Heaven while Xu Taiping’s Origin Beginning Clone transformed into the Dragon Whale Physique at the Ultimate Realm.
• The Golden Silkworm Cocoon burst apart, and Xu Taiping identified Yin God Su Yan’s enormous exposed arm as its weakness.

Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost’s Origin Beginning Clone joined forces with Dongfang Yuejian’s summoned future Xu Taiping to strike Yin God Su Yan, forcing it back into slumber. Xu Taiping rescued Dongfang Yuejian inside the Dragon-Trapping Tower, where he discovered that Su Yan’s cocoon had somehow entered too.

• Xu Taiping realized the terrifying arm from Yin God Su Yan’s cocoon had no qi, blood, or true essence, and warned Blade Ghost and Dongfang Yuejian to attack.
• Dongfang Yuejian summoned a powerful figure from Xu Taiping’s future, and it struck alongside Blade Ghost’s Origin Beginning Clone.
• The twin saber strikes cut the cocoon’s arm, the sacrificial platform, and nearby mountains, but Yin God Su Yan’s cocoon closed again and forced it into slumber.
• Ghost Servant Madam Lu attacked Dongfang Yuejian, and Xu Taiping protected her inside the Dragon-Trapping Tower before carrying her toward the second-floor doorway.
• Xu Taiping saw Yin God Su Yan’s cocoon beside the ruined Origin Beginning Clone inside the tower and wondered how it had gotten there.

Xu Taiping sealed the Dragon-Trapping Tower with Yin God Su Yan trapped inside and used the Dragon-Slaying Stele to check on Master Xuanzhi. He found Xuanzhi fleeing across a marsh under fire from three Immortal Boats, but Xuanzhi told him not to intervene and summoned a Vajra Dharma Aspect.

• Madam Lu demanded that Xu Taiping send out Yin God Su Yan, but Xu Taiping sealed the Dragon-Trapping Tower after failing to release him.
• Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian agreed to leave through the Dragon-Slaying Stele and prioritize reuniting with Master Xuanzhi.
• Xu Taiping used the tower door and Dragon-Slaying Stele to sense Xuanzhi racing across a vast marsh while arrows flew after him.
• Three Immortal Boats pursued Xuanzhi, and one fired an arrow powerful enough to cleave the river water.
• Xu Taiping contacted Xuanzhi and prepared to help, but Xuanzhi told him not to come and summoned a towering Vajra Dharma Aspect.

Xuanzhi fled across the great marsh toward the Thousand Buddha Kingdom while three Immortal Boats attacked him with powerful arrows. He revealed that he had angered them by secretly taking a lotus throne from a slain Thousand-Year Water Flood Dragon.

• An arrow from one of the three Immortal Boats struck Xuanzhi's Vajra Dharma Aspect and drove it back across the water.
• Xuanzhi told Xu Taiping that a natural chasm and swift current near the marsh's edge would prevent the Immortal Boats from following.
• Three more arrows shattered Xuanzhi's Vajra Dharma Aspect, so he swallowed an Earth Fruit Seed and continued fleeing.
• Xuanzhi explained that he had discovered the Immortal Boats hunting a Thousand-Year Water Flood Dragon and had hidden the lotus throne it spat out, hoping to use its Buddhist power to reach the Arhat Realm.

Xu Taiping learned that the three Immortal Boats pursuing Master Xuanzhi were manifestations of the Yin God Chaoxi, whose tide power sealed spells and weakened its victims. After realizing that aquatic creatures could resist the tide, Xu Taiping prepared to leave the tower and rescue Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi.

• Master Xuanzhi admitted that he had taken something from the Lotus Throne, angering his pursuers, but could not identify the faction behind the three Immortal Boats.
• Dongfang Yuejian told Xu Taiping that the boats were actually the Yin God Chaoxi, who took the form of boats by day and tides by night.
• Chaoxi raised towering waves and nine Dragon Breath waterspouts while its tide power weighed down Master Xuanzhi and weakened his magical power and strength.
• Dongfang Yuejian explained that those caught in the tide could not use spells or divine abilities unless they could breathe and swim underwater like fish.
• Xu Taiping realized aquatic creatures were not restrained by Chaoxi's tide power and announced that he would take Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi out through it.

Xunqi of Ningchan Cave told Ghost Servant Madam Lu that the Dragon-Trapping Tower could not be opened for seven years, but the Dragon-Slaying Stele offered another way in and out. He and Madam Lu watched the marsh, expecting Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian to leave the tower to rescue Xuanzhi, and their prediction came true.

• Yuyangzi's demonic flood dragon struck the Dragon-Trapping Tower, but Xunqi of Ningchan Cave warned Madam Lu that its sealed gate could not be opened for seven years.
• Xunqi showed Madam Lu Master Xuanzhi carrying the Dragon-Slaying Stele and explained that it could connect to the tower across different worlds.
• Xunqi revealed that his Divine Intent had arranged for Madam Lu's clone to bring the three black ships to the valley and for Yin God Chaoxi to block their escape.
• Yin God Chaoxi's divine power sent Xuanzhi beneath the marsh's waves while Xunqi and Madam Lu watched for the tower's occupants to intervene.
• Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian emerged from the water with Xuanzhi, and Xu Taiping cleaved apart a massive wave with his saber.

Xunqi used the Spirit Mirror to broadcast images of Xu Taiping and the others trapped in a great marsh. In the Old Dragon Court, Xiahou Qingyuan and Xiahou You learned that two streaks of Blade Light had appeared in Wilderness Heaven and heard a report that powerful beings had joined forces to slay a Yin God.

• Xunqi broadcast images of Xu Taiping and the others drowning in the great marsh to cultivators' Spirit Mirrors across the realms.
• Xiahou You asked Xiahou Qingyuan when they could travel to Wilderness Heaven, but he used repeated tails-up coin tosses and the silence of Xiahou Clan disciples as reasons to wait.
• A cultivator showed the teahouse a Moonshadow Stone projection of two streaks of Blade Light splitting a valley and soaring into the sky as manifestations of Yin Gods appeared in terror.
• A cultivator announced that a clearer version of the scene was being sold in the Realm of Mirror Flowers and Water Moons.
• Xiahou Qingyuan received a message reporting that two powerful beings had appeared in Wilderness Heaven and seemed to have joined forces to slay a Yin God.
• Xiahou Qingyuan received a Divine Soul Mark of the incident and wondered whether it showed the same scene as the projection.

Xiahou Qingyuan and Xiahou You watched a Divine Soul Mark showing two mysterious saber-wielders striking down the Yin God Su Yan, then debated whether to intervene on Xu Taiping’s behalf. Elder Lu arrived at the teahouse to watch a show, and the spirit mirrors shifted to Master Xuanzhi fleeing across a lake with a stone stele.

• Xiahou Qingyuan and Xiahou You opened a Divine Soul Mark and witnessed two towering saber-wielders cleave through a nearly awakened Yin God and a mountain.
• Xiahou Qingyuan said the slain Yin God was Su Yan, though his death was not yet confirmed, and urged Xiahou You to avoid getting involved.
• Elder Lu of Ningchan Cave entered the teahouse, claimed he had come to watch a show, and began using a spirit mirror.
• The spirit mirrors briefly blurred, then showed Master Xuanzhi fleeing across a great lake with a stone stele on his back.
• Xiahou You recognized Master Xuanzhi, and Elder Lu said the show was about to begin.

Xiahou You and the others watched a Spirit Mirror show Master Xuanzhi and Xu Taiping struggling against the Yin God Chaoxi in Wilderness Heaven. The images cut out after Xu Taiping was swept underwater, and Elder Lu predicted that he and his companions were dead.

• Xiahou You suspected Ningchan Cave's Xunqi had arranged the Spirit Mirror images to expose and humiliate Xu Taiping's party.
• Xiahou Qingyuan identified the location as the Tianyan Great Marsh and said Master Xuanzhi was nearing a dangerous chasm, but the three pursuing Immortal Boats transformed into the Yin God Chaoxi and dragged him underwater.
• Xiahou Qingyuan recognized Chaoxi's Tide Divine Power, while Elder Lu denied that Ningchan Cave had caused the encounter.
• Xu Taiping emerged with two companions and cut through a huge wave, but his True Essence vanished and another wave struck him underwater.
• The Spirit Mirror images disappeared, and Elder Lu told the teahouse that the next images would likely show three corpses.

Xiahou You and the teahouse watched Xu Taiping’s party escape Yin God Chaoxi’s great marsh, only for Chaoxi’s arrows to knock them toward the chasm. Xu Taiping called on Ancient Buddha Kasyapa, whose golden hands caught the group and struck back at Chaoxi’s manifestation.

• Xiahou You feared Xu Taiping had drowned when his party vanished from the Spirit Mirrors, while Elder Lu taunted the Xiahou siblings.
• A giant deep-sea whale overturned Yin God Chaoxi’s three Immortal Boats and carried Master Xuanzhi and Dongfang Yuejian toward the marsh’s edge.
• Xiahou Qingyuan realized Xu Taiping had transformed into the whale using the ultimate realm of the Flame Emperor Body Tempering Art, and the whale became a true dragon as it leaped from the marsh.
• Chaoxi’s arrows struck Xu Taiping’s dragon body, causing him, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi to fall toward the chasm.
• Xu Taiping called for Venerable Jiaye and Ancient Buddha Kasyapa, whose golden hands caught the three and attacked Yin God Chaoxi’s giant manifestation.

Ancient Buddha Kasyapa's Golden Body used Xu Taiping's bodhi branch to counter Yin God Chaoxi's seemingly inexhaustible divine power. The clash ended with Chaoxi's Divine Being Dharma Aspects shattered and the great marsh beginning to weaken, while the observers realized the Golden Body was draining its vitality.

• Ancient Buddha Kasyapa's Golden Body shattered Chaoxi's Divine Being Dharma Aspect, but Chaoxi raised nine more from the great marsh to attack.
• The Golden Body appeared as an enormous Buddha holding Xu Taiping and his companions, prompting Xiahou You to wonder whether the Thousand Buddha Kingdom had restored Kasyapa's Golden Body.
• Chaoxi's nine Divine Being Dharma Aspects drove back the Golden Buddha Hand, and Elder Lu of Ningchan Cave argued that the marsh would let Chaoxi keep replenishing his power.
• Ancient Buddha Kasyapa asked Xu Taiping for the bodhi branch, then enlarged it and unleashed a surge of Buddhist power that destroyed all ten Divine Being Dharma Aspects.
• The branch's lash caused aquatic plants and lotus leaves to spread across the marsh, calming its waters and weakening the water columns as Xiahou Qingyuan recognized that the Golden Body was draining the marsh's vitality.

Ancient Buddha Kasyapa subdued Yin God Chaoxi by turning the marsh into a White Bodhi grove and ordered Xunqi of Ningchan Cave to broadcast what had happened. He announced that Buddhist disciples could seek Buddha Fate beneath the trees, while Xu Taiping’s plan to obtain Buddha Fate Power directly surprised Venerable Jiaye.

• A waterweed-covered Divine Being’s Dharma Aspect attacked Ancient Buddha Kasyapa, who turned its cloud strike into a petal and shattered nine Dharma Aspects.
• Kasyapa spread White Bodhi Leaves across the marsh, trapping Chaoxi in a Buddha Domain and sentencing him to guard the grove for three hundred years.
• Xiahou Qingyuan explained that Kasyapa’s Buddha Domain could destroy Yin Gods, and Xiahou Yuan vowed to avenge the losses in the Heaven-Demon War.
• Kasyapa compelled Xunqi of Ningchan Cave to transmit the events to cultivators across the Shangqing Realm and invited Buddhist disciples to seek Buddha Fate beneath the Bodhi Trees.
• The following day, Xu Taiping told Venerable Jiaye that he intended to go to Vulture Peak and bring down a Buddha statue possessing Buddha Fate Power, leaving Jiaye incredulous.

Venerable Jiaye explained to Xu Taiping how Vulture Peak connected the Shangqing Realm to Beyond the Domain and how Otherworldly Heavenly Demons attacked cultivators during breakthroughs. He confirmed that Vulture Peak involved a second exception that let beings from Beyond the Domain threaten the realm, but left its nature unexplained.

• Venerable Jiaye warned Xu Taiping that Vulture Peak was perilous and that he could no longer sense Buddha Fate there.
• Venerable Jiaye confirmed that Vulture Peak had once allowed eminent monks to request Buddha Fate and connected Shangqing to a Buddhist Kingdom Beyond the Domain.
• Venerable Jiaye explained that powerful beings Beyond the Domain could not attack the Shangqing Realm directly because its inhabitants remained bound to the world.
• Venerable Jiaye explained that Otherworldly Heavenly Demons projected weaker forms into the realm through cultivators' minds during breakthroughs.
• Xu Taiping asked whether the second exception involved Vulture Peak, and Venerable Jiaye solemnly confirmed that it did.

Xu Taiping learned that Vulture Peak was perilous but still needed Buddha Fate before the Azure Profound Sect’s Mountain-Sealing Grand Formation failed. Venerable Jiaye divined an omen of Fortune and Misfortune Together, and Xu Taiping revealed that he could break through to the Heaven Shocking Realm.

• Venerable Jiaye warned Xu Taiping that demons from beyond the domain might roam Vulture Peak and that climbing it could mean nine deaths and one chance at life.
• Venerable Jiaye explained that Buddhist disciples might draw Buddha Fate through the bodhi grove, but the process could take as long as two hundred years.
• Xu Taiping said the Azure Profound Sect could not wait even a hundred years, but withheld the reason from Venerable Jiaye.
• Venerable Jiaye divined an omen of Fortune and Misfortune Together for Xu Taiping’s journey to Vulture Peak and said an undiscovered ability or treasure could affect its outcome.
• Xu Taiping revealed the aura of his Origin Beginning Clone and said he could break through to the Heaven Shocking Realm.

Xu Taiping asked Venerable Jiaye how Ultimate Dao power could help him ascend Vulture Peak, and Jiaye explained its connection to sensing and wielding Heavenly Dao Edicts. Xu Taiping considered how he might use that power against opponents from Beyond the Domain, though Jiaye warned that it depended on Xu Taiping successfully breaking through to the Heaven Shocking Realm.

• Venerable Jiaye saw that Xu Taiping's Qi and Blood and True Essence rivaled those of a Heaven Questioning Realm Great Perfection cultivator and said he could attempt to reach the Heaven Shocking Realm through the Ultimate Realm.
• Xu Taiping asked how entering the Heaven Shocking Realm through the Ultimate Realm would help him ascend Vulture Peak, and Jiaye explained that ultimate Dao law cultivators could sense Heavenly Dao Edicts.
• Venerable Jiaye described how an ultimate Dao law cultivator could merge with wind and remain undying while its Heavenly Dao Edict endured, though the power had limits.
• Xu Taiping learned that Vulture Peak obeyed both Shangqing's Heavenly Dao Edicts and those from Beyond the Domain, allowing him to use the former against powerful opponents from Beyond the Domain.
• Venerable Jiaye stopped trying to dissuade Xu Taiping from going to Vulture Peak, but reminded him that his plans depended on breaking through to the Heaven Shocking Realm.

Xu Taiping asked Venerable Jiaye for help surviving the tribulation lightning and Otherworldly Heavenly Demons his breakthrough would attract. Jiaye Hall's divination put his chances at thirty percent, but Xu Taiping's four Thunder Sound Banners offered a way to raise them.

• Xu Taiping asked Venerable Jiaye to help him withstand the threats accompanying his breakthrough, and Jiaye promised Jiaye Hall would spare no effort.
• Venerable Jiaye divined that their chances of success were only thirty percent and said Xu Taiping's damaged Shentu Bow and unusable Dragon-Trapping Tower could lower them further.
• Xu Taiping offered several treasures, and Venerable Jiaye recognized the Thunder Sound Banner's power to protect him during his breakthrough.
• Xu Taiping revealed that he had three more Thunder Sound Banners, including a Commandant-Rank banner, and Venerable Jiaye said refining all four could improve their chances by at least ten percentage points.

Xu Taiping learned that restoring Jiaye Hall’s main beam could raise his chances of reaching the Heaven Shocking Realm to sixty percent, and agreed to pursue it after preparing. Two months later, Venerable Jiaye examined the Golden Cocoon containing Yin God Su Yan in the Dragon-Trapping Tower.

• Venerable Jiaye told Xu Taiping that he could refine no more than three Natal Treasures at his current cultivation and offered to guard his breakthrough with Jiaye Hall.
• Venerable Jiaye revealed that retrieving the stolen main beam from a Yin God's lair could improve Xu Taiping's breakthrough chances by at least twenty percent, and Xu Taiping agreed to pursue it after refining the Thunder Sound Banners.
• Over the next two months, Xu Taiping recovered and began refining the four Thunder Sound Banners while Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi made progress in their own work.
• Xu Taiping gathered Dongfang Yuejian, Master Xuanzhi, and Venerable Jiaye in the Dragon-Trapping Tower and asked Venerable Jiaye to examine the Golden Cocoon sealing Yin God Su Yan.
• Master Xuanzhi followed Venerable Jiaye to the Golden Cocoon as Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian watched.