Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping planned to use the Kunwu Sword to travel back through the River of Time and hide the Star Map Stone for retrieval in the present, but learned that the journey carried grave risks for his companions. He arranged to gather details about the past battle while consolidating his cultivation, then received an invitation from Blade Ghost to spar in his blade domain.

• Xu Taiping explained that his remaining power of time would let him return only half a year and attack once, enough to seize the Star Map but not accelerate the growth of earth fruit.
• Lotus Eye warned Xu Taiping that failure could erase his companions from time, and Xu Taiping resolved to improve his chances before attempting the journey.
• Xu Taiping asked Dongfang Yuejian to investigate the battle at the Withered Stone Sea, and Abbot Jiaye promised to send her and Xuanzhi out once Xuanzhi reached the Arhat Realm.
• Abbot Jiaye cautioned Xu Taiping to remain secluded because powerful divine senses still monitored Wilderness Heaven, and Xu Taiping planned to consolidate his gains for half a month.
• Blade Ghost invited Xu Taiping to spar in his blade domain.

Xu Taiping learned that Blade Ghost’s tenth blade-domain layer could let him enter distant sects in spirit form and use their training artifacts to strengthen his cultivation. Blade Ghost revealed memories suggesting a connection to the Shangqing Realm’s Ancient Heavenly Court, then brought Xu Taiping to the Zen Meditation Sect’s training ground to try its qi-and-blood cauldrons.

• Blade Ghost explained that the Heavenly Dao’s gift and the Pure Domain Buddha Lotus had helped him unlock the tenth and eleventh layers of his blade domain and repair his divine soul.
• Blade Ghost described how the tenth layer let Xu Taiping enter other heavens in spirit form, revive after death at the cost of divine essence, and train using sects’ mechanical magic artifacts.
• Blade Ghost shared hazy memories of the Shangqing Realm and an enormous palace guarded by heavenly soldiers and four Heavenly Gates, which Xu Taiping suspected was the Ancient Heavenly Court.
• Blade Ghost brought Xu Taiping into the blade domain and showed him that several sect entrances remained, though none led to the Azure Profound Sect or Taixuan Sect.
• Blade Ghost introduced the Zen Meditation Sect’s six cauldrons, whose divine intent runes could strengthen physique and qi and blood, and Xu Taiping eagerly prepared to try lifting them.

Xu Taiping entered the Zen Meditation Sect through Blade Ghost’s blade domain and discovered that the Upper Realm sect had fallen into ruins. As they headed toward the Celestial Person Hall and its six great cauldrons, Blade Ghost recalled how he had once secretly entered the sect and been welcomed by an elder.

• Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost opened a passage to a small world in the Land of Chaos, and Xu Taiping recognized it as part of the Shangqing Upper Realm.
• Blade Ghost told Xu Taiping to descend in spirit form and explained that he would remain wherever Xu Taiping’s spirit could reach within the blade domain.
• Xu Taiping descended into the Zen Meditation Sect and saw that its outskirts were covered in ruins and strange weeds.
• Xu Taiping worried that the six great cauldrons in the Celestial Person Hall might not have survived the sect’s decline.
• Blade Ghost recalled that the Zen Meditation Sect had once been a first-rate sect and that an elder who discovered him had let him enter several cultivation grounds, including the Celestial Person Hall.

Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost discovered that the Zen Meditation Sect had survived, but its sect master, Lu Yun Skirt, and her disciples were being attacked by a young cultivator from the Shangqing Upper Realm. The young man crushed Lu Yun Skirt’s sword strike with a ring’s Divine Ability, leaving the sect’s fighters badly wounded.

• Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost found the Zen Meditation Sect still standing and its Mountain Gate intact.
• Xu Taiping saw Lu Yun Skirt fall from the sky amid fierce fighting, while the sect’s disciples rushed to help her.
• A young cultivator descended on an Immortal Sword and demanded that Lu Yun Skirt become his Dao companion and dual cultivate with him.
• Lu Yun Skirt attacked the young cultivator with a powerful sword strike, but he snapped his fingers and unleashed a Heavenly Might Divine Ability through his ring.
• The Divine Ability shattered Lu Yun Skirt’s Sword Light and wounded her and the surrounding Zen Meditation Sect disciples.

Gu Liuyun used the Fire Dragon Glazed Ring to defeat Lu Yun Skirt and force her to agree to cultivate with him, while threatening her brother Lu Zhou. Xu Taiping learned that lifting six Ancient Cauldrons might awaken the Zen Meditation Sect’s guardian beast, the Rhinoceros Horn Great Sage, and decided to try.

• Gu Liuyun overwhelmed Lu Yun Skirt with his Great Dao Divine Weapon, the Fire Dragon Glazed Ring.
• Lu Zhou rushed to protect his sister, but Gu Liuyun trapped him in a pillar of fire and demanded that Lu Yun Skirt lay down her sword and cultivate with him.
• Lu Yun Skirt agreed to Gu Liuyun’s demands, and he extinguished the flames so she could treat Lu Zhou’s injuries.
• Lu Zhou urged Lu Yun Skirt to flee and revealed that lifting six Ancient Cauldrons could awaken the Rhinoceros Horn Great Sage, the Zen Meditation Sect’s mountain-guarding spirit beast.
• Blade Ghost confirmed that the Rhinoceros Horn Great Sage had guarded the Celestial Person Hall, and Xu Taiping decided to attempt lifting the six Ancient Cauldrons.

Xu Taiping entered the Zen Meditation Sect’s Celestial Person Hall and used the coordination of his qi and blood, tendons and bones, and apertures to lift the Gou Chen cauldron. At the Mountain Gate, Gu Liuyun suspected that Lu Yun Skirt had arranged for someone to lift the six cauldrons and release the sealed Rhinoceros Horn Great Sage.

• Blade Ghost explained that the Celestial Person Hall’s cauldrons tested the coordination needed to temper the body, and Xu Taiping entered the hall in his spirit-travel state.
• Xu Taiping examined the hall and its six floating cauldrons as Blade Ghost named them and told him to try lifting Gou Chen.
• Xu Taiping first failed to lift Gou Chen with brute force, then raised his physique to the Desolation Realm and hoisted it overhead.
• An aged voice announced that whoever lifted Gou Chen could enter the Zen Meditation Sect’s inner sect, and Blade Ghost said the sect likely had few rewards left.
• Lu Zhou and Lu Yun Skirt heard the announcement at the Mountain Gate, where Gu Liuyun accused Lu Yun Skirt of arranging for someone to lift the cauldrons and release the Rhinoceros Horn Great Sage.

Xu Taiping lifted five ancient cauldrons but failed in his first attempts to lift the Yuyue Cauldron, while Lu Yun Skirt fought Gu Liuyun to protect the Zen Meditation Sect. Encouraged by Lu Zhou, she resumed her fight as Xu Taiping prepared to try the final cauldron once more.

• The bells announced that Yan Zi, Xi Mu, Yin Huan, and Great Fire had been lifted by Xu Taiping, with each success earning him increasingly prestigious discipleship offers.
• Gu Liuyun rushed toward the Celestial Person Hall, but Lu Yun Skirt blocked him with a powerful sword strike and wounded him despite his Fire Dragon Glazed Ring.
• Lu Yun Skirt heard that the attempt to lift the Yuyue Cauldron had failed, and Gu Liuyun used the opening to unleash a fire dragon at her.
• Lu Zhou summoned his Heaven and Earth Manifestation to shield Lu Yun Skirt, then urged her not to give up; she renewed her attack on Gu Liuyun.
• Inside the Celestial Person Hall, Xu Taiping rejected Blade Ghost's suggestion to stop, said he felt close to breaking through to the Great Sage Realm, and placed both hands on the Yuyue Cauldron for another attempt.

Xu Taiping lifted the Yuyue Cauldron and broke through to the Great Sage Realm after pushing his physique past its limits. His success earned him the right to enter the ranks of the Zen Meditation Sect’s chief seats.

• Xu Taiping used his qi and blood to lift the Yuyue Cauldron, but stopped when he raised it five feet.
• Xu Taiping roared and lifted the cauldron over his head as its guidance drew out more of his physique’s potential.
• Xu Taiping’s dragon scales shattered and his body began tearing under the cauldron’s weight, but he refused to stop.
• Xu Taiping’s qi and blood surged, restoring his body and advancing his physique to the Great Sage Realm, with golden blood and red-gold scales.
• Xu Taiping raised the Yuyue Cauldron fully overhead, and the Zen Meditation Sect’s voice announced his success and eligibility for the chief seats.

Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost witnessed Rhinoceros Horn Great Sage defeat Gu Liuyun and learned that Xuanchengzi had failed his ascension and left something for Blade Ghost. After half a month of training in the ninth layer, Blade Ghost told Xu Taiping that the Profound Elixir Palace in Chenglong Heaven could further improve his blade techniques.

• Rhinoceros Horn Great Sage recognized a familiar aura in Xu Taiping, then left Celestial Person Hall to confront Gu Liuyun.
• Rhinoceros Horn Great Sage defeated Gu Liuyun, and Lu Yun Skirt persuaded him to seal and imprison the young man rather than kill him.
• As Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost were pulled away, Rhinoceros Horn Great Sage asked whether they knew Xuanchengzi and revealed that Xuanchengzi had failed his ascension and left something for Blade Ghost.
• Blade Ghost told Xu Taiping that they would have to wait at least half a month to return to the Zen Meditation Sect, then took him to the ninth layer to test his blade.
• After half a month of training, Blade Ghost told Xu Taiping that the Profound Elixir Palace in Chenglong Heaven could help advance his blade techniques.

Xu Taiping learned that Duan Xiaoyu and four young men from Mysterious Wasteland Heaven had vanished after fighting Demon Emperor Jiao, and suspected they were trapped somewhere he had hidden them. He decided to investigate the River of Time and arranged to meet Dongfang Yuejian at Jiaye Hall to obtain information about the trap and the Yin Demon Sand Worms.

• Blade Ghost told Xu Taiping that the Profound Elixir Palace had a cultivation site that could rapidly improve his Blade Techniques and Fist Technique, then planned to take him back into the past after he rested.
• Xu Taiping received Dongfang Yuejian's report that Demon Emperor Jiao had trapped cultivators in the Yellow Sand Grand Formation and seized their Star Maps during the Star Chart Contest.
• Dongfang Yuejian recounted how a mysterious figure, Duan Xiaoyu, and four young men from Mysterious Wasteland Heaven fought Demon Emperor Jiao, but did not emerge from the formation.
• Xu Taiping suspected Duan Xiaoyu and the four young men might be trapped somewhere he had hidden them, and resolved to search the River of Time.
• Dongfang Yuejian offered to bring Moonshadow Stones about Demon Emperor Jiao's trap to the Dragon-Trapping Tower, but Xu Taiping said he would come to Jiaye Hall, prompting her to ask whether he could leave seclusion.

Xu Taiping traveled to the Withered Stone Sea to rescue his trapped friends and narrowly escaped a devastating strike from a mysterious powerful figure. He emerged on the day of the Stargazing Contest and came face-to-face with Purple-Robed Elder Lu and the Ningchan Cave party.

• Xu Taiping told Blade Ghost he would go to the Withered Stone Sea, and Blade Ghost advised him to avoid using his Heaven Shocking Realm cultivation unless necessary.
• Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi brought the Dragon-Slaying Stele to the Withered Stone Sea, where Xu Taiping met them and sent them to the safety of Jiaye Temple.
• Xu Taiping recalled how to counter the Yellow Sand Grand Formation's poisonous mist by holding his breath when it spread.
• Abbot Jiaye and the Lotus Eye warned Xu Taiping that a powerful presence had appeared, so he merged with the Kunwu Sword and burrowed underground to evade a star-bright sword strike.
• Xu Taiping emerged beneath a starry night sky, where Purple-Robed Elder Lu and the Ningchan Cave party demanded his Star Map Stone, and Xu Taiping warned them to leave.

Xu Taiping revealed the strength of his Great Sage Realm physique after Ningchan Cave cultivators attacked him, then warned them to leave as a sandstorm gathered. They ignored him, and an enormous Yin Demon Sand Worm emerged and swallowed one of their cultivators.

• Lü Hu and seven other Ningchan Cave cultivators attacked Xu Taiping, who stood still and took their combined strike.
• Xu Taiping's hundred-foot-tall, Five-Colored Radiance-wreathed physique emerged, kicked Lü Hu away, and proved powerful enough to fold her body in half.
• Elder Lu proposed joining forces with Xu Taiping to claim the Star Map and seek the Star Lord's treasures, but Xu Taiping refused and warned Ningchan Cave to leave.
• A vast wall of yellow sand rose behind the Ningchan Cave party, but Elder Lu refused to retreat before the hour for stargazing.
• A Yin Demon Sand Worm emerged, ignored a Ningchan Cave cultivator's palace lantern treasure, and swallowed him in one bite.

Xu Taiping revealed his Great Sage Realm strength by destroying the Yin Demon Sand Worms, then left Ningchan Cave to continue toward Xiahou You and the others. A formation stopped him, and six Demon Cultivators surrounded him and proposed a fight with neither side using qi and blood or physique.

• Elder Lu gathered the Ningchan Cave cultivators to fight the Sand Worms together, while Xu Taiping faced several alone to test his physique.
• When four Sand Worms overwhelmed Xu Taiping and one sent him flying, Elder Lu urged him to join the group.
• Xu Taiping stood his ground and killed Sand Worms with single punches, then grew to twenty zhang tall and tore another apart with his bare hands.
• Xu Taiping left the Ningchan Cave cultivators to their own fate and headed across the desert toward Xiahou You and the others.
• A formation blocked Xu Taiping, and six Demon Cultivators surrounded him after recognizing him as a Great Sage Realm Martial Artist.
• The leading Demon Cultivator invoked the Demon Mother and proposed a battle in which neither side could use qi and blood or physique.

Xu Taiping used the Life-Taking Blade’s Crossing the Gods Style to kill six Devil Masters and their Sand Worms, then hurried toward Starfall Lake to rescue Xiahou You and the others. Near the lake, he witnessed Demon Emperor Jiao emerge from a cultivator’s chest and prepared to test the three strands of divine intent against the demon’s origin power.

• Xu Taiping’s ordinary blade slash destroyed an ambushing Devil Master, and he followed it with the Life-Taking Blade’s Crossing the Gods Style to send six Devil Masters and their Sand Worms into oblivion.
• Xu Taiping reflected that he still needed to improve his cultivation and physique, but prioritized rescuing Xiaoyu and the others and flew toward their location on the Kunwu Sword.
• As Xu Taiping neared Starfall Lake, Lotus Eye sensed Demon Emperor Jiao ahead and advised him to conceal his aura with Guizang.
• Xu Taiping entered the worsening sandstorm and saw an unknown sect cultivator fighting six Demon Cultivators and dozens of Sand Worms.
• Demon Emperor Jiao burst out of the cultivator’s chest using his origin demon seed power, and Lotus Eye suggested Xu Taiping try the three strands of divine intent he had gained at the Heaven Shocking Realm.

Xu Taiping followed Demon Emperor Jiao while concealing himself with the Blade of Guicang, waiting for the right moment to strike. When Demon Emperor Jiao attacked Duan Xiaoyu, Xu Taiping revealed himself and unleashed the Burning Blade Style.

• Xu Taiping and the Lotus Eye concluded that he needed to catch Demon Emperor Jiao off guard and strike with all his strength before the demon could use his origin demon seed power.
• Xu Taiping used the Blade of Guicang to conceal his presence and evade a probe by Demon Emperor Jiao's Yin Demon Beast Sand Worm.
• Xu Taiping followed Demon Emperor Jiao to the confrontation with Xiahou You and Xiahou Qingyuan, who were eventually wounded despite fighting fiercely.
• Demon Emperor Jiao dragged Xiahou You and Xiahou Qingyuan underground with the Sand Worm, then burst out and reached for Duan Xiaoyu.
• Xu Taiping dropped his concealment, drew the Water-Cutting Blade, and unleashed the Burning Blade Style he had comprehended while facing the Heavenly Tribulation Eye.

Xu Taiping unleashed his Burning Blade Style at full power and trapped Demon Emperor Jiao in a relentless assault that tore through his Demon God body. When Demon Emperor Jiao warned that the technique was also consuming Xu Taiping’s strength, Xu Taiping spent divine essence to intensify the flames.

• Xu Taiping’s Burning Blade Style severed Demon Emperor Jiao’s reaching arm and engulfed his body in flame-like blade qi.
• Demon Emperor Jiao revealed his Demon God body, but Xu Taiping’s blade qi pierced his defenses and carved deep wounds into him.
• A dozen Devil Masters rushed to help Demon Emperor Jiao, and Xu Taiping’s blade shadows killed nearly all of them, cutting down their divine souls as well.
• Demon Emperor Jiao used his demonic qi to resist the flames and warned Xu Taiping that the strike was consuming his divine soul and true essence.
• Xu Taiping spent a mote of divine essence to strengthen his blade force, making the flames around Demon Emperor Jiao surge higher.

Xu Taiping continued fighting Demon Emperor Jiao as the demon used his Origin Demon Seed Powers to escape the blade flames and drag everyone into a cavern beneath Starfall Lake. Demon Emperor Jiao flooded and froze the cavern, revealing how he had trapped Duan Xiaoyu and the four youths, while Xu Taiping remained caught in his plan.

• Demon Emperor Jiao shattered two Origin Demon Seed rings to restore his strength, break through Xu Taiping’s blade flames, and swallow everyone in a sand whirlpool.
• Xiahou Qingyuan escaped with Xiahou You and explained that they should not hinder Xu Taiping, whom he believed had enough strength to defeat Demon Emperor Jiao.
• At the bottom of Starfall Lake, Xu Taiping’s strengthened blade force continued to overwhelm Demon Emperor Jiao, who admitted he had another fallback measure in the cavern.
• Demon Emperor Jiao shattered the Water-Settling Pearl, flooding the cavern with the lake and freezing the water around his body.
• Demon Emperor Jiao said the ice would imprison and slowly freeze everyone for years, and Xu Taiping realized this was how he had sealed Duan Xiaoyu and the four youths from Mysterious Wasteland Heaven.

Xu Taiping's Origin Beginning Clone was trapped in Starfall Lake with Demon Emperor Jiao, who revealed that the ice was made from a Primordial Antiquity Ice Demon's remains and could only be broken by Dao Integration-level power. Xu Taiping left his clone behind and returned to six months later, planning to seek help from Senior Blade Ghost, Abbot Jiaye, and the others.

• Xu Taiping found that the cold had spread around him and that the Kunwu Sword could not take him out of the River of Time while he remained in danger.
• Xu Taiping sent his true body inside the Demon-Suppressing Coffin out of Starfall Lake, leaving his Origin Beginning Clone to be frozen with Demon Emperor Jiao and the others.
• Demon Emperor Jiao explained that the ice came from the Primordial Antiquity Ice Demon's remains, required Dao Integration-level power to break, and concealed the lake bottom from those searching above.
• Xu Taiping told Duan Xiaoyu and the four youths from Mysterious Wasteland Heaven to use the Turtle-Breathing Technique and promised that someone would rescue them in six months.
• Xu Taiping severed his mental connection to the clone, left a Star Map Stone in Starfall Lake, and returned to six months later to consult Senior Blade Ghost and the others.

After recovering most of his Divine Essence, Xu Taiping learned from Abbot Jiaye that the ice demon was likely the Primordial Antiquity Demon God Qingnü, whose remains could be cleaved open. As Xu Taiping wondered whether he could do so, Blade Ghost finally awakened and declared that it could be done.

• Xu Taiping recovered from his injuries after six days of seclusion, and Lotus Eye urged him to cultivate the Heavenly Wrath Five Forms Art and the Mysterious Wasteland Art to strengthen his Primordial Spirit.
• Xu Taiping worried that Blade Ghost had not awakened since they left the River of Time, then received a voice transmission from Abbot Jiaye.
• Abbot Jiaye identified the ice demon as Qingnü, a Primordial Antiquity Demon God whose remains froze everything around her.
• Abbot Jiaye told Xu Taiping that an ancient account described a cultivator cleaving open the ice to rescue his wife and daughter, but said Xu Taiping's saber likely fell short of a Dao Integration Realm cultivator's power.
• Blade Ghost awakened and told Xu Taiping that cleaving open the ice could be done.

Xu Taiping asked Blade Ghost how he could break the ice imprisoning Demon God Qingnü and save Xiaoyu and the others. Blade Ghost revealed that the Profound Elixir Palace’s Blade-Testing Pavilion and Fist-Inquiry Pavilion might help Xu Taiping master his techniques, leaving him hopeful that he could find a way to free them.

• Blade Ghost said that mastering the ultimate realms of Xu Taiping’s three blade techniques could let him unleash a strike as powerful as an early Dao Integration Realm cultivator’s.
• Xu Taiping refused to risk leaving Xiaoyu and the others frozen while he waited to comprehend ultimate intent, and asked Blade Ghost to possess his Origin Beginning Clone and act instead.
• Blade Ghost refused to take over the clone, calling the crisis a rare opportunity for Xu Taiping to master ultimate-realm techniques.
• Blade Ghost told Xu Taiping that the Profound Elixir Palace had a cultivation Dao Field with a Blade-Testing Pavilion and a Fist-Inquiry Pavilion that could help him train.
• Xu Taiping asked how long training might take, and Blade Ghost said it could take as little as a day or an unknown amount of time.