Chapter Summaries

Li Changeng explained how Xu Taiping’s words helped the Third Watch Observatory disciples realize they could attain the Great Dao despite the severed Path to Heaven. As Li prepared to reincarnate, he gave Xu Taiping a seal that could help him track and survive Dong Cangzi, and Wangchen revealed that Chu Lingyue had left Xu a message.

• Li Changeng explained that Xu Taiping’s words awakened his belief that a firm Dao heart could attain the Great Dao even without ascending, prompting Qi Haitang and Xiang Nantian’s cultivation to surge.
• Li Changeng said his Dharma Aspect would soon collapse and that he would reincarnate with the souls of the Third Watch Observatory disciples, asking Qi Haitang and Xiang Nantian to find them and release their Dao Seals.
• Li Changeng asked Qi Haitang and Xiang Nantian to take the Ten-Thousand Souls Banner to the Lower Realm and promised Xu Taiping he would repay his kindness after reincarnating.
• Li Changeng branded Xu Taiping with a Mother-and-Child Seal linked to the Three Watch Seal on Dong Cangzi, allowing Xu to deduce Dong Cangzi’s location and weaknesses and save his life once.
• Daoist Lord Wangchen told Xu Taiping to return to Tusita Palace and said Chu Lingyue had left him a message, prompting Xu to ask whether she had entered the secret realm.

Xu Taiping and Ping'an watched Xiang Nantian and Qi Haitang depart for the Lower Realm with the Ten-Thousand Souls Banner and the Third Watch Observatory's remnant souls. After receiving guidance and rewards from Daoist Lord Wangchen, Xu Taiping learned that Chu Lingyue had left him a jade pendant, and asked how she had entered Tusita Palace and escaped unharmed.

• Xiang Nantian and Qi Haitang explained how they would send the Ten-Thousand Souls Banner and remnant souls to the Lower Realm, then left for Cloudsplitter Valley through the azure teleportation pillar.
• Xu Taiping, Ping'an, and Old Daoist Huang planned to confront Venerable Ziming and the other pursuers after Old Daoist Huang purified the Impure Land and advanced to the Heaven-Connecting Realm.
• Daoist Lord Wangchen told Ping'an to temper his body in the Pill Furnace every six months and gave Xu Taiping a pearl containing three hundred years extracted from the battle between the Human Sovereign and the Dragon Emperor.
• Daoist Lord Wangchen assigned Old Daoist Huang to help purify the Impure Land and sent him and Ping'an to search the ruins for the Soul-Suppressing Bell.
• Daoist Lord Wangchen gave Xu Taiping a jade pendant from Chu Lingyue, and Xu Taiping asked how she had entered Tusita Palace and left safely.

Daoist Lord Wangchen told Xu Taiping how Chu Lingyue had risked her life to guide him into Tusita Palace and explained the brutal Heaven-Treading Contest awaiting Half-Immortals. Xu Taiping watched Lingyue’s Divine Soul Mark, learned she planned to seek a way to save Dugu Qingxiao in Fengdu, and began three years of cultivation; afterward, Venerable Ziming noticed movement in the Wuji Abyss.

• Daoist Lord Wangchen revealed that Chu Lingyue had battled Dong Cangzi and carefully arranged for Xu Taiping to become Tusita Palace’s Firewood Gatherer.
• Daoist Lord Wangchen explained that sixteen Half-Immortals had to compete for one chance to ascend, and said Chu Lingyue wanted Xu Taiping to claim one of the final three seats.
• Xu Taiping opened Chu Lingyue’s Divine Soul Mark and learned she planned to travel to Fengdu to seek the second Path to Heaven and a way to save Dugu Qingxiao.
• Chu Lingyue urged Xu Taiping to cultivate in Tusita Palace for three years, and he resolved not to waste her efforts.
• Three years later, Venerable Ziming sensed movement in the Wuji Abyss at Danyuan Hall.

After three years in Tusita Palace, Xu Taiping comprehended the Mountain Spirit True Dragon Power and Blood Oath Divine Being Power, and Daoist Lord Wangchen warned him that it was time to leave. As Xu Taiping and his companions prepared to depart, Wangchen revealed that he was waiting for the Heaven-Treading Contest and cautioned them not to mention his name outside.

• Xu Taiping told Daoist Lord Wangchen about his newly comprehended Mountain Spirit and Blood Oath powers, and Wangchen suggested enhancing them with dragon origin power and blood origin power.
• Daoist Lord Wangchen told Xu Taiping to leave soon and revealed that he was waiting for the Heaven-Treading Contest, then hinted that Sky-Piercing Demonic Bone might be sealing him instead.
• Ping'an brought the Soul-Suppressing Bell and a cleansed thousand-year-old winter sunflower fruit, while Old Daoist Huang announced that he had reached great completion of the Heaven-Connecting Realm.
• Xu Taiping planned to search the Crimson Heaven Spirit Garden for the remaining ingredients needed to make the Su Spirit Pill.
• After violent divine soul fluctuations shook the Alchemy Chamber, Xu Taiping, Ping'an, and Old Daoist Huang thanked Daoist Lord Wangchen and prepared to leave; Wangchen warned them not to reveal his name.

Three years after entering Tusita Palace, Xu Taiping, Ping'an, and Old Daoist Huang returned to the Danyuan Palace Ghost Domain with the Soul-Suppressing Bell. They found hundreds of empowered ghost corpses surrounding the Bronze Gate, while Danyuan Palace remnant souls rushed to meet them after learning they had recovered the bell.

• Xu Taiping, Ping'an, and Old Daoist Huang left Tusita Palace, with Xiaoyu asleep in the Jade Gourd, and bid farewell to the Dao Lord.
• After emerging from the secret realm, Xu Taiping reunited with Xiaohei, who revealed that he had trained against primordial beasts in the Crimson Heaven Spirit Garden.
• The group fought off several powerful ghost corpses at the Bronze Gate, and Xu Taiping lit the Pill Furnace to reveal hundreds more surrounding them.
• Xu Taiping and his companions learned from a Danyuan Palace remnant soul that intruding cultivators had fed the ghost corpses their blood, temporarily increasing their strength.
• When Xu Taiping revealed that they had recovered the Soul-Suppressing Bell, the Danyuan Palace remnant souls eagerly charged toward the Bronze Gate to meet them.

Heavenly Lord Gansui explained how Danyuan Palace had spent hundreds of thousands of years fighting the Ghost Domain and asked Xu Taiping for the Soul-Suppressing Bell. In exchange for the bell, he promised Danyuan Palace’s complete legacy and the aid of its surviving members in fighting the Ghost Domain threatening the Azure Profound Sect.

• Dozens of Man-Faced Shadows overwhelmed the Ghost Corpses and protected Xu Taiping, Ping'an, and Old Daoist Huang beside the Bronze Gate.
• The leader introduced himself as Heavenly Lord Gansui, the last Palace Master of Danyuan Palace, and said only ninety members remained from a sect once numbering nearly nine thousand.
• Heavenly Lord Gansui described how Danyuan Palace had reduced the Ghost Domain’s Ghost Generals to seven or eight thousand, but the survivors had only a little over a hundred years left.
• Heavenly Lord Gansui admitted that he had opened the Ghost Domain and asked Xu Taiping to give him the Soul-Suppressing Bell to end the calamity and help the dead Danyuan Palace disciples find rest.
• Heavenly Lord Gansui offered Xu Taiping Danyuan Palace’s complete legacy and promised to lead its surviving members to the Lower Realm to help the Azure Profound Sect.

Xu Taiping returned the Soul-Suppressing Bell to Heavenly Lord Gansui and accepted Danyuan Palace’s inheritance, promising to seek a worthy inheritor. He joined Gansui and the other Danyuan Palace disciples in preparing to confront the Ghost Domain calamity, and his powerful strike finally rang the bell.

• Heavenly Lord Gansui explained that he had learned of the Ghost Domain invasion and that Danyuan Palace had failed to retrieve the Soul-Suppressing Bell before Xu Taiping arrived.
• Xu Taiping gave the Bronze Casket containing Danyuan Palace’s inheritance a respectful reception, then offered to find someone to carry on the sect’s legacy.
• Xu Taiping returned the Soul-Suppressing Bell to Gansui and asked him and the other Danyuan Palace elders to help eradicate the Ghost Domain calamity in the Lower Realm.
• Gansui agreed to accompany Xu Taiping, saying he believed the Lower Realm calamity was connected to the disaster that had destroyed Danyuan Palace.
• Ping'an and Old Daoist Huang raised the bell, and Xu Taiping manifested his true dragon divine being body and struck it with full force.
• Xu Taiping’s blow rang the Soul-Suppressing Bell, and its toll pierced through the Ghost Domain.

Xu Taiping used the Soul-Suppressing Bell to weaken and help destroy the ghost corpses in Danyuan Palace, then received Heavenly Lord Gansui and his fellow Man-Faced Shadows into a Black Bead. The chapter ended with Gansui warning that four powerful hostile figures waited at the exit, as Xu Taiping prepared to catch them off guard.

• The Soul-Suppressing Bell freed the divine souls sealed in nearby ghost corpses, weakening them, and Xu Taiping rang it as Xiaohei carried the group through the Ghost Domain.
• Heavenly Lord Gansui and more than ninety Man-Faced Shadows drove the remaining ghost corpses into the Central Area and slaughtered the Ghost Generals.
• The gray mist lifted, revealing Danyuan Palace's ruins, and Xu Taiping rang the bell while Gansui summoned the departed souls and sent them into it.
• Gansui's Man-Faced Shadows agreed to follow Xu Taiping, entered a Black Bead, and Gansui gave the bead to him with instructions not to summon them lightly.
• Gansui sensed four powerful hostile presences waiting at the crypt's exit, and Xu Taiping told Ping'an and Old Daoist Huang they would catch them off guard.

As Xu Taiping and his companions raced toward the crypt’s exit, they discovered that the Six-Nostril Mirror could outdo the Observance-Origin Pearl’s delayed images. Xu Taiping planned to exploit the delay and reach the exit before the four Upper Realm experts could activate their formation.

• Venerable Ziming, Cangwu Heavenly Lord, Heavenly Lord Qingmu, and Zhu Li prepared to ambush the group, relying on the Falling Star Grand Formation to immobilize them.
• The Observance-Origin Pearl began displaying blurry figures as Xu Taiping and his companions approached the ruins.
• Ping'an noted that the Six-Nostril Mirror was superior to the Observance-Origin Pearl, and the mirror revealed the experts’ conversation to the group.
• Xu Taiping confirmed that the Observance-Origin Pearl’s images lagged behind events and could not show their surroundings.
• Xu Taiping proposed having Xiaohei race toward the exit to arrive before the experts saw them and activated the Falling Star Grand Formation.

Xu Taiping and his companions burst from Danyuan Hall and fought through Cangwu Heavenly Lord and Heavenly Lord Qingmu’s ambush. Ping'an revealed his Great Completion Demon Saint Realm power by smashing Cangwu Heavenly Lord’s flying sword from the sky.

• Cangwu Heavenly Lord and the others waited outside Danyuan Hall, but Xu Taiping’s group suddenly charged out before their planned formation was ready.
• Heavenly Lord Qingmu and Cangwu Heavenly Lord attacked, but Xu Taiping used the Shentu Bow’s Thunder Master Arrow and Fire Virtue Arrow to interrupt them.
• Elder Huang broke a jade slip to open a gap in Cangwu Heavenly Lord’s gang wind barrier, allowing Xiaohei to carry the group through.
• Elder Huang used a bamboo slip to nullify the Azure Dragon attacks formed from the two enemies’ extreme laws, revealing himself as a Heaven-Connecting Realm Qi-Reading Practitioner.
• Cangwu Heavenly Lord’s flying sword struck toward the group, but Ping'an grew to a thousand zhang and knocked it into the ground with the Human Sovereign North Wind Spear.

Xu Taiping and his companions fought their way through the Abyss's Crypt, escaped the pursuit of four Heaven-Connecting Realm powerhouses, and finally emerged after three years of cultivation. Xu Taiping directed Xiaohei to take them to Fengdu.

• Heavenly Lord Qingmu drained much of Ping'an's magic power, but Xu Taiping joined him and restored his strength, allowing Ping'an to smash Qingmu into the cavern wall with Baxia.
• Xu Taiping and Ping'an used the hundred-zhang forbidden domain to suppress Venerable Ziming and Elder Zhu Li's attacks, then knocked both of them aside to clear a path.
• Xiaohei caught the depleted Xu Taiping and Ping'an and raced toward the exit as Cangwu, Qingmu, Zhu Li, and Venerable Ziming pursued them.
• Xu Taiping fired the Wind Granny Arrow from the Shentu Bow, unleashing a storm that forced the four pursuers to evade it.
• Xiaohei carried Xu Taiping and his companions out of the Wuji Abyss, where Ping'an and Old Daoist Huang celebrated their escape.
• Xu Taiping told Xiaohei to take them to Fengdu.

Xu Taiping, Old Daoist Huang, and Ping'an prepared to leave their work at Fortune Comes Restaurant and enter the Black Prison, where Xu Taiping hoped to find an opponent to help him reach the Ultimate Realm. Their plans were interrupted when Xue Ju and two fellow martial artists stormed into the restaurant and demanded that Su Yun come out.

• Ping'an and Old Daoist Huang worked as waiters at Fortune Comes Restaurant while Xu Taiping prepared to finish his required month in the Shenhou Ruin Market.
• After hearing that Guan Cixue would challenge Xiao Huang's Bronze Arena, Xu Taiping proposed resigning and going to the Black Prison to watch.
• Three burly martial artists shoved past Ping'an, and Xu Taiping recognized that they had powerful cultivation.
• Xue Ju confronted the restaurant staff, struck the head shopkeeper aside, and shouted for Su Yun to come out.
• Xue Ju's two companions released powerful qi and blood and threatened the angry guests.

Xue Ju returned to Fortune Comes Restaurant and extorted Su Yun, threatening to destroy the business unless she paid him six million Gold Essence Coins. Xu Taiping and Old Daoist Huang secured their resignation letters and wages, but Xue Ju seized the money and drove them away.

• Old Daoist Huang learned from Shopkeeper Xu that Xue Ju was Su Yun's wastrel husband, who had repeatedly returned to extort the restaurant.
• Xue Ju demanded six million Gold Essence Coins from Su Yun and threatened to smash the restaurant when she could not pay.
• Xu Taiping agreed to Old Daoist Huang's plan to obtain resignation letters before leaving the restaurant.
• Su Yun wrote resignation letters for Xu Taiping, Ping'an, and Old Daoist Huang, while Shopkeeper Xu calculated their wages as three hundred Gold Essence Coins.
• Xue Ju shoved Xu Taiping and Ping'an aside, seized the three hundred Gold Essence Coins, and ordered the three men to leave the Ruin Market.

Xue Ju stole Xu Taiping, Ping'an, and Old Daoist Huang’s wages, but Xu Taiping cut off his hand and Ping'an crushed him and his two companions with one punch. As the three prepared to leave for the match between Guan Cixue and Xiao Huang, Su Yun stopped them with an offer that Old Daoist Huang recognized as a stirred fortuitous opportunity.

• Xue Ju’s martial cultivators shoved Old Daoist Huang aside, and Xue Ju refused to return the three hundred Gold Essence Coins he had taken.
• Xu Taiping demanded the wages back, and Old Daoist Huang declared that Xue Ju and his companions should pay with their lives for robbing them.
• Xu Taiping sliced off Xue Ju’s hand and poured the three hundred Gold Essence Coins from the pouch.
• Ping'an revealed his Demon Saint aura and crushed Xue Ju and the two martial cultivators with one punch after their combined blade force failed.
• Su Yun urged them not to destroy the men’s Primordial Spirits, and Xu Taiping said goodbye as news spread of Guan Cixue’s match against Xiao Huang.
• Su Yun stopped Xu Taiping, Ping'an, and Old Daoist Huang to offer them something, and Old Daoist Huang sensed that her fortuitous opportunity had stirred.

Xu Taiping, Old Daoist Huang, and Ping'an headed toward the Black Prison, where Xu Taiping’s match against Xiao Huang could affect his cultivation and lifespan. They encountered Yuwen Shuo and Yuwen Feng, whose demand to cut the queue left the confrontation unresolved.

• Old Daoist Huang told Xu Taiping that the strange key from Fulai Inn resembled the runes of the entrance to Yellow Springs, and Xu Taiping said they would ask Su Yun about it after leaving the Black Prison.
• Ping'an learned that cultivators with Black Prison Tokens could enter through the passage in Taozhi Lane, where the group headed to avoid the other queue.
• Two martial cultivators pulled Xu Taiping, Old Daoist Huang, and Ping'an aside to clear the way for Young Master Yuwen, and Ping'an objected to their rudeness.
• Yuwen Shuo rebuked his subordinates, apologized, and identified himself alongside his brother Yuwen Feng as a Heavenly Prodigy Ranking expert.
• Yuwen Feng asked those without Black Prison Tokens to let him and his companions go first, but Xu Taiping, Old Daoist Huang, and Ping'an continued ahead, prompting Yuwen Feng to challenge them.

Xu Taiping and his companions entered Taozhi Lane, where Yuwen Feng tried to block them and mocked them for lacking a Black Prison Token. Jiang Shuoxue recognized Xu Taiping and was shaken by the strength of his gaze, while Yuwen Shuo’s group entered Black Prison and the guards began turning Xu Taiping’s group away.

• Yuwen Feng tried to stop Xu Taiping and his companions in Taozhi Lane, but Jiang Shuoxue told him to avoid trouble before Xiao Huang’s competition.
• Jiang Shuoxue recognized Xu Taiping as the Nameless Nobody from the Lower Realm and worried about warning Xiao Huang, who was in the Ghost Domain.
• At the lane’s exit, Yuwen Feng presented a Black Prison Token, and the Ruin Market guards respectfully ushered Yuwen Shuo’s group toward the Bronze Gate.
• Jiang Shuoxue met Xu Taiping’s gaze and suffered a severe blow to her divine soul, realizing his fighting strength had increased and fearing Xiao Huang would lose.
• The guards told Xu Taiping and his companions to leave because they had not shown Black Prison Tokens, while Yuwen Feng mocked them.

Xu Taiping and his companions reached the Black Prison entrance in Taozhi Lane, where Ninth Madam’s token proved genuine. After learning Jiang Shuoxue had recognized him and planned to alert Xiao Huang, Xu Taiping asked Ninth Madam to keep her and the Yuwen brothers out of the Black Prison.

• Xu Taiping showed his Black Prison Token, and Old Daoist Huang activated it to reveal Ninth Madam’s authority, forcing the guards and Yuwen brothers to back down.
• Ping'an told Xu Taiping that Jiang Shuoxue had recognized him as the Nameless Nobody who once fought Xiao Huang and intended to inform Xiao Huang of his arrival.
• Xu Taiping contacted Ninth Madam through the token and explained that he wanted Jiang Shuoxue and the Yuwen party refused entry so they could not affect his coming battle with Xiao Huang.
• Ninth Madam agreed to turn them away by admitting only honored guests with high-ranking Black Prison Tokens, and said she would come fetch Xu Taiping herself.

Xu Taiping and the Yuwen clan tested their Black Prison Tokens at the Bronze Gate, revealing that the Yuwen clan held only black iron tokens while Xu Taiping had a Purple Sky token. The gate opened for Xu Taiping, and Ninth Madam came out to welcome him.

• Boy Siyou and Girl Li Shu explained that only Purple Sky Black Prison Token holders could enter because the spectator seats were full.
• Yuwen Feng knocked on the Bronze Gate, which revealed that his token was black iron rank, and the gate refused him entry.
• Yuwen Shuo and Yuwen Feng accused the Black Prison of making excuses, while Old Daoist Huang mocked them.
• Xu Taiping knocked with his token, and the Bronze Gate revealed a purple-gold halo identifying it as a Purple Sky token.
• The Bronze Gate opened, and Ninth Madam greeted Xu Taiping and apologized for not welcoming him sooner.

Ninth Madam welcomed Xu Taiping and his companions into the Black Prison to watch Xiao Huang face Guan Cixue, while Yuwen Shuo’s party was turned away. In the viewing pavilion, Xu Taiping revealed that he and his companions had grown far stronger through a fortuitous opportunity in Tusita Palace, and the match began with the third Sound of the Bell.

• Ninth Madam emerged from the Bronze Gate and personally invited Xu Taiping and his companions into the Black Prison, refusing Yuwen Shuo’s request to enter.
• After the gate shut, Jiang Shuoxue crushed a Jade Slip and urgently sent a voice transmission to her father.
• In the Bronze Prison viewing pavilion, Ninth Madam told Xu Taiping that Xiao Huang might now surpass even Xiao Mojie and could defeat Xu Taiping as he had been three years earlier.
• Xu Taiping allowed Old Daoist Huang to release their concealed auras, revealing two Dao-Integration Heavenly Communion Realm experts and Xu Taiping’s greatly strengthened aura.
• Xu Taiping told Ninth Madam that they had entered Tusita Palace through the Ghost Domain, and the third Sound of the Bell signaled the start of the match.

On the Bronze Sparrow Platform, Guan Cixue and Xiao Huang escalated their duel as Guan Cixue unleashed the Nine Dragons of Frost Heaven against Xiao Huang’s immense physical strength. The chapter left Xiao Huang under the frost dragons’ combined assault, with Ping'an fearing he might lose before facing Eldest Brother.

• Xiao Huang and Guan Cixue exchanged probing attacks that sent them both flying back, while Xu Taiping and the others recognized the power each was holding in reserve.
• Guan Cixue summoned a vast blizzard of sword intent and used Frost Chills the Vast Sky to send an enormous ice dome crashing down on Xiao Huang.
• Xiao Huang activated the third stage of Burning Meridians, grew a thousand zhang tall, and held back the ice dome with his fists.
• Guan Cixue shattered the ice dome and formed its fragments into nine frost dragons, which overwhelmed Xiao Huang’s fist force and drove him back.
• Ping'an worried that Xiao Huang might lose to Guan Cixue before he could face Eldest Brother.