Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost tested Blade Ghost’s barrier against hundreds of Tomb Guardian Beasts while descending the Tomb Well. After Liu Dong Cang opened the well cover and sent Lu Yu, Jin Wuming, and Luo Wei down, Xu Taiping spotted him and planned to delay the newcomers until they found the Divine Emperor Inheritance.

• Xu Taiping ordered the Tomb Guardian Beasts to charge Blade Ghost’s barrier, and the combined assault finally cracked it.
• Liu Dong Cang judged that the three descending cultivators had withstood the monsters and opened both layers of the Tomb Well’s cover.
• Liu Dong Cang sent Lu Yu, Jin Wuming, and Luo Wei into the well, then said he could finally return to his master after decades in hiding.
• Xu Taiping used the Lotus Eye to spot Liu Dong Cang, and he and Blade Ghost decided to delay the newcomers until they found the Divine Emperor Inheritance.

Xu Taiping and his companions reached the palace at the bottom of the Tomb Well, where Jade Mother gathered the Divine Being Pearls and gave Xu Taiping a Divine Emperor Pearl. Liu Dong Cang and his group arrived at the Main Hall, finding Xu Taiping and Zhu Yan unharmed.

• Liu Dong Cang led Lu Yu, Luo Wei, and the others down the Tomb Well, following signs of Xu Taiping's battles and hearing fighting below.
• Xu Taiping, Zhu Yan, and Blade Ghost examined the palace's inheritance pearls and prepared for the approaching Jade Appraisal Pavilion group.
• Xu Taiping used the White Gourd to call for the pearls, but they did not move until Jade Mother invited them to fight for Shangqing.
• Jade Mother gathered the Divine Being Pearls, gave Xu Taiping a Divine Emperor Pearl, and warned him to save it for his challenge against Kang Cangzi.
• Zhu Yan sensed Liu Dong Cang outside, and Liu Dong Cang, Lu Yu, and the others burst into the Main Hall, where Lu Yu realized the monsters had settled down inside.

Xu Taiping used the Tomb Guardian Beasts to trap Liu Dong Cang, while Blade Ghost struck him down when he tried to escape. Liu Dong Cang then attacked Xu Taiping, who broke his blade force and wounded him, leaving Liu Dong Cang demanding to know his identity.

• Liu Dong Cang demanded the Divine Emperor Pearl, and Xu Taiping put it away as Lu Yu, Luo Wei, and Jin Wuming attacked him.
• Xu Taiping sent the three attackers flying, and Liu Dong Cang fled after learning Xu Taiping's restrictions had been lifted.
• Xu Taiping ordered the Tomb Guardian Beasts to block Liu Dong Cang's escape, but Liu Dong Cang forced a path through them and left Lu Yu, Luo Wei, and Jin Wuming behind.
• Blade Ghost struck Liu Dong Cang from above, then shattered his next attack and crushed Lu Yu, Luo Wei, and Jin Wuming with a massive blade shadow.
• Liu Dong Cang attacked Xu Taiping, but Xu Taiping broke his blade force and slashed him deeply, prompting Liu Dong Cang to demand to know who he was.

Xu Taiping defeated Liu Dong Cang in the tomb shaft and survived his nascent soul’s self-detonation unharmed. After arranging for the Flame Court to handle the captives and wounded survivors, Xu Taiping received Ninth Madam’s message that Black Prison was about to address the great star domains in the Land of Chaos of Outer Heaven.

• Xu Taiping used the Heaven-Opening Form to destroy Liu Dong Cang’s treasures and cleave his body in two, then suppressed him with the Dragon-Trapping Tower’s projection.
• Liu Dong Cang offered to reveal flaws in Dong Cangzi’s cultivation, but Xu Taiping refused and asked Zhu Yan to record the scene.
• Liu Dong Cang detonated his nascent soul, but Xu Taiping’s Shangqing ultimate Dao physique left him unhurt, and he left the tomb shaft with Zhu Yan.
• Blade Ghost confronted the wounded Luo Wei and Jin Wuming, and Xu Taiping agreed to hand them over to the Flame Court while asking Zhu Yan to settle the captured cultivators.
• Ninth Madam contacted Xu Taiping through the Black Prison Token and said Black Prison was about to address the great star domains in the Land of Chaos of Outer Heaven.

Xu Taiping asked Ninth Madam to announce that he had eliminated Liu Dong Cang, while Jiang Fu explained why the Ziyang Sect would let its disciples enter the Heaven-Demon Battlefield. The chapter ended as the Spirit Mirror’s projection began to show images, and Jiang Shuoxue eagerly awaited Ninth Madam’s promised surprise.

• Xu Taiping raised the Black Prison Token and asked Ninth Madam to announce that he had eliminated Liu Dong Cang.
• Jiang Fu told Yun Jiuyi, Xiao Huang, and Jiang Shuoxue that the Ziyang Sect would no longer restrict disciples from going to the Heaven-Demon Battlefield, and he allowed Jiang Shuoxue to go.
• Jiang Fu revealed that Xu Taiping and his companions had slain the Demon Mother Clone and resolved the Taixuan Ghost Domain calamity.
• Jiang Fu explained that Xu Taiping had given one of five Greater Sky Demon Tokens to each of the Five Heavens in the Lower Realm, and the group discussed the coming war against the Demon Mother.
• Jiang Fu warned that losing the war could mean the Human Race’s annihilation, just as the Spirit Mirror began displaying images and Jiang Shuoxue awaited Ninth Madam’s surprise.

Xu Taiping appeared in a broadcast to verify the Black Prison’s intelligence and announce that he would challenge Half-Immortal Dong Cang for his half-immortal seat. The chapter left Jiang Suxue wondering what would happen in half a month.

• Ninth Madam showed the gathered cultivators a projection of Xu Taiping at a mine on the Dan Mountain Red Water Ruins star.
• Xu Taiping showed footage of himself defeating Liu Dong Cang and surviving the detonation of Liu Dong Cang’s Nascent Soul.
• Jiang Fu and Yun Jiuyi concluded that Xu Taiping had killed Liu Dong Cang to qualify to challenge Dong Cangzi for his half-immortal seat.
• Xu Taiping announced that he would travel to the Great Qian Kingdom’s Imperial City in one month to challenge Half-Immortal Dong Cang.
• After the projection ended, Jiang Suxue questioned the timing, saying, “In half a month?”

Yun Jiuyi and the others watched Dong Cangzi publicly threaten to melt the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage’s remains, hoping to draw Xu Taiping into an early fight. At the Taixuan Sect’s ruins, Xu Taiping refused to change the challenge date and declared that his true priority was killing Dong Cangzi.

• Yun Jiuyi, Jiang Fu, Jiang Shuoxue, and Xiao Huang debated Xu Taiping’s chances against Dong Cangzi and whether timing mattered more than preparation.
• Dong Cangzi addressed the cultivation world, thanked Xu Taiping for purging his sect, and confirmed that he would meet him in the Great Dao Strife half a month later.
• Dong Cangzi threatened to melt the Golden Man containing the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage’s corpse within nine days to pressure Xu Taiping into arriving early.
• Xiao Huang warned that Xu Taiping must not let Dong Cangzi alter the challenge date, while Jiang Fu and Yun Jiuyi feared the consequences of Dong Cangzi winning.
• At the Taixuan Sect’s ruins, Zhao Qian urged Xu Taiping not to change the date, but Xu Taiping told Lü Daoxuan that killing Dong Cangzi mattered more to him than the Half-Immortal Seat or his benefactor’s remains.

Ninth Madam announced that Xu Taiping would challenge Dong Cangzi in Great Qian in seven days, and powerful figures began reserving places to watch. Xu Taiping told Fengzhu he had moved the date forward to kill Dong Cangzi sooner, then examined the Human Sovereign Pearl and found it could further temper his physique.

• Ninth Madam told Xuanbei and Fengzhu that Xu Taiping would travel to Great Qian in seven days to challenge Dong Cangzi.
• Fengzhu asked Xu Taiping whether he had moved the date to protect Ding Mou's body, and Xu Taiping said he wanted to send Dong Cangzi to the Western Paradise sooner.
• Ninth Madam ordered the Black Prison managers to announce the challenge and invite cultivators from the star domains to watch.
• Xuanbei and Fengzhu eagerly took a Moonlight Stone to deliver to Xu Taiping, while Yun Guanxuan and many other powerful figures contacted Ninth Madam about watching the contest.
• Xu Taiping told Blade Ghost that the Human Sovereign Pearl contained a method for tempering his physique and could help him advance further if mastered.

Xu Taiping learned that the Azure Profound Sect could use its Taixuan Demon-Suppressing Coffins to give him more time to prepare for his battle with Dong Cangzi. Lü Daoxuan revealed that the sect had recovered the materials needed to activate the coffins, leaving Xu Taiping confident that he could face the coming fight.

• Xu Taiping told Blade Ghost that the Divine Emperor Pearl held powerful inheritances, but seven days might not be enough for his Origin Beginning Clone to comprehend them.
• Blade Ghost and Xu Taiping realized they could not use Ni Zhao’s Jiazi Pot because Xu Taiping had not received the Abyssal Pavilion inheritance.
• Lü Daoxuan arrived and revealed that the Taixuan Sect Inheritance included a treasure capable of intercepting time: the Taixuan Demon-Suppressing Coffin.
• Xu Taiping recognized two recovered Demon Seed heart apertures as Yuyangzi’s and Zhou Tong’s, but Lü Daoxuan said the coffins could also use the collected remains of Extraterrestrial Ghost Creatures.
• Lü Daoxuan explained that the Azure Profound Sect could activate all nine Demon-Suppressing Coffins, and Xu Taiping said he could rest easy.

Xu Taiping learned that opening the Demon-Suppressing Coffin could grant him much of the Divine Emperor Inheritance, and Lü Daoxuan offered to help him. After arranging for his battle with Dong Cangzi to be shown to the Lower Realm in honor of Third Watch Observatory, Xu Taiping joined the Azure Profound Sect and his allies for a farewell toast.

• Blade Ghost told Lü Daoxuan that opening the Demon-Suppressing Coffin could let Xu Taiping obtain most of the Divine Emperor Inheritance, and Lü Daoxuan agreed to help him.
• Heavenly Lord Xuanbei and Daoist Fengzhu brought Xu Taiping a Moonlight Stone that could project his battle with Dong Cangzi into the Black Prisons.
• Xu Taiping revealed that Dong Cangzi had destroyed Third Watch Observatory in the Lower Realm, and Lü Daoxuan disclosed his friendship with its observatory master, Li Changeng.
• Xu Taiping recounted how he and Third Watch Observatory's remnant souls had broken Dong Cangzi's trap, and Daoist Fengzhu promised to help Qi Haitang and Xiang Nantian watch the coming battle from the Lower Realm.
• Blade Ghost proposed a farewell toast with Hidden Immortal Wine, and Lü Daoxuan ordered Zhao Qian to gather the Azure Profound Sect disciples.

Qi Haitang visited Taiping Village with a local boy and discovered that a mysterious Barrier protected the village, possibly connected to Xu Taiping’s past. Impressed by the boy’s character, she offered to recommend him to the Seven Rosy Clouds Sect, but he insisted on earning admission through its test.

• Qi Haitang learned from the boy that Taiping Village had once been called Spirit Spring Village and was renamed after a Daoist drove away a Fox Ghost.
• The boy told Qi Haitang he wanted to try the Seven Rosy Clouds Sect’s recruitment test but lacked the money for travel and registration.
• At the summit, Qi Haitang sensed a powerful Barrier around Taiping Village and suspected its creator might have helped Xu Taiping begin cultivating.
• The boy accepted only fifteen of the twenty copper coins Qi Haitang offered and said he wanted to become her fellow traveler on the path of cultivation.
• Qi Haitang offered to recommend the boy to the Seven Rosy Clouds Sect, but he refused and said he would accept the result of its test.

Qi Haitang told a boy from Taiping Village about Xu Taiping and showed him the spirit mirror as Xu Taiping arrived in Yanggu Heaven to challenge Dong Cangzi. The boy recognized Xu Taiping as the immortal depicted in his grandfather’s portrait and learned that they shared the name Taiping.

• The boy showed Qi Haitang the fifteen copper coins he had earned, and she encouraged him to pursue cultivation.
• Xiang Nantian told Qi Haitang that Xu Taiping would challenge Dong Cangzi in Yanggu Heaven that day and that the Lower Realm could watch the projected images.
• Qi Haitang learned that the boy’s ancestors had survived the great fire that destroyed the Great Liang Kingdom, then told him Xu Taiping had avenged its victims.
• Qi Haitang activated her spirit mirror and invited the boy to watch Xu Taiping’s challenge.
• Xu Taiping crashed into Yanggu Heaven, smashed its city gate with one punch, and declared his challenge to Half-Immortal Dong Cang.
• The boy recognized Xu Taiping as the immortal in his grandfather’s portrait and realized they shared the name Taiping.

Xu Taiping challenged Dong Cangzi and overwhelmed the defenses of the Great Qian Imperial City with his martial physique and Martial Dao power. He defeated Dong Cangzi in a direct clash, leaving the observers convinced his physical combat strength surpassed Ding Mou’s.

• In Black Prison, Jiang Fu, Xiao Huang, Yun Jiuyi, and Jiang Shuoxue watched Xu Taiping arrive early and challenge Dong Cangzi.
• Xu Taiping split the battle intent of Dong Cangzi’s Ten Thousand Armies Battle Formation and scattered the iron cavalry with his physical strength alone.
• Xu Taiping entered the imperial city and fought Zheng Ye and four other battle generals, defeating them with thunder-wreathed punches.
• Xu Taiping smashed the imperial palace with a thousand-zhang fist shadow and challenged Dong Cangzi to avenge the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage.
• Dong Cangzi met Xu Taiping’s punch, but Xu Taiping shattered his fist force and sent him crashing into the palace, prompting Jiang Fu to declare Xu Taiping’s physical combat strength greater than Ding Mou’s.

Xu Taiping overwhelmed Dong Cangzi with his Ultimate Dao martial arts, but Dong Cangzi revealed the Sun-Extinguishing Radiance Illuminating Technique and struck back with a punch empowered by annihilated vitality. The battle continued as the onlookers recognized that Dong Cangzi had not yet used his full strength.

• Xu Taiping repeatedly hammered Dong Cangzi with punches powered by his physique and Qi and Blood Power, leading Jiang Fu to identify his strength as the Ultimate Dao Realm of Martial Artists.
• Yun Jiuyi suggested Ding Mou had begun his Great Dao Strife with Dong Cangzi so Xu Taiping could witness the battle, fulfilling Ding Mou’s wish to see someone attain the Ultimate Dao Martial Artist Realm.
• Dong Cangzi blocked Xu Taiping’s punch with a slash, then unleashed Three Origins Annihilation Slash, but Xu Taiping countered with Ultimate Dao! No-Blade! and sent him flying.
• Jiang Fu and Yun Jiuyi explained that Dong Cangzi had not yet used his full strength and identified the Sun-Extinguishing Radiance Illuminating Technique as the sign that he had.
• Dong Cangzi scattered Xu Taiping’s blade force with blazing radiance, annihilated the vitality across hundreds of li into five-colored light, and punched Xu Taiping with it.

Xu Taiping’s fist-force Divine Being struggled against Dong Cangzi’s overwhelming reserves, but Xu transformed it with True Dragon Donning Armor. The armored Divine Being roared and released an immense pressure across the Great Qian Kingdom as their battle continued.

• Dong Cangzi shattered Xu Taiping’s blade force with a punch and followed with a massive fist shadow formed from the vitality he annihilated.
• Xu Taiping summoned a towering Divine Being phantom that caught Dong Cangzi’s fist shadow, though its many arms began breaking under the strain.
• Jiang Shuoxue, Xiao Huang, Yun Jiuyi, and Jiang Fu discussed Xu Taiping’s disadvantage in cultivation reserves and wondered why he had not relied on a Great Dao Edict contest.
• Dong Cangzi challenged Xu Taiping’s ability to match his reserves, and Xu answered that Dong’s reserves came from time wasted.
• Xu Taiping invoked True Dragon Donning Armor, covering the Divine Being phantom in dragon-scale armor as golden horns appeared and a dragon roar spread pressure across the Great Qian Kingdom.

Xu Taiping’s divine being physique endured Dong Cangzi’s eight-layer Sun-Extinguishing Radiance Illuminating Technique, despite the spectators believing he was about to lose. He straightened the phantom, lifted Dong Cangzi’s fist force, and prepared a punch dedicated to Great Sage Ding Mou.

• Dong Cangzi unleashed the seventh layer of the Sun-Extinguishing Radiance Illuminating Technique, sending successive golden fist shadows against Xu Taiping’s divine being phantom.
• The eight fist shadows shattered the phantom’s arms and forced its body to bend, leading Jiang Shuoxue, Yun Jiuyi, Jiang Fu, and Xiao Huang to conclude Xu Taiping had reached his limit.
• Xu Taiping calmly told Dong Cangzi that he had waited for him to exhaust his reserves and claimed Dong Cangzi was not worthy of making him throw a punch.
• Xu Taiping’s phantom transformed, straightened beneath the fist force, and lifted it away.
• Xu Taiping assumed a fist stance and declared that his punch was only for Great Sage Ding Mou.

Xu Taiping’s Yang Returns at Solstice power repeatedly restored his body as Dong Cangzi battered him, and Xu Taiping’s ordinary punches shattered Dong Cangzi’s protective dao-rhyme golden light. Just as Xu Taiping seemed to have reversed the battle, Dong Cangzi unleashed his Great Dao edict power, declaring, “Extremes reverse, prosperity turns to decline!”

• Jiang Fu and Yun Jiuyi explained that Yang Returns at Solstice could restore Xu Taiping’s body as long as a trace of qi and blood remained, though an equal-level Great Dao edict could overcome it.
• Dong Cangzi continued striking Xu Taiping, but Yang Returns at Solstice repeatedly healed the damage, and Xu Taiping’s physique withstood the attacks.
• Xu Taiping formed a punching stance and began breaking through Dong Cangzi’s fist force and protective dao-rhyme golden light with seemingly ordinary punches.
• Xu Taiping shattered Dong Cangzi’s protective golden light, leaving Dong Cangzi exposed as the Great Qian Kingdom’s vitality vanished.
• Dong Cangzi’s aura surged and spread across the Great Qian Kingdom as he invoked his edict power, shouting, “Extremes reverse, prosperity turns to decline!”

Xu Taiping turned the fight against Dong Cangzi around, overwhelming his edicts and body with a thousand-armed barrage after invoking “Thousand-Year Dark Chamber, One Lamp Immediately Brightens.” As Dong Cangzi begged to keep his primordial spirit and defended his slaughter of mortals, Xu Taiping condemned his Great Dao and gathered his thousand arms into one devastating fist.

• Dong Cangzi struck Xu Taiping with the power of the Great Qian Kingdom, Great Dao edicts, and his accumulated spells, shattering Xu Taiping’s fist force and nearly swallowing him.
• Xu Taiping invoked “Thousand-Year Dark Chamber, One Lamp Immediately Brightens,” joined with his divine-being phantom, and attacked Dong Cangzi with more than a thousand arms.
• Xu Taiping’s blows broke apart Dong Cangzi’s edicts and body, while Jiang Shuoxue, Xiao Huang, Yun Jiuyi, and Jiang Fu watched and discussed the consequences for the Upper Realm factions.
• Dong Cangzi begged Xu Taiping to leave him a primordial spirit, but Xu Taiping continued attacking and reminded him of his slaughter of Zhenwu’s people and the Third Watch Observatory.
• Dong Cangzi justified killing mortals as a means of ascending the Great Dao, and Xu Taiping condemned his path as unworthy of a half-immortal before merging his thousand arms into a single, vastly stronger fist.

Crow Heavenly Venerable intervened to protect Dong Cangzi from Xu Taiping, but Xu Taiping faced the old regret that had kept him from striking Ye Xuan and chose to throw the punch he had once been unable to land. He shattered Crow Heavenly Venerable’s Sword Light and crushed Dong Cangzi’s Divine Soul.

• Crow Heavenly Venerable blocked Xu Taiping’s punch and declared that Xu Taiping could not execute Dong Cangzi.
• Dong Cangzi mocked Xu Taiping and claimed that Crow Heavenly Venerable’s protection proved the Great Dao was on his side.
• Xu Taiping recalled the day Sect Master Zhou Tong had stopped him from punching Ye Xuan and realized this was the trial before his Half-Immortal Seat.
• Xu Taiping formed the Green Ox Fist stance and said the punch was for his younger self, who had once been unable to throw it.
• Xu Taiping shattered Crow Heavenly Venerable’s Sword Light and crushed Dong Cangzi’s Divine Soul.

After Xu Taiping broke through to the half-immortal realm, he received Dong Cangzi’s inheritance and glimpsed a chained Heavenly Gate before an invisible brand appeared on his neck. He realized the half-immortal path was a trap that restrained its strongest cultivators, the same fate Fairy Lingyue had sought another Path to Heaven to escape.

• Xu Taiping shattered Crow Heavenly Venerable’s sword light and Dong Cangzi’s remnant soul, then saw a chained bronze Heavenly Gate and was struck by black light that left an invisible, burning brand on his neck.
• Five-colored rosy light poured into Xu Taiping, merging Dong Cangzi’s half-immortal inheritance into his body and mind and revealing paths to origin laws and edict powers.
• Xu Taiping recalled Blade Ghost’s explanation of the Great Dao Strife and wondered whether the Path to Heaven had been locked shut.
• Xu Taiping speculated that absorbing other cultivators’ inheritances might erase his brand, but when he resisted the path, the brand flared with intense pain.
• Xu Taiping concluded that the half-immortal brand restrained cultivators and that Fairy Lingyue had sought another Path to Heaven to escape the trap.