Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping and his allies fought the Jade Emperor, but his Mystic Yellow Bell and Heaven-Severing Edict blunted their attacks. The Jade Emperor revealed that he had been secretly building enough power to invoke the Returning Heaven Edict, leaving Xu Taiping and the others facing a renewed threat.

• Xu Taiping used the Form- and Shadow-Transposition Edict to dodge the Jade Emperor’s mountain attack, then damaged the Mystic Yellow Bell with the Annihilating Blade Art as Ni Zhao slowed the Jade Emperor’s strike.
• Ni Zhao destroyed the Mystic Yellow Bell with an all-out palm strike, but its backlash made his body burst apart.
• The Jade Emperor seized Ni Zhao’s Tracing Light Edict and restored the Mystic Yellow Bell, whose backlash wounded Xu Taiping again; Xiaohei was badly injured while trying to attack the Jade Emperor.
• The Jade Emperor raised a stronger Mystic Yellow Bell by burning a tenth of his Origin of the Great Dao, while Xu Taiping and his allies gathered to face him.
• Xu Taiping recognized the purple qi as the Returning Heaven Edict, and the Jade Emperor revealed he had accumulated the power to invoke it while consuming his Origin of the Great Dao.

Xu Taiping and his allies fought the Jade Emperor’s Mystic Yellow Bell, trying to break it before he could unleash the Returning Heaven Edict. Lin Buyan sacrificed herself to grievously damage the bell, leaving Xu Taiping to face what came next with Buyu.

• Xu Taiping deduced that the Jade Emperor needed time to prepare the Returning Heaven Edict and could not attack while sustaining the Mystic Yellow Bell.
• Lin Buyan, Xu Taiping, Zhao Linglong, Nangong Yu, and Xiaohei attacked the bell and endured its backlash, but its power was fading too slowly.
• Lin Buyan transformed into a hurricane, drove Xu Taiping and the others away, and released a sealed strike against the Mystic Yellow Bell.
• The bell’s backlash struck Lin Buyan, and she sacrificed her Nascent Soul to counter it after telling Xu Taiping she would leave what came next to him and Buyu.
• Xu Taiping appeared above the damaged Mystic Yellow Bell as Zhao Linglong and the others mourned Lin Buyan.

Xu Taiping and his allies battered the Jade Emperor’s Mystic Yellow Bell, while its backlash steadily drained their strength. As the bell began to dim and Xu Taiping prepared to strike again, Xiaohei announced that he was going on ahead.

• Xu Taiping shattered the Mystic Yellow Bell’s phantom image with a Taihao Edict slash, but its backlash destroyed his Origin Beginning Clone instead of harming him.
• Lin Buyu arrived and broke the battered bell with a Thunder Edict strike, allowing Xu Taiping to attack the Jade Emperor.
• The Jade Emperor burned the last tenth of his Origin of the Great Dao to restore the bell, whose backlash wounded Xu Taiping and rapidly reduced his cultivation.
• Xu Taiping urged Lin Buyu, Zhao Linglong, and Nangong Yu to keep attacking, then summoned River of Time Reflected Projection Clones to join the assault.
• The attackers dimmed the Mystic Yellow Bell while suffering its backlash, and Xiaohei told Xu Taiping that he was going on ahead.

Xu Taiping and his companions shattered the Mystic Yellow Bell and, with help from his childhood self, killed the Jade Emperor, securing Shangqing’s victory in the Heaven-Treading Contest. The survivors returned to Shangqing amid a jubilant welcome, while the author’s closing note announced that Xu Taiping’s ascension and character follow-ups would appear in side stories.

• Xiaohei swallowed the Mystic Yellow Bell and sacrificed himself to withstand its backlash, while the battered Xu Taiping and his companions continued attacking the bell’s phantom.
• Xu Taiping, Zhao Linglong, Lin Buyu, and Nangong Yu combined their strongest attacks and shattered the Mystic Yellow Bell’s phantom, but its backlash gravely wounded them.
• As the Jade Emperor prepared to use the Returning Heaven Edict again, a River of Time projection of young Xu Taiping collapsed before reaching him.
• A child version of Xu Taiping pulled the Water-Cutting Blade from the ground and killed the Jade Emperor, then faded away after Xu Taiping thanked him.
• Golden light carried Xu Taiping and the other survivors into the Void as the contest declared Shangqing victorious, and the realm’s disciples raised their swords to welcome the heroes home.
• The author thanked readers, confirmed the novel’s ending, and said Xu Taiping’s ascension and character follow-ups would appear in side stories.

Liang Zhu set out from the Chaos Death Domain to attend Xu Taiping and Buyu’s ascension ceremony, but Liu Qingyu intercepted her and publicly proposed to her. Xu Chengling arrived after Liang Zhu called for help and confronted Liu Qingyu.

• Liang Zhu received Dugu Qingxiao’s message that Xu Taiping and Buyu would open the heavenly gate in half a month, then prepared to return to Qingxuan with Whale Song.
• Liang Zhu contacted Xu Chengling about traveling together, but Liu Qingyu arrived aboard an Immortal Boat before he could reply.
• Liu Qingyu asked Liang Zhu to become his Dao Companion, and she firmly refused.
• Liu Qingyu announced to the Shangqing Heavens that he would offer his Heaven-Treading Contest reward as a betrothal gift if he won.
• Liang Zhu sensed Xu Chengling nearby and asked him for help, and he arrived and insulted Liu Qingyu.

Xu Chengling challenged Liu Qingyu to protect Liang Zhu, then drew out Wu Guang and a hidden shadow of Taiqing Paradise. After the shadow captured them and threatened Xu Taiping, Xu Chengling revealed that the confrontation had been a trap and called on his Grand-Uncle to strike.

• Xu Chengling confronted Liu Qingyu after Liang Zhu called him her chosen Dao Companion, and accepted Liu Qingyu's challenge to withstand a punch.
• Xu Chengling's hidden mountain of sword force overwhelmed Liu Qingyu, but Wu Guang appeared and caught his sword light before it could kill his disciple.
• Liang Zhu joined Xu Chengling against Wu Guang, and Xu Chengling revealed another mountain of sword force that let them break through Wu Guang's palm force.
• A golden figure descended from a rift and trapped Xu Chengling, Liang Zhu, and the others in a golden birdcage, revealing itself as a shadow hidden by Taiqing Paradise.
• The shadow threatened Xu Taiping, but Xu Chengling said their mission was complete and called to his Grand-Uncle, whose enormous flying sword began emerging from a rift in the Chaos Death Domain.

Xu Taiping’s sword intent destroyed the shadow in the Chaos Death Domain, and he tasked Liang Zhu and Xu Chengling with escorting the final pair of Mountain-Sealing Bearers. They reached Yunshan Town five days later and found it devastated by an earthquake, leaving the bearers’ fate uncertain.

• Xu Taiping’s sword intent absorbed the Chaos Death Domain’s power and destroyed the shadow, while Liang Zhu and Xu Chengling learned that Liu Qingyu had not known about the trap.
• Liang Zhu told Xu Chengling to pretend to be her Dao companion until one of them ascended, then Xu Taiping asked them to escort a couple from Yunshan Town to Taiping Town.
• Xu Taiping explained that the couple carried the final Mountain-Sealing token and instructed Liang Zhu and Xu Chengling not to intervene with cultivator methods, but to retrieve the token if the bearers died.
• Five days later, Liang Zhu and Xu Chengling arrived in Yunshan Town and found much of it buried or ruined by an earthquake, leaving them unsure whether the Mountain-Sealing Bearers had survived.

Liang Zhu and Xu Chengling found Yu Qian digging through the ruins for his trapped wife, Pomegranate Mother, and helped him rescue her without using Magic Power. After her death, Yu Qian carried her home and delivered the Token to Taiping Temple, while Xu Chengling began questioning the meaning of cultivation; Liang Zhu suggested asking Junior Martial Uncle Taiping when they returned.

• Liang Zhu found Yu Qian's ruined tailor shop and stopped Xu Chengling from using Magic Power to help him.
• Xu Chengling and Liang Zhu joined Yu Qian in digging through the rubble and freed Pomegranate Mother, who had only one breath left.
• Pomegranate Mother gave Yu Qian a seal for Taiping Temple and died; Yu Qian resolved to carry her home and care for their daughter, Pomegranate.
• Xu Chengling accepted that he could not use a Soul-Returning Pill to interfere with mortal karma, and Liang Zhu explained that mortals needed no pity from the Cultivation World.
• Over seven or eight days, Liang Zhu and Xu Chengling followed Yu Qian to Taiping Town, where he buried Pomegranate Mother and delivered the Token to Taiping Temple.
• Xu Chengling wondered whether immortality and Dao Attainment had any meaning beyond longevity, and Liang Zhu suggested asking Junior Martial Uncle Taiping.

Xu Taiping recovered a childhood memory of the battle against the Jade Emperor and shared a quiet farewell meal with Lin Buyu before their planned ascension. As they prepared to leave for the ceremony, Xu Chengling arrived troubled by the question of what an immortal truly was.

• Xu Taiping realized that his childhood nightmare recalled the battle against the Jade Emperor and that his illness had erased his memories.
• Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu thanked each other for their eight hundred years together and wagered that the loser in their tribulation contest would seek out the winner after ascending.
• Lin Buyu served Xu Taiping scorched pheasant porridge, and their shared meal strengthened their divine sense auras.
• Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu prepared to leave Green Bamboo Abode for the ascension ceremony at Five Elders Pool.
• Liang Zhu and Xu Chengling arrived and reported that Xu Chengling's Dao heart was clouded, causing his cultivation realm to show signs of regression.
• Xu Chengling asked Xu Taiping what an immortal truly was, and Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu recognized it as the same question Lin Buyu had raised.

At Five Elders Pool, Xu Taiping answered Xu Chengling’s doubts about immortality, arguing that cultivators should use generations of effort to glimpse the Heavenly Dao and repay the world’s living beings. As Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu prepared to face the tribulation they had awaited for eight hundred years, a terrifying red eye appeared in the thunderclouds.

• Xu Chengling asked Xu Taiping what meaning cultivation and the pursuit of immortality held under the Heavenly Dao’s restraints.
• Lü Daoxuan, Fairy Lingyue, and the other Azure Profound Sect disciples and old friends gathered at Five Elders Pool to hear Xu Taiping’s answer.
• Xu Taiping described how mortals had built a flourishing society despite calamities, then urged cultivators to seek the Heavenly Dao’s origin and repay the beings whose fortune supported them.
• Xu Chengling and the gathered cultivators resonated with Xu Taiping’s words, while Lin Buyu told him it was a blessing to share the quest.
• The tribulation clouds gathered, and Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu prepared to ascend as their friends promised to follow.
• A red eye appeared at the center of the tribulation clouds, and Liang Zhu identified it as the tribulation lightning eye.

Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu ascended through the Heavenly Gate and discovered that the Ancestral Dragon was imprisoned in the Jade Void Immortal Realm by the Spiritfolk Clan. Separated as they entered the realm, they were told to conceal their identities and wait for another human ascender before acting.

• Zhao Qian, Lü Daoxuan, Dugu Qingxiao, Zhao Linglong, and the Azure Profound Sect’s cultivators joined forces to shield Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu as they faced the heavenly tribulation.
• Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu broke through the tribulation clouds, revealed the Heavenly Gate, and Xu Taiping used Heavenly Gate Crash to open its bronze doors.
• Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu ascended through the Void and saw reflected Dao Fruits, including one belonging to the Ancestral Dragon, pinned and suppressed by a spear.
• The Ancestral Dragon told Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu that the Spiritfolk Clan had sealed him and hunted the human race, and that their arrival brought a human counterattack closer.
• The Ancestral Dragon said another human from the Eastern Tomb Divine Continent still had to ascend before the human race’s plan could proceed.
• Golden light carried Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu separately into the Jade Void Immortal Realm, where the Ancestral Dragon warned them to hide their identities and Xu Taiping promised to find Lin Buyu.