Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping repeatedly hurled himself at the Heavenly Gate, enduring the heavenly might and the destructive effects of the pills rather than abandon his resolve. After finally resisting the gate’s recoil and continuing to strike, he transformed into a white dragon and began to loosen the gate.

• Xu Taiping charged the Heavenly Gate again and again, suffering severe injuries as the golden ripples of heavenly might stripped away his flesh and bones.
• Fairy Lingyue told the Abyssal Pavilion that she had taught Xu Taiping no method to transform and that his actions came from his own true heart.
• Xu Taiping kept rising and attacking despite his injuries, earning the respect of those watching in the Abyssal Pavilion.
• Xu Taiping broke through the final golden ripple, withstood the gate’s recoil, and battered the Heavenly Gate with the Raging Thunder Form.
• When the pills’ power nearly sent him tumbling backward, Xu Taiping drew the escaping qi and blood back into his body and continued striking.
• Xu Taiping transformed into a white dragon and struck the Heavenly Gate with his claws, making it begin to loosen.

Xu Taiping endured heavenly lightning and true fire while forcing the Heavenly Gate open, despite his dragon-form body being battered and burned. As Fairy Lingyue weighed a scroll that could save him but banish him from the Mysterious Wasteland Tower, Xu Taiping kept tapping the gate with his half-burned tail.

• Xu Taiping transformed his dragon whale physique into dragon form and forced the Heavenly Gate partly open, impressing the onlookers in the Abyssal Palace.
• Heavenly might poured through the gate as lightning and true fire, tearing away Xu Taiping’s scales and leaving him unable to ram it with his claws.
• Heavenly Lord Cangzhu gave Fairy Lingyue a scroll that could protect Xu Taiping from the Mysterious Wasteland Tower but would banish him from it forever.
• Fairy Lingyue hesitated over whether to use the scroll as Xu Taiping continued tapping the Heavenly Gate with his burned, half-length tail.

Xu Taiping forced the Heavenly Gate open through sheer persistence, but Heavenly Might destroyed his body and left him falling toward death. An aged voice reminded him that he still had a sword, and he pointed his skeletal fingers at the gate, vowing to open it with that sword.

• Fairy Lingyue refused to give up on Xu Taiping and asked Heavenly Lord Cangzhu to accompany her to Mysterious Wasteland Heaven if Xu Taiping died; Cangzhu, Wuji Immortal Elder, Yunhua, and Ye Chensha agreed to go with her.
• Xu Taiping repeatedly battered the Heavenly Gate with his dragon-transformed body, reciting the Sage of Books' maxims as lightning and True Fire ravaged him.
• Xu Taiping's final collision flung the Heavenly Gate wide open, but golden Heavenly Might poured down and tore apart his body.
• As Xu Taiping fell toward the Cloud-Ascending Platform, an aged voice told him that a sword could protect him and restore his Dao heart.
• Xu Taiping realized he still had a sword, raised his skeletal fingers toward the Heavenly Gate, and declared that his sword could open it.

Xu Taiping used Ninth Uncle’s Hidden Sword technique to shatter the Heavenly Gate and ascend to the twelfth layer of the Mysterious Wasteland Tower. The Tower Spirit then granted him access to the thirteenth floor, where he could meet Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland’s true spirit, alarming the Abyssal Pavilion.

• Xu Taiping’s sword strike forced open the Heavenly Gate as names and pleas from his journey through the tower appeared in his sword intent.
• Xu Taiping gathered his sword qi into a single strike, causing swords across the watching realms to fly from their sheaths and bow.
• Xu Taiping pierced and shattered the Heavenly Gate, disappearing into it and leaving a sword scar behind.
• Fairy Lingyue confirmed that Xu Taiping was a sword cultivator and privately credited Ninth Uncle with teaching him the technique.
• The Tower Spirit announced that Xu Taiping had reached the twelfth layer, raised his primordial spirit cultivation to thirteenth-stage great perfection, and granted him entry to the thirteenth floor and the chance to meet Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland’s true spirit.
• The Abyssal Pavilion’s members grew solemn at the prospect of Xu Taiping speaking with the Great Emperor, while Ye Chensha declared that the Nine Abysses’ day of reckoning had come.

Xu Taiping reached the Twelfth Layer of the Mysterious Wasteland Tower, where Dongfang Jing and Blade Slave restored his strength, raised his primordial spirit realm, and gave him a treasured ring left by Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland. He learned that he could ascend to the thirteenth layer and question the Great Emperor, though Dongfang Jing and Blade Slave could not accompany him.

• Xu Taiping awoke in the Twelfth Layer of the Mysterious Wasteland Tower and watched his depleted body and power rapidly recover.
• Dongfang Jing and Blade Slave greeted Xu Taiping, and Dongfang Jing raised his primordial spirit realm to the thirteenth stage of the Spirit Refining Realm.
• Dongfang Jing gave Xu Taiping the Qingluo storage ring, which held part of Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland's cherished treasures.
• Dongfang Jing and Blade Slave pointed out the staircase to the thirteenth layer, where Xu Taiping could meet and question Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland.
• Xu Taiping asked Dongfang Jing and Blade Slave to accompany him, but Dongfang Jing explained that only Xu Taiping was qualified to see the Great Emperor.

Xu Taiping reached the Thirteenth Layer of the Mysterious Wasteland Tower, where Dongfang Jing told him the bronze bell could summon Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland’s true spirit. As Thousand Mechanisms City faced a demonic assault, Xu Taiping rang the Heaven-Questioning Bell, and its chime resounded across Mysterious Wasteland Heaven.

• Dongfang Jing revealed that the Great Emperor could attack the Nine Abysses demonic beasts if someone endured the Heavenly Dao’s backlash, and Blade Slave objected to Xu Taiping bearing that burden.
• Xu Taiping arrived at the Thirteenth Layer and learned from Dongfang Jing that striking the bronze bell would summon the Great Emperor’s true spirit.
• As the Ninth Abyss’s demonic army attacked Thousand Mechanisms City, the old city lord refused to retreat and waited for the Heaven-Questioning Bell to ring.
• The Heaven-Questioning Bell rang across Mysterious Wasteland Heaven, and the old city lord knelt and thanked Xu Taiping.

Xu Taiping rang the Heaven-Questioning Bell and called for Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland to descend, while observers in True Martial Heaven warned that inviting a Heavenly Immortal could bring deadly Heavenly Dao backlash. Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland appeared above the tower, shattered the demonic clouds, and engulfed the tower in golden light.

• Xu Taiping used the Heaven-Questioning Bell to extend his divine soul's perception across Mysterious Wasteland Heaven and realized its toll could carry his call far beyond the tower.
• Xu Taiping invited Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland to descend, and his words echoed across Mysterious Wasteland Heaven and into other worlds.
• Sect Master Zhao Qian and the Azure Profound Sect's Peak Lords celebrated Xu Taiping's call, while Qiu Shanyuan warned Jiang Cuicui that summoning a Heavenly Immortal could expose Xu Taiping to immense Heavenly Dao backlash.
• A crimson palm print appeared in the demonic clouds above the Mysterious Wasteland Tower, and a gigantic hand shattered them.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland descended in a mass of golden light, burned nearby demonic beasts to ash, and left Qiu Shanyuan staring in astonishment.

The Eight Emperors used the Nine Abysses' Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation to trap Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland's true spirit and suppress his Great Sun Golden Flame. The Golden Crows he unleashed shattered the formation and left the Eight Emperors' swords cracking.

• Eight black swords and their mist-shrouded controllers appeared around the Mysterious Wasteland Tower, sealing the Great Sun Golden Flame inside a Sword Formation.
• Qiu Shanyuan received intelligence identifying the formation as the Immortal-Slaying Formation and its controllers as the Eight Emperors.
• Qiu Shanyuan and Zhang Tianze suspected the Eight Emperors meant to capture Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland's true spirit as nourishment for demon seeds.
• The Eight Emperors sent Sword Shadows against the Great Sun Golden Flame, dimming it as Qiu Shanyuan noted that Heavenly Dao laws restrained descended immortals.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland sent thousands of Golden Crows from the tower, destroying the Sword Shadows and battering the Eight Emperors' swords until the formation began to collapse.

Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland destroyed the tribulation cloud but could not attack the Eight Emperors again without risking being driven back to the upper realm. He told Xu Taiping that a hidden treasure could let him act undetected and asked Xu to help, leaving Xu to face the cost of opposing the Nine Abysses Demon Domain.

• Tribulation lightning shattered most of Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland’s Golden Crows and threatened to send his true spirit back to the upper realm.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland cleaved apart the tribulation cloud with a sword strike, though Zhang Tianze and Qiu Shanyuan feared he could not attack the Eight Emperors again.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland praised Xu Taiping for reaching the tower’s summit with a mortal bone and said he could not act against the Eight Emperors without drawing another tribulation.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland told Xu Taiping that a hidden treasure in the Mysterious Wasteland Tower could conceal his next action from the Heavenly Dao.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland asked Xu Taiping to help even if it made him an enemy of the entire Nine Abysses Demon Domain, and Xu Taiping had not yet answered.

Xu Taiping asked Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland to explain why he needed his help against the Nine Abysses Demonic Beasts. Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland revealed that Xu Taiping would have to bear the Heavenly Dao’s backlash when he acted, then brought out the Netherworld Book of Life and Death as the key to his plan.

• Xu Taiping asked Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland to explain his intentions before deciding whether to help.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland promised not to harm Xu Taiping but said he had to stop the calamity threatening Mysterious Wasteland Heaven and possibly the Shangqing Realm.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland explained that acting as an upper-realm celestial immortal would draw Heavenly Tribulation, so Xu Taiping would need to bear the Heavenly Dao’s backlash.
• Xu Taiping asked about his chances of surviving, and Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland answered that ordinary methods meant certain death.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland produced the Netherworld Book of Life and Death and explained how it judged the souls of those whose names were marked in it.

Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland explained that Xu Taiping could use the Book of Life and Death to kill the eight emperors, but would have to sacrifice fortune and bear their sealed souls in endless agony. Xu Taiping asked for time to consider the full price before deciding whether to save Mysterious Wasteland Heaven this way.

• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland explained that only someone from the lower realm could wield the Book of Life and Death there and asked Xu Taiping to carve the eight emperors' names.
• Xu Taiping learned that his fortune from the Golden Scale Ranking could pay the book's price and declared that he would sacrifice it without regret.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland revealed that the destroyed Netherworld meant the slain souls would be sealed inside Xu Taiping, subjecting his body and spirit to agony until they were refined.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland warned that sealing the eight emperors and their Demonic Beasts would also bring endless pursuit by the Nine Abysses.
• Xu Taiping hesitated at the full cost and asked Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland for time to discern his own heart before making a decision.

Xu Taiping struggled to decide whether to use the Book of Life and Death, knowing its price could ruin his cultivation and bring the Nine Abysses’ vengeance. Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland’s touch brought back a childhood memory of Xu Taiping telling his grandpa he wanted to live as freely as a bird.

• Xu Taiping weighed the suffering and danger of using the Book of Life and Death against the fate of Mysterious Wasteland Heaven, but could not choose.
• Xu Taiping lamented that accepting the cost might end his cultivation path and keep him from returning to the Azure Profound Sect or fulfilling his grandpa’s last wish.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland gently patted Xu Taiping’s head, prompting a vivid childhood memory.
• Five-year-old Xu Taiping told his grandpa he wanted to become rich, then rejected the wealthy men they discussed because they did not live freely.
• Little Taiping pointed to a bird in flight and said he wanted to fly wherever he pleased, while his grandpa warned him that a bird’s life was less secure.

Xu Taiping remembered his childhood desire to save others and chose freedom over immortality, accepting the Book of Life and Death and carving knife from Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland. As the tower’s thirteenth floor appeared in the Abyssal Palace’s projection, Fairy Lingyue recognized the book and reacted with horror.

• Xu Taiping recalled telling his grandfather he refused to live without the freedom to act and save those he cared about, and his Dao heart grew clearer.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland warned Xu Taiping that using the Book of Life and Death could sever his Path to Immortality, but Xu Taiping reaffirmed his decision.
• Xu Taiping said he wanted to save his friends and the people of Mysterious Wasteland Heaven, and that he valued freedom over immortality.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland handed Xu Taiping the Book of Life and Death and carving knife, declaring that Xu Taiping would decide the fate of every Demonic Beast in Mysterious Wasteland Heaven.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland revealed the tower’s thirteenth floor to those watching through the Spirit Mirror, and Fairy Lingyue identified the book as the Netherworld Book of Life and Death.

Fairy Lingyue confirmed that Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland had given Xu Taiping the Netherworld Book of Life and Death, a divine treasure that lower-realm cultivators must not touch lightly. As Xu Taiping invited the people of Mysterious Wasteland Heaven to report the Eight Emperors’ crimes, Fairy Lingyue feared the price he would have to pay to use the book.

• Heavenly Lord Cangzhu said the Netherworld Book of Life and Death was both an evil object and a divine treasure, and Fairy Lingyue warned that lower-realm cultivators must not touch it.
• Fairy Lingyue confirmed Ye Chensha’s guess that the book could govern life and death throughout a realm, startling the assembled cultivators.
• Xu Taiping asked the people of Mysterious Wasteland Heaven to reveal the Eight Emperors’ evil deeds by speaking, writing, or thought.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland revealed the Eight Emperors’ identities, including former human cultivators Zhuo Bufan, Zhai Ye, Lü Longmu, Qingyu, and Qu Chen.
• Fairy Lingyue protested that using the book against the powerful Eight Emperors would send Xu Taiping to his death.
• Heavenly Lord Cangzhu explained that only cultivators from the book’s realm could control it, and that killing with it required an equivalent price.

Xu Taiping accepted the Book of Life and Death to judge the eight Demon Emperors, choosing his own path despite the risk of losing himself. He began by calling Demon Emperor Black Hound to account, while Black Hound answered with a river of blood and countless skeletons.

• Fairy Lingyue threatened Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland, who explained that Xu Taiping had accepted the Book of Life and Death himself.
• Xu Taiping told Fairy Lingyue that he chose to pursue freedom and help Mysterious Wasteland Heaven, even if the choice left him neither human nor ghost.
• Fairy Lingyue accepted Xu Taiping's decision, and Heavenly Lord Cangzhu offered him the Abyssal Pavilion's Thirteenth Seat if he returned alive.
• Xu Taiping opened the Book of Life and Death, endured its netherworld energy, and carved a name into a bamboo slip.
• Xu Taiping called Demon Emperor Black Hound to account, and Black Hound summoned a river of blood filled with skeletons before challenging him.

Xu Taiping used the Book of Life and Death and the Heaven-Questioning Bell to turn Zhai Mo’s anger at Demon Emperor Black Claw’s crimes into a sword strike. Black Claw’s blood river shattered, and the sword pierced his chest, leaving him stunned.

• Demon Emperor Black Claw taunted Xu Taiping while the Demon Emperors stalled for time, expecting Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland’s true spirit and the Book of Life and Death to return to the upper realm.
• Zhai Mo recounted how Black Claw slaughtered Chaoci City’s children and mutilated its people, and Xu Taiping transformed Zhai Mo’s accumulated wrath into a sword that struck at Black Claw.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland explained that recording Black Claw’s crimes before judging him would cost less fortune, and Xu Taiping asked him to use the Heaven-Questioning Bell to spread the process across Mysterious Wasteland Heaven.
• Xu Taiping recorded Black Claw’s first crime and demanded that he confess, but Black Claw declared himself innocent.
• Xu Taiping pronounced punishment, and the sword formed from Zhai Mo’s wrath pierced Black Claw’s river of blood and chest.

After Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland’s sword pierced Demon Emperor Blackclaw, Xu Taiping called on the people of Mysterious Wasteland Heaven to testify against him. A little girl accused Blackclaw of destroying her village and killing her brother, prompting Xu Taiping to record the crime and demand that Blackclaw admit his guilt.

• Xu Taiping reassured Mysterious Wasteland Heaven that Demon Emperor Blackclaw could be judged and invited people to report his crimes.
• A little girl from Luoshui Village told Xu Taiping that Blackclaw’s underlings had mutilated her parents and imprisoned the village children in a cellar.
• The girl’s little brother Doudou died in her arms, and she begged Xu Taiping to avenge him and the other victims.
• Xu Taiping promised to avenge the children as the Heaven-Questioning Bell rang, then recorded Blackclaw’s second crime: slaughtering Luoshui Village and imprisoning its children to nourish Demon Seeds.
• Xu Taiping demanded that Demon Emperor Blackclaw acknowledge his guilt, while Blackclaw tried to free himself from the sword piercing him.

Xu Taiping used the Netherworld Book of Life and Death to condemn Demon Emperor Black Claw for his crimes, and the Black-and-White Skeletons tore Black Claw apart. The chapter ended with the Abyssal Palace witnesses stunned by the Demon Emperor’s apparent execution.

• Black Claw resisted Xu Taiping’s pressure and denied his guilt, but a sword strike formed from a Luoshui Village girl’s anger pierced him.
• Xu Taiping accused Black Claw of massacring Crimson Cloud City, and another sword strike pierced him after he denied the charge.
• Xu Taiping recited Black Claw’s crimes, sending hundreds of sword beams into him while the Abyssal Palace watched.
• Xu Taiping declared Black Claw’s punishment for a thousand crimes and ordered his execution.
• The Black-and-White Skeletons tore Black Claw into pieces as he called for Lord Heartless Demon Emperor, leaving Wuji Immortal Elder and the others in disbelief.

Xu Taiping faced the Book of Life and Death’s demand to seal Demon Emperor Black Claw’s primordial spirit inside his own body, accepting the risk to his cultivation and sanity. He consented to the first soul brand on his left arm and screamed as it burned his divine soul.

• After Xu Taiping erased Demon Emperor Black Claw’s name, the Book of Life and Death seized Black Claw’s primordial spirit and presented it as a brand in the Mysterious Wasteland Tower.
• Fairy Lingyue explained that Book of Life and Death successors had to seal the souls they erased within their bodies, and that demon seed primordial spirits could overwhelm their hosts.
• Great Emperor Mysterious Wasteland tried to send Xu Taiping out of the tower, but Xu Taiping insisted he would not abandon his resolve.
• Xu Taiping asked the pale hand to brand Black Claw’s primordial spirit on his left arm, leaving room for the other seven Demon Emperors.
• Xu Taiping confirmed his consent, and the pale hand branded his arm, making him scream in pain as his divine soul was burned.

After sealing Demon Emperor Black Claw, Xu Taiping summoned the victims of the remaining seven Demon Emperors to accuse them and began executing them through the Book of Life and Death. Heartless Demon Emperor intervened to stop him, but Xu Taiping resisted his power and carved Heartless Demon Emperor’s name into the book.

• Xu Taiping endured the soul-seal ritual, branded Black Claw’s Primordial Spirit onto his left arm, and lost ten years of martial fortune as the Book of Life and Death claimed six golden dragon silhouettes.
• Xu Taiping called on the people of Mysterious Wasteland Heaven to accuse the seven remaining Demon Emperors, and victims recounted their atrocities.
• The seven Demon Emperors attacked the Mysterious Wasteland Tower, but thousands of black sword lights pierced them as Xu Taiping demanded they confess their crimes.
• Xu Taiping declared that those who confessed and those who refused would both be executed, then killed Demon Emperor Turbid Rain after Turbid Rain attempted to rally the others.
• Heartless Demon Emperor arrived and used Word-Follows-Law to silence Xu Taiping, but Xu Taiping resisted and carved Ninth Demon Abyss, Heartless Demon Emperor into the Book of Life and Death.