Recaps

Xu Taiping summoned Dipankara Buddha’s inheritance in Mysterious Wasteland Heaven, but the Heartless Demon Emperor threatened to use a weapon that could destroy a heaven if Xu Taiping did not remove it. Xu Taiping ignored the threat and recovered the yellow robe, prompting the Demon Emperor to unleash Moonfall against True Martial Heaven.

• Dipankara Buddha announced that he would hold a Dharma discourse at Vulture Peak in one month, inspiring hope that many Buddhist cultivators would gather in Mysterious Wasteland Heaven.
• The Heartless Demon Emperor warned Xu Taiping that the Nine Abysses could deploy a devastating weapon and offered to spare the realms from an early war if Xu Taiping removed the Buddha Fate Inheritance.
• A Nameless Half-Immortal projected Xu Taiping’s actions into the Moonshadow Stones, and Heavenly Lord Shihu feared Xu Taiping might yield to the threat.
• Xu Taiping crushed Yin God Huangpao beneath a mountain, causing Huangpao to abandon his body and leave the yellow robe behind.
• Xu Taiping withdrew the Heavenly Dao Edict and reached for the yellow robe, but the Heartless Demon Emperor revealed the Demon God Weapon Moonfall descending upon True Martial Heaven.
• The Prefect of the Nine Prefectures called on the Great Emperors to save True Martial Heaven as its moon began falling from the sky.

As Moonfall dragged the bright moon toward True Martial Heaven, the Nine Abysses demanded Xu Taiping withdraw the Buddha Fate Inheritance or watch the heaven be destroyed. Xu Taiping refused to decide at once, weighing the lives of True Martial Heaven against preserving a path of retreat for the Shangqing Realm in the coming Great Void Calamity.

• Great Emperors Cang Ai and Zongyun explained that Moonfall could only be stopped by a Great Emperor using an entire heaven's power, while the Heartless Demon Emperor taunted True Martial Heaven for having none.
• The Heartless Demon Emperor threatened to destroy True Martial Heaven unless Xu Taiping withdrew the Buddha Fate Inheritance, and Liu Chuxuan and other cultivators pleaded with him to comply.
• Dipankara Buddha offered to extinguish the Buddhist candle and choose another Dao Field if Xu Taiping wished, but Xu Taiping said he still needed to think it over.
• Outside Jiaye Temple, Xu Taiping wondered whether to save True Martial Heaven or preserve a retreat for the Shangqing Realm against the Great Void Calamity.

Xu Taiping chose to sacrifice True Martial Heaven’s fortune to secure Shangqing’s chance against the Great Void Calamity, accepting the blame for his decision. In the Azure Profound Sect, Lü Daoxuan emerged from the Demon-Suppressing Gate, took the Emperor Seal, and declared himself the Great Emperor of True Martial Heaven.

• The Lotus Eye advised Xu Taiping to preserve True Martial Heaven, but Xu Taiping chose to protect his master and fellow disciples in the Azure Profound Sect, whatever the cost.
• Xu Taiping asked Dipankara Buddha to make Mysterious Wasteland his place of practice and forge a Buddhist force against the Nine Abysses, drawing curses from the spectators.
• Lü Daoxuan emerged from the Demon-Suppressing Gate and watched Xu Taiping endure the condemnation through the Spirit Mirror.
• Zhao Qian told Lü Daoxuan that only 367 people remained in Qingxuan and warned that using the Emperor Seal would draw the Azure Profound Sect into the Taixuan Ghost Domain.
• Lü Daoxuan took the Emperor Seal, declared himself the Great Emperor of True Martial Heaven, and addressed the Five Heavens.

Lü Daoxuan revealed himself as True Martial Heaven’s Great Emperor and used a single sword strike to halt the falling bright moon. He left the Five Heavens with a defiant challenge to anyone who would compromise with Nine Abysses or force Xu Taiping to bear infamy.

• Lü Daoxuan’s shout silenced the abuse in the Spirit Mirror, and spectators questioned whether he was truly True Martial Heaven’s Great Emperor.
• Xiahou You and Xiahou Qingyuan identified Lü Daoxuan as Xu Taiping’s master, while Heavenly Lord Shihu reasoned that the Emperor Seal must have recognized him without trials because of his exceptional strength.
• Spectators urged Lü Daoxuan to prove himself and stop the falling moon, but he did not speak directly to Xu Taiping in Wilderness Heaven.
• Lü Daoxuan sent a sword beam into the bright moon and slowed its descent without using the Emperor Seal’s power.
• Cultivators of True Martial Heaven recognized Lü Daoxuan as Ninth Uncle, and he challenged anyone who denied his status or demanded that Xu Taiping bear infamy.

Lü Daoxuan asserted his succession as True Martial Heaven’s Great Emperor, defended Xu Taiping, and reassured him that he would no longer face choices alone. Wuxin then empowered the falling moon with ninety-nine dragon skeletons, sending it crashing toward True Martial Heaven as Xu Taiping feared even his master might not stop it.

• Lü Daoxuan confronted the watching Great Emperors, who welcomed him as the successor to True Martial Heaven’s seat, and he rebuked True Martial Heaven’s cultivators for cursing Xu Taiping.
• Lü Daoxuan called to Xu Taiping through the projections and promised that he and Qingxuan would share his burdens from then on.
• Wuxin crushed Lü Daoxuan’s sword light and turned the falling moon into a crimson ghost moon.
• Wuxin summoned ninety-nine dragon skeletons beneath the ghost moon, accelerating its descent through True Martial Heaven’s restrictions.
• Xu Taiping realized the ghost moon could strike within a cup of tea and worried that Lü Daoxuan could not stop it.

Lü Daoxuan revealed that he had hidden a sword in Zhenwu for three thousand years and began drawing on the spiritual energy of Azure Profound Sect to prepare his strike against the Nine Abysses’ Moonfall. Xu Taiping watched closely as Lü Daoxuan’s power and physique rapidly returned, while Zhao Qian celebrated his revival.

• Great Emperor Cang Ai and Liu Qingshan warned that the ninety-nine-dragonbone Moonfall had been made to kill a realm’s Great Emperor.
• Lü Daoxuan told Xu Taiping to watch his next sword strike, then declared that he had kept a sword hidden in Zhenwu for three thousand years.
• Xu Taiping understood why Lü Daoxuan had urged him to study the strike and vowed not to disappoint his master.
• Lü Daoxuan drew in the spiritual energy of the Cloud Foothills Immortal Mansion, causing his skeletal body to grow taller and stronger.
• Zhao Qian was driven back by Lü Daoxuan’s rising aura and joyfully declared that his Junior Martial Uncle had returned.

Lü Daoxuan’s sword strike briefly stopped Moonfall, but Wuxin strengthened the weapon by sacrificing the dragon-bone puppets and sent it crashing toward True Martial Heaven. As Xu Taiping anticipated the next move, a second sword rose from Yellow Maple Valley’s Spirit Resonance Mountain, leaving everyone asking where it had come from.

• Lü Daoxuan’s Sword Light halted Moonfall, astonishing onlookers and revealing his power to Heavenly Lord Shihu.
• A hidden Half-Immortal in the teahouse recognized Lü Daoxuan and sighed that he had suffered for Shangqing.
• Wuxin declared that he knew Lü Daoxuan’s identity, then used the dragon-bone puppets’ self-destruction to strengthen Moonfall and shatter Lü Daoxuan’s Sword Light.
• Xu Taiping recognized that his master’s strike was only a prelude and anticipated the sword leaving its scabbard.
• A Sword Cry sounded, and Yellow Maple Valley’s spiritual energy gathered at Spirit Resonance Mountain to form a towering beam of Sword Light.

Lü Daoxuan drew upon sword intent he had hidden throughout True Martial Heaven’s mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas, gathering it into a colossal strike against the falling moon. As he unleashed his strongest sword, he told Xu Taiping that it would be the last one he could teach him.

• Lü Daoxuan’s sword intent emerged from Yellow Maple Valley’s Spiritual Resonance Peak and joined his sword light, halting the falling moon.
• A second sword rose from Xiaoyao Sect’s Xianxia Peak and helped push the moon back, but the Dragon-Bone Puppets flared and drove it downward again.
• Sword lights erupted across True Martial Heaven, and Xiahou Qingyuan realized Lü Daoxuan had hidden sword intent throughout the realm’s famed landscapes.
• Lü Daoxuan summoned a towering Dharma Aspect and gathered the scattered sword lights into a giant sword, declaring, “Ten thousand swords emerge from Zhenwu!”
• Lü Daoxuan’s Dharma Aspect slashed at the falling moon, while Lü Daoxuan told Xu Taiping to watch the strongest—and last—sword strike he could teach him.

Lü Daoxuan cleaved the bright moon with a sword strike, then revealed that he and the Azure Profound Sect would imprison themselves in the Taixuan Ghost Domain and owed Zhenwu and Shangqing nothing further. Xu Taiping learned that his master had left him a divine soul mark and entered the Dragon-Trapping Tower to open it safely.

• Lü Daoxuan shattered Moonfall and carved a vast sword scar across the bright moon, while Xu Taiping memorized the strike’s archaic characters.
• Xu Taiping recalled Lü Daoxuan calling it the last sword strike he would teach him and wondered what his master meant.
• A golden sword-light entered Xu Taiping’s brow, carrying Lü Daoxuan’s message that the Azure Profound Sect would imprison itself in the Taixuan Ghost Domain and that Xu Taiping should find somewhere safe before opening the divine soul mark.
• Lü Daoxuan declared that Qingxuan owed neither Zhenwu nor Shangqing anything after guarding Shangqing’s tomb for another hundred years.
• Xu Taiping asked Dongfang Yuejian to have Abbot Jiaye watch the Dragon-Slaying Stele, then entered the Dragon-Trapping Tower to go into seclusion.
• Lotus Eye and Abbot Jiaye warned Xu Taiping that powerful divine souls were searching for him, and Xu Taiping focused on the golden feather in his sea of consciousness.

Xu Taiping learned that Lü Daoxuan had concealed the truth about the Azure Profound Sect and the Taixuan Sect Ruins, and that merging them would activate the Heaven-Severing Grand Formation and trap the sect within the ghost domain. Lü Daoxuan offered Xu Taiping a way into the Yunmeng Marsh Secret Realm if he met certain conditions, beginning with rescuing Dugu Qingxiao from the Yellow Springs Secret Realm.

• Lü Daoxuan revealed that the Azure Profound Sect and the Taixuan Sect Ruins had always occupied the same land, with the Yunmeng Marsh Secret Realm sealed off as the ghost domain.
• Lü Daoxuan explained that undoing the seal would merge the sect and ruins, activating the Heaven-Severing Grand Formation and trapping the Azure Profound Sect with the ghost creatures and demonic beasts for up to a hundred years.
• Xu Taiping felt guilty that delivering the Buddha Fate Inheritance would trigger the formation, while Lü Daoxuan urged him not to blame himself and said the sect could endure.
• Lü Daoxuan said he and Zhao Qian had agreed to tell Xu Taiping how to enter the Yunmeng Marsh Taixuan Ghost Domain Secret Realm if he fulfilled their conditions.
• Lü Daoxuan named the first condition: Xu Taiping had to bring Dugu Qingxiao out of the Yellow Springs Secret Realm.

Lü Daoxuan explained the three conditions Xu Taiping needed to meet before entering the Taixuan Ghost Domain, where he would retrieve the Taixuan Sect's legacy and the next steps for stopping the Great Void Calamity. He warned Xu Taiping to enter during a brief lull in the Ghost Domain's power, one hundred years after it broke through its seal.

• Lü Daoxuan told Xu Taiping that he must bring Dugu Qingxiao out of the Netherworld's Yellow Springs to accompany him into the Taixuan Ghost Domain.
• Lü Daoxuan said Xu Taiping must reach the Dao Integration Realm or higher because the Ghost Creatures and Demonic Beasts would grow stronger than the Heaven Shocking Realm after the seal opened.
• Lü Daoxuan's third condition was that Xu Taiping obtain a Great Dao Divine Weapon, and he warned that all three conditions were essential for survival.
• Lü Daoxuan said a Spirit Beast in the Yunmeng Marsh Secret Realm would guide Xu Taiping into Yunze once he fulfilled the conditions.
• Lü Daoxuan urged Xu Taiping to enter the Taixuan Ghost Domain during its brief ebb one hundred years after the seal broke and retrieve his legacy from the Taixuan Hall.

Lü Daoxuan revealed that the Azure Profound Sect had sealed the Nine Abysses Demon Mother's Source-Origin Body in the Netherdark Demon Grotto, and warned Xu Taiping to flee if he encountered her. He also told Xu Taiping that Fairy Lingyue had gone in search of the Taiqing Paradise, leaving clues for him to follow if she did not return.

• Lü Daoxuan told Xu Taiping that the Netherdark Demon Grotto held the Demon Mother's Source-Origin Body, the final piece needed for her full awakening, and warned him to escape if he found her.
• The Lotus Eye recognized the Source-Origin Body and praised the Azure Profound Sect for keeping it sealed across generations.
• Xu Taiping vowed that Qingxuan would not be forgotten and that it had not failed Zhenwu or Shangqing.
• Lü Daoxuan revealed that Fairy Lingyue had gone with the Wuji Immortal Elder to seek the Old Heavenly Court's Path to Heaven and enter the dangerous Taiqing Paradise.
• Lü Daoxuan explained that Fairy Lingyue had agreed to leave Xu Taiping clues to follow after he reached the Heaven Shocking Realm, and Xu Taiping thanked his master.

Xu Taiping learned that the jade box held clues to Taiqing Paradise and Fairy Lingyue, while Lü Daoxuan warned him to strengthen himself before returning to True Martial Heaven. Lü Daoxuan and the Qingxuan sword cultivators charged into the Taixuan Ghost Domain, and Lotus Eye later completed a costly deduction to find a way to rescue Xu Taiping’s fellow disciples.

• Lü Daoxuan told Xu Taiping that the jade box containing the Soul-Merging Pill recipe held clues to Taiqing Paradise and Fairy Lingyue, and warned him to open it only after severing its karma and fortune.
• Lü Daoxuan urged Xu Taiping to avoid True Martial Heaven and focus on cultivation for the next thirty to fifty years, while Xu Taiping vowed to rescue him and the others from the Taixuan Ghost Domain.
• Lü Daoxuan and Zhao Qian led more than three hundred Qingxuan sword cultivators, including Jiang Zhi and Zhao Linglong, toward the Taixuan Ghost Domain to reclaim the Taixuan Main Hall.
• Ten days later, Lotus Eye told Xu Taiping it was ready to use great deductive power to find a way to rescue his fellow disciples, warning that the effort would leave him unable to use spells for six months to a year.
• Lotus Eye completed the deduction after consuming most of Xu Taiping’s divine soul power and a large portion of its stored divine power.

Xu Taiping completed the Lotus Eye’s great deduction and chose one of three routes toward entering the Taixuan Ghost Domain and rescuing everyone from Qingxuan. The first task revealed was to seize a Star Map in the Withered Stone Sea, a rare path to victory that left Xu Taiping questioning whether the deduction was correct.

• Xu Taiping recovered with Hidden Immortal Wine and learned that the Lotus Eye had completed its great deduction.
• The Lotus Eye presented three routes, and Xu Taiping chose the golden lotus on the far right.
• The other deductions vanished, leaving seven golden lotuses whose divine soul marks Xu Taiping had to open in order.
• Xu Taiping opened the first mark and saw cultivators gathering in the Withered Stone Sea beneath a night sky.
• The Lotus Eye explained that the Star Map there led to a celestial palace’s ruins and offered a rare chance to aid Xu Taiping’s later journey.
• Xu Taiping asked whether the deduction was certain after learning that missing the Star Map would cost him that narrow chance of success.

Lotus Eye showed Xu Taiping a vision of Xiahou You, Xiahou Qingyuan, Duan Xiaoyu, and the Four Young Cultivators from Mysterious Wasteland Heaven facing Demon Emperor Jiao’s ambush. The vision revealed that Xu Taiping would join the battle, slay Demon Emperor Jiao, and take the Star Map Stone, while the Kunwu Sword flew to him.

• Xu Taiping realized that nearly a year had passed in Wilderness Heaven, long after the expected date for the Star Map contest.
• Lotus Eye showed Xiahou You and Xiahou Qingyuan trapped in Demon Emperor Jiao’s Yellow Wind Grand Formation, where yin demon sand worms attacked cultivators and destroyed their Star Map Stones.
• Duan Xiaoyu and the Four Young Cultivators from Mysterious Wasteland Heaven joined the battle, but Demon Emperor Jiao’s forces overwhelmed the group and dragged Xiahou Qingyuan underground.
• Demon Emperor Jiao attacked Duan Xiaoyu, but Xu Taiping appeared in the vision and severed one of the demon emperor’s arms with a blade strike.
• The vision showed Xu Taiping killing Demon Emperor Jiao and picking up the Star Map Stone, and the Kunwu Sword flew out of the Iron Gourd toward him.

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.