Chapter Summaries

Cao Bing welcomed Uncle Fu after his seclusion and learned that the Evolution Heart had greatly strengthened him and advanced his skills in combat, formations, and artifact forging. Uncle Fu then gave Cao Bing a scroll from Che Houyuan that explained a new eight-level classification of formations, leaving Cao Bing to reconsider how much he still had to learn.

• Cao Bing welcomed Uncle Fu, who reported that his soul realm and Law comprehension had grown substantially and that he could forge Mid-grade Heavenly Divine Artifacts.
• Uncle Fu told Cao Bing that his attainment in The Way of Formations had reached the first realm and handed him a Golden Scroll from Che Houyuan.
• Cao Bing read Che Houyuan's explanation that the commonly named three realms of formations failed to capture the true differences in skill.
• Che Houyuan's scroll classified formations into eight levels, with Level 5 required for forging Heavenly Divine Artifacts and Levels 7 and 8 mastered only by Che Houyuan.

Cao Bing studied Che Houyuan’s teachings on formations and learned how his own skill compared with Qin Yu’s and Uncle Fu’s. He left impressed by Uncle Fu’s late Level 5 attainments and reassured by the protection his expertise could provide.

• Cao Bing read Che Houyuan’s Golden Scroll, which described the eight formation levels and urged his successor to inherit the Misty God Temple and the title of Craftsman God.
• Uncle Fu brought out Che Houyuan’s supplementary scrolls, and Cao Bing learned that the higher formation levels contained increasingly few examples.
• Uncle Fu said Cao Bing had reached the peak of Level 3 Formations, while Qin Yu had reached the peak of the second level.
• Uncle Fu revealed that he had advanced to roughly the late Level 5 stage after receiving the Evolution Heart and cultivating in seclusion.
• Cao Bing rejoiced at Uncle Fu’s strength and recognized that his formation expertise could protect him from powerful enemies unless a Godking intervened.

Cao Bing learned the limits of Uncle Fu’s formation skills and enlisted his help to advance his own experiments. Confident in Uncle Fu’s strength, Cao Bing chose to test formations on bandit forces near Black Dragon Pool.

• Uncle Fu said a full-strength formation could kill peak Heavenly Deity experts who entered it, but a portable formation could not trap a God King without peak Level Five attainment.
• Cao Bing asked Uncle Fu to guide his next round of formation experiments, and Uncle Fu agreed.
• Cao Bing decided to use mountain bandits as test subjects instead of experimenting in an uninhabited wilderness.
• Cao Bing selected a mountainous region near Black Dragon Pool, where more than a dozen bandit forces preyed on ordinary villages and travelers.
• Cao Bing no longer feared Black Dragon Pool because he believed Uncle Fu could defeat its leader and kill him if he entered a formation.

Cao Bing spent years testing and refining his formations, killing many experts sent by Black Dragon Pool. After Black Dragon Pool’s losses enraged its commanders, Xiong Hei mobilized troops to attack Cao Bing’s mountain.

• Cao Bing tested his formations on captured Divine Realm experts, and nearly all failed to escape.
• Black Dragon Pool sent formation masters and Heavenly Deity experts against Cao Bing, but his formations killed them, including Gongsun.
• Xiong Hei learned that Gongsun and other Black Dragon Pool experts had died and grew furious.
• Mei Ji and Liu Xu Dao Ren mocked Xiong Hei over his repeated defeats.
• Xiong Hei vowed to use his Heavenly Divine Artifact and spatial power to break Cao Bing’s formations, then ordered A Yi to mobilize troops for an assault.

Cao Bing broke through to the early fourth level of The Way of Formations after more than sixty thousand years of cultivation in the Jiang Lan Realm. When he sensed intruders testing his formations at Chaotic Formation Mountain, he left the realm to confront them.

• Cao Bing reached the early fourth level of The Way of Formations after six avatars studied Che Houyuan's inheritance together.
• Cao Bing recognized that his formations could threaten powerful Heavenly Deity experts but that his own combat strength had also grown beyond what his formations could offer.
• Cao Bing sensed someone attacking his mountain formation and suspected Black Dragon Pool had sent another challenge.
• Liu Xu Dao Ren and Mei Ji watched Xiong Hei struggle inside the formation and argued over whether he needed their help.
• Liu Xu Dao Ren and Mei Ji decided to wait, trusting Xiong Hei's strength and Low-grade Heavenly Divine Artifact to see him through.

Xiong Hei charged into Cao Bing’s grand formation and tried to smash his way through, unaware that he was trapped in a small area and his attacks were feeding the formation. Cao Bing activated its killing formation, and Xiong Hei recognized the deadly Profound Silence Black Wind as the danger closed in.

• Xiong Hei entered Cao Bing’s grand formation and began smashing at the strange rocks with his Langya List.
• The formation kept Xiong Hei circling within a hundred meters while redirecting or absorbing most of his attacks.
• Cao Bing watched from a mountaintop, judged Xiong Hei’s efforts unimpressive, and activated the killing formation.
• Profound Silence Black Wind mixed into the sinister winds, and Xiong Hei realized he could not safely withstand many strikes from it.

Xiong Hei was overwhelmed by Profound Silence Black Winds inside Cao Bing’s formation and barely survived their first strike. Outside Chaotic Formation Mountain, Mei Ji and Liu Xu Dao Ren heard his cries for help but refused to enter, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Xiong Hei tried to dodge the many Profound Silence Black Winds surrounding him, then swung his spiked club when he ran out of room.
• The black winds shattered Xiong Hei’s attack and stripped away nearly all his flesh, leaving only his vital organs and bones before he regenerated.
• Badly weakened, Xiong Hei shouted for Mei Ji and Liu Xu Dao Ren to save him.
• Mei Ji told Liu Xu Dao Ren that entering the formation would likely get them killed and that Xiong Hei only wanted them to share the danger while he escaped.

Mei Ji and Liu Xu Dao Ren abandoned Xiong Hei inside Chaotic Formation Mountain, but Cao Bing spared him and enslaved him as a Soul Slave. With Xiong Hei recovering in his World Ring, Cao Bing gained a powerful subordinate and began eyeing Black Dragon Pool.

• Mei Ji and Liu Xu Dao Ren refused to enter the formation to rescue Xiong Hei, who realized they had abandoned him.
• Xiong Hei fled the Profound Silence Black Wind, then begged the master of Chaotic Formation Mountain for mercy when the winds cornered him.
• The Profound Silence Black Wind dissipated, and Cao Bing ordered Xiong Hei to release his soul defenses in exchange for a chance to live.
• Cao Bing enslaved Xiong Hei, stored him in his World Ring to recover, and considered him a useful guide and subordinate in the Divine Realm.
• Cao Bing began setting his sights on Black Dragon Pool.

Cao Bing strengthened Chaotic Formation Mountain’s formations and activated a hidden outer formation, trapping Mei Ji, Liu Xu Dao Ren, and several Black Dragon Pool lackeys. Mei Ji and Liu Xu Dao Ren were battered by relentless lightning while the lackeys were killed, leaving them struggling to survive.

• Mei Ji and Liu Xu Dao Ren waited outside Chaotic Formation Mountain, fearing the consequences if Xiong Hei had died or betrayed Black Dragon Pool.
• Cao Bing used his newly advanced formation skills and divine spirit stones to strengthen the mountain’s great formation.
• Cao Bing activated the formation outside the mountain, trapping Liu Xu Dao Ren, Mei Ji, and several Black Dragon Pool lackeys.
• Mei Ji invoked Black Dragon Pool’s chief to threaten Cao Bing, but he answered by unleashing waves of lightning.
• The outer formation blasted the trapped lackeys into nothingness and left Mei Ji and Liu Xu Dao Ren covered in wounds as Mei Ji pleaded for their release.

Cao Bing used the formations at Chaotic Formation Mountain to kill Mei Ji and Liu Xu Dao Ren, then returned to the Jiang Lan Realm. At Black Dragon Pool, the long-missing leader Tan Jiu emerged from the lake, learned of their deaths, and set off to confront whoever had attacked them.

• Mei Ji threatened Cao Bing with the Black Dragon Pool leader, but Cao Bing intensified the formation’s attacks against her and Liu Xu Dao Ren.
• The formation destroyed Mei Ji and Liu Xu Dao Ren’s bodies and Soul Nascent Souls, killing them; Cao Bing returned to the Jiang Lan Realm as the remaining Black Dragon Pool grunts fled.
• Tan Jiu emerged from the lake at Black Dragon Pool, where hundreds of thousands of people greeted him.
• A Black Dragon Pool leader told Tan Jiu that Xiong Hei had taken Mei Ji and Liu Xu Dao Ren to deal with Chaotic Formation Mountain.
• Tan Jiu learned that Mei Ji and Liu Xu Dao Ren had fallen, then flew off to find whoever had attacked his people.

Tan Jiu reached Chaotic Formation Mountain to avenge his fallen commanders and free Xiong Hei, but Cao Bing’s layered formations forced him to fight his way uphill for thirty years. Tan Jiu entered the final Level Four killing formation and managed to block its barrage of attacks.

• Tan Jiu arrived at Chaotic Formation Mountain with a lackey who had escaped from the mountain, then threw the lackey into its formation.
• Tan Jiu’s staff could not damage the formation from outside, so he entered and used brute force to break through its first twelve layers.
• After thirty years, Tan Jiu reached the mountainside and entered the thirteenth and final formation.
• Cao Bing let Tan Jiu test the Level Four killing formation, which unleashed a dense storm of elemental attacks.
• Tan Jiu spun his staff into a defensive barrier and used Space Law to slow the attacks, blocking the barrage.

Cao Bing watched Tan Jiu struggle against the thirteenth-layer formation on Chaotic Formation Mountain and judged that it could not hold the Black Dragon Pool leader for long. When Tan Jiu revealed his ability to split into nine bodies and sought a way to retreat, Cao Bing sent all six of his clones into the formation to stop him.

• Cao Bing assessed Tan Jiu's Space Law Domain and concluded that his strength fell short of the rumors about Yuchi City's top experts.
• Tan Jiu suffered injuries under the formation's relentless attacks and realized he needed to reveal his trump card.
• Tan Jiu split into nine identical bodies, using eight clones to defend while his true body searched for a safe way out.
• Cao Bing decided to capture and enslave Tan Jiu so he could gain control over Black Dragon Pool.
• Cao Bing summoned five clones and flew with all six into the formation.

Cao Bing ambushed Tan Jiu inside the thirteenth grand formation, using his six avatars and Blood Blade secret art to overwhelm Tan Jiu’s nine avatars. Tan Jiu was badly wounded and forced onto the defensive as Cao Bing pressed his advantage in close combat.

• Tan Jiu struggled to find a flaw or exit in Cao Bing’s thirteenth grand formation.
• Cao Bing’s six avatars surprised Tan Jiu with the Blood Blade secret art, injuring all nine of his avatars.
• Cao Bing revealed himself and attacked Tan Jiu again before he could recover.
• Tan Jiu’s nine avatars formed a battle formation and endured six successive waves of Cao Bing’s blood attacks.
• Cao Bing’s avatars closed in for close combat, where their superior weapons and equipment further injured Tan Jiu’s avatars.

Cao Bing overwhelmed Tan Jiu in their battle at Black Dragon Pool, forcing Tan Jiu to unleash the Nine-Headed Black Dragon of the Demon Slayer Realm. Cao Bing’s six avatars defeated the attack, leaving Tan Jiu badly crippled and unable to turn the fight around.

• Tan Jiu wondered who Cao Bing was and suspected he had come to Yuchi City because someone had discovered a secret, then resolved to keep him there at any cost.
• Cao Bing refused to reveal his identity, and Tan Jiu summoned a Nine-Headed Black Dragon phantom with his nine avatars.
• Cao Bing recognized the Nine-Headed Black Dragon and said Tan Jiu’s injury had weakened its power.
• Tan Jiu used the Nine-Kill Dragon Roar Formation, and Cao Bing raised the strength of his six avatars before countering with My Will is Like a Blade.
• The collision damaged Cao Bing’s formations and injured Black Dragon Pool’s weaker cultivators, while Cao Bing’s six avatars emerged unharmed and Tan Jiu lost four avatars, with three more severely wounded.

Cao Bing unleashed a devastating blade strike as Tan Jiu tried to escape by sacrificing his avatars. Tan Jiu detonated four avatars to tear open Cao Bing’s formation, creating a possible route for his last avatar to flee.

• Cao Bing offered to spare Tan Jiu if he submitted, but Tan Jiu refused and began plotting his escape.
• Tan Jiu recalled three injured avatars and sent his remaining combat-capable avatars toward a weakness in Cao Bing’s formation.
• Cao Bing poured his Nascent Blade Heart into a powerful slash that threatened to kill Tan Jiu.
• Tan Jiu sent four injured avatars to meet the blade while his final avatar prepared to flee.
• Tan Jiu detonated the four avatars, shaking the thirteenth formation layer and blasting open a gap for his last avatar.

Cao Bing killed Tan Jiu with a slash that overcame the self-destruction of Tan Jiu’s four avatars, leaving Black Dragon Pool’s remaining fighters leaderless and fleeing. Though the attack severely strained Cao Bing’s will and burned away his stored power, he realized he had glimpsed the essence of a Universe Master-level secret method and vowed to develop it further.

• Tan Jiu self-destructed four avatars to escape, but Cao Bing’s final slash cut through the explosion and killed him.
• Cao Bing destroyed Tan Jiu’s life-bound Nascent Soul and preserved his soul Nascent Soul as ownerless soul energy.
• Black Dragon Pool’s surviving lackeys panicked and fled after Tan Jiu’s death.
• Cao Bing remained in place to recover from the slash, which had burned away his stored power and heavily burdened his will.
• Cao Bing recognized that his experimental slash had revealed the essence of a Universe Master-level secret method and resolved to create his own Ultimate Secret Art.

After killing Tan Jiu, Cao Bing claimed Black Dragon Pool and brought a captured minor leader to its headquarters. He gave the remaining members five breaths to submit, then slaughtered those who resisted.

• Cao Bing ordered the fleeing Black Dragon Pool lackeys to stop and killed those who continued to run.
• Cao Bing declared Black Dragon Pool his own, and the kneeling lackeys accepted him as their new leader.
• Cao Bing took a Lower Heavenly God minor leader to Black Dragon Pool's headquarters, where Lou Mian confronted him.
• The captured minor leader announced that Tan Jiu was dead and that Cao Bing was Black Dragon Pool's new leader.
• Cao Bing gave Black Dragon Pool five breaths to submit, then attacked and killed many of its defiant members.

After Cao Bing defeated Tan Jiu, he handed Black Dragon Pool over to Xiong Hei to restore order and collect Divine Artifacts. Cao Bing planned to use the artifacts to supply the Devouring Starry Sky Human Race, though the scarce higher-grade treasures remained a major obstacle.

• Cao Bing slaughtered Black Dragon Pool's die-hard loyalists and accepted the surrender of the remaining lackeys.
• Cao Bing released Xiong Hei and ordered him to manage Black Dragon Pool, whose subordinates acknowledged him as commander.
• Xiong Hei restored order in Black Dragon Pool within two days and, on Cao Bing's orders, began collecting Divine Artifacts as dues.
• Xiong Hei reported the restored faction's affairs to Cao Bing, who approved its work as a source of wealth.
• Cao Bing planned to trade the Divine Artifacts to the Devouring Starry Sky Human Race to make them accessible to its Venerables and King-level Immortals, but he had few Heavenly Divine Artifacts left.

After Xiong Hei told Cao Bing that Tan Jiu had secretly guarded something beneath Black Dragon Pool, Cao Bing investigated the lake and found an underground residence. He reached the valuable treasure Tan Jiu had protected for over a hundred thousand years, which now belonged to Cao Bing.

• Cao Bing put Xiong Hei in charge of Black Dragon Pool and told him not to disturb him unless something major happened.
• Xiong Hei revealed that Tan Jiu had secretly lived beneath the lake and barred others from approaching, leading Cao Bing to suspect a treasure was hidden there.
• Cao Bing and Xiong Hei searched the lakebed and found a concealed mechanism that opened a passage underground.
• Cao Bing broke the residence's defensive formation and searched its empty halls, where he suspected Tan Jiu had kept his Heavenly Divine Artifacts.
• Cao Bing reached the Central Courtyard and discovered the treasure Tan Jiu had guarded for over a hundred thousand years.

Cao Bing discovered two Seven-Colored Lotuses growing in One Yuan Heavy Water beneath Black Dragon Pool and fortified the underwater residence to protect them. More than a month later, an Upper Heavenly God slipped into the lake, and Cao Bing realized Tan Jiu had likely revealed the residence’s secret to him.

• Cao Bing recognized the conjoined lotuses as Seven-Colored Lotuses, whose lotus hearts could revive a deity and potentially evolve his divine body.
• Cao Bing ordered Xiong Hei to guard Black Dragon Pool and forbid anyone from approaching the lake while one of his avatars stayed beneath it to watch the lotuses mature.
• Cao Bing added powerful formations around the underwater residence, but detected a stranger entering Black Dragon Pool unnoticed after more than a month.
• Cao Bing determined that the intruder was an Upper Heavenly God with nine avatars and suspected Tan Jiu had shared the residence’s secret because he could not defeat the stranger alone.