Chapter Summaries

After the Mirage Dragon’s defeat, Ye Fu took charge of Great Yin and began restoring order while Si Chen stayed by her side. The Eastern Region’s sects departed, and Great Yin’s national fortune grew stronger as night fell and Si Chen’s story continued.

• Ye Fu accepted the officials’ plea to take charge, ordered the wounded treated and the palace repaired, and arranged grand burials for Ye Hong and Ye Jing.
• Ye Fu told Ye Qing and Ye Xuan to recover before discussing what had happened, then told Si Chen she would remain in Great Yin to settle its affairs.
• Elder Liu and representatives from the Eastern Region’s sects offered assistance, and Ye Fu thanked their disciples for standing with Si Chen and invited them to a banquet.
• The sects departed aboard a flying boat, while Black Mountain asked them to bring local specialties to the family banquet.
• Xie Changsheng saw Great Yin’s national fortune grow stronger as the flying boat left, and night fell over the Imperial City.

Three months after Great Yin’s upheaval, Ye Fu ruled as regent and Si Chen was named Peerless King while the surrounding powers cautiously reacted to his deeds. As Si Chen settled into an easy life in the palace, a message from his father revealed that Third Uncle might soon ascend.

• Ye Fu accepted the court officials’ proposal to name Si Chen Peerless King, binding him more closely to Great Yin.
• Great Yan and Great Qian abandoned plans to attack Great Yin and increased their annual tribute, while sect leaders warned their disciples not to provoke Si Chen.
• Song Chi embellished his role in the Imperial City upheaval, and Xie Changsheng, Zhou Yan, and Luo Qingyin each advanced to Spirit Transformation.
• Si Chen rejected most of the robes, residence plans, servants, and guards offered to him, choosing to stay near Ye Fu with Black Mountain and Red Wind as his guards.
• Si Chen received a message from his father saying that Third Uncle might be about to ascend.

Si Chen learned that Third Uncle planned to ascend within a year, while Ye Fu calmly governed Great Yin and aristocratic households began bringing potential matches for Si Chen. After growing weary of the carefully arranged suitors, Si Chen received a jade bottle from Xu Wan'er whose contents smelled of scallions.

• Si Chen learned from his father that Third Uncle had delayed ascension while searching for the realm's stars, but now expected to face his Ascension Tribulation within a year.
• Ye Fu explained that Third Uncle had likely used ascension as an excuse to escape the women he had offended, and she told Si Chen that the Upper Realm was the Immortal Realm.
• Si Chen spent his days as the Peerless King while Black Mountain and Red Wind fought, and Ye Fu gradually eased Great Yin's officials and aristocratic clans into her rule.
• Aristocratic households brought young women to meet Si Chen, but he rejected the State-Defending Duke's granddaughter and the South-Pacifying Marquis's twin granddaughters after asking whether they could fight.
• More clans sent cultivated and accomplished young women, including a Buddhist maiden, but Si Chen found their formal manners tiresome and missed the livelier people of the Eastern Region.
• Xu Wan'er presented Si Chen with a jade bottle containing rare pills, and he recognized the scent of scallions when he opened it.

Si Chen decided to leave Great Yin's Imperial City and return to the Eastern Region, then departed amid an enormous farewell. Before leaving, he shared the city's national fortune with its people and wished them peace, leaving the crowd and officials kneeling in gratitude.

• Si Chen recognized the Scallion-Scented Qi-Restoring Pill as one made by his disciple Wang Yan, accepted Xu Wan'er's gift, and dismissed her and the Duke of State Pacification.
• Si Chen told Ye Fu he wanted to return to the Eastern Region, and she agreed, mentioning his Third Uncle's preparations.
• Ye Fu persuaded Si Chen to wear his princely robe and leave with proper ceremony as officials and crowds gathered to see him off.
• Si Chen emerged from the palace in a grand procession accompanied by Black Mountain and Red Wind, then used national fortune to bless the people.
• Si Chen wished Great Yin peace, received the crowd's farewell, waved to Ye Fu, and set off toward the Eastern Region.

Si Chen returned to the Eastern Region in a grand procession, then lingered to enjoy its familiar chaos before using the Heartguard to take his companions home. He invited several friends to a gathering and notified the Joyous Union Sect and Night Rain Tower, leaving the story at the Si Household Ancestral Grounds.

• Si Chen crossed Great Yin with a growing escort of flying boats and said farewell to General Zhao Wu at Eastward Watch Pass.
• In the Eastern Region, Si Chen and his companions watched cultivators brawl, quarrel over treasures, and flee after mistaking them for dangerous seniors.
• Si Chen sent invitations to Xie Changsheng, Zhou Yan, Song Chi, and Luo Qingyin, and notified the Joyous Union Sect and Night Rain Tower.
• Si Chen touched the Heartguard and opened a spatial portal, taking Black Mountain, Red Wind, and Red Bean to the Si Household Ancestral Grounds.

Si Chen learned that the Si Household had pursued Ascension for generations and that his grandfather had already ascended. After Si Chen told Si Shuo’s former romantic interests that he would ascend in a year, Si Shuo panicked and claimed he would ascend within half a month.

• Si Chen returned to the Si Household, where servants and guards treated him with greater awe after hearing of his deeds in Great Yin.
• Si Kai told Si Chen that his grandfather had ascended and explained that the Si Household valued helping everyone capable of Ascension over power and status in the Lower Realm.
• Si Kai said he might begin preparing to ascend after his brother, Si Chen’s mother, and the younger generation had found their paths.
• Si Chen visited Si Shuo, who admitted that he could no longer suppress his cultivation and was approaching Ascension.
• Si Chen revealed that he had invited Mu Qianqian and Aunt Su to watch Si Shuo ascend in about a year.
• Si Shuo panicked, insisted he would undergo the Ascension Tribulation within half a month, and begged Si Chen to tell the women not to come.

Si Shuo’s family discovered that his ascension was decades away, but Third Uncle Granduncle ordered him to ascend in three months at the Endless Sea. As preparations began, Si Chen saw the ceremony guest list and realized it was packed with women from Si Shuo’s past.

• Si Che, Si Kai, and Third Uncle Granduncle scolded Si Shuo for behaving badly, then pressed him to explain how soon he would ascend.
• Si Shuo admitted he could suppress his cultivation for roughly thirty years, so Third Uncle Granduncle ordered his Ascension Tribulation to take place in three months at the Endless Sea.
• The Si Household began preparing for Si Shuo’s ascension ceremony and a family banquet, while Third Uncle Granduncle expanded the banquet guest list.
• Si Chen inspected the draft guest list for the ceremony and found page after page of women’s names, prompting Black Mountain to remark that Si Shuo had been respectable when he was alive.

Si Chen welcomed his friends to the Si Household, where they caught up and discussed the approaching ascension of his Third Uncle. Inspired by their hopes for the Upper Realm, they promised to ascend together someday.

• Si Chen hosted Xie Changsheng, Zhou Yan, Luo Qingyin, and Song Chi at the hidden Small World of the Si Household, where they traded jokes and caught up.
• Zhou Yan eagerly tried speaking bird language to Red Bean, while Si Chen's remark about Luo Qingyin's zither playing embarrassed her.
• The friends discussed their recent lives and shared their excitement about the Upper Realm and the long path beyond Spirit Transformation.
• Si Chen said his Third Uncle would take the first step toward ascension and suggested that the friends might ascend together in the future.
• Song Chi, Xie Changsheng, Zhou Yan, Luo Qingyin, Black Mountain, and Red Wind joined Si Chen in promising to ascend together someday.

Si Shuo prepared to ascend, made peace with his family, and received farewells and gifts from dozens of women he had known. As the Crossing Starship reached the Endless Sea for the ascension ceremony, Si Chen sensed an inexplicable feeling of pleasure from the heavens.

• At the banquet, Si Shuo apologized to Third Uncle Granduncle and thanked Si Kai and Si Che before bidding his brothers farewell.
• The Si Household's Crossing Starship carried Si Shuo toward the ascension site, where Mu Qianqian gave him a jar of wine she had saved for five hundred years.
• Su Miaoyin gave Si Shuo a sprig of crabapple blossoms, and many other women stopped along the route to offer gifts or say goodbye.
• After Red Wind counted eighty-three women who had come to see Si Shuo off, the Crossing Starship crossed the Eastern Region's borders and entered the Endless Sea.
• The Crossing Starship reached the Endless Sea, where representatives of major sects had gathered for the ascension ceremony.
• As the ascension tribulation approached, Si Chen sensed what seemed to be pleasure coming from the heavens.

Si Shuo survived the nine revolutions primordial unity tribulation and ascended, but golden light unexpectedly swept Si Chen, his companions, and Gray Gray into the heavens with him. The group vanished into the Upper Realm, leaving the witnesses to mark the event as the world's first collective ascension.

• Si Shuo unleashed his strength and endured all nine bolts of the ascension tribulation, including the final sea of black lightning.
• Si Shuo succeeded, received the golden light of ascension, and told his family and the gathered cultivators he would scout the way in the Upper Realm.
• As Si Shuo began addressing Si Chen, golden beams enveloped Si Chen and seven companions, and then Gray Gray was lifted into the sky as well.
• An ingratiating ripple of intent told Si Chen that everything had been handled according to his instructions, reminding him of his earlier words, “Let's ascend together.”
• Si Chen, the others, and Gray Gray shot into the heavens and disappeared; the phenomenon lasted a month and became known as the Sea of Ten Sages' Ascension.

Si Chen and his companions were swept into the Ascension Passage with Si Shuo, only for the passage’s exit to split and scatter them across different places. Si Chen landed in a barren, low-spiritual-energy land that he suspected was the Immortal Realm, and set out to find the others.

• Si Chen, Si Shuo, their companions, and Gray Gray ascended together in golden lights, bewildering Si Shuo and the other cultivators.
• The group saw the star-filled passage and noticed other cultivators ascending through nearby passages.
• An ascending old man spotted Si Chen’s group, including a donkey, and pinched himself in disbelief.
• The Ascension Passage began shaking, and its exit split into scattered points of light that pulled the group apart.
• Before being separated, Si Chen traced nine marks to track the others, then landed alone in a barren place with almost no spiritual energy.

Si Chen found a world of ordinary mortals who knew nothing of cultivation or the Immortal Realm, then reunited with Gray Gray, who had become a worshipped divine beast. After Si Chen healed the villagers and restored their crops, a mysterious presence in a dark hall noticed his power and ordered someone to investigate C-37.

• Si Chen searched for his companions and discovered that nearby villages were populated by mortals who had never heard of cultivation or the Immortal Realm.
• Si Chen found Gray Gray receiving prayers from a thousand villagers as their Lord Divine Beast.
• Gray Gray reunited with Si Chen, who reassured it that their companions were safe and agreed to help the villagers.
• Si Chen used his vitality to heal the villagers and their illnesses, ripen their crops, and fulfill their prayers.
• Si Chen rode Gray Gray away as the grateful villagers cheered and wept.
• A presence in a pitch-black hall sensed Si Chen's pure Life Laws and ordered someone to investigate C-37.

Si Chen flew across the continent with Gray Gray and discovered that his companions’ marks pointed beyond the planet, into the void. The revelation led him to question his identity as a star’s will and recall the black-haired young man he had seen before his star collapsed.

• Si Chen spotted gifted children in villages who had no chance to cultivate without spiritual energy.
• After Gray Gray grew exhausted from flying for three days, Si Chen released pure spiritual energy, allowing it to recover and fly faster.
• Near a mountain range, Si Chen sensed that the marks he had left on his companions were in the void beyond the heavens.
• Si Chen realized Xie Changsheng, the others, and Third Uncle Si Shuo might have been scattered across different worlds when the Ascension Passage collapsed.
• Si Chen wondered why he had survived his star’s collapse and who the black-haired young man from his final moments had been.

Si Chen rode Gray Gray through the world barrier and encountered three cultivators from the Immortal Realm, asking them for directions. The cultivators called the world Dead Star C-37 and ordered their companions to seize him for a Soul Search.

• Si Chen decided to fly beyond the sky, and Gray Gray reluctantly carried him upward inside his protective golden halo.
• As they neared the world barrier, Si Chen sensed something approaching from beyond it and stopped Gray Gray.
• Three coffin-shaped flying boats crossed the barrier, and Si Chen recognized their occupants as visitors from the true Immortal Realm.
• Si Chen greeted the red-armored cultivators and asked where he was, but their leader dismissed his claim that he had ascended to Dead Star C-37.
• The leader ordered two companions to seize Si Chen and search his soul, leaving Gray Gray terrified by their pressure.

Si Chen confronted three red-armored cultivators in the Immortal Realm after they attacked him for asking directions, easily overpowering one and unnerving the others. When they summoned reinforcements, the three surrounded him and launched a coordinated assault, leaving Gray Gray bracing for the fight.

• Gray Gray survived the red-armored cultivators’ pressure as Si Chen stepped forward to face them.
• Si Chen caught one cultivator’s immortal saber barehanded, then seized another with a gesture and crushed his neck before the man’s body began to heal.
• Si Chen rebuked the cultivators for their rudeness and introduced himself as someone who had gotten lost.
• The lead cultivator secretly sent a message for reinforcements, and Si Chen called out that he knew they were waiting for help.
• The three red-armored cultivators surrounded Si Chen and attacked with phantom chains, a sea of blades, and an eerie arrow while Gray Gray shut its eyes.

Si Chen easily defeated three red-armored cultivators, pursued them into the starfield, and confronted their stronger reinforcements. Surrounded by dozens of Flying Boats, he prepared a vast array of lightning and fire as a greeting to the Immortal Realm.

• Si Chen dismantled the three cultivators’ attacks and learned that their strength came from powerful Immortal Essence rather than skill.
• After Si Chen repelled them, the three red-armored cultivators fled beyond the realm barrier, and Si Chen pursued them while carrying Gray Gray.
• Si Chen struck down two fleeing cultivators with Thunderbolt Spears, while the leader escaped into a group of approaching Flying Boats.
• A tractor beam pulled the wounded leader aboard a Flying Boat as the reinforcements surrounded Si Chen in the starfield.
• Si Chen protected Gray Gray and summoned countless Thunder Spears and pure-white fireballs, preparing to attack the Flying Boats.

Si Chen annihilated most of Luo Jin’s red-armored force with lightning and fire after they challenged him in Floating Net Heaven. As Luo Jin enlarged himself to fight, Si Chen grew into a flame giant several times his size, leaving Luo Jin wondering if he faced a Golden Immortal.

• Gray Gray watched Si Chen’s display and decided that he seemed invincible under heaven.
• Luo Jin led more than a hundred red-armored cultivators out to confront Si Chen and demanded to know his identity and purpose.
• Si Chen answered that they would not even call him a fellow Daoist, then unleashed lightning and fire that destroyed most of the force and its flying boats.
• Luo Jin tried to stop a thunder spear with his Heavy Mountain laws, but it shattered his attack and scorched his cheek.
• Luo Jin ordered his surviving cultivators to retreat, then enlarged himself into a ten-thousand-zhang giant to face Si Chen.
• Si Chen expanded into a flame giant several times larger than Luo Jin, who feared that Si Chen was a Golden Immortal.

Si Chen pursued Luo Jin across the starfield, effortlessly destroying his attacks and erasing an asteroid belt as Luo Jin fled toward Floating Net Heaven. After Luo Jin reached the main star, Si Chen and Gray Gray followed him through its boundary barrier and entered the Upper Realm.

• Si Chen used his white flames to destroy the surviving red-armored cultivators and their ships, then set off after Luo Jin with Gray Gray hanging at his side.
• Luo Jin fled toward Floating Net Heaven Main Star and hurled a Heavy Mountain Seal at Si Chen, but the attacks dissipated against Si Chen’s flames.
• When Luo Jin tried to hide in an asteroid belt, Si Chen erased the entire belt with one slap and exposed him.
• Luo Jin reached Floating Net Heaven Main Star and passed through its boundary barrier.
• Si Chen returned to his original size, then brought Gray Gray through the barrier and entered Floating Net Heaven.

Si Chen and Gray Gray entered Floating Net Heaven, where Pei Heng welcomed them and escorted them to meet the Star Lord. The Star Lord studied a game of stones as Pei Heng announced their arrival.

• Si Chen and Gray Gray discovered a lush, spiritually rich realm and decided to explore it before bringing their family and friends.
• Floating Net Heaven's forces surrounded Si Chen, and Pei Heng introduced himself as the Heaven Patrol Bureau's Left Envoy and apologized for Luo Jin's earlier actions.
• Si Chen accepted Luo Jin's apology and agreed to accompany Pei Heng to meet the Star Lord.
• Pei Heng led Si Chen and Gray Gray through a vast city and into a bamboo grove hidden beyond a curtain of light.
• Pei Heng stopped before a young man studying a game of stones and announced that the honored guest had arrived.

Si Chen met the Immortal King Bai He, learned about the Immortal Realm and its Ascension-ers, and agreed to test each other over a game of stones. Meanwhile, Xie Changsheng was trapped working in a mine after being mistaken for an impostor, but he resolved to grow stronger and reunite with Si Chen and Gray Gray.

• Pei Heng left Si Chen with Bai He, who welcomed Si Chen and Gray Gray to tea in the bamboo grove.
• Si Chen asked Bai He about Ascension-ers, the Immortal Realm’s powers and cultivation realms, and the depleted world C-37; Bai He revealed that he was an Immortal King and proposed a game to probe Si Chen.
• Xie Changsheng was caught after arriving in a mining district and was sent to work there for supposedly impersonating an Ascension-er.
• Xie Changsheng accepted the mine as a chance to cultivate, trusted that Si Chen’s marks meant they would reunite, and vowed to become stronger for Gray Gray.