Chapter Summaries

He Pingsheng cultivated beside the Purgatory Abyss while the Phoenix Egg absorbed fire energy, and he enhanced treasures, spells, and divine abilities recovered from Patriarch Ruo Kai’s ring. Three years later, the egg began to crack, and He Pingsheng saw the Phoenix inside struggling to hatch.

• He Pingsheng set up formations beside the lava and placed the Phoenix Egg in it to absorb fire-attribute energy and laws.
• He Pingsheng searched Patriarch Ruo Kai’s ring, finding spirit stones, magical treasures, an Ice Arrow spell, and the divine ability Ten Thousand Mountains Flying Snow.
• He Pingsheng enhanced the treasures, spell, and divine ability into several powerful versions, including the Sunset Gold-Melting Blade and Heavenly Snow Locks the Realm.
• He Pingsheng continued cultivating and enhancing materials for three years without breaking through.
• The Phoenix Egg cracked, and He Pingsheng lifted it from the lava and sensed the red-feathered bird pushing against its shell.

He Pingsheng watched a True-Blood Phoenix hatch, named her Ting Tong, and brought her along as he returned to Redstone City. There, Old Cheng reported that he had failed to find He Pingsheng’s master but had learned what became of the Great Void Sect and the Beast Taming Immortal Sect.

• A newly hatched True-Blood Phoenix revealed she had a Golden Core and asked He Pingsheng to name her; he named her Ting Tong.
• He Pingsheng carried Ting Tong to Far North City, stored her in the Great Freedom Pearl, and traveled by Immortal Ship back to Redstone City.
• He Pingsheng reunited with Cheng Daocai and asked whether he had found his master in Dingxiang Commandery.
• Cheng Daocai reported that the Beast Taming Immortal Sect had destroyed the Great Void Sect, while several named survivors had escaped and vanished.
• Cheng Daocai said the Qi Kingdom's Imperial Family had killed one of the Beast Taming Immortal Sect's two Nascent Soul cultivators more than forty years earlier.

He Pingsheng learned that Xiao Xuan had become a famed golden core genius and that the Nine-Nation Grand Tournament was approaching, so he decided to move to the Imperial Capital. After saying goodbye to Qiao Huizhu and giving her several treasures, he left with his companions aboard an Immortal Ship.

• Cheng Daocai told He Pingsheng that his ten years of searching had failed to find He Pingsheng's master and fellow disciples, and reported Xiao Xuan's rise as a powerful golden core cultivator.
• Huang Shen told He Pingsheng that the commerce association in the Imperial Capital was running smoothly and that the Crown Prince had summoned him for the upcoming selection competition for the Nine-Nation Grand Tournament.
• He Pingsheng decided that he, Cheng Daocai, and Xiao He would move from Redstone City to the Imperial Capital, and he went to the Free and Carefree Immortal Sect to say goodbye to Qiao Huizhu.
• He Pingsheng gave Qiao Huizhu two ice-attribute flying swords, the Divine Ice Shield, and the Nine Heavens Ice Dragon divine ability, then left with Ting Tong.
• He Pingsheng joined Cheng Daocai, Xiao He, and Huang Shen at the Immortal Ship Plaza and boarded an Immortal Ship bound for the Imperial Capital.

He Pingsheng arrived in the Imperial Capital and inspected the Taixu Commerce Association’s new premises, which the Ninth Prince had given it. After preparing Huang Shen for a breakthrough and setting up formations, He Pingsheng learned that Princess Qinghe had come to demand he take 108 sword strikes.

• He Pingsheng and Xiao He reached the Imperial Capital and followed Huang Shen to the Taixu Commerce Association.
• Ling Zhiwang showed He Pingsheng the association’s shops, auction hall, and large courtyard, which the Crown Prince had given them.
• He Pingsheng gave Huang Shen a supreme-grade Origin-Reaching Pill and a South Qi Fruit, and Huang Shen pledged to serve the association.
• He Pingsheng set up formations around his grand hall in the courtyard.
• Ling Zhiwang warned He Pingsheng that Princess Qinghe had arrived demanding he take 108 strikes from her sword, and He Pingsheng recognized her as the royal family’s eldest princess.

Princess Qinghe confronted He Pingsheng over rumors that he had rejected her as a concubine, then challenged him to a duel at the Imperial Capital’s Dragon Platform in three days. After learning she was at the twelfth layer of the Golden Core Stage, He Pingsheng suspected someone had spread the rumor deliberately and turned back to asking Ling Zhiwang about poison pellets.

• He Pingsheng met Princess Qinghe at the Commerce Association, where she attacked him with her sword and accused him of claiming she was his chief concubine.
• He Pingsheng denied spreading the story, explained what the Imperial Family Patriarch had said, and angered Princess Qinghe further by insisting he had never considered marrying her.
• Princess Qinghe challenged He Pingsheng to meet her at the Dragon Platform in three days, and He Pingsheng sensed that she had reached the twelfth layer of the Golden Core Stage.
• Ling Zhiwang told He Pingsheng that a rumor claimed the Imperial Family had offered him Princess Qinghe as a concubine and that he had refused her.
• He Pingsheng suspected someone had deliberately spread the rumor, learned that the Dragon Platform hosted Golden Core duels, and asked Ling Zhiwang about the poison pellets he had requested.

He Pingsheng prepared for his match against Princess Qinghe, intending to lose, while the Ninth Prince revealed that He Pingsheng’s fortune had helped him become Crown Prince. The Ninth Prince suspected Thirteenth had spread the rumor that He Pingsheng did not want Qinghe.

• He Pingsheng gave Ling Zhiwang Patriarch Ruo Kai’s plundered wealth and two Essence-Splitting Lightning Fruits, then enhanced Poison Pellets and practiced the Nine-Toxin Golden Body.
• Xiao He summoned He Pingsheng to the Dragon Platform, where he planned to lose his match against Princess Qinghe.
• The Ninth Prince, Liang Zhili, told He Pingsheng that the Heavenly Dao had transferred the first six rounds of He Pingsheng’s nine-nine heavenly tribulation to him, bringing him a six-nine tribulation and the Crown Prince’s position.
• Liang Zhili asked He Pingsheng to notify him before his Nascent Soul tribulation so they could undergo it together and conceal the truth about his fortune.
• He Pingsheng asked who had spread the rumor that he did not want Princess Qinghe, and Liang Zhili blamed Thirteenth.

He Pingsheng learned how the Dragon Stele selection for the Nine-Nation Grand Tournament worked and discovered that Princess Qinghe, Liang Huaqiu, ranked first among Liang’s Golden Core cultivators. He finally entered the arena to face her, and she welcomed his arrival.

• He Pingsheng asked the Ninth Prince about the selection, and learned that challengers would compete among themselves before the strongest challenged a Dragon Stele incumbent.
• He Pingsheng used his divine sense to inspect the Dragon Stele and found Liang Huaqiu in first place.
• The Ninth Prince revealed that Liang Huaqiu was Princess Qinghe, a powerful five-element cultivator with Golden Core Dao Access.
• He Pingsheng considered Liang Huaqiu’s strength and delayed going to the arena while asking how multiple challengers would fight her.
• He Pingsheng stepped into the arena, and Princess Qinghe opened her eyes and said she had thought he would not come.

He Pingsheng faced Princess Qinghe in a public duel and endured her attacks while testing how his spells and laws matched up against her abilities. The fight continued as Princess Qinghe gathered the Liang Emperor Heavenly Gang around herself.

• He Pingsheng called out a heckler who had threatened to kill him, but the Golden Core cultivator backed down after He Pingsheng challenged him.
• Princess Qinghe proposed a fair fight without talismans, Magical Treasures, pills, or other outside power, and He Pingsheng questioned the gap between their cultivation levels.
• Princess Qinghe attacked with ice-attribute sword light, cracking He Pingsheng's Vajra Shield and forcing him to dodge with the Three Thousand Thunderbolt Technique.
• He Pingsheng blocked Princess Qinghe's next sword strike with an Earth Armor Technique reinforced by Daoist law, then countered her Woodbreaker Divine Ability with a law-infused Vajra Shield.
• Princess Qinghe called He Pingsheng a turtle and gathered countless golden streams of energy around herself with the Liang Emperor Heavenly Gang.

He Pingsheng fought Princess Qinghe on the Dragon Platform and deliberately conceded after her attack failed to seriously injure him. He left while Liang Huaqiu wondered whether he would appear at the Nine-Nation Grand Tournament.

• Liang Huaqiu activated Liang Emperor Heavenly Gang and warned He Pingsheng that her next strike could kill him.
• Liang Huaqiu's enormous fire saber broke through He Pingsheng's Frost Arrow Barrage and Vajra Shield, but he endured the blow with his body.
• He Pingsheng used an illusion to make himself appear wounded, then told Liang Huaqiu she had won and surrendered.
• Liang Huaqiu offered healing pills, but He Pingsheng took his own Golden Bone Pill, healed quickly, and left the platform.
• Liang Huaqiu asked the Ninth Prince why He Pingsheng had seemed so weak, and he suggested she was simply too powerful and predicted He Pingsheng would attend the Nine-Nation Grand Tournament.

He Pingsheng cultivated for eight months, broke through to the sixth layer of the Golden Core Stage, and strengthened his Daoist Law. After helping Ling Zhiwang prepare for another auction, he learned that the Selection Tournament was ending early and went to the Dragon Platform and Dragon Stele.

• He Pingsheng returned to the Commerce Association and told Ling Zhiwang and Xiao He he had lost; Xiao He revealed that she had bet her entire fortune on him winning.
• He Pingsheng returned to his Great Hall and cultivated with an Essence-Gathering Pill, a Poison Pellet, and the Dao-Refining Heavenly Stele.
• After eight months, He Pingsheng broke through to the sixth layer of the Golden Core Stage and used ten-thousand-year ice marrow to upgrade the Dao-Refining Heavenly Stele.
• He Pingsheng woke Ting Tong, learned she had spent the cultivation period sleeping, and sent her into the Great Freedom Pearl.
• He Pingsheng gave Ling Zhiwang treasures to attract customers to the next auction, and Ling Zhiwang told him Huang Shen had reached the Golden Core Stage.
• Ling Zhiwang told He Pingsheng that the Selection Tournament would end in just over ten days, so He Pingsheng set off for the Dragon Platform and Dragon Stele.

He Pingsheng returned to the Dragon Platform and chose to challenge the tenth arena, where Princess Qinghe explained the tournament rules. He swiftly knocked two opponents out of the arena and continued fighting.

• He Pingsheng learned that Liang Huaqiu had fallen to ninth place because talented cultivators from across the Great Liang Kingdom had joined the competition.
• Liang Huaqiu told He Pingsheng the rules and helped him get a token to challenge the tenth Dragon Platform.
• After a crowd protested that He Pingsheng had skipped the queue, he entered the arena and sent the pudgy cultivator flying with a single kick.
• He Pingsheng used the Three Thousand Thunderbolt Technique to defeat another opponent and immediately chose to continue.

He Pingsheng kept defeating challengers on the tenth Dragon Platform by combining his speed with Golden Core Dao access. True Person Bunu, a higher-level cultivator who also had Dao access, challenged him but was knocked off the arena after He Pingsheng’s second kick.

• He Pingsheng kicked a female cultivator off the arena despite her water-attribute shield, revealing his Golden Core Dao access.
• More than a dozen challengers surrendered, while True Person Bunu decided to fight He Pingsheng for the tenth Dragon Platform.
• True Person Bunu stepped onto the arena and boasted that He Pingsheng could kick him first, protected by his earth-attribute armor and Dao access.
• He Pingsheng’s first wood-attribute kick only forced True Person Bunu back two steps, revealing that Bunu also had Golden Core Dao access and higher cultivation.
• He Pingsheng kicked True Person Bunu a second time, sending him into the defense formation, which rebounded him to the ground.

He Pingsheng accepted True Person Bunu’s rematch and defeated him with a venomous thorn technique, earning first place on the Tenth Dragon Platform. He left to challenge the stele guardian the next day, while Princess Qinghe caught up with him and asked about his new power.

• He Pingsheng agreed to fight True Person Bunu again after giving him half an incense stick to rest.
• True Person Bunu attacked with a mountain of earth magic, but He Pingsheng’s thorn vines shattered it, trapped Bunu, and pierced him with venom.
• He Pingsheng drew the venom from Bunu and revived him, then claimed first place on the Tenth Dragon Platform after no one else challenged him.
• He Pingsheng left for his commerce association and told Princess Qinghe that he had only recently comprehended the divine ability during eight months of secluded cultivation.

He Pingsheng prepared to challenge the guardian of the Tenth Dragon Platform while Princess Qinghe asked him to protect her if she lost her own arena. They reached the Dragon Platform plaza, where He Pingsheng faced Tantai Qi.

• He Pingsheng refined wood-attribute Dao-Gathering Pills and studied the Heavenly Moon Divine Formation at the Commerce Association.
• Princess Qinghe blocked He Pingsheng's carriage after he tried to leave without picking her up, then joined him on the ride to the Dragon Platforms.
• Princess Qinghe asked He Pingsheng to help her reclaim her arena if another fighter defeated her, and Ling Zhiwang suggested crippling the opponent.
• He Pingsheng and Princess Qinghe arrived at the crowded Dragon Platform plaza, where the stele guardians had gathered.
• Princess Qinghe warned He Pingsheng that Tantai Qi had once caught her off guard and knocked her off the ninth platform before she reclaimed it.

He Pingsheng challenged Tantai Qi on the tenth Dragon Platform and discovered that Tantai Qi could absorb his ice attacks. Tantai Qi unleashed Heavenly Sword Ice Pool, but He Pingsheng answered with Heavenly Snow Locks the Realm and shattered all eight of his ice swords, leaving Tantai Qi surrounded by a storm of snowflakes.

• He Pingsheng challenged Tantai Qi and opened with the Cold-Ice Linked Arrow Technique.
• Tantai Qi absorbed He Pingsheng's seven ice arrows into a growing ice shield.
• Tantai Qi warned He Pingsheng before unleashing the divine ability Heavenly Sword Ice Pool.
• Liang Huaqiu recognized the attack and urged He Pingsheng to use a defensive magical artifact.
• He Pingsheng used Heavenly Snow Locks the Realm, and his multiplying snowflakes shattered all eight of Tantai Qi's ice swords.
• He Pingsheng's snowflakes multiplied to 128 and surrounded Tantai Qi from every direction.

He Pingsheng defeated Tantai Qi with a spatially disruptive snow attack that shattered the Tenth Dragon Platform’s defensive formation, then warned challengers not to harm Princess Qinghe. After Imperial Family elders took Tantai Qi away over his use of their Heavenly Sword Ice Pool ability, Liang Huaqiu told He Pingsheng about its creator, the vanished peerless genius Liang Tianjian.

• Tantai Qi surrendered as He Pingsheng’s hundred and twenty-eight snowflakes closed in, and He Pingsheng’s attack shattered the Tenth Dragon Platform’s defensive formation.
• Tantai Qi thanked He Pingsheng for showing mercy, and He Pingsheng invited anyone who wished to challenge him to return the next day.
• He Pingsheng warned the crowd not to injure Princess Qinghe, and Liang Huaqiu took her place as the Ninth Dragon Platform’s stele guardian.
• Elder Futu and another Great Nascent Soul seized Tantai Qi, saying the Heavenly Sword Ice Pool divine ability belonged to the Imperial Family and they needed to question him.
• Liang Huaqiu defeated her challenger and told He Pingsheng that Liang Tianjian, creator of Heavenly Sword Ice Pool, had disappeared after reaching the Nascent Soul Realm.

He Pingsheng learned that he and Liang Huaqiu had qualified for the Nine-Nation Grand Tournament and prepared to visit the Imperial Family’s Seven-Star Spirit Spring. Elder Futu took the twelve selected cultivators and substitutes toward a royal Secret Realm outside the Imperial Capital.

• Liang Huaqiu told He Pingsheng about the Seven-Star Spirit Spring and urged him to prepare before the cultivators departed.
• The Dragon Platform qualifying tournament ended with Liang Huaqiu in ninth place and He Pingsheng in tenth; no one challenged either of their platforms.
• Liang Huaqiu gave He Pingsheng six high-grade Mingwu Pills, and he gave her twelve supreme-grade Mingwu Pills before she briefly snatched her gift back.
• Elder Futu announced that the Imperial Family had opened a royal Secret Realm to help the tournament team prepare, then led twelve cultivators aboard an Immortal Boat.
• The Immortal Boat left the Imperial Capital and flew southwest, revealing that the royal Secret Realm lay beyond the city.

He Pingsheng and the other young prodigies entered the Imperial Family’s Seven-Star Spirit Spring to cultivate for three months before departing for He Thinks Mountain. Unable to absorb the spirit liquid’s Spiritual Power effectively because of his Five-Element Spiritual Root, He Pingsheng began drawing its five-element Daoist laws into his Sea of Consciousness instead.

• Elder Futu brought the twelve prodigies through a powerful formation to the spirit pool and explained that they could cultivate there for three months.
• He Pingsheng entered the shallow pool and realized that his Five-Element Spirit Root limited his ability to absorb its Spiritual Power.
• Liang Huaqiu joined He Pingsheng and complained that the pool was unfriendly to cultivators with Five-Element Spiritual Roots.
• The prodigies began cultivating, and Tian Jiashen formed the largest absorption vortex while He Pingsheng and Liang Huaqiu struggled to absorb the liquid.
• He Pingsheng and Liang Huaqiu swallowed supreme-grade Mingwu Pills and turned to comprehending Daoist laws.
• He Pingsheng spread his Dao Root’s rootlets through the pool and drew its five-element Daoist laws into his Sea of Consciousness for refinement.

After three months in the Spirit Spring, He Pingsheng greatly improved his comprehension of the Five Elements Dao and secretly let the Dao-Refining Heavenly Stele absorb Daoist laws. He boarded a golden dragon ship with the Liang Kingdom team, where Patriarch Zhenyu began explaining the Nine-Nation Grand Tournament.

• He Pingsheng secretly placed the Dao-Refining Heavenly Stele in the Spirit Spring, and it absorbed many Daoist laws as he comprehended the Five Elements Dao.
• When the three-month session ended, He Pingsheng and the others emerged; everyone except Tantai Qi had improved their comprehension.
• Elder Futu introduced Patriarch Zhenyu, a Spirit Transformation cultivator, who took the group aboard a golden dragon ship bound for the Mystic Sect Holy Land.
• Patriarch Zhenyu praised He Pingsheng for breaking the Dragon Platform's formation but noted that his cultivation was low.
• Patriarch Zhenyu explained that nine nations would compete in the tournament and that Liang Kingdom would fight eight major matches.

Zhenyu explained how victories determined the nine nations’ rankings and shares of Greed and Anger Fruits, while individual points determined contestants’ seating near He Thinks and He Asks during their teachings. He also described the Primordial Unity Spacetime Formation and clarified that contestants could use no external aids, then warned them to behave properly on Tawenian Mountain.

• Zhenyu explained that national rankings were based on match victories, with tied nations ranked by their head-to-head result, and that higher-ranked nations received more Greed and Anger Fruits.
• Zhenyu described how contestants could fight sequentially and earn individual points for each opponent they defeated, prompting Daoist Kuxing to ask what those points were for.
• Zhenyu said individual points determined how close contestants sat to He Thinks and He Asks during their Dao teachings.
• Liang Huaqiu asked about the Time Grand Formation, and Zhenyu explained that He Asks and He Thinks had created the Primordial Unity Spacetime Formation, where time passed two or three times faster.
• Zhenyu prohibited contestants from using external aids or replenishing their reserves during matches and warned them not to behave recklessly on Tawenian Mountain.