Chapter Summaries

He Pingsheng began cultivating the Great Wilderness Myriad Poisons Scripture to prepare to use the Heavenly Poison Mechanical Crossbow and gain resistance to poison. After forty-four years in seclusion, he reached the scripture’s second layer of the Divine General Realm and reviewed the items he had enhanced.

• He Pingsheng decided to cultivate the poison path alongside the Divine Fire Sun-Expanding Art so he could eventually refine divine poison for the Heavenly Poison Mechanical Crossbow.
• He Pingsheng identified two pills from Du Yun’s ring as Heavenly Poison Pellets, then sent Three Origins to buy Demon Beast Poison Pellets and told Niu Ding to guard the Mountain Cave.
• He Pingsheng enhanced a copy of the Great Wilderness Myriad Poisons Scripture and the Heavenly Poison Pellets, then began cultivating with a pellet.
• After forty-four years, He Pingsheng absorbed the Heavenly Poison Pellet and advanced the Great Wilderness Myriad Poisons Scripture to the second layer of the Divine General Realm.
• He Pingsheng reviewed the divine herbs, Poison Refining Art, pills, talismans, and Divine Artifacts he had enhanced, then took out two defensive garments.

He Pingsheng refined his poison arts and charged the Heavenly Poison Mechanical Crossbow, then discovered that cultivating in the Immortal Realm was too destructive. He reunited with Three Origins and Niu Ding and set out to gather herbs in the safer central region of Divine Dream Mountain.

• He Pingsheng identified the Five-Treasure Divine Silkworm Robes as gifts for Wen Buwan, practiced the Poison Refining Art, and charged the Heavenly Poison Mechanical Crossbow with poison from his body.
• He Pingsheng returned to the Immortal Realm and gave Wen Buwan one of the robes, then tried cultivating there but nearly tore the realm apart with his divine power.
• He Pingsheng returned to the Divine Realm, where Three Origins gave him a ring containing sixty-four first-grade poison pellets and three second-grade ones.
• Three Origins and Niu Ding reported no trouble nearby, and Three Origins confirmed that the charged crossbow could kill a Divine General Realm enemy with one shot.
• Three Origins showed He Pingsheng a map of Divine Dream Mountain and warned him that the Demon Race dominated the dangerous regions beyond the resource-rich central area.
• He Pingsheng chose to gather herbs in the central region and set off with Three Origins and Niu Ding.

After a month of searching Divine Dream Mountain without finding any divine herbs, He Pingsheng discovered that the roots of a tree he sat beside were hundred-feather glazed wood, a precious Second Grade material for divine formations. He and Three Origins could not locate the glazed heart inside it, and He Pingsheng stopped Three Origins from cutting down the tree while he considered what to do.

• Niu Ding complained that the group needed a mount, and He Pingsheng called for a rest beside a stream.
• He Pingsheng noticed that a tree root beneath the dirt was red, but it turned black again before his eyes.
• Three Origins identified the tree as hundred-feather glazed wood and explained its value as a source of material for Second Grade formation plates.
• He Pingsheng and Three Origins failed to use Divine Sense to find the glazed heart inside the tree.
• Three Origins prepared to cut down the tree, but He Pingsheng told him to wait while he thought.

He Pingsheng and his companions extracted the Glazed Heart from a Hundred-Feather Glazed Wood, but Li Tianyu intercepted them and demanded the heart and their Divine Slave Marks. He Pingsheng realized the confrontation would likely end in a fight.

• He Pingsheng persuaded the conscious Hundred-Feather Glazed Wood to reveal its Glazed Heart, and Three Origins cut the core from its trunk.
• He Pingsheng stored the Glazed Heart, and he, Three Origins, and Niu Ding left the tree behind.
• Less than an hour later, Li Tianyu descended on a black divine bird and blocked their path with his Flying Sword.
• Li Tianyu identified He Pingsheng as the one who had taken the Glazed Heart and claimed the Li Household owned the tree.
• Li Tianyu demanded the Glazed Heart and all three men's Divine Slave Marks, and He Pingsheng prepared for battle.

He Pingsheng and his servants fought Li Tianyu after he demanded the Divine Slave Mark and glazed heart. He Pingsheng knocked Li Tianyu from his divine bird and poisoned him with the Heavenly Poison Mechanical Crossbow, but the poison proved too weak, leaving Li Tianyu alive to counterattack with lightning.

• Li Tianyu gave He Pingsheng and his servants ten breaths to surrender the Divine Slave Mark and glazed heart, then struck them with purple lightning when they refused.
• Li Tianyu summoned a Blood Jade Tiger puppet, which Three Origins identified as a first-grade puppet with the combat strength of a twelfth-layer Divine General.
• He Pingsheng ignored the puppet and attacked Li Tianyu, resisting his divine sense assault and smashing him with the World-Grinding Disc.
• He Pingsheng fired the Heavenly Poison Mechanical Crossbow, piercing Li Tianyu's arm, but Li Tianyu took a Detoxification Pill and quickly cleared the weak poison.
• He Pingsheng charged Li Tianyu with a punch, and Li Tianyu formed hand seals to summon a thick bolt of purple lightning against it.

He Pingsheng killed Li Tianyu with a Purple Lightning Divine Talisman and the World-Grinding Disc, though Li Tianyu’s soul escaped. After escaping with the wounded Three Origins, He Pingsheng examined his spoils and discovered Li Tianyu’s third-grade Divine Spark and the Blood Jade Tiger puppet.

• He Pingsheng’s Daoist robe absorbed Li Tianyu’s lightning attack, allowing him to strike Li Tianyu with a Purple Lightning Divine Talisman.
• Li Tianyu’s Divine General Realm python took part of the talisman’s lightning and died, but Li Tianyu survived until He Pingsheng crushed his body with the World-Grinding Disc.
• Li Tianyu’s soul escaped He Pingsheng’s Divine Sense Nails, while the Blood Jade Tiger collapsed and Niu Ding was found dead.
• He Pingsheng collected Niu Ding’s Divine Spark and divine artifacts, burned away the battlefield traces, and waited for Three Origins to recover.
• He Pingsheng and Three Origins traveled for over ten days before hiding in a mountain cave, where He Pingsheng found that Li Tianyu’s Divine Spark was third grade.
• He Pingsheng examined the Blood Jade Tiger puppet and considered enhancing it in the Treasure-Gathering Basin.

He Pingsheng plundered Li Tianyu’s ring and found a wealth of pills, divine herbs, artifacts, formation materials, and manuals. He began enhancing the Li Household Divine Formation Art while cultivating and refining the Heavenly Poison Mechanical Crossbow.

• He Pingsheng searched Li Tianyu’s ring and found twenty bottles of Divinity-Pacifying Pills, other Golden Cores, divine herbs, talismans, and more than a dozen divine artifacts.
• He Pingsheng reflected that Li Tianyu had lost because he underestimated his opponent, lacked combat experience, and never got the chance to use his divine artifacts.
• He Pingsheng found formation materials, two formation plates, three unusual metal pieces, and the Li Household Divine Formation Art among Li Tianyu’s belongings.
• He Pingsheng studied the formation manual, found that it lacked the warning and divine-sense sealing formations he wanted, and placed it in the Treasure-Gathering Basin to enhance it.
• While the manual was being enhanced, He Pingsheng cultivated with supreme-grade Divinity-Pacifying Pills and continued refining the Heavenly Poison Mechanical Crossbow.

He Pingsheng mastered the Li Household Divine Formation Art, concealed his Mountain Cave with illusion and defense formations, and then began studying puppet techniques so he could control the Blood Jade Tiger. He remained in seclusion, cultivating while he read the Li Household Puppet Art.

• He Pingsheng enhanced the Li Household Divine Formation Art and a second-grade divine spark, then discovered that the art contained additional warning and divine-sense sealing formations.
• He Pingsheng spent fourteen years exhausting a Divinity-Pacifying Pill without breaking through, swallowed another, and continued cultivating while studying formations.
• Seven years later, He Pingsheng had mastered first-grade formations and enhanced formation plates, materials, and divine gold.
• He Pingsheng set up an illusion formation and a defense formation around the Mountain Cave, powering them with yin-attribute divine gold.
• He Pingsheng returned to the Mountain Cave and began studying the Li Household Puppet Art so he could control the Blood Jade Tiger.

He Pingsheng reached the third layer of the Divine General Realm and strengthened his Blood Jade Tigers, but the death of Three Origins drove him to relocate and hide. During seclusion in a new cave, an immense icy phenomenon overwhelmed his formations and froze him despite his attempts to resist.

• He Pingsheng advanced to the third layer of the Divine General Realm and refined two black Blood Jade Tigers, each with peak Divine General Realm strength.
• He Pingsheng discovered that Three Origins's divine slave mark had shattered, feared that his enemies might find him, and moved deeper into Divine Dream Mountain.
• He Pingsheng established new formations in a cave and began cultivating the [Great Wilderness Myriad Poisons Scripture] while using a Poison Pellet.
• Ice Thorns erupted beneath He Pingsheng, and the Defense Formation and Illusion Formation broke as he discovered that ice covered everything within his divine sense's range.
• He Pingsheng raised a fire-attribute barrier and shattered nearby Ice Pillars, but the icy aura froze him solid.

He Pingsheng survived being frozen by the power of ice laws and escaped as the frozen mountains collapsed. A wounded black-clad woman forced him to carry her to safety, then took a second-grade divine spark from him and fused it into her brow.

• He Pingsheng’s divine sense and soul froze, but he eventually regained consciousness after the ice laws vanished.
• He Pingsheng used the World-Grinding Disc to escape the melting ice, then rode his stone tiger through the collapsing mountains.
• A wounded black-clad woman burst from underground, kicked He Pingsheng off his stone tiger, and demanded that he take her away.
• He Pingsheng used two stone tiger puppets to carry the woman beyond the ruined area and into a mountain cave.
• The woman ordered He Pingsheng to guard and seal the cave, then asked him for a divine spark.
• He Pingsheng gave the woman a second-grade divine spark, which she fused into the hole between her brows.

Lian Nihong recovered some strength by absorbing the divine gold in He Pingsheng’s puppets and told him how she had survived a deadly battle with a Demon Race expert. When she could not fly after leaving the cave, He Pingsheng brought her back and claimed he could not help her leave because a great lineage was hunting him.

• Lian Nihong demanded He Pingsheng’s resources, took the two puppets, and extracted their middle-grade divine gold to restore her strength.
• Lian Nihong explained that a Demon Race expert had killed her and taken her Divine Spark, while she escaped by regenerating from a severed arm and hiding underground.
• He Pingsheng learned that Lian Nihong had protected his heart meridians and Divine Sense from the lingering force of their distant battle.
• Lian Nihong promised to repay He Pingsheng tenfold and left the cave, but fell from the cliff because she could not fly.
• He Pingsheng pulled Lian Nihong back into the cave and claimed he had lied about the puppets, saying a great lineage was hunting him and he could not take her away.

He Pingsheng and Lian Nihong tried to make a Disguise Talisman so he could escape Mountain Cave, but they lacked suitable ink and the attempt failed. When He Pingsheng asked for basic knowledge about the Divine Realm, Lian Nihong suspected he had ascended and gave him a children’s primer instead.

• He Pingsheng offered Lian Nihong glazed heart, and she successfully refined it into divine talisman paper.
• Lian Nihong used her own divine blood to make Talisman Ink, but the Disguise Talisman failed.
• He Pingsheng kept the ruined talisman to study its patterns, and Lian Nihong offered to pass on her talisman-making classics after returning to her Lineage.
• Lian Nihong suspected He Pingsheng was an ascender after he claimed to be an ignorant rogue cultivator, prompting him to ready his stone tiger Puppets and World-Grinding Discs.
• Lian Nihong recorded a basic Divine Realm guide on a Jade Slip, and He Pingsheng discovered it was titled Rhyming Primer for Divine Children.

He Pingsheng and Lian Nihong made divine talismans to disguise themselves while preparing to find divine talisman ink. Lian Nihong then explained the history of Incense Offering Thought Power, leaving He Pingsheng to learn that its Great Dao had collapsed after its Divine Emperor fell.

• Lian Nihong told He Pingsheng that she needed his help because she feared facing many opponents and still had to recover from her injuries.
• He Pingsheng studied the Rhyming Primer for Divine Children and learned basic knowledge about the Divine Realm.
• He Pingsheng showed Lian Nihong a second-grade earth treasury fruit, which she used to make divine talisman ink and a middle-grade disguise talisman.
• Lian Nihong made a high-grade disguise talisman for herself, then agreed to make another for He Pingsheng.
• Lian Nihong explained that the Incense Offering Divine Emperor had created a three thousand and first Great Dao, but fell after the God of Sovereignty did not recognize her, causing the Dao of Incense Offerings and Faith to collapse.

He Pingsheng learned about the Incense Apotheosis Dao and the God of Sovereignty from Lian Nihong as they prepared to escape Divine Dream Mountain. After more than ten days of travel, they reached Divine Dream City, where Lian Nihong decided they would head to Late City rather than Ice-Drinking Mountain.

• Lian Nihong explained that the God of Sovereignty had barred Incense Apotheosis cultivators from reaching the Divine Realm’s upper three realms, leaving many ordinary cultivators to rely on incense and faith.
• He Pingsheng asked about the God of Sovereignty and other unfamiliar matters, and Lian Nihong answered before resuming her Divine Talisman work.
• Lian Nihong produced a high-grade Divine Talisman, and she and He Pingsheng used talismans to disguise themselves before setting out on Stone Tiger Puppets.
• Lian Nihong used her divine sense to help them avoid Li Household members as they traveled through Divine Dream Mountain for more than ten days.
• He Pingsheng and Lian Nihong reached Divine Dream City, and Lian Nihong chose to travel to nearby Late City instead of Ice-Drinking Mountain.

He Pingsheng and Lian Nihong tried to arrange an immediate trip to Late City, but the Li Household’s search for He Pingsheng had stopped people from leaving Divine Dream City. After they escaped the shop, Lian Nihong offered to copy him the Divine Realm’s art of flight if he could grasp Spatial Law.

• He Pingsheng and Lian Nihong learned that a private Flying Boat to Late City would cost two million divine gold, but the Li Household had barred departures while hunting someone.
• The shopkeeper revealed that the Li Household was searching for He Pingsheng, accused of killing Li Tianyu and a Du Household disciple, and showed the pair his image.
• He Pingsheng led Lian Nihong out of the shop before she could expose him, and they went to a nearby mountain to talk.
• Lian Nihong asked about He Pingsheng’s Divine Sense and said that reaching beyond ten thousand zhang would let him learn the Divine Realm’s art of flight.
• He Pingsheng claimed his Divine Sense could sometimes exceed ten thousand zhang, so Lian Nihong offered to copy the flight art onto a Jade Slip if he could grasp Spatial Law.

He Pingsheng learned to fly and set off with Lian Nihong toward Late City, but their attempt to travel discreetly ended when an elder of the Li Household caught up with them. The elder recognized He Pingsheng and declared that Lian Nihong would become his maidservant.

• Lian Nihong explained that He Pingsheng could fly because he had cultivated Daoist Law and possessed a Dao Root, then taught him a flight method.
• He Pingsheng mastered the method, tested his flight and sword riding, and took Lian Nihong with him on his flying sword.
• He Pingsheng realized that a Divine Command Realm expert might notice a third-layer Divine General flying, so he landed with Lian Nihong on a mountain peak.
• An eleventh-layer Divine Command Realm elder of the Li Household arrived, saw through He Pingsheng's disguise, and identified him as the fugitive who had defied the household.
• The elder recognized Lian Nihong as an ascendant from a lower realm and claimed she was qualified to be his maidservant.

Lian Nihong and He Pingsheng ambushed Li Canghai when he tried to force them into becoming his divine servants. After they brought him down, He Pingsheng threatened to make Li Canghai his own divine slave.

• Li Canghai demanded Divine Slave Marks from Lian Nihong and He Pingsheng, while Lian Nihong secretly told He Pingsheng to pretend to comply.
• He Pingsheng tried to flee, and Lian Nihong struck Li Canghai’s Sea of Consciousness with a crimson Divine Sense attack.
• He Pingsheng used his Poison Mechanism Crossbow, Divine Talismans, and World-Grinding Discs to attack Li Canghai, but Li Canghai defended against most of the barrage.
• Lian Nihong burned her vital essence to strike Li Canghai’s Sea of Consciousness again, leaving him unable to defend himself.
• He Pingsheng wounded Li Canghai with his flying sword and then threatened him, claiming Lian Nihong was his divine slave and demanding Li Canghai’s Divine Slave Mark.

He Pingsheng forced Li Canghai to submit as his Divine Slave, then negotiated with the weakened Lian Nihong to secure his own safety. He offered to continue escorting her and help heal her injuries only if she swore not to harm him once recovered.

• He Pingsheng used his Formless Big Dipper Nails to cripple Li Canghai's Divine Sense and threatened to kill him unless he surrendered his Divine Slave Mark.
• Li Canghai gave He Pingsheng the mark and a bottle of Spirit Pivot Pills to restore Divine Sense.
• After recovering somewhat, Li Canghai continued repairing his soul while Lian Nihong woke and demanded that He Pingsheng make Li Canghai her servant instead.
• He Pingsheng refused to give up Li Canghai, explaining that he had subdued him to prevent them both from dying, but promised not to betray Lian Nihong's help.
• He Pingsheng offered Lian Nihong Golden Cores to heal her and continued escorting her, provided she swore to the God of Sovereignty not to act against him after recovering.

He Pingsheng secured Lian Nihong’s oath to the Sovereign God and agreed to take her to Ice-Drinking Mountain after first bringing her to Late City. After recovering their divine sense and traveling by flying boat, He Pingsheng, Lian Nihong, and Li Canghai arrived outside Late City.

• He Pingsheng rejected Lian Nihong’s appeals and insisted that she swear an oath to the Sovereign God before he would help her.
• Lian Nihong agreed to swear the oath on the condition that He Pingsheng take her to Ice-Drinking Mountain after Late City, and He Pingsheng accepted.
• He Pingsheng gave Lian Nihong two low-grade Spirit Pivot Pills and transferred all of Li Canghai’s nameplate points, discovering that Li Canghai had forty-seven million.
• After several days of recovery, Li Canghai brought out three second-grade divine flying boats, and the group boarded the high-grade vessel.
• Li Canghai piloted the flying boat for about seven days, and He Pingsheng, Lian Nihong, and Li Canghai arrived outside Late City.

He Pingsheng, Li Canghai, and Lian Nihong spent a year traveling by Great Ship to Celestial Phoenix City, then flew toward Ice-Drinking Mountain. As they neared Lian Nihong’s home, she feared her Lineage might have fallen after her apparent death, so the group stopped to seek information first.

• Lian Nihong led He Pingsheng and Li Canghai through several cities by Great Ship, and the journey to Celestial Phoenix City took a year.
• He Pingsheng questioned Lian Nihong about her death, her shattered Life Tablet, and the possibility that someone else had taken control of her Lineage.
• Lian Nihong insisted her younger sister would have taken charge and would welcome her return, so the three flew west toward Ice-Drinking Mountain.
• Lian Nihong worried that her Lineage’s sworn enemy might have attacked while she was gone, and He Pingsheng ordered Li Canghai to stop the Flying Boat.
• Lian Nihong proposed visiting Hong Tianshun, a third-layer Divine Command Realm Lineage head who had served her household, to learn what had happened.