Recaps

On the Greed Purification Terrace, Su Mo reunited with the Dean and the Academy, but learned that only his greed had returned and that the others could not see him. He asked about Girl and said he knew where to find a Flower of the Other Shore.

• Su Mo awoke on the Greed Purification Terrace and embraced the Dean, who told him that the terrace reflected his heart and that everything there existed between illusion and reality.
• The Dean explained that Su Mo had entered the Divine Realm to seek the Flower of the Other Shore and had not yet returned.
• Su Mo saw Gu Yu and the other Academy disciples, but passed through Gu Yu and realized they could not see him.
• The Dean told Su Mo that the terrace’s world was real while Su Mo was false, because only his greed had returned; the Dean was false too.
• Su Mo asked where Girl was, learned that her divine soul was shattered and she remained asleep, then said he knew a place with a Flower of the Other Shore.

Su Mo found the flower of the other shore and helped awaken Girl, but she could not see him inside the Greed Purification Terrace’s dream. The Dean took Su Mo away to continue across the terrace, while Girl sensed that her Older Brother had returned and secretly erased the truth from her diary.

• Su Mo traveled to the Floating Life Pool, picked a flower of the other shore, and returned it to the Dean.
• The Dean turned the flower into green light that strengthened Girl’s divine soul and awakened her.
• Girl asked for her Young Master and sensed Su Mo nearby, while the Dean told her he was still in the Divine Realm.
• The Academy disciples welcomed Girl, and Su Mo watched her play with them before the Dean urged him to leave the Greed Purification Terrace.
• The Dean took Su Mo away, and Girl wrote that her Older Brother had found and saved her before erasing the note to protect karma.

Ji Ting learned that the Pei Clan’s inherited Three Questions gave Su Eternal Life a path to Sagehood, while the three powers that helped the Ji Clan seize the world demanded that Ji Ting walk the Ascend to Immortality Ancient Road. The black-clothed elder urged him to seek the remaining Fortune or an Innate Pure Spiritual Root, and Ji Shuang was told she would be married to Ji Ting.

• Ji Ting complained to the black-clothed elder that he had gained only half the world’s Fortune and was inferior to Su Eternal Life despite his greater cultivation.
• The black-clothed elder explained that the Pei Clan’s Life Souls held the answers to the Three Questions, allowing its members to enter Sagehood directly from the Inquiry Realm.
• Ji Ting admitted the three powers that had helped the Ji Clan take the world were now compelling him to walk the Ascend to Immortality Ancient Road, though he lacked confidence with only half the Fortune.
• The black-clothed elder told Ji Ting his remaining options were to obtain the rest of the world’s Fortune or an Innate Pure Spiritual Root, and mentioned that the Ji Clan was arranging a marriage for him.
• Ji Shuang learned that the Ji Clan planned to marry her to an older brother she had never met, and realized her family had hidden her identity as a Ji Clan daughter.

Ji Shuang learned from the Hairpin that the Ji Clan had raised her to exploit her innate spirit body and planned to marry her to Ji Ting. After asking the Hairpin to take her away, she vanished from the Void-Sealing Hall, with nowhere known to go.

• The Ji Clan patriarch ordered Ji Shuang confined and announced plans to marry her to Ji Ting, while Ji Yue was also kept under guard for opposing the marriage.
• The patriarch told the Woman that Ji Shuang was not their biological daughter and defended the marriage as a way to use her innate spirit body for Ji Ting without taking it outright.
• The Hairpin replayed the patriarch's conversation for Ji Shuang, revealing that the Ji Clan had raised her with the intention of using her spirit body.
• Ji Shuang clung to the Hairpin and begged it to take her away from the Ji Clan.
• The Hairpin broke its self-imposed seal and carried Ji Shuang away, marking her third escape.

The Dean explained to Su Mo that the Divine Realm was a hole in the Floating Leaf connected to the Long River, revealing that roughly a thousand years may have passed since Su Mo left. He offered Su Mo a Forget-Worry herb to escape the Greed Purification Terrace, but Su Mo refused because he wanted to pass through it and reach Mount Sumeru.

• The Dean brought Su Mo to the Dark River and explained that the Divine Realm was a hole in the Floating Leaf that connected to the Long River.
• The Dean told Su Mo that he had entered the world at the same point in time rather than traveling upstream, leading Su Mo to realize that about a thousand years may have passed since he left the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.
• The Dean reassured Su Mo that he might still find the Floating Leaf and the people he cared about if he reached the summit.
• The Dean retrieved a Forget-Worry herb and explained that it could help Su Mo escape the Greed Purification Terrace, though it would not let him pass through it.
• Su Mo refused the herb because he wanted to climb Mount Sumeru and pluck a Bodhi Fruit, then declared that he would show the Greed Purification Terrace his greed.

Su Mo broke free of the Greed Purification Terrace by confronting the changing breadth of his desires, from survival to peace for all living beings. He awakened on the broken bridge and stepped onto the void toward Mount Sumeru's summit.

• The Brush of All Living Beings tried to wake Su Mo, who rose with his eyes still closed and nearly stepped into the abyss beneath the broken bridge.
• In the terrace's true dream, Su Mo told the Dean he was leaving, and the Dean urged him to use his boundless greed to escape.
• Su Mo recalled how his desires had grown through his life, from surviving and staying with Girl to restoring the dead and ending strife.
• Su Mo declared that his greed as emperor was for all living beings beneath heaven, and the true dream collapsed.
• Su Mo awoke on the Purification Terrace and planted his foot on the void.

Su Mo defied Sumeru’s ten thousand Buddhas by using his greed to cross the void while carrying Hui Kong’s Golden Body. He broke through their barrier with a towering Buddha manifestation and reached Mount Sumeru’s summit.

• Su Mo stepped across the void on golden patterns formed by his greed, and the Brush of All Living Beings watched in shock.
• The ten thousand Buddhas of Sumeru appeared and blocked the broken bridge, declaring that the Five Poisons could not ascend.
• Su Mo challenged the Buddhas’ rejection of greed and compared them unfavorably with Hui Kong and Ku Ye, while Hui Kong’s Golden Body grew heavier on his back.
• Su Mo declared that his heart was Buddha’s heart and that he was Buddha, summoning a ten-thousand-zhang golden Buddha manifestation.
• Su Mo’s Buddha shattered the Sanskrit barrier, and he stepped onto Mount Sumeru’s summit.

Su Mo reached Mount Sumeru’s empty summit expecting a Bodhi Tree and fruit that could revive Hui Kong, but he realized the truth lay in perceiving all things rather than seeking emptiness. His insight transformed Hui Kong’s Golden Body into an Ancient Bodhi Tree, and Hui Kong returned as an Old Monk.

• Su Mo carried Hui Kong’s Golden Body to Mount Sumeru’s summit and found no Bodhi Tree or Bodhi Fruit.
• Su Mo recalled Hui Kong’s teachings and recognized that Bodhi meant reflecting all things, not rejecting them as empty.
• Su Mo used the Myriad Spirits Law to perceive the feelings of Mount Sumeru and declared that all dharmas arose from the heart.
• Hui Kong’s Golden Body became a seed that grew into an Ancient Bodhi Tree, while the mountain’s rule of emptiness vanished.
• A golden fruit from the tree became an Old Monk, and Su Mo greeted him as Hui Kong.

Su Mo reunited with Hui Kong beneath the Bodhi Tree on Mount Sumeru, and they reminisced about their old friendship while sharing tea. When Hui Kong explained that he could not leave because he had become the Bodhi Tree, Su Mo uprooted the tree and carried it through a gate.

• Su Mo met Hui Kong beneath the Bodhi Tree and declared that they had tied in their old argument about Buddhist teachings.
• Su Mo and Hui Kong remembered when Su Mo and Girl had first visited Hui Kong’s ruined temple.
• The Brush of All Living Beings tried to drink tea, and Su Mo plunged it into the hot cup after it complained.
• Su Mo suggested that he and Hui Kong visit Jiangnan, but Hui Kong said his Bodhi heart could not leave Mount Sumeru because the tree was his true body.
• Su Mo uprooted the Bodhi Tree and carried it through a pitch-black gate, then returned and invited Hui Kong to drink tea.

Su Mo uncovered a mysterious woman resembling the Divine Maiden beneath Mount Sumeru, and the Divine Maiden arrived to investigate. She transferred divine power into the woman and fell into a deep sleep, leaving Su Mo to care for the woman, who had become a little girl.

• Su Mo uprooted the Bodhi Tree, revealing a crystal coffin containing a woman who resembled the Divine Maiden.
• The Brush of All Living Beings and Hui Kong could not determine whether the woman was dead, though Hui Kong sensed no evil aura from her.
• Su Mo called for the Divine Maiden, who tore through the void and came to him.
• The Divine Maiden recognized a connection between herself and the woman, then warned Su Mo she might be unable to protect him for a while.
• The Divine Maiden poured divine power into the woman and fell asleep, and Su Mo placed her in his Spirit Sea.
• The woman transformed into a little girl bearing the Radiant Mark, and she clung to the coffin while looking at Su Mo.

Ji Shuang learned that the barren grave held her real mother and built a home beneath a Red Mulberry Tree. At Floating Life Pass, Wu Qian continued waiting for Su Mo while opposing the Ji Clan’s demand for Peach Blossom Haven.

• Ji Shuang confirmed through the Hairpin that the unknown grave was her real mother’s and decided to make her home beneath the Red Mulberry Tree.
• Ji Shuang used the Hairpin to fell trees and built a wooden hut, then tried and failed to heal her wounded hands with a leaf.
• Wu Qian, now in the Inquiry Realm, waited for Su Mo at Floating Life Pass, where Peach Blossom Haven had united the pass under the Sage clans and its guardians.
• Wu Pangzi visited Wu Qian on the temple roof, learned she had guessed his connection to Wu Sage, and left after she teased his ostentatious appearance.
• After a disciple delivered the Imperial Dynasty’s edict demanding Peach Blossom Haven, Wu Qian ordered Floating Life Pass to accuse the Ji Clan of rebellion and the Pei Clan to demand the Imperial Dynasty’s surrender.

Su Mo helped the newly revived Yueyue out of her coffin and discovered that she had lost her memories, though she believed she was powerful. After feeding her, he persuaded her to come with him because she liked his aura, but she struggled to remember his name.

• Su Mo and Hui Kong watched Yueyue climb out of the coffin while the Brush of All Living Beings trembled in fear.
• Su Mo helped Yueyue up, and she said she could talk but could not remember her name or past.
• Su Mo gave Yueyue food, and she ate until she was full while Hui Kong and Su Mo wondered why Mount Sumeru had suppressed her.
• Su Mo invited Yueyue to come with him and promised her delicious food, and she agreed because she liked his aura.
• Su Mo told Yueyue to call him Su Eternal Life, but she could only repeat “Su,” leaving the Brush of All Living Beings despairing.

The three Sages from Saddle Mountain, the Yan Household, and Qingliang River came to the Hanging Temple seeking Su Mo and the world’s fortune, but Kuye revealed that they had underestimated the extraordinary woman at Floating Life Pass. The Book Sage arrived to protect Eternal Life and disclosed that the Sages’ locations had been arranged to leave the attackers guessing.

• The three Sages demanded that Kuye hand over Su Mo, but Kuye said Buddha Child Eternal Life had left two days earlier and urged them to abandon their plan.
• The three Sages explained that they sought the world’s fortune to reach the Immortal Domain before their remaining lifespans ran out.
• Kuye deduced that the visitors were avatars and that the three Sages’ true bodies had gone to Floating Life Pass to seize Peach Blossom Haven.
• Kuye revealed that the extraordinary woman at Floating Life Pass had seen through their scheme and had not sent the Four Sages to the Hanging Temple.
• The Book Sage appeared and said Qian'er had sent him to protect Eternal Life, then revealed that three Sages guarded Floating Life Pass while another three had gone to the Imperial Dynasty.

Wu Qian used a convincing illusion to draw the three Sages away from Floating Life Pass and confronted Ji Ting at the Imperial Dynasty, warning him not to threaten Su Eternal Life. She and her companions vanished as incarnations, leaving Ji Ting and the returning Sages humiliated and uncertain.

• Wu Qian’s strategy made the three Sages fear that the Imperial Dynasty was under attack, so they turned back from Floating Life Pass.
• At the Ji Clan, Ji Shuang’s disappearance left the patriarch grim while the Woman quietly welcomed her escape.
• Wu Qian and three Sages confronted Ji Ting at the palace and told him Su Eternal Life did not need to act against him.
• Wu Qian identified Ji Ting’s hidden ally as possibly an Immortal and warned him not to trouble her young master.
• Wu Qian and the three Sages vanished as incarnations, and Ji Ting later told the returning Sages that they had been deceived.

After the Demon Sage regained her anger thought, she chased Su Mo into his Spirit Sea, where Hui Kong’s Buddhist power calmed her fury. Wu Qian arrived with two discoveries from the Imperial Dynasty, while Xiaoyueyue said she was hungry.

• Su Mo hid behind Hui Kong as the Demon Sage pursued him, furious over memories from the Demon Domain but unwilling to kill him.
• The Four Sages left Peach Blossom Haven after realizing the Demon Sage posed no real danger, and Su Mo fled into his Spirit Sea with Hui Kong and Xiaoyueyue.
• Su Mo asked Hui Kong and Xiaoyueyue to recite the Mind-Cleansing Mantra, but neither could recite it.
• Hui Kong summoned a thousand-zhang Golden Buddha Phantom, whose light eased the Demon Sage’s anger and made her sword disappear.
• Wu Qian entered the Spirit Sea to tell Su Mo about two discoveries from the Imperial Dynasty, and Xiaoyueyue asked her for food.

In Peach Blossom Haven, Wu Qian told Su Mo that a Saint Realm black-clothed elder behind the Ji Clan had arranged the death trap in the Forbidden Land and might be using the Ji Clan to pursue a hidden scheme. Su Mo suspected the plot was connected to the Immortal Gate’s closure and waited for Ji Ting to attempt ascension, while Xiaoyueyue learned the fruit Su Mo gave him was sour.

• Su Mo pulled Wu Qian out of the Spirit Sea and sat with her in Peach Blossom Haven.
• Wu Qian revealed that the Black-Clothed Elder behind the Ji Clan had laid the death trap for Su Mo and possessed cultivation above the Saint Realm.
• Wu Qian suggested the black-clothed man might be using the Ji Clan and that his scheme could be connected to the Immortal Gate remaining closed.
• Su Mo and Wu Qian speculated about why the Immortal Gate had vanished, and Su Mo said Ji Ting's attempt to ascend might reveal the answers.
• Su Mo handed Xiaoyueyue a sour fruit, and Xiaoyueyue shed tears after tasting it.

Su Mo struggled with whether to use the bridge in his Spirit Sea to seek Ning Baixue’s reincarnation, fearing the consequences of the Life-and-Death Forbidden Art. After Hui Kong urged him to let Ning Baixue choose for herself, Su Mo awakened her soul, and she said she wanted to try.

• Wu Qian took the sleepy Xiaoyueyue to the Divine Nest, while the Brush of All Living Beings chased after them to teach her to curse.
• Su Mo entered the Spirit Sea and stood beside the River of Forgetfulness, where Hui Kong spoke with him about his hesitation and the suffering of keeping Ning Baixue’s soul trapped.
• Su Mo admitted he could not be sure the bridge in his Spirit Sea led to reincarnation and feared wasting his one chance to bear the forbidden art’s karma.
• Hui Kong urged Su Mo to let Ning Baixue make her own choice, and Su Mo went to the Redwood Coffin to awaken her soul.
• The Book of Life and Death opened the coffin, and Ning Baixue appeared before Su Mo and said she wanted to try.

Su Mo sent Shi Jiuxuan’s remnant soul across the River of Forgetfulness in hope that she could reincarnate and return to him, sacrificing much of his vitality as he composed a poem for her. Shi Jiuxuan vanished into the mist beyond the bridge, leaving Su Mo collapsed on the riverbank, determined to find her again.

• Su Mo and Shi Jiuxuan agreed that she would attempt to cross the River of Forgetfulness and seek reincarnation.
• Su Mo gave Shi Jiuxuan a strand of his heart-soul and promised to find her if she remembered him after reincarnating.
• Shi Jiuxuan stepped onto the stone bridge as the fifth volume of the Book of Life and Death opened, and its rules began draining Su Mo’s vitality.
• Su Mo recited a poem for Shi Jiuxuan as she crossed the bridge, growing older with every step.
• Shi Jiuxuan reached the far end of the bridge, called on Su Mo to find her, and disappeared into the mist.
• Su Mo promised to find Shi Jiuxuan and collapsed on the riverbank.

Su Mo endured severe karmic backlash after sending Shi Jiuxuan across the River of Forgetfulness, but took the pain as evidence that his wife might be reborn. As he hid in the Spirit Sea to recover, the Demon Sage panicked about the four Saints outside and convinced him to close the Spirit Sea Gate.

• Su Mo told Hui Kong that he believed he had succeeded in sending Shi Jiuxuan toward rebirth, and refused to stop the karmic backlash despite its cost to his vitality.
• Su Mo asked Hui Kong to tell the people outside that he was contemplating Dao Arts in seclusion, then concealed the blood he coughed up and used his Giant God Blood to sustain himself.
• Su Mo discovered the Demon Sage hiding in the Spirit Sea, where she warned that four Saint Realm cultivators outside might seize his throne.
• The Demon Sage insisted that even a one-in-ten-thousand chance of danger meant certain death and urged Su Mo to hide with her and distrust Hui Kong.
• Su Mo closed the Spirit Sea Gate at the Demon Sage's urging, leaving Hui Kong outside bewildered.

Su Mo and the Demon Sage remained trapped together inside the sealed Spirit Sea, where her fear-driven thoughts made her suspect he intended to violate her. As Su Mo continued resisting the death energy, he worried about the Demon Sage’s suppressed aversion thought and what it might unleash.

• The Demon Sage explained that the Four Sages would kill her first if they wanted to harm Su Mo, and she relaxed after he sealed the Spirit Sea Gate.
• The Demon Sage asked how Su Mo had recovered her divine soul, and he said he debated the Dao with Revered Master Withered Leaf and brought two Sages to collect a debt.
• The Demon Sage feared Su Mo would take advantage of their isolation, and his attempt to reassure her with Buddhist radiance only made her accuse him of lying.
• The Demon Sage ordered Su Mo to sit beneath the Bodhi Tree and keep away from her, while she hid in a corner of the Spirit Sea.
• Su Mo resumed circulating his giant god blood to resist the death energy and worried about the Demon Sage’s suppressed aversion thought.

After recovering enough to leave the Spirit Sea, Su Mo returned to Peach Mountain, where Wu Qian arranged for him to recuperate in private while his aged appearance lasted. The Demon Sage remained behind, mourning her feelings for Su Mo, and Xiaoyueyue tried to learn curses from the Brush of All Living Beings.

• The Demon Sage’s Fear Thought faded, and she spent her time at the River of Forgetfulness lamenting that Su Mo had seen her at her most vulnerable and wondering whether he cared for her.
• Su Mo left the Spirit Sea and found Hui Kong meditating outside; the two sat together beneath a peach tree.
• Wu Qian saw Su Mo’s aged appearance, comforted him, and arranged for Peach Mountain to become his private place of recuperation so the disciples would not see him.
• Su Mo used his Divine Sense to find Xiaoyueyue, who was drawing with the Brush of All Living Beings and told it that she liked listening to people talk.
• The Brush of All Living Beings offered to teach Xiaoyueyue to curse, but she could only repeat fragments of its curse.

Su Mo learned that Ji Ting had summoned Incense Heavenly Prodigies and Sages to ascend the Ascend to Immortality Ancient Road in two years, and urged Wu Qian to stop concealing her talent. The chapter ended with Hui Kong warning that a calamity awaited Su Mo before the Demon Sage summoned him into the Spirit Sea Gate.

• Wu Qian told Su Mo that Ji Ting had proclaimed his intention to walk the Ascend to Immortality Ancient Road in two years and invited Incense Heavenly Prodigies and Sages to join him.
• Wu Qian explained that the proclamation would drive the Incense Heavenly Prodigies to seek opportunities in Blessed Lands and prepare for the ascent.
• Su Mo said he would eventually walk the ancient road but would not visit the Blessed Lands, then encouraged Wu Qian to reveal her talent and pursue her own path.
• Wu Qian refused to seek the Great Dao for herself, saying she only wanted to remain Su Mo's maid and would become his keen sword if he needed her.
• Hui Kong told Su Mo that he could no longer discern his Fate Pattern and feared a calamity awaited him.
• The Demon Sage emerged from Su Mo's Spirit Sea Gate and beckoned him inside to speak.

At the River of Forgetfulness, the Demon Sage warned Su Mo about the perilous path he planned to take and revealed that her father had died on it. Su Mo remained determined to reach the Immortal Domain, whether through Ji Ting’s attempt in two years or by finding his own way.

• The Demon Sage spoke with Su Mo about the exhaustion and consequences of ruling, recalling how her father taught her that those in power affected the lives of ordinary people.
• The Demon Sage asked whether Su Mo was ready to take a dangerous path, and Su Mo admitted he did not know but would eventually take it.
• The Demon Sage revealed that she had discovered Su Mo was suppressing his breakthrough into the Inquiry Realm and promised to keep his plans secret.
• The Demon Sage warned Su Mo that her father had died on the path and urged him not to follow it.
• Su Mo said Ji Ting would attempt the path in two years, but vowed to reach the Immortal Domain even if Ji Ting failed.

Su Mo left the Spirit Sea before the Demon Sage could say something she might regret, then followed the Hairpin’s call to a hillside hut where Ji Shuang had collapsed from poison. After healing her, he learned the Hairpin had preserved his aura because it trusted him to protect Ji Shuang.

• The Demon Sage hinted that the Pei Clan’s line might end again, but Su Mo cut her off and fled the Spirit Sea to avoid her speaking under the influence of Sorrow Thought.
• Hui Kong told Su Mo that he had faced the calamity head-on, and Su Mo sensed a call through the aura he had left on the Hairpin and departed Floating Life Pass.
• Little Yueyue arrived looking for Su Mo and demonstrated her newly learned insult by ordering the Brush of All Living Beings to attack.
• Su Mo followed the Hairpin’s call to a red mulberry tree and found Ji Shuang unconscious and suffering from poison inside the hut.
• Su Mo treated Ji Shuang and confirmed that the Hairpin had sealed itself to hide from the Ji Clan and had kept his aura because it trusted him not to harm her for her Innate Spirit Body.

Su Mo found Ji Shuang living alone in the mountains, recovered her from poisoning, and cared for her as she woke. Beneath the Red Mulberry Tree, Ji Shuang revealed she was not a member of the Ji Clan by blood, and Su Mo realized they had protected her to marry her to Ji Ting for the benefit of her Innate Spirit Body.

• Su Mo found Ji Shuang's hut and garden, planted more crops, and quietly watched the Red Mulberry Tree with the Hairpin.
• Ji Shuang woke and found Su Mo waiting outside; she told him she had been poisoned after eating an unfamiliar fruit.
• Su Mo healed the wounds on Ji Shuang's hands and warned her to eat only what she recognized.
• Ji Shuang thanked Su Mo for returning the Hairpin and keeping it from the Ji Clan, then asked whether he had known about her origins.
• Ji Shuang told Su Mo she was not a member of the Ji Clan, and he realized the clan had planned to marry her to Ji Ting for the sake of her Innate Spirit Body.