Chapter Summaries

As endless autumn rain fell, the Rain Sect discussed the danger facing the Nine Heavens and planned to draw Su Mo into trouble to make him its young master. Elsewhere, a group of tomb raiders prepared to head for the Forbidden Lands, while Su Mo neared perfection in the Way of Plants and Trees and the threshold of Spirit Transformation.

• The Rain Sect Master and Yu Gu discussed the world’s peril and agreed to help Su Mo, even if doing so meant reclaiming the karma of Frost.
• A Long-Skirted Woman waited for someone from the Northern Region at the Forbidden Lands while her companions opened a tomb and decided to explore more before heading there.
• The tomb raiders realized they had forgotten First Senior Brother, who had been dozing against a tree, and called him to join them.
• Su Mo’s pill refining brought his Way of Plants and Trees close to perfection, impressing Du Pingsheng.
• Du Pingsheng told Su Mo to refine one final batch and began giving him requirements for it.

Su Mo prepared to refine the final Pill of Nothingness and break through to Spirit Transformation while Du Pingsheng pledged to protect him. As Su Mo began refining the pill in the uninhabited mountains, Du Pingsheng sent voice transmissions across the world, calling in favors.

• Du Pingsheng challenged Su Mo to understand pill refinement without plants, a furnace, or spirit fire, and Su Mo realized that anything in heaven and earth could become a pill.
• Du Pingsheng refined an extraordinary pill in the Bamboo Hut while Su Mo stood motionless in the rain for more than ten days.
• Du Pingsheng and Su Mo traveled to uninhabited mountains so Su Mo could refine the final Pill of Nothingness and face the heavenly tribulation safely.
• Su Mo warned Du Pingsheng that the Cloud and Thunder Sects would come after him when his aura erupted, and Du Pingsheng promised to handle them.
• Su Mo began refining the pill by declaring heaven and earth the furnace, while Du Pingsheng crushed several dozen message jades and sent voice transmissions across the world.

Du Pingsheng shattered his Message Jade and called in the debts of gratitude he had earned throughout his life. People across the world answered his summons and rushed to help him, establishing the vast influence behind the foremost alchemy cultivator of the Nine Heavens.

• Du Pingsheng's shattered Message Jade sent a message to people who owed him gratitude, interrupting two old men playing a board game.
• The black-robed old man and the old man in brocade agreed to answer Du Pingsheng's call, and the old man in brocade decided to bring his granddaughter.
• A middle-aged man summoned his father from secluded cultivation by claiming his granddaughter had a toothache, and his father then ordered the entire Sect to go help Du Pingsheng.
• An Old Woman told the women bathing in a desert spring that Elder Du had sent word, and they immediately prepared to leave.
• Dozens of groups from across the world set out for Du Pingsheng, whose lifetime of kindness had gathered powerful allies.

Su Mo used Du Pingsheng’s alchemy inheritance to create a Heaven and Earth Pill Furnace and refine himself, seeking to break through to Spirit Transformation. As he began the process, his living Spiritual Root appeared and the Heavenly Dao gathered thunder against him.

• Su Mo shaped the mountains and sky into a Heaven and Earth Pill Furnace with his Confucian Dao True Words and intent of plants and trees.
• Su Mo declared himself the medicine, and Du Pingsheng realized that the final furnace was meant to help Su Mo refine himself and break through to Spirit Transformation.
• Su Mo manifested his Spiritual Root as a vast river lined with stars and Flowers of the Other Shore, thrilling Du Pingsheng.
• Su Mo invoked the mortal world as flame and began refining his Dao as eerie fires rose inside the furnace and the Heavenly Dao gathered thunderclouds.
• Nine dragon-coiled wheels appeared on the furnace, and Su Mo commanded it to refine.

The Cloud Sect learned that Yan Jingshu had been Su Mo and declared Du Pingsheng its mortal enemy, while its young master urged the sect to target Su Mo’s friends. When Su Mo’s aura signaled his impending breakthrough to Spirit Transformation, the Cloud and Thunder Sects set out to kill him, while the Rain Sect chose to help him.

• The Cloud Sect Master and elders discussed Du Pingsheng’s apparent betrayal after he disappeared with Medicine Mountain’s treasures.
• The young master reported that Yan Jingshu was Su Mo, prompting the Cloud Sect Master to declare Du Pingsheng a mortal enemy.
• The young master proposed torturing Su Mo’s close friends for information, angering Elder Bai and Elder Xia.
• Su Mo’s vast aura signaled his impending breakthrough to Spirit Transformation, and the Cloud Sect set out to kill him.
• Sect Master Lei Ruo led Thunder Sect elders toward Su Mo, and the Cloud and Thunder Sects joined forces.
• Yu Gu and the Rain Sect Master decided to go help Su Mo, with Yu Gu saying his personal grudge mattered little compared with the world.

Su Mo endured the Heaven and Earth Pill Furnace’s flames as he advanced toward Spirit Transformation, resisting the Soul Incense Volume’s smoke with a remembered call from Girl. The Cloud and Thunder Sects arrived as his flames surged, and Du Pingsheng stepped between Su Mo and their leaders.

• Su Mo endured the furnace’s burning while his Nascent Soul refined into spiritual power, and the Book of Life and Death opened its third volume, the Soul Incense Volume.
• Du Pingsheng urged Su Mo to stay awake as strange blue smoke assailed his body and soul, but Girl’s call revived him.
• Su Mo asked Du Pingsheng about refining a Twin Perching Pill after reaching Spirit Transformation, and Du Pingsheng agreed to discuss it then.
• Su Mo spotted the Cloud and Thunder Sects approaching and increased the furnace’s flames with his Confucian Dao True Words.
• Cloud Sect Master Yun Huan and Thunder Sect Master Lei Ruo arrived with their people, and Du Pingsheng rose to confront them.

Du Pingsheng revealed that he had joined the Cloud Sect to uncover a truth and stood with Su Mo as he broke through to Spirit Transformation. The Rain Sect declared Su Mo its young master and moved to protect him, then another group arrived to join the standoff.

• Du Pingsheng rejected the Cloud Sect Master's charge of betrayal and said he had entered the sect to uncover a truth owed to him for over a thousand years.
• Du Pingsheng positioned himself before Su Mo, refusing to let the Cloud and Thunder Sects kill his disciple as Su Mo continued tempering his body in the Heaven and Earth Pill Furnace.
• The Rain Sect arrived in force, and its master declared Su Mo their young master and said they had come to protect him as he entered Spirit Transformation.
• Yu Gu urged the Cloud and Thunder Sects to stop their infighting, but the Cloud Sect Master insisted Su Mo had to die.
• Two swords bearing a small group of people appeared, and their leader asked what difference their arrival would make.

Du Pingsheng gathered allies from the Imperial Clan and numerous sects to protect Su Mo as he underwent Spirit Transformation inside the Heaven and Earth Pill Furnace. With the Cloud and Thunder Sects outnumbered by the assembled forces, the chapter left the threatened battle unlikely to begin.

• Two Imperial Clan elders arrived and agreed to repay their debt to Du Pingsheng by protecting Su Mo as he entered Spirit Transformation.
• Du Pingsheng refused to march on the Cloud Sect and instead asked the allies to keep Su Mo safe while he endured the furnace’s flames.
• A disheveled old man arrived with his sect’s Spirit Transformation cultivators and pledged support to Du Pingsheng.
• An old woman and her sect’s cultivators joined Du Pingsheng’s side, followed by dozens of groups from other sects.
• The Cloud and Thunder Sect leaders saw that Du Pingsheng’s allies could contend with their forces, and the Cloud Sect’s Inner Affairs Elder expected that fighting would be avoided.

Su Mo completed his Way of Plants and Trees under the Heaven and Earth Pill Furnace, but his attempt to enter Spirit Transformation provoked the Heavenly Tribulation. He chose to face it despite knowing it could kill him, and the lightning tribulation began.

• Su Mo told Du Pingsheng that the fire was too weak, and Du Pingsheng asked the Old Woman to stoke the furnace with half her power.
• The Old Woman unleashed flames that refined Su Mo’s Way of Plants and Trees, while the Cloud and Thunder Sects realized he had not shed his mortality and waited for the Heavenly Tribulation to kill him.
• Su Mo perfected his Way of Plants and Trees, causing the Heaven and Earth Pill Furnace and its flames to vanish as the thunderclouds briefly quieted.
• Su Mo asked Du Pingsheng about his history with the Cloud Sect, and Du Pingsheng promised to tell him after he reached Spirit Transformation.
• Su Mo accepted that he had no other choice and forced his two Great Daos toward Spirit Transformation, triggering a lightning tribulation.

Su Mo repeatedly challenged the Heavenly Tribulation to break through to Spirit Transformation, despite being badly injured by each strike. He persuaded Du Pingsheng not to use a pill that would draw the tribulation onto himself, and Du Pingsheng let it fall.

• As Su Mo reached for Spirit Transformation, the Heavenly Tribulation struck him and forced his cultivation back to Nascent Soul, leaving him wounded.
• Su Mo tried to break through again, endured another strike, and declared that the tribulation could not stop him.
• The Heavenly Tribulation struck Su Mo once more, splitting his skin and leaving him covered in blood as Du Pingsheng prepared a pill.
• Su Mo recognized that Du Pingsheng intended to use the pill to draw the Heavenly Tribulation onto himself and asked to face it alone.
• Su Mo called Du Pingsheng Master and pleaded with him not to sacrifice himself, and Du Pingsheng dropped the pill.

Su Mo repeatedly tried to enter Spirit Transformation, but the heavenly tribulation struck him down each time. Badly wounded and exhausted, he ended the chapter kneeling beside the Heaven-Defying Pill as the clouds prepared another strike.

• Su Mo forced his cultivation into Spirit Transformation again, but tribulation lightning blasted him back to Nascent Soul and left him kneeling in the void.
• Du Pingsheng urged Su Mo to stop and seek another way, but Su Mo said he already knew there was no other choice and tried again.
• The tribulation struck Su Mo repeatedly, and Yu Gu and the Rain Sect Master also called on him to stop.
• Su Mo contemptuously challenged the heavens and attempted Spirit Transformation once more, but another strike knocked him motionless to the ground.
• The Young Master of the Cloud Sect left, while a girl asked the brocade-robed old man why Su Mo kept trying.
• Su Mo struggled to his knees, told the heavens to kill him or get out of his way, then noticed the Heaven-Defying Pill and said he was tired.

Su Mo swallowed Du Pingsheng's Heaven-Defying Pill and forced his Confucian Dao cultivation toward Spirit Transformation, provoking a world-destroying Heavenly Tribulation. As the lightning began to fall, he sent his allies away and faced it alone, while the Phoenix Woman left him a multicolored feather and insisted he keep his promise to protect her.

• Su Mo swallowed the Heaven-Defying Pill and advanced toward Spirit Transformation, drawing a vast thundercloud vortex that threatened to destroy everything nearby.
• The Cloud Sect and Thunder Sect left, and Su Mo sent the Rain Sect and Du Pingsheng's companions away from the coming tribulation.
• Su Mo called Du Pingsheng his Master and teleported him to the Bamboo Pavilion, asking him to wait there.
• Su Mo brought the Phoenix Woman and Frost out of his Spirit Sea and urged the Phoenix Woman to leave, but she said she had nowhere to go.
• The Phoenix Woman gave Su Mo a multicolored feather and reminded him to protect her until her nirvana was complete.
• A hundred-zhang-wide lightning tribulation descended, shaking the earth and setting ten thousand miles of mountains ablaze.

Su Mo was erased by the heavenly lightning tribulation, and those connected to him across the world felt his loss. The National Fortune Bell rang mournfully in the Ninth Realm, where his loved ones remained behind, waiting for his return.

• The lightning tribulation destroyed Su Mo, and the Cloud and Thunder Sects' people sensed his presence vanish.
• Yu Gu returned to the Rain Sect and watched the rain continue after the thunderclouds dispersed.
• Du Pingsheng felt the perfected Way of Plants and Trees disappear and returned to his bamboo hut, promising to wait for Su Mo to finish crafting “Twin Perching.”
• In the Ninth Realm, the Hundred Ghosts guarded the people while Prince Ying's Princess Consort embroidered a dragon robe for Su Mo and spoke with Prince Ying about him.
• Prince Ying's Princess Consort suddenly began weeping, and Prince Ying held her as the National Fortune Bell rang with sorrow across the Ninth Realm.

The nine tolls of the Kingdom-Sacrificing Bell announced that Su Mo had died, leaving Cheng An'an, Dao Hua, and Prince Ying's family grieving while hoping the news was false. Half a year later, a Phoenix Bird hatched, broke open a nearby pebble to reveal a sleeping boy, and carried him toward a newly opened secret realm.

• National Fortune Power rang the Kingdom-Sacrificing Bell nine times, announcing that the Human Emperor had passed away.
• Cheng An'an heard the bell and insisted that Su Mo must be joking and could not have died.
• Dao Hua returned to the Back Mountain and asked Dao Twelve to help him practice the inherited technique.
• Prince Ying's Princess Consort embroidered Su Mo a Confucian Robe as she and Prince Ying struggled to accept his apparent death.
• After half a year, a Phoenix Bird hatched in the mountains, cracked open a pebble containing a sleeping boy, and carried him toward a newly opened secret realm.

The Nine Heavens’ prodigies gathered to enter the Forbidden Lands and compete for Divine Seals, while several elders made a wager over who would collect the most. Meanwhile, the Phoenix Bird carried a sleeping little boy to a hot spring, where two days later it emerged as a little girl.

• The brocade-robed old man, the black-robed old man, Yun Huan, and Lei Ruo agreed to wager Spirit Artifacts on which of their factions would obtain more Divine Seals.
• The brocade-robed old man secretly told the girl beside him to give her Divine Seals to the Great Chu Imperial Clan, and she realized the elders were plotting together.
• The Phoenix Bird carried the sleeping little boy into the Forbidden Lands and took him to a hot spring deep in the forest.
• The Phoenix Bird dropped the boy into the hot spring, then entered the water with him as dazzling rosy light filled the area.
• After two days, the light faded, revealing the still-naked little boy and the Phoenix Bird transformed into a little girl in a brilliant long dress.

Phoenix and Su Mo woke after half a year of Nirvana and discovered they had both become children. They were already inside the Forbidden Lands, where Su Mo learned he could grow faster by absorbing Divine Seals but had only Qi Refining cultivation to face the competition.

• Phoenix woke in the hot spring and roused Su Mo by flicking him painfully.
• Su Mo recognized Phoenix, then realized he had undergone Nirvana and become a child.
• Phoenix admitted she had saved Su Mo with her Phoenix Feather, while Su Mo revealed the Book of Life and Death might have saved him too.
• Phoenix said Su Mo could grow faster by absorbing Divine Seals in the Forbidden Lands, which had already opened during their half-year Nirvana.
• Su Mo discovered his Spirit Transformation cultivation had fallen to Qi Refining and worried about competing for Divine Seals.

Little Su Mo persuaded little Phoenix Woman to help him steal Divine Seals once she recovered some cultivation, and the two planned to ambush other entrants using her ability to teleport and his Divine Race body. After half a day of meditation, they set off together, with Su Mo carrying the Floating Life Pool stele as a weapon.

• Little Su Mo asked little Phoenix Woman to help him snatch Divine Seals after she recovered her cultivation, and she agreed in exchange for a future request.
• Little Su Mo and little Phoenix Woman decided they could ambush other entrants by teleporting close and overpowering them in combat.
• Little Phoenix Woman lent little Su Mo phoenix feathers that transformed into girls' clothes after his Confucian Robe was destroyed.
• Little Su Mo brought the Floating Life Pool stele out of his Spirit Sea Gate and chose it as his weapon.
• After half a day of meditation, little Phoenix Woman said she could take Su Mo to ambush people, and the two set off down the mountain.

Fu Hong encountered Xu Lin in the Forbidden Lands and surrendered two Divine Seals, but Xu Lin attacked him anyway. Little Su Mo and little Phoenix Woman defeated Xu Lin, searched him for valuables, and continued through the Forbidden Lands after Fu Hong fled in terror.

• Fu Hong searched the Forbidden Lands for Divine Seals while wondering whether Su Mo had arrived.
• Xu Lin confronted Fu Hong and forced him to hand over two Divine Seals, then attacked him as he tried to leave.
• Little Su Mo and little Phoenix Woman struck Xu Lin down, took three more Divine Seals, and frightened Fu Hong into fleeing.
• Little Su Mo searched Xu Lin’s Storage Ring, found nothing worthwhile, and accidentally dropped the stone stele on Xu Lin’s head again.

Little Su Mo and little Phoenix Woman escaped a group of newcomers, then used the Reincarnation Mirror to track the Cloud Sect Young Master and his disciples. They secretly followed the group, planning to exploit Su Mo’s grudge and let the Young Master lead them to more Divine Seals.

• Little Su Mo and little Phoenix Woman hid as a group arrived, then returned after the group moved on and noticed its members carried Divine Seals.
• Little Su Mo used the Reincarnation Mirror to find the Cloud Sect Young Master, who had taken Divine Seals from other cultivators.
• A phantom watched the children leave, recognized Su Mo as a surviving member of the Divine Race, and vowed that no one would bully him in the Forbidden Lands.
• Little Su Mo and little Phoenix Woman concealed themselves with Chen Meiren's Jade Clasp and watched the Cloud Sect group on an ancient road.
• Little Su Mo told little Phoenix Woman that the Young Master was an incarnation and that they could use him to find more Divine Seals, so they followed the group quietly.
• When several Divine Seals appeared in the distance, the Young Master rushed toward them, and the two children followed.

Little Phoenix Woman and Little Su Mo ambushed the Young Master of the Cloud Sect, stole his Storage Ring, and left the rival factions believing evil spirits haunted the Forbidden Lands. They returned the ring empty and headed deeper into the forest to lure their pursuers toward the Thunder Sect.

• The Young Master of the Cloud Sect and the Great Chu Imperial Clan prepared to fight over a Divine Seal.
• Little Su Mo and Little Phoenix Woman appeared, struck the Young Master of the Cloud Sect with a Stone Stele, and stole his Storage Ring.
• The Great Chu Imperial Clan and Cloud Sect disciples blamed evil spirits for the ambush, and the Young Master of the Cloud Sect woke to find his ring missing.
• Little Su Mo returned the empty ring, then escaped with Little Phoenix Woman through the Dense Forest.
• Little Su Mo asked Little Phoenix Woman to let her aura leak so their pursuers would follow, and directed the Reincarnation Mirror to take them to the Thunder Sect.