Chapter Summaries

Su Mo, the little girl, and Master Hui Kong reached a ruined city beneath Dao Xuan Mountain and learned that Immortals had slaughtered its people to pressure the Dao Sect. After Master Hui Kong directed a refugee family south, Su Mo gave them his blood to protect them from beasts, and they continued toward the mountain.

• Su Mo asked Master Hui Kong about his thoughts on their journey through devastated lands, and they discussed whether the world was merely an illusion.
• An old man told Su Mo that Immortals had destroyed the city and killed the young people they took to force the Dao Sect to submit.
• Master Hui Kong advised the old man and his family to seek hope in the south, though a woman warned that the Primordial Mountain Range was dangerous.
• Su Mo placed a drop of his divine blood in a bottle of pills and gave it to the old man to protect the family from wild beasts.
• Su Mo, the little girl, and Master Hui Kong headed toward Dao Xuan Mountain as the old man and his family knelt and called them kindhearted Immortals.

Su Mo sent a sparrow to Dao Hua at the Dao Sect, then used his power to arrive there with Little Girl and Master Hui Kong. He found the sect on edge amid a standoff with outsiders, while Dao Hua’s master remained injured and the sect’s leaders waited for events to unfold.

• Su Mo explained that his blood carried the Giant God Clan’s aura, then decided to visit the Dao Sect because cultivators there faced a coming calamity while remaining divided.
• Su Mo enchanted a sparrow and sent it to tell Dao Hua to dress properly and wait somewhere suitable to receive guests.
• At the Dao Sect, Dao Hua’s mistress treated his master’s injured Dao foundation and explained that the sect was waiting rather than rushing into battle against the outsiders.
• Dao Hua’s mistress questioned him about Su Mo’s message, and Dao Hua told the sparrow that he understood.
• Su Mo, Little Girl, and Master Hui Kong appeared before Dao Hua.

Su Mo reunited with Dao Hua after escaping the Divine Realm, but revealed that his Divine Soul was shattered and he was dying. Dao Twelve offered to take him to the Dao Sect’s Divine Spring, giving Su Mo a chance to seek help as the Upper Realm clan’s descent loomed.

• Su Mo reunited with Dao Hua and introduced the little girl as his maid, while the old woman recognized that Su Mo was dying.
• Dao Hua told Su Mo that Dao Twelve had fought an Upper Realm expert above Spirit Transformation, and they realized the enemy was waiting for their entire clan to descend.
• Su Mo revealed that his Divine Soul was shattered and that only the Flower of the Other Shore could save him, though none remained.
• Dao Hua offered to take Su Mo to the Dao Sect’s Divine Spring, but Su Mo initially refused to avoid burdening him.
• Dao Twelve appeared, said he had recovered, and offered to take Su Mo to the Divine Spring because he owed Mo Shangao a favor.
• At the little girl’s urging, Su Mo accepted Dao Twelve’s offer, and Dao Twelve took him away.

Dao Twelve brought Su Mo to the Dao Sect Ancestral Ground and sent him into the Dao Steps, despite knowing the Divine Spring could not heal his shattered Divine Soul. After he entered, a mysterious woman revealed that only the poisonous Flower of the Other Shore could save him, then vanished.

• Dao Twelve led Su Mo through the bamboo grove of the Dao Sect Ancestral Ground and explained that its unmarked mounds held the remains of Dao Sect Sages.
• At the bamboo gate, Dao Twelve told Su Mo that he would face the Dao Steps’ tests and might reach the Divine Spring, though Su Mo was not a Dao Sect member.
• Su Mo questioned the point of the trials because his Divine Soul was shattered, but Dao Twelve said he had promised someone to bring him there and urged him to follow his heart.
• After Su Mo entered the Dao Steps, a woman in white appeared beside Dao Twelve and said she had asked him to bring Su Mo to the ancestral ground.
• The woman in white said the Divine Spring could not save Su Mo and that only the poisonous Flower of the Other Shore could; she then vanished.

Su Mo discussed the nature of Confucianism, Buddhism, and the Dao with a mysterious white-haired elder, then reflected on their teachings as he climbed an endless mountain path. He reached the mountaintop after realizing that he was the Dao, though sorrow and reluctance remained in his smile.

• Su Mo met a white-haired old man on the stone steps, who asked him to compare Confucianism and the Dao.
• Su Mo explained how a Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist might cross a river, and the old man corrected his understanding of nonaction and nature.
• Su Mo watched fallen bamboo leaves and connected their cycle to the teachings of Buddhism, Confucianism, and the Dao.
• The old man vanished, and Su Mo found himself unable to reach the mountaintop until he understood that the steps reflected the movement of his heart.
• Su Mo accepted that he was the Dao and took one step to the mountaintop, looking back with lingering sorrow and reluctance.

Su Mo entered the Divine Spring to nourish his shattered divine soul and reflected on the people who had shaped his life. As he remembered those he loved and felt indebted to, he wondered whether he could return to Prince Ying and his wife before he died.

• Su Mo entered the Divine Spring, where its power slowly nourished his shattered divine soul.
• Su Mo remembered his parents from his previous life and felt guilty for never visiting Prince Ying and his wife, who had treated him as their son.
• Su Mo recalled how the Great Calamity had helped him and trusted him, though he wondered what their relationship might have become if he had lived longer.
• Su Mo thought of Luo Yin and Ning Baixue, recognized his feelings for both, and concluded that he had to leave them be because he was dying.
• Su Mo remembered Gu Yu, the Dean, and his fellow Academy students, and felt crushed by the debts he believed his impending death would leave unpaid.

Su Mo learned that the Divine Spring could not repair his shattered Divine Soul, so he decided to spend his remaining time traveling with Little Girl. He hid the truth from her, but she realized he was lying and privately resolved to find another way to save him.

• Su Mo discovered that the Divine Spring’s healing could not keep pace with the damage to his Divine Soul and decided to use his remaining time to travel with Little Girl.
• Dao Twelve took Su Mo out of the Dao Sect’s Ancestral Grounds, and Su Mo thanked him for letting him try the Divine Spring.
• Little Girl anxiously asked whether the Divine Spring had worked, and Su Mo falsely assured her that he felt much better.
• Su Mo suggested that he and Little Girl visit the Snow Domain and Jiangnan before returning to the Academy, and Little Girl agreed.
• Little Girl realized Su Mo was lying about recovering and silently decided to seek the flower of the other shore.

Su Mo brought Little Girl and Master Hui Kong to the breach at the End of Heaven and learned that the realms would merge within two months, with a devastating snowfall to follow. He asked Master Hui Kong to help protect the mortals, then visited Snow City, where Prefect Liang Yi recognized him as the Peerless Marquis.

• Su Mo, Little Girl, and Master Hui Kong reached the breach in the Snow Domain, where Su Mo confirmed it was the passage used by people from the outside world.
• Master Hui Kong said the breach would open completely in two months and that no one could stop the realms from merging.
• Su Mo feared a heavier snowfall would endanger the surviving mortals and asked Master Hui Kong to help them before taking Little Girl to play in the snow.
• Su Mo and Little Girl arrived at Snow City and asked the guards to bring them to Prefect Liang Yi.
• Liang Yi came to the city wall, recognized Su Mo, and knelt to pay his respects to the Peerless Marquis.

Su Mo warned Liang Yi that another devastating snowfall would soon make Snow City uninhabitable and urged him to evacuate its people. Liang Yi refused to abandon his post without an imperial command, just as Eunuch Ji appeared with an imperial edict.

• Liang Yi recognized Su Mo as the Peerless Marquis and explained that the emperor had granted him the title after he solved the West City Case.
• Liang Yi told Su Mo that Snow City's supplies were nearly gone and its people could not survive another snowfall like the last one.
• Su Mo warned Liang Yi that another heavy snowfall was coming and urged him to lead the people out of the Snow Domain.
• Liang Yi believed Su Mo but refused to leave without an imperial command, insisting that the soldiers would defend Snow City to the death.
• Su Mo released his Core Formation pressure after Liang Yi stood firm, and Liang Yi offered to let the townspeople evacuate on their own.
• Eunuch Ji appeared atop the wall holding an imperial edict and ordered Liang Yi to receive it.

Su Mo received an imperial edict granting him authority over Liang Yi and heard the emperor’s explanation for the West City bloodshed. The emperor gave him a Fate Token that could command national fortune power, leaving Su Mo uncertain of the emperor’s intentions as he returned to Snow City to carry out his plans.

• Liang Yi and the soldiers knelt as Eunuch Ji read an edict ordering Liang Yi to obey Su Mo as though the emperor himself were present.
• Su Mo refused to kneel, then agreed to hear the emperor’s private message from Eunuch Ji outside Snow City.
• Eunuch Ji gave Su Mo a Fate Token and relayed the emperor’s denial that he had directed the West City bloodshed, adding that the token could command national fortune power and even kill him.
• Eunuch Ji vanished, and Su Mo wondered whether the emperor was testing him or trying to entangle him in national fortune power.
• Su Mo put away the Fate Token, returned to the city wall, and ordered Liang Yi to listen to his command.

Su Mo used the emperor’s decree to evacuate Snow City and traveled with Little Girl to rescue people across the Snow Domain. After using the Fate Token to command Hua Kingdom’s national fortune and transport a town’s people to safety, he suffered severe backlash that further damaged his divine soul.

• Su Mo ordered Liang Yi to lead Snow City’s defenders and residents out of the Snow Domain, then set off with Little Girl for another settlement.
• Su Mo warned a town’s residents that another heavy snowfall was coming and offered to take them out, despite their lack of provisions.
• Su Mo activated the Fate Token and discovered that national fortune let him perceive all of Hua Kingdom and use his Confucian Dao True Words without spending spiritual power.
• Su Mo used national fortune and his Confucian Dao True Words to send the townspeople to the banks of the Bian River.
• The backlash worsened the cracks in Su Mo’s divine soul, and Little Girl rushed to support him as he realized how powerful a Confucian practitioner could become by wielding national fortune.

Su Mo and Little Girl searched the Snow Domain for survivors and helped evacuate them, while Su Mo grew weaker from using National Fortune Power. After Master Hui Kong joined them, Su Mo and Little Girl built snowmen together before the three left for Jiangnan.

• Su Mo and Little Girl traveled from town to town, and he persuaded or sent the survivors away while growing weaker each time he used National Fortune Power.
• After more than half a month, Master Hui Kong returned and told Su Mo that he had evacuated everyone in the Snow Domain beyond Great Hua.
• Su Mo reassured Master Hui Kong that he did not suffer with Girl by his side, then invited her to build snowmen.
• Su Mo and Little Girl built snowmen of each other, and Su Mo made an especially ugly snowman modeled after Master Hui Kong.
• Su Mo, Little Girl, and Master Hui Kong left the Snow Domain to find a boat and travel down to Jiangnan, leaving three snowmen behind.

While traveling through Jiangnan, Su Mo learned that Ning Baixue had refused an arranged marriage because she considered him her husband, stirring complicated feelings as he continued to weaken. The chapter ended with news that outsiders heading for the Demon Sect had been killed on the way.

• Su Mo, Little Girl, and Master Hui Kong traveled south by boat and stopped at a Jiangnan teahouse.
• Su Mo overheard that outsiders had attacked the Dao Sect and sought an alliance and marriage with the Holy Sect.
• Su Mo learned Ning Baixue had refused the marriage, claiming she already had a husband from the Ghost Gate illusion.
• Su Mo heard that Ning Baixue had left the Holy Sect and was being pursued, and he worried over her fate.
• A teahouse patron said outsiders bound for the Demon Sect had been killed on the way.

Su Mo overheard mortals turn his deeds into legend and mistakenly credit him with killing the outsiders, while Master Hui Kong noticed his troubled mind. As Su Mo’s Divine Soul weakened and the Upper Realm’s cultivators flooded into the Ninth Realm, a mysterious figure carrying a Flower of the Other Shore found his boat.

• Pockmarked Face told a man from Great Xing that Su Mo had killed the outsiders in the Snow Domain, then recounted an embellished account of Su Mo’s deeds to the gathered listeners.
• Su Mo realized that someone appeared to be deliberately spreading stories about him and wondered whether the emperor was building momentum.
• The man suggested that Su Mo should be their emperor, startling the others, and the group left the teahouse.
• Master Hui Kong told Su Mo that his mind was troubled, and the three returned to their boat and continued downriver.
• Su Mo’s Divine Soul grew weaker as heavy snow returned to the Snow Domain and countless Upper Realm Immortal Cultivators entered the Ninth Realm.
• A terribly weak, uncanny figure carrying a Flower of the Other Shore found Su Mo’s boat as he seemed near death.

The Upper Realm cultivators descended into the Ninth Realm, and their leaders set out to seize its power while searching for a mysterious artifact. Lei Li attacked the Dao Sect, and Dao Twelve called for the ancestor as the sect’s defenses began to fail.

• Yu Gu and Lei Li argued over past failures and the deaths of their descendants before a middle-aged Cloud Sect leader urged them to focus on their mission.
• Lei Li claimed the Dao Sect for her clan, while Yu Gu vowed to find the killer of his grandson and began leading the Rain Sect toward the Demon Sect in Great Hua.
• The Cloud Sect leader sent his cultivators toward the Holy Sect and urged the descending clans to obtain the Ninth Realm’s National Fortune Power.
• Lei Li demanded the Dao Sect submit to her, but Dao Twelve and his elders refused.
• Lei Li struck the Dao Sect’s barrier with her Thunder Sword, injuring Dao Twelve and killing ordinary disciples with the force of the lightning.
• Dao Twelve ordered the sect to summon its ancestor, and a sigh sounded across heaven and earth.

The Dao Sect's ancestor sacrificed himself to shield the sect long enough for Emperor Xing to evacuate its people to Great Hua, while Old Woman Lei Li took control of the sect and began refining its fortune vein. At Great Hua Academy, the Dean admitted he had forgotten to consider healing Little Su Su's shattered Divine Soul, then assured Gu Yu and Luo Yin that Little Seven would survive and said he would rest for two more days.

• The Dao Sect's ancestor told Dao Twelve and the elders to evacuate, and Emperor Xing offered to send them to the border of Great Xing to meet the Emperor of Great Hua.
• The ancestor used the Hundred Fragrances Bell to shield the Dao Sect from Old Woman Lei Li's thunder, then turned to ashes after the lightning passed.
• Emperor Xing used national fortune power to carry the Dao Sect's people away as the Thunder Spirit shattered the ancestor's barriers.
• Old Woman Lei Li claimed the Dao Sect and decided to refine its fortune vein before pursuing the evacuated people.
• At Great Hua Academy, Gu Yu reminded the Dean that Little Su Su's Divine Soul was shattered, and the Dean realized he had forgotten to find a way to heal it.
• The Dean told Luo Yin and Gu Yu that Little Seven would not die, then said he would rest for another two days despite the Upper Realm's cultivators having descended.

The Great Calamity brought the Flower of the Other Shore to save Su Mo, but Little Girl revealed that the flower would turn him into a puppet and that she herself was the flower. Little Girl sacrificed herself to save Su Mo, leaving the Great Calamity restored and Su Mo seeing her in a dream.

• The Great Calamity arrived with the Flower of the Other Shore as Su Mo lay near death, and Little Girl remembered who she was and where she came from.
• Little Girl refused to let the Great Calamity give Su Mo the flower, explaining that its poison would take over his Divine Soul and make him a puppet.
• Little Girl told the Great Calamity that she was the Flower of the Other Shore and that her death could save Su Mo; she absorbed the flower, causing the Great Calamity's body to solidify.
• Little Girl asked the Great Calamity to tie Su Mo's hair after she was gone, then turned into starlight and merged into his forehead.
• Su Mo wept as a withered Flower of the Other Shore remained on his chest, and Little Girl appeared before him in a white dreamscape.

Yu Gu tracked Su Mo’s aura to the river and confronted Master Hui Kong, while Su Mo learned the Little Girl had sacrificed herself to save him. As she faded away, she revealed that he could bring her back by reviving a withered Flower of the Other Shore and filling the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths with flowers.

• Yu Gu killed everyone in a Jiangnan city except Pockmarked Face, searched his soul, and learned that Su Mo was connected to the deaths of the Rain Clan in the Snow Domain.
• Yu Gu sensed Su Mo’s aura near the river and found the little boat, where Master Hui Kong confronted him and urged him to stop killing.
• The Little Girl told Su Mo that she had traveled upstream to find her big brother, and that her longing had made the Flowers of the Other Shore poisonous.
• The Little Girl explained that she had saved Su Mo by sacrificing herself, and revealed that Su Mo was her big brother whom she had met downstream.
• Su Mo promised not to give the Little Girl’s withered Flower of the Other Shore to the people from the world above and vowed to prevent the world from suffering because of her sacrifice.
• The Little Girl said Su Mo could bring her back by reviving the withered flower and filling the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths with Flowers of the Other Shore, then faded away.

After Little Girl vanished, Su Mo grieved for her and fell into memories of their life together as his consciousness drifted into the River of Forgetfulness. Elsewhere, Master Hui Kong confronted Yu Gu, who remained determined to avenge his grandson and attacked the monk.

• Su Mo realized Little Girl was gone and searched the empty expanse for her, pleading for her to answer him.
• Su Mo remembered Little Girl’s words and their time together, then sank into the River of Forgetfulness with her image in his mind.
• Yu Gu questioned Master Hui Kong after discovering he could not see through the monk’s cultivation.
• Master Hui Kong urged Yu Gu to abandon his revenge, but Yu Gu refused and demanded that the monk step aside.
• Yu Gu invoked “Rainfall!” and changed the color of heaven and earth.

Master Hui Kong endured Yu Gu’s rain arts and guided him to a new understanding of rain and reincarnation, but Yu Gu threatened to kill ordinary people unless he could pursue revenge against Su Mo. Hui Kong let Yu Gu kill him with an ordinary sword, and Yu Gu left in a state of Buddhist awakening while Hui Kong died aboard the boat.

• Yu Gu summoned his Life-Bound Spirit Artifact and used Rain Fate to make people age, but Master Hui Kong’s Buddhist light protected them and himself.
• Master Hui Kong explained that rain encompassed both life and reincarnation, prompting Yu Gu to gain insight into the Dao.
• Yu Gu threatened to kill ordinary people if Master Hui Kong continued to protect Su Mo, forcing Hui Kong to choose between them.
• Master Hui Kong offered Yu Gu the chance to kill him with an ordinary sword, and Yu Gu pierced his heart.
• As he died, Master Hui Kong recited Buddhist teachings, and Yu Gu reached a state of awakening before leaving.
• Master Hui Kong returned to the boat, sat in meditation, and died without resolving his debate with Su Mo.