Chapter Summaries

Seven or eight Golden Core Cultivators debated whether to pursue Wang Quan and the Light-Splitting Mirror, then entered the Present World despite a divination that warned their choice could bring great fortune or calamity. They confronted Wang Quan, who used the mirror to resist their pressure, and one cultivator demanded the treasure back.

• The Golden Core Cultivators reached the Underworld location corresponding to the Round-Faced Daoist Nun's Lineage and hesitated over whether to seize Wang Quan's Magic Treasure.
• The cultivators performed divinations using a mountain, a softshell turtle, a totem, and a golden core, and all concluded that fortune and calamity were hard to predict.
• A softshell turtle spirit advised the cultivators to choose the cowardly option, but one Golden Core Cultivator killed it after praising its wisdom.
• Despite their fears, the Golden Core Cultivators entered the Present World to take the Light-Splitting Mirror.
• Wang Quan stopped refining [Drowning Water] as the Golden Core Cultivators' pressure swept over the village, then used the [Light-Splitting Mirror] to protect himself and the Round-Faced Daoist Nun's Lineage.
• One Golden Core Cultivator demanded that Wang Quan return his Household's Magic Treasure, and Wang Quan aimed the mirror at him and challenged him to call out to it.

Wang Quan used the Light-Splitting Mirror against a Golden Core Cultivator, causing his Golden Core, Yang Spirit, and Purple Mansion to appear to rebel against him. The Golden Core Cultivator realized he was trapped in an illusion and tried to break it.

• The Golden Core Cultivators mocked Wang Quan and used a crude spell to make the Light-Splitting Mirror appear to ask to return to its masters.
• Wang Quan fed the Light-Splitting Mirror ten thousand strands of Dharma Power, and its light made a Golden Core Cultivator's Golden Core slip out of his control.
• The Golden Core Cultivator's Yang Spirit left his Purple Mansion, which began to shake without its support.
• The Yang Spirit, Golden Core, and Purple Mansion became independent, animated figures that threatened the Golden Core Cultivator in the mirror light.
• The Golden Core Cultivator recognized the scene as an illusion created by the mirror and shouted for it to break.

Wang Quan used his Light-Splitting Mirror to kill one Golden Core Cultivator while the others recognized his strength and agreed to help his senior sister. Their identity tokens then revealed that the entire [Western Extremity] Lineage had been summoned to Stone City under threat of death.

• The Light-Splitting Mirror separated a Golden Core Cultivator’s soul and spirit, and his companions dismantled his body as he died.
• The remaining Golden Core Cultivators saw Wang Quan wield five Magic Treasures and sensed him all around them, so they abandoned their plan to attack.
• Wang Quan told the Golden Core Cultivators to work for his senior sister and demanded that their entire [Western Extremity] Household help.
• The Golden Core Cultivators offered Wang Quan gifts and said they could not speak for their whole Household.
• Wang Quan told them to check their identity tokens, which summoned the [Western Extremity] Lineage to Stone City within three months and threatened the lives of those who arrived late.

The Western Extremity Household’s Golden Core cultivators agreed to serve Wang Quan’s senior sister after learning that his order to conscript them came with overwhelming backing. Wang Quan observed the self-aware cultivation realms separated by his Light-Splitting Mirror, which ended by confronting him.

• The Western Extremity Household’s Golden Core cultivators received orders to join the polar battlefield and learned that the Lineage prodigies had received the same summons.
• The prodigies told the Golden Core cultivators to accept Wang Quan’s demands, reasoning that his Magic Treasures and swift conscription order showed he had powerful backing and high clearance.
• The head of the Western Extremity Household agreed to pledge allegiance to Wang Quan and work for his senior sister, provided they were not made to open up the polar regions.
• The Golden Core cultivators discovered that their companion had been destroyed in body and spirit after Wang Quan’s Magic Treasures defeated him.
• Wang Quan watched as the separated Golden Core, Yang Spirit, and Purple Mansion displayed self-awareness, and the Golden Core and Purple Mansion challenged him while the Yang Spirit hid behind them.

Wang Quan tried to force the self-aware Golden Core and Purple Mansion to follow him, but the Yang Spirit tricked him and escaped with them. He then confronted the [Western Extremity] Household cultivators about their actions in the Second-Layer World, and they hesitated to answer.

• Wang Quan threatened the Golden Core and Purple Mansion with his Magic Treasures, while the Yang Spirit promised to persuade them to submit.
• The Yang Spirit led the Golden Core and Purple Mansion away, then escaped with them after claiming they would return in eight or ten thousand years.
• Wang Quan stopped himself from attacking the fleeing trio when he noticed the [Western Extremity] Household cultivators watching him.
• Wang Quan asked the [Western Extremity] Household cultivators why they had destroyed safe zones in the Second-Layer World and released anomalies to kill people from the Main World.
• The [Western Extremity] Household cultivators fell silent, and Wang Quan accused them of lacking sincerity.

Wang Quan enlisted Ying Jiaren, Ruo Jinghong, and Qian Xiuyue to help find his three runaway sentient realms, while arranging to send the [Northern Deep] Lineage to Bitter Cold City. In the Third-Layer World, [Ghost Emperor Heart] led a charge against fleeing evils, where the missing Yang Spirit appeared with the Golden Core and Purple Mansion and proclaimed itself free.

• Wang Quan learned that Ying Jiaren could use her authority to conscript the [Northern Deep] Lineage and protect herself in Bitter Cold City, so he let her handle the conscription.
• Wang Quan asked Ruo Jinghong and Qian Xiuyue to watch for his missing sentient realms, and both promised to help locate them.
• Wang Quan considered asking [Ghost Emperor Heart] for help, but chose not to burden him and instead paid homage with Sandalwood Incense.
• [Ghost Emperor Heart] led a great ship and its ghostly forces in crushing a horde of fleeing evils in the Third-Layer World.
• The Yang Spirit appeared among the evils holding the Golden Core and Purple Mansion, declared that it had broken free of a thousand-year seal, and called on the beings around it to kneel and follow it.

Wang Quan forced Golden Core Cultivators from the [Western Extremity] to provide resources in exchange for lifting conscription, then used the [Light-Splitting Mirror] to capture one cultivator’s escaped cultivation realms. The newly separated Golden Core and Purple Mansion refused to serve him, so Wang Quan planned to take them to the Far West and brainwash them.

• Wang Quan ordered the [Western Extremity] Golden Core Cultivators to deliver resources to the [Drowning Water] Lower Court before he would lift conscription, and kept one cultivator behind.
• As the remaining Golden Cores left, Wang Quan used the [Light-Splitting Mirror] to strike down the cultivator he had detained and force out his Golden Core, Purple Mansion, and Yang Spirit.
• The [Seventy-Two Pentads Lamp] captured the Yang Spirit and turned him into a pattern, while the Golden Core and Purple Mansion escaped their original body and attacked it.
• Wang Quan offered the Golden Core and Purple Mansion food and lodging if they would work for him, but both refused and insisted they would rather die than be enslaved.
• Wang Quan decided to immobilize the two realms and take them back to the Far West for brainwashing, saying he would install brains for them if necessary.

Wang Quan took the Golden Core cultivator’s Purple Mansion, causing him to rapidly age and die, then destroyed his soul. The [Western Extremity] Household learned of the death and chose to keep supplying Wang Quan with resources in hopes of avoiding conscription.

• Wang Quan refused to return the Golden Core cultivator’s Purple Mansion, and the cultivator aged rapidly before dying.
• Wang Quan used the [Seventy-Two Pentads Lamp] to vaporize the dead cultivator’s soul.
• The [Western Extremity] Household’s branches questioned their head about the sudden conscription orders and feared being sent to Stone City.
• Golden Core cultivators reported that Wang Quan demanded resources and wielded several dangerous Magic Treasures, so the Household abandoned thoughts of stealing them.
• The [Western Extremity] Household learned that the Golden Core cultivator who stayed with Wang Quan had died and suspected Wang Quan had killed him.
• The Household leaders decided to satisfy Wang Quan’s demands and seek his help in lifting the conscription order.

The Western Extremity Lineage delivered materials and information to Wang Quan, hoping he would lift their conscription order. Wang Quan delayed their release for eleven months and sent them to Stone City, then dared them to threaten his magic treasures.

• The Western Extremity Lineage gathered materials and sent Golden Core cultivators to deliver them to Wang Quan, while carrying a letter about the anomalies and their backer.
• Wang Quan accepted the materials but said he would release the lineage from conscription in a year unless they provided everything he wanted.
• A Golden Core cultivator read the letter aloud, revealing that the Great One Alliance had ordered the release of the anomalies and was the lineage's backer.
• Wang Quan said he would lift the order in eleven months and revealed that the lineage was being sent to Stone City, which was under his jurisdiction.
• The Golden Core cultivators threatened to fight and harm Wang Quan's allies, but Wang Quan pointed to his magic treasures and told them to direct their threats at those instead.

Wang Quan threatened the [Western Extremity] Lineage with his five Magic Treasures, then spent ten days helping Senior Sister Round Face's Lineage expand its foothold in the Underworld. The chapter ended with Senior Sister Round Face describing the growing popularity of the New Method, and Wang Quan asking what made it so appealing.

• Wang Quan told the [Western Extremity] Golden Core Cultivators he would wait at Senior Sister Round Face's home, the Drowning Dao Lower Court, and Stone City until they acted against him.
• The [Western Extremity] Lineage heads considered killing Wang Quan's friend, but learned he did not know Senior Sister Round Face's real name, the Drowning Dao Lower Court was guarded by Grotto Heaven experts, and he had no living relatives to threaten.
• The Lineage heads abandoned revenge and decided to head early to Stone City with their descendants, hoping to earn Wang Quan's favor and safer assignments.
• Wang Quan spent ten days studying and practicing while helping Senior Sister Round Face's Lineage purchase residences in the Underworld, strengthening its foothold and the Second Layer's safe zone.
• Senior Sister Round Face told Wang Quan that the New Method was spreading, with increasingly mature systems and classifications for spiritual roots and the hundred arts, and Wang Quan asked what benefits it offered.

Wang Quan learned why New-Method Cultivators were promoted and left resources with Senior Sister Round Face, who organized her lineage into the Eight Divisions. Back at the Drowning Dao Lower Court, he studied its Fire Mulberry Trees and observed that tensions between Orthodox and New-Method Cultivators had intensified.

• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun explained that New-Method Cultivators matured quickly, cost fewer resources, and provided valuable Golden Core-grade corpses after death.
• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun planned to raise thirty-six teams of New-Method Cultivators as shields, fighters, specialists, and materials for her lineage, and Wang Quan helped design the scheme.
• After the Western Extremity household's Golden Core Cultivators failed to appear, Wang Quan concluded that their lineage was finished and returned to the Drowning Dao Lower Court after leaving Senior Sister Round Face gifts and resources.
• Senior Sister Round Face organized thirty-six New-Method teams into eight departments, then planned to use Purple Mansion resources to strengthen her lineage and eventually possess one of her descendants.
• Wang Quan studied the Daoist Scriptures and compared Qian Xiuyue's Fire Mulberry Trees with his own, finding that hers refined sunlight less efficiently.
• Wang Quan observed that the Drowning Dao Lower Court's population and New-Method Cultivator numbers had surged, while conflict between Orthodox and New-Method factions had grown more severe, even within the Great Sun Alliance.

Wang Quan left the Drowning Dao Lower Court for the Far Western Land after Qian Xiuyue warned him about the Wind of Hysteria. In the White Land Forbidden Zone, Ghost Emperor Heart returned aboard the Terminator Ship, and the Flagellator hurried to greet him.

• Qian Xiuyue told Wang Quan that conflicts between the New Method and Orthodox Cultivators benefited the Great Sun Alliance, and she dismissed the possibility of New-Method Cultivators surpassing Golden Core.
• After ten days without an attack, Wang Quan bade Qian Xiuyue farewell and set out for the Far Western Land, traveling through the Underworld.
• Qian Xiuyue told Wang Quan that she planned to establish her Lineage in the Drowning Dao Lower Court and eventually advance toward the Drowning Water Headquarters.
• Ghost Emperor Heart's Terminator Ship arrived in the White Land Forbidden Zone, where cultivators recognized it and lowered their weapons.
• The Flagellator, who had become a guardian of the White Land and led underlings in planting evils, ran to welcome Ghost Emperor Heart.

[Ghost Emperor Heart] welcomed the Yang Spirit, Golden Core, and Purple Mansion into his forces in the Third-Layer World, while the two smaller beings secretly planned to gather their kind. In the Present World, Wang Quan returned to Stone City, where Ruo Jinghong and a few Dao Seal Cultivators met with him.

• [Ghost Emperor Heart] showed the three brothers his White Land safe zone and persuaded the Yang Spirit to join him after the brothers had endured his beatings.
• [Ghost Emperor Heart] brought the brothers to a tavern, where Golden Core Cultivators examined the Golden Core and Purple Mansion while he ordered them to stay quiet.
• The Golden Core and Purple Mansion contacted their kin within the cultivators and began planning to awaken them, while the Yang Spirit set out to survey the White Land and plot to take control of it.
• Wang Quan returned from the Drowning Dao Lower Court to Stone City through the Underworld, then stored his Magic Treasure in his Inner Landscape to begin refining it.
• Ruo Jinghong and several Dao Seal Cultivators visited Wang Quan and discussed changes in Stone City.

Wang Quan returned to Stone City and heard reports about the growing safe zone, the Underworld’s unrest, and the worsening abnormal weather. He approved a plan to infiltrate the rebels in City No. 95 and learned that Mei Niang’s [One Loving Family] was drawing Evil beings into cooperation.

• Wang Quan learned that the Second-Layer World safe zone had expanded and that worshippers in the Underworld had increased under Ruo Jinghong and Tongtong’s guidance.
• The Officiant and Dream Nun warned that abnormal weather was battering Stone City, so Wang Quan ordered everyone to worship around the clock and halted the city’s expansion.
• Ying Jiaren reported that rebel sympathizers were causing covert trouble in City No. 95, and Wang Quan explained why the city mattered to Ring No. 95.
• Ruo Jinghong proposed joining the rebels as a ruse to infiltrate and dismantle them from within, and Wang Quan agreed to let her try.
• Mei Niang said the [All-Heavens Banner] had helped the group manage Evil beings in the Second-Layer World, while her [One Loving Family] encouraged alliances across races.

Wang Quan dealt with Stone City’s worsening abnormal weather and recruited Dao Seal Cultivators to help worship the seasons. He then implanted loyalty-filled brains into Golden Core and Purple Mansion Spirit Monsters, and after examining their inner structures, resolved to establish his own Purple Mansion.

• Wang Quan learned that the Present World’s abnormal weather was Stone City’s greatest problem, and Mei Niang said only prolonged effort or Grotto Heaven and Blessed Land cultivators could clear it.
• Wang Quan and the other cultivators agreed to increase their worship of spring, summer, autumn, and winter to help resist the abnormal weather.
• Wang Quan had Bump Spirit Monsters carve loyalty to Flower-Scatter Daoist Wang Quan into a brain, then implanted it in a Golden Core Spirit Monster.
• The Golden Core Spirit Monster woke and repeatedly shouted loyalty to Wang Quan, even after pulling out and destroying its implanted brain.
• Wang Quan implanted a loyalty brain in a Purple Mansion Spirit Monster, and both monsters became his loyal guards.
• Wang Quan examined the Spirit Monsters’ inner realms, concluded the Purple Mansion structure was too ordinary and the Golden Core’s mysteries beyond his current understanding, and decided to establish his own Purple Mansion after preparing for several days.

Wang Quan studied the four categories of purple mansions and decided to build a legacy purple mansion that could grant him another life. He waited for the Western Extremity Golden Core Cultivators to serve as offerings, while a notice announced a Far West Spell Contest in three years, where defeated cultivators would become materials.

• Mei Niang begged Wang Quan to lend her his magic artifacts so she could establish a purple mansion, but he refused.
• Wang Quan studied the four categories of purple mansions and chose to pursue a legacy purple mansion that could let its founder live again.
• Wang Quan considered possible sites near Stone City and the Drowning Dao Lower Court, but felt each location was missing something.
• Wang Quan decided to use the Western Extremity lineage's Golden Core Cultivators as offerings to help choose a location and waited for them to arrive.
• A notice announced that the Far West Spell Contest would begin in three years, with Dao Seal Cultivators at Foundation Establishment and above eligible to participate and the defeated turned into materials.

Wang Quan initially refused to join the Far West Spell Contest, despite Ruo Jinghong and Mei Niang urging him to compete for its rewards. After entering the Second-Layer Inner Landscape and discovering that mysterious Daoist Scriptures were among the prizes, he decided he had to participate.

• Ruo Jinghong and Mei Niang urged Wang Quan to enter the contest with them, but he said he preferred to cultivate peacefully.
• Wang Quan entered the Second-Layer Inner Landscape and read that the contest would divide territory, help open more Polar Lands, and accelerate the growth of Dao Seal Cultivators.
• Wang Quan examined the rewards, which included rare resources and ways to have experts install additional cultivation realms inside the body.
• Wang Quan found the category for mysterious Daoist Scriptures and became determined to enter the contest to obtain them.

Wang Quan entered the contest’s Purple Mansion Realm division to improve his chances of obtaining the mysterious Daoist Scriptures, then spent his time strengthening his foundations while waiting for the Western Extremity Household’s cultivators. When their large force arrived in Stone City, they assumed they could gain influence there, but their confidence abruptly faltered.

• Wang Quan told Ruo Jinghong and the others he would compete in the Purple Mansion Realm division, where six volumes of mysterious Daoist Scriptures and more clues were available.
• Wang Quan registered in the Second-Layer Inner Landscape, received a Dao marker but no contest rules, and continued studying spells, refining crystal brains, and gathering Purple Mansion materials.
• Wang Quan grew impatient as the Western Extremity Household’s Golden Core materials failed to arrive, then quietly waited and practiced as the deadline approached.
• Several hundred Golden Core Cultivators, Primordial Spirit Dharma Form Cultivators, and many other cultivators arrived in Stone City through the teleportation ritual.
• The Western Extremity Household’s great cultivators mistook Stone City’s welcome for an opportunity to gain influence, but their smiles froze in the next instant.

The [Western Extremity] Lineage cultivators arrived in Stone City, discovered they were stronger than its local cultivators, and set out to claim the city and its people. At the Five-Colored Altar, city rules suddenly stripped them of their powers and confined them, leaving them terrified and bewildered.

• The [Western Extremity] Lineage cultivators received a summons to waypoint XX.YY and used their primordial spirits to scout Stone City, finding no cultivators above Foundation Establishment.
• The [Western Extremity] Lineage cultivators displayed their primordial spirits, dharma forms, and golden cores, then traveled toward the waypoint while intimidating Stone City's inhabitants.
• A Purple Mansion Cultivator threatened the weeping residents, while members of the [Western Extremity] Lineage privately planned to seize the city's resources and make its people serve them.
• The [Western Extremity] Lineage cultivators reached the Five-Colored Altar and declared that the Fire Mulberry Tree, the city, and its inhabitants would belong to them.
• Messages forbade the [Western Extremity] Lineage cultivators from using powers, harming residents, or leaving the city or altar, and chains forced their manifestations back into their bodies.
• The [Western Extremity] Lineage cultivators tried to cast spells and use treasures, but their powers failed and their escaping lights shattered.

Wang Quan began sacrificial rites in Stone City, using the [Western Extremity] Lineage cultivators trapped on the Five-Colored Altar as offerings. As the incense smoke consumed them, he declared that he wanted them to aid his cultivation.

• The Officiant Daoist Nun directed the cannon salutes, which brought Ruo Jinghong and other Dao Seal Cultivators out of the smoke and introduced Wang Quan amid a shower of flowers.
• Wang Quan ignored the [Western Extremity] Lineage cultivators' accusations and announced that he would offer sacrifices to the heavens.
• Horse demons brought Sandalwood Incense, which Wang Quan ignited as the people of Stone City joined the sacrificial rites.
• Incense smoke gathered around the Five-Colored Altar and seeped into the trapped [Western Extremity] Lineage cultivators, who could not escape or use their dharma power.
• The cultivators began dissolving into smoke, and Wang Quan ordered the smoke to come, saying he wanted them to aid his cultivation.