Chapter Summaries

Wang Quan completed his Golden Core after fifty-five years of refinement, and learned it could hold ten million strands of Dharma Power. As his companions celebrated, they explained that Orthodox Golden Cores were exceptionally difficult to obtain, leaving the scale of his achievement clear.

• Wang Quan emerged from his cultivation, and Ruo Jinghong, Beitang Xue, Ying Jiaren, Mei Niang, and the other Golden Core cultivators congratulated him.
• Wang Quan checked his Dao Seal and revealed that his Golden Core could hold ten million strands of Dharma Power, astonishing the gathered cultivators.
• Ruo Jinghong and the others organized a feast, using monsters' blood essence and Tongtong's Yellow Steed Aura to prepare wine while Ying Jiaren summoned sprites to serve it.
• Mei Niang boasted that she would win Wang Quan, but Ying Jiaren beat her into silence.
• A Great Void Gate cultivator explained that New-Method Golden Cores held far less Dharma Power and that even one Orthodox Golden Core was hard to obtain.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren traveled together through the lands transformed by the Golden Core Manifestations, then began following the Fury River to find its source. They learned that the river’s waters could not be depleted and continued toward a legendary mechanical dam said to lie another hundred thousand li away.

• After the cultivators ended their feast, Ruo Jinghong, Mei Niang, and the others returned to the Polar Lands, while Ying Jiaren stayed with Wang Quan.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren revisited the Drowning Dao Lower Court and nearby mountains, where Wang Quan discovered that True Solar Fire had burned away every anomaly in the Lishui Lower Court.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren decided to trace the Fury River to its source, despite traveling beyond the thirty-thousand-li region without finding it.
• A powerful cultivator invited Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren to join his sect, but Ying Jiaren said they belonged to the Drowning Dao and Wang Quan declined.
• As they continued upstream, sects told Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren that the Fury River remained unchanged despite enormous water withdrawals and that a mechanical dam stood another hundred thousand li ahead.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren traveled upstream along the Fury River, witnessing its enormous mechanical dam and learning about the mist and stone figures near the river’s source. They continued toward the source as more cultivators and greater demons gathered, while a local cultivator recalled how the opening of the Polar Lands had reduced the number of distant visitors.

• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren reached the vast mechanical dam, where monsters and cultivators gathered resources and built enormous magical siege equipment.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren spotted a rotating patch of light over distant mountains and hurried upstream to avoid trouble.
• A greater demon invited Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren to travel together, but they declined and continued on their own.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren encountered ancient stone figures that kept order and rescued those lost in the terrifying water mist.
• A cultivator explained that the mist came from spray near the Fury River’s source and that fewer distant cultivators had visited since the Polar Lands opened.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren followed the Fury River upstream and discovered that only cultivators with powerful foundations could ascend to its highest regions. They learned that even Legend Cultivators had never reached the river’s true source, leaving them one step away from a destination no one had seen.

• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren saw the Fury River pouring down from an enormous sky vortex and sensed an ancient, desolate aura.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren flew upstream through the cascading river, passing demons and cultivators as the river grew vast around them.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren learned that a cultivator’s foundation determined how high they could ascend, and that ordinary Golden Core Cultivators could not reach their level.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren passed Dao Seal Golden Core Cultivators, whose foundations and speed fell short of theirs.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren reached a region occupied by sparse Dao Seal Primordial Spirit and Dharma Form Cultivators, who explained that no Legend Cultivator had ever reached the Fury River’s source.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren ascended the Fury River and reached a cloud platform where cultivators, including the nine-tailed fox Yaoyao, gathered. Yaoyao invited the newcomers to continue toward the river’s true source.

• Ying Jiaren and Wang Quan continued climbing while the other cultivators stayed behind to await the Legend Cultivators’ lectures.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren reached a cloud platform occupied by cultivators from many realms and the great demon Yaoyao.
• Yaoyao mistook Wang Quan’s rosy light, wine, and Seventy-Two Paths of Smoke and Dust for signs that her legendary beloved had arrived, but a cultivator pointed out that Ying Jiaren matched those signs too.
• The cultivators teased Yaoyao and examined Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren, leaving the pair unsettled by their strange behavior.
• Yaoyao asked Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren whether they wanted to pursue the Fury River’s true source, and Wang Quan agreed and invited everyone to go together.

Wang Quan, Ying Jiaren, and Nine-Tailed Yaoyao climbed toward the source of the Fury River and discovered it was a history fragment containing the Glazed Glass River and a youth called the Great Lord of the Azure Heaven. When the youth recognized Wang Quan, the fragment pulled Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren inside.

• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren continued upward with Nine-Tailed Yaoyao, while the other Legend Cultivators stopped as they reached their limits.
• Nine-Tailed Yaoyao explained that announcing their names could build a foundation for future legend points, then stayed behind as Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren pressed on.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren found a vast crystal fragment containing the Glazed Glass River and learned that it was a history fragment linked to the Great Lord of the Azure Heaven.
• Ying Jiaren reasoned that they could reach the source because they had killed a historical anchor point in another history fragment.
• Wang Quan decided to enter the fragment despite Ying Jiaren's concerns, believing his Bright Moon Golden Core and martial skills would help him survive.
• The youth inside the fragment recognized Wang Quan, and the fragment trembled and pulled Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren inside.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren entered a fragment of history where their cultivation was suppressed and challenged a young Lord Azure Heaven. Wang Quan’s confidence in the advances of new-era martial arts collapsed when the youth shattered his strongest seal and followed with a deadly Peacock Fist.

• Ying Jiaren sensed that her cultivation and physical strength had been suppressed, while Wang Quan saw the historical fragment as an opportunity to defeat the youth.
• Wang Quan approached the youth and claimed that modern martial arts had surpassed the crude techniques of the old era.
• The youth charged with a mantis-shaped martial technique as the old fisherman warned him not to take Wang Quan’s attack head-on.
• Wang Quan used Cover the Sky with One Hand, but the youth countered with the Heaven-Overturning Seal and shattered Wang Quan’s hand.
• The youth caught up with the flying Wang Quan and struck with Peacock Fist, leaving Wang Quan unable to find a martial art that could block it.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren were overwhelmed by the ancient youth, who explained that ruthless resolve let him use his full strength. He offered to train them, and they attacked him together, but neither could come close to harming him.

• Wang Quan used his remaining techniques to block the youth’s Peacock Fist, but the blow sent him into the fisherman’s grave pit, badly injured.
• Ying Jiaren told the fisherman to enlarge the pit so she could share Wang Quan’s grave, then the youth criticized their weak fighting spirit.
• The youth told Wang Quan to harbor the will to slaughter all living beings and described killing loved ones to eliminate weaknesses before battle.
• The youth said he had killed everyone who knew how to extend life with human skins, then offered to help Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren improve their strength.
• The youth forced Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren to attack him, repeatedly knocking them into the grave pit while his clothes remained untouched.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren encountered an ancient youth in the historical fragment, who strengthened them before sending them out. After returning with golden bodies and greatly enhanced [Life Cultivation], Wang Quan briefly reentered the fragment and came back battered, then he and Ying Jiaren prepared to preach the Dao.

• The youth defeated Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren, told them about the [Glazed Glass River]'s source, and warned them to leave before they became bound to the historical fragment.
• The youth denied knowing the historical anchor points Wang Quan described, then sent them out and said they could call him [Emperor].
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren returned from the fragment with golden flesh, sinews, bones, and organs covered in strange patterns, and their injuries healed without using Dharma power or [Life Cultivation].
• Wang Quan's [Life Cultivation] power surged, and he wondered whether he could beat the youth if he went back into the fragment.
• Wang Quan reappeared battered and claimed he had only had a nightmare, then he and Ying Jiaren agreed to preach the Dao and discuss impressive titles for themselves.

Nine-Tailed Yaoyao and the Legend Cultivators speculated that Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren had strengthened their foundations by slaying historical anchor points. Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren began preaching from above, and their listeners realized that their life-cultivation methods differed greatly from those of the present.

• Nine-Tailed Yaoyao returned to the Legend Cultivators and said Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren were still pursuing the source of the Fury River.
• The Legend Cultivators deduced that Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren had each slain a historical anchor point in the old era, explaining their exceptional foundations.
• The Legend Cultivators prepared to preach the Dao while waiting for Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren to return.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren announced that they would preach the Dao to all living beings, and the creatures along the Fury River fell silent to listen.
• Nine-Tailed Yaoyao and the other listeners gained insights from the life-cultivation methods, then noticed that those methods differed from present-day ones.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren preached about life cultivation beneath the fragment, sharing insights gained from their brutal training. Their listeners gained powerful improvements and new abilities, and the chapter ended with the pair finishing their sermon as thanks poured toward them.

• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren preached about life cultivation, demonstrating their insights as their organs and ribs manifested outside their bodies.
• A great monster used the sermon’s teachings to transform his blood, flesh, sinews, and bones, restoring his bloodline to its ancestral form.
• Unaffiliated cultivators imitated the monsters’ methods and strengthened their life cultivation, with one clever cultivator combining several methods to advance a realm.
• Legend Cultivators including Nine-Tailed Yaoyao awakened flesh-and-blood Divine Abilities suited to their cultivation and combat systems.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren finished preaching and smiled at each other as thanks surged toward them from every direction.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren’s preaching strengthened the wild cultivators and great demons, while Wang Quan’s Legend Rating rose enough to unlock a legendary Title. They discovered that forging their respective Titles required vast quantities of materials and considered asking the [All-Under-Heaven Dao Court] to provide them instead of the next realm.

• The wild cultivators and great demons thanked Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren after their preaching, which empowered many demons and helped a fish demon revert into a Kunpeng.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren’s Legend Ratings rose from 12 to 15, and Wang Quan realized his gains came from his connection to the taboo creature [Di].
• Wang Quan learned he could condense the Title [Bygone Days], but its blueprint required thirty-six million types of materials and spanned a million li.
• Ying Jiaren told Wang Quan she had obtained the Title [Temporal Projection], which would let her travel freely across the mortal world, Underworld, and Reincarnation if she could forge it.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren decided to ask the [All-Under-Heaven Dao Court] for Title materials in place of the next realm.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren shared their Dao insights with the gathered cultivators before joining Nine-Tailed Yaoyao for a feast. Nine-Tailed Yaoyao asked about the Fury River and how to kill historical-fragment anchor points, and Wang Quan showed her the method as the three discussed the power of killing.

• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren received no response from [the All-Under-Heaven Dao Court] about their resource request and joined the gathered Legend Cultivators and great demons.
• Nine-Tailed Yaoyao and the others expounded the Dao, then the cultivators departed level by level until only Nine-Tailed Yaoyao remained with Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren.
• Nine-Tailed Yaoyao invited Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren aboard her boat and asked what lay at the source of the Fury River.
• Wang Quan explained that the river flowed from a fragment of an era, and Nine-Tailed Yaoyao asked to learn how he had killed an anchor point.
• Wang Quan visualized how he killed Liu Yong, and Nine-Tailed Yaoyao laughed that killing could resolve anything despite her fear of being too weak to do so.

After hearing Nine-Tailed Yaoyao’s strange secrets, Wang Quan resolved to pursue the title [Bygone Days] as a source of hope against the coming cataclysms. The All-Under-Heaven Dao Court agreed in principle to his and Ying Jiaren’s resource application but summoned them to justify it.

• Nine-Tailed Yaoyao told Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren disturbing stories about great cultivators before leaving at dawn.
• Ying Jiaren suggested delaying the title project and focusing on cultivation, but Wang Quan explained why he needed to forge [Bygone Days] as a trump card and a source of hope.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren received a projection from a member of the All-Under-Heaven Dao Court’s Polar Lands Fourth Division about their application.
• The Dao Court’s representative said the application was approved in principle but that senior figures wanted to question them about the materials and how they would benefit other cultivators.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren entered the hidden realm of powerful cultivators to explain why they wanted to forge Titles and what they would do with them. The figures remained unconvinced, warning that Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren might be the last beings ever to possess Titles.

• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren entered a dark realm where candle flames containing watchful eyes questioned them about their plans for Titles.
• Wang Quan said he wanted to bring hope to ordinary cultivators, then revealed his knowledge of the coming Era Cataclysm and vowed to help weaker beings survive and rebuild the world.
• Wang Quan explained that he would fight the source of the cataclysm by killing evil beings in the Second-Layer World and clearing monsters from the Underworld, but the figures said they were already being hunted by stronger enemies.
• Ying Jiaren proposed making their Title-forging method public so the Dao Court could study it, but the figures explained that Titles were unique, costly, and likely near extinction.

The All-Under-Heaven Dao Court harvested two elderly One-Way Passage cultivators to make Title materials for Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren. After reincarnating as Bump Spirit Monsters, the pair were captured and their brains were taken, leaving them horrified by the new life awaiting them.

• The One-Way Passage cultivators decided to harvest two elders from the Sealing Grounds to quickly gather Title materials for Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren.
• The elders were brought to a hall, restored to their youthful forms, and told to turn their bodies into materials for the Dao Court.
• The two cultivators reluctantly transformed their organs and brains into materials, then sent their true spirits into Reincarnation.
• The pair reincarnated as Bump Spirit Monsters and rejoiced that their true spirits had returned to a newborn state.
• Spirit Monsters captured them, and the pair realized Flower-Scatter Wang Quan was present as their brains were removed and they were to cultivate the Idiot Method.

Wang Quan prepared to forge the Title [Bygone Days] in the Underworld, organizing millions of cultivators and recruiting Ruo Jinghong, Mei Niang, and the others to oversee the enormous project. The chapter left them stunned by the scale of the blueprints as Wang Quan claimed that he and Ying Jiaren had a solution to the project’s difficulties.

• Wang Quan welcomed two new Bump Spirit Monsters into the Bump community and reflected on the materials the [All-Under-Heaven Dao Court] had supplied for refining a Title.
• Wang Quan chose the Underworld as the site for forging [Bygone Days] and selected ten million young Orthodox Cultivators to study and follow its blueprints.
• Wang Quan planned to hire ghosts and monsters as laborers, then asked Ruo Jinghong, Mei Niang, and the others to oversee the massive construction.
• Ruo Jinghong and the others worried that the project would distract them from strengthening their Golden Core grounding, but Wang Quan assured them they would only serve as guards and mascots.
• Ruo Jinghong and the others questioned the blueprints’ million-li keels and enormous resource demands, while Wang Quan said he and Ying Jiaren had a solution.

Wang Quan and the others tested how Golden Core cultivators affected the Second-Layer World’s safe zone and found that one Dao Seal Golden Core could draw evil beings in without stopping the zone’s steady expansion. Wang Quan ordered more investment and [People-Crossing Scripture Books] to strengthen the safe zone, leaving plans underway to clear the Second Layer.

• Wang Quan explained how [Edict] magical implements could force ghost monsters to complete assigned work, and Ruo Jinghong asked how the laborers would be kept from resenting it.
• Wang Quan, Ruo Jinghong, Mei Niang, and a small group of cultivators entered the Second-Layer World because powerful arrivals caused the evil beings there to grow stronger.
• The Golden Core cultivators amplified the safe zone, provoking hordes of evil beings to charge into it and drop materials, diaries, and memory fragments as they were destroyed.
• Wang Quan and the others found that a single Dao Seal Golden Core could attract evil beings without preventing the safe zone from expanding when cultivators recited the [People-Crossing Scripture].
• Wang Quan ordered increased support for the safe zone and more [People-Crossing Scripture Books], and a cultivator promised to produce as many as funding allowed.

Wang Quan visited the thriving Third-Layer safe zone and learned how its defenses had grown under Beitang Xue’s guidance. As rival evil factions fought around the White Land, he realized their conflict furthered his Seventy-Two Paths of Smoke and Dust, then heard Beitang Xue urge him to focus on his cultivation before forging powerful Magic Treasures.

• Fierce ghosts secretly spread the banned People-Crossing Scripture and formed the Deliver Others Cult, while Human Sovereign Banner owners refused to release them.
• Wang Quan entered the Third-Layer World and admired its greatly strengthened safe zone, where cultivators used sunlight and bronze mirrors to reinforce its defenses.
• Beitang Xue explained that she had helped design the safe zone’s arrangements using insights gained in the previous White Land.
• Beitang Xue told Wang Quan that thirty-six rebel factions were fighting over the right to attack the safe zone, and Wang Quan realized their conflict served his Seventy-Two Paths of Smoke and Dust.
• Beitang Xue warned Wang Quan that forging a terrifying Magic Treasure would cost him time and urged him to build his cultivation and Daoist Scriptures toward a sixth-grade Dao Seal.

Wang Quan asked Beitang Xue to manage the Third-Layer World safe zone and watch the seventy-two rebel kings while he stayed busy for centuries. In the Underworld, Daoist Two Ravens and a host of ghosts and monsters mapped a vast area for Lord Flower-Scatter’s planned million-li magic treasure, then eagerly awaited their next assignment.

• Wang Quan asked Beitang Xue to oversee the safe zone and notify him if any of the seventy-two rebel kings was destroyed; Beitang Xue said she had no news of Ma Qingqiu, but the two ghost gods assigned to protect him were still alive.
• Daoist Two Ravens returned to City No. 95 after years away and was later press-ganged into a ghost god’s scouting group, where he clung to the White Raven and annoyed it with his advances.
• The ghost god ordered its ghosts and monsters to map the land within ten thousand li, and the White Raven learned that Lord Flower-Scatter planned to refine a magic treasure a million li across.
• After Wang Quan received the survey results, he ordered the ghost god’s followers to pay each ghost and monster a hundred Green Fly Coins per day.
• The ghosts and monsters cheered at the promised payment and lined up as the ghost god prepared to give them orders.