Chapter Summaries

Wang Ming remained in seclusion while Wang Quan sought a chance to kill him and explained the repeating world to Temple Master Clear Wind. The old temple master appointed the eldest senior brother as his successor, then died while Wang Quan and the others tried to stop him from speaking.

• Wang Ming saw Wang Quan's monstrous muscles outside his door and decided to stay in seclusion for another year.
• Wang Quan failed to break through Wang Ming's door, then went to Temple Master Clear Wind and asked for a chance to kill Xiao Ming.
• Wang Quan told Temple Master Clear Wind that the world reset in endless cycles, prompting the old temple master to recognize his memories and cough up blood.
• Temple Master Clear Wind appointed the eldest senior brother as the new temple master and entrusted him with the means to attain a primordial spirit.
• Wang Quan and the new temple master tried to silence the old temple master, who died while struggling to speak.

At twelve, Wang Quan found the Spiritual Resonance Gourd, whose beguiling influence repeatedly urged him and his companions to give it to Xiao Ming. He hung it at Clear Wind Temple so everyone could drink its water, then persuaded the temple master to teach him the temple’s most powerful methods.

• Wang Quan spent years slandering Xiao Ming and preparing weapons with his childhood sweethearts and their friends, while Xiao Ming stayed in seclusion.
• When Wang Quan turned twelve, he arranged for companions to watch Xiao Ming and went searching for the Spiritual Resonance Gourd.
• Wang Quan found the gourd, and its water improved Qing He’s sinews, bones, and reserves as its influence urged the group to give it to Xiao Ming.
• After the gourd’s influence prompted Qing He and another companion to suggest giving it away, the group slapped them back to their senses and tied the gourd up.
• Wang Quan hung the gourd over a water vat at Clear Wind Temple so everyone could drink from it.
• When the temple master praised Wang Quan, Wang Quan asked to learn the temple’s most powerful methods, and the temple master agreed.

Wang Quan received the [General Compendium of Unorthodox Paths] from the new temple master and discovered that its strange writing revealed powerful cultivation methods and knowledge from the Taboo [Emperor]’s era. He decided to cultivate in seclusion with the compendium and began practicing a new Fundamental Method.

• The new temple master reluctantly gave Wang Quan the [General Compendium of Unorthodox Paths], then questioned his own memories and wondered whether he had developed hysteria.
• Wang Quan recognized the compendium’s strange patterns as identical to those associated with the Taboo [Emperor] and himself.
• The writing revealed that Aberrant Humans from two hundred eras had compiled the [General Compendium of Unorthodox Paths] and two other compendiums over millions of years.
• Wang Quan decoded a sentence about the [Drowning Dao] and found cultivation methods far more powerful than those he had learned before.
• Wang Quan memorized the compendium’s sentences, resolved to cultivate in seclusion rather than trouble Xiao Ming, and began practicing a new Fundamental Method.

Wang Quan cultivated Three Flavors Divine Wind and used Bone-Corroding Wind against Xiao Ming, who was revealed to be True Lord Heart-Knower Wang Ming. When the wind entered Wang Ming’s body, all of Clear Wind Temple and the world froze, leaving Wang Quan facing a terrifying sight.

• Wang Quan chose Three Flavors Divine Wind from the General Compendium of Unorthodox Paths and learned that his Shift Stars and Transpose the Dipper was only a fraction of its true power.
• Wang Quan gathered wind, ate sand, and swallowed incense offerings for a year until he refined Three Flavors Divine Wind and selected Bone-Corroding Wind.
• Wang Quan sent Bone-Corroding Wind through the confinement-room door toward Xiao Ming, who sensed danger and dodged the unseen attack.
• Wang Quan filled the room with yellow sand, and True Lord Heart-Knower Wang Ming mistook the attack for Temple Master Clear Wind’s Yellow Sand Method.
• Wang Ming accused Wang Quan of being the true Extraterritorial Heavenly Devil, while Wang Quan revealed that the temple master was not there to hear him.
• Bone-Corroding Wind entered Wang Ming’s body, freezing Clear Wind Temple and the entire world as Wang Quan saw a sight that made his hair stand on end.

Wang Quan saw the true decay of the Historical Fragment but avoided looking directly at True Lord Heart-Knower Wang Ming, then used a gust of wind to damage Wang Ming’s bones. Wang Ming discovered he had lost some of his authority, while Wang Quan tried to convince the temple master and senior Daoists to kill him.

• Wang Quan witnessed the world decay into a lifeless landscape and resisted the temptation to look at Wang Ming’s true form.
• When the vision passed, Wang Quan told Wang Ming that his wind had been dissolving his bones.
• Wang Ming tried to cultivate, then used [Winning Doctrine] to regain confidence and began drawing on his Anchor Point authority.
• Wang Ming discovered that one-tenth of his authority had vanished and worried about failing the Young Master.
• Wang Quan pounded on the confinement-room door and urged the temple master and senior Daoists to kill Wang Ming and end the repeated history.
• Wang Ming used his authority to stop the temple master from letting Wang Quan reach him, and the senior Daoists carried Wang Quan away.

Wang Quan continued tormenting Wang Ming with strange winds while Qing He and other cultivators from Future tried to advance their plans. A Future cultivator posing as Butcher failed to find Wang Ming and began cultivating the local Wind and Sand Art, noticing that Clear Wind Temple and the town had become abnormal.

• Wang Quan repeatedly attacked Wang Ming with different winds, leaving him secretly miserable.
• Qing He considered helping Xiao Ming, slapped herself to reject the thought, and then heard Wang Quan offer to use Clearheaded Wind on her.
• Wang Quan left with several senior sisters to bathe, and Qing He and the other girls moved the Spiritual Resonance Gourd’s water vat into the rear courtyard after its wooden support grew toward the confinement room.
• Qing He drank from the gourd and resolved to work hard so she might kill the historical anchor point before Wang Quan did.
• A Future cultivator posing as Butcher waited to kill Wang Ming, but Wang Ming never came to buy meat.
• Butcher discovered he could cultivate only local abilities, learned the Wind and Sand Art, and grew uneasy as Clear Wind Temple and the town became abnormal.

Butcher entered Clear Wind Temple to kill Wang Ming, only to discover that the confinement room held a terrifying, twisted Xiao Ming who mistook his attack for healing. Xiao Ming seized Butcher and began forcing him to heal, while Butcher called to Wang Quan for help.

• Butcher watched Clear Wind Temple become covered in moss, mushrooms, and twisted vines, then spent fourteen years cultivating after finding he could not leave town.
• Butcher decided to attack the temple himself and broke into Wang Ming's confinement room during a storm.
• Two faces guarding the door let Butcher pass after he argued that he was not Fu Gui and would not steal the door.
• Butcher blasted Xiao Ming with Wind and Sand Art, but Xiao Ming swallowed it and said it had healed some of his injuries.
• Xiao Ming restrained Butcher and demanded more healing, while Butcher refused and shouted for Flower-Scatter Daoist Wang Quan to save him.

Wang Quan stopped Xiao Ming’s escape attempt and learned that the new temple master had changed after reading generations of diaries. When Wang Quan began reading them, the temple’s residents gathered in fear of an unnamed presence connected to the diaries.

• Xiao Ming used the butcher’s Wind and Sand Art to heal himself and fight Wang Quan, but Wang Quan repeatedly smashed his head with a millstone until he fled into the confinement room.
• As Wang Quan battered the confinement-room door, the new temple master warned that breaking it could unleash a great terror and said reading temple masters’ diaries had given him that insight.
• Wang Quan agreed to read the diaries, while the new temple master revealed that he hoped to use Wang Quan to test methods for suppressing hysteria and madness.
• The temple’s residents rushed into the courtyard and said they felt cold and afraid because Wang Quan and the temple master had come to read diaries, adding that proper people did not keep diaries.

Wang Quan and the others read Clear Wind Temple’s old masters’ diaries, which described a cycle of mistaken identities, madness, and death tied to Wang Ming. The diaries left the group rotting and bleeding, while Qing He alone remained uncorrupted, and Wang Quan declared that he loved only her.

• Qing He persuaded Wang Quan, the childhood sweethearts, and the senior Daoists to read the diaries together.
• Wang Quan read the first temple master’s diary, which described a gifted novice mistaken for Wang Ming and the master’s death.
• Wang Quan read the second temple master’s diary, which recounted the master’s madness, his death, and the next master’s warning that Wang Ming was ill-omened.
• Wang Quan read the new temple master’s diary, which identified Wang Ming as the true threat and named Fu Gui as the new temple master.
• The new temple master denied being dead, but Wang Quan found the others bleeding and decaying, while Qing He remained unharmed.
• Qing He asked whether Wang Quan liked her most, and he declared that he only liked her.

Wang Quan and the new temple master waited for Wang Ming to turn sixteen so they could kill him before he began cultivating, while Wang Ming endured years of confinement and sabotage. As his birthday approached, Wang Quan continued poisoning and weakening him, but Butcher was forced by Wang Ming’s authority to heal him.

• After reading the diaries, Wang Quan concluded that the ancient temple masters had wanted Wang Ming dead and urged the others to fulfill their wishes.
• The new temple master refused to kill Wang Ming yet, warning that doing so would awaken the great terror within him, and insisted they wait until he was sixteen.
• Butcher remained under Wang Ming’s control and feared that the historical anchor point would become unstoppable once he could cultivate.
• Over the following years, Wang Quan repeatedly prevented Wang Ming from retrieving the Spiritual Resonance Gourd and mocked his threats to grow stronger.
• Wang Quan fed Wang Ming poison, harmful winds, and gravel; when Wang Ming vomited blood, Butcher involuntarily used a transformed Healing Spell to help him.

As Wang Ming’s sixteenth birthday approached, Qing He and Wang Quan prepared Clear Wind Temple for a coming battle while Wang Quan continued using Butcher to heal Wang Ming. The chapter left four days before Xiao Ming’s birthday, with Qing He making final preparations.

• Qing He ordered food, decorations, and a golden-thread nanmu coffin for Clear Wind Temple as residents celebrated Wang Quan’s expected rise to power.
• Wang Quan’s purchases and construction projects brought the townspeople prosperity, making them eager for him to become temple master.
• Qing He returned to the temple and saw bunkers equipped with weapons being built for the fight against Xiao Ming.
• Wang Quan drew strange winds into the confinement room and used Butcher’s healing sand to treat Wang Ming’s injuries.
• Butcher lamented being reduced to a healing tool, while Wang Ming promised to kill the Extraterritorial Heavenly Devil after emerging from seclusion in five days.
• With four days left before Xiao Ming’s birthday, Qing He adjusted her condition and prepared for the coming battle.

Wang Quan and Qing He waited through an eerie night for the restrictions to lift, while cultivators from the future prepared to attack the historical anchor point. At dawn, the new temple master summoned everyone to hear important news.

• A future cultivator on a city wall planned to attack the historical anchor point, but a white-bearded Daoist confronted him.
• A future youth fought a three-headed, six-armed prodigy, while other cultivators prepared resources and a swordswoman faced an opponent sent by [Young Master] to protect Wang Ming.
• Wang Quan emerged from secluded cultivation and watched a blood-dripping moon with Qing He, who asked him anxious questions about their future and the coming fight against Xiao Ming.
• Qing He noticed dawn as a blood-dripping sun rose beside the moon, turning the world black and white.
• The new temple master opened the doors, called everyone to assemble, and announced that he had wonderful news.

As Clear Wind Temple’s world decayed, Xiao Ming emerged restored and asked the new temple master for methods, claiming he needed to kill Wang Quan to preserve their lives. The temple master agreed to teach them, restoring their powers, and Qing He and Wang Quan attacked Xiao Ming.

• Ash consumed the world as the confinement room opened and Xiao Ming emerged as True Lord Heart-Knower Wang Ming.
• Xiao Ming asked the new temple master to impart the methods and explained that killing Wang Quan was necessary for him and the others to survive.
• The new temple master, remembering Xiao Ming’s repeated killings, declared that only Xiao Ming’s death could let them truly live and arranged for Fu Gui to kill him.
• The new temple master taught the Yellow Sand Method to the Daoist acolytes, restoring color to the world and reviving Qing He’s Dao Seals.
• Qing He formed a cloaked figure from the ash and sent it after Wang Ming, while Wang Quan unleashed his divine winds, other techniques, and spells against him.

Xiao Ming restored his Dharma Power from ash and used his halo to repel spells while fighting Wang Quan, who Qing He armed with weapons made through the Dao of Alchemy. After Clear Wind Temple and the town were destroyed, the fleeing decaying beings built a living shrine to Xiao Ming so they could curse him.

• Xiao Ming gathered ash into his body as Dharma Power and raised a halo that blocked spells, prompting Qing He to tell Wang Quan to attack him physically.
• Wang Quan fought Xiao Ming with hammers and weapons, while Qing He created new arms for him and the Butcher puppet pretended to harass Wang Quan.
• Xiao Ming and Wang Quan clashed with an array of weapons as Qing He refined Dharma Power and tried to ambush Xiao Ming with spells.
• The battle destroyed Clear Wind Temple and the town, forcing the new temple master and the decaying beings to flee.
• After one of the decaying beings complained about losing their homes, the temple master proposed building a living shrine to Xiao Ming and cursing him.

Wang Quan and Qing He fought Wang Ming while the wronged souls attacked his authority as a Historical Anchor Point. Wang Quan overpowered Wang Ming in close combat and shattered his composure by condemning him as a servant with a broken Dao heart.

• Wang Quan attacked Wang Ming with Qing He's alchemical weapons as Qing He refined Dharma and probed Wang Ming's halo for weaknesses.
• Qing He established and sliced apart a Foundation Establishment Dao Platform, then Wang Quan swallowed it to increase his power.
• The new temple master evacuated the townspeople, who built a shrine and cursed Wang Ming, while wronged souls gathered to gnaw at his authority.
• Wang Ming used Great Wheel Crushing All Directions, but Wang Quan caught the halo and stopped its spin.
• Wang Quan fought Wang Ming hand to hand, breaking his fists, sinews, and bones while Wang Quan's golden bones remained intact.
• Wang Quan mocked Wang Ming for serving as someone's dog with a shattered Dao heart, and Wang Ming emotionally broke down.

Wang Quan and Qing He fought Wang Ming while the natives of the historical fragment helped curse him. Wang Ming fled and summoned his Dao protector’s projection, whose arrival left Wang Quan and Qing He horrified.

• Wang Quan provoked Wang Ming into fighting, while Qing He and the natives vowed to help kill him.
• Qing He refined three Foundation Establishment Dao Platforms, gave one to Wang Quan, and joined him in driving Wang Ming back.
• Wang Ming fled, and Qing He transformed into a White Dragon Horse so Wang Quan could ride her while pursuing him and cultivating.
• Wang Ming contacted his approaching Dao protector and taunted Wang Quan, but the protector initially refused to project himself.
• Wang Ming pressured the Dao protector into descending a projection, which appeared as a curtain of water showing mountains, rivers, and cultivators; Wang Quan and Qing He were horrified.

Wang Ming fled toward Clear River while Future cultivators hunted him and his assigned guardians fell or refused to help. He reached the riverbank expecting protection, but Wang Quan saw that the two red-robed sword guardians were already dead.

• Wang Ming’s guardian reported that he had killed an Extraterritorial Heavenly Devil but was too gravely wounded to reach Wang Ming, and urged him to run toward Clear River before his projection vanished.
• The guardian shattered the mark in his consciousness and chose not to risk his life for Wang Ming, while reflecting that the historical fragment and its anchor point might soon be lost.
• Wang Ming fled toward Clear River as Qing He pursued him with Wang Quan, who repeatedly shot arrows into Wang Ming while he used his dwindling authority and Butcher to heal.
• Wang Ming used the Winning Doctrine to increase his strength and speed, while Qing He mastered escape spells and continued the chase with Wang Quan.
• Wang Ming reached Clear River and celebrated upon seeing two red-robed sword cultivators, but Wang Quan recognized that both guardians were dead, having slain each other with their sword Dao.

Wang Quan and Qing He defeated Wang Ming but could not kill him, so they waited for his historical authority to disappear. When it did, the world returned to normal and the wronged souls were freed, while Wang Ming remained silent.

• After Wang Ming protested that the fight was unfair, Wang Quan and Qing He attacked him together and repeatedly smashed apart his regenerating body.
• Wang Quan and Qing He trapped Wang Ming in a millstone pulled by awakened donkey-shaped boulders, while Qing He slapped him whenever he tried to use the Winning Doctrine.
• Wang Ming offered to reveal secrets about historical anchor points if Wang Quan and Qing He spared him, but Wang Quan demanded that he speak without conditions.
• Wang Quan and Qing He waited until the last of Wang Ming's authority vanished, and the world regained its colors as the wronged souls cheered and disappeared.
• Wang Quan told Wang Ming that the world would flourish without him, and Wang Ming stayed silent.

Wang Quan confronted Wang Ming over his loyalty to Young Master and revealed that Wang Ming’s era had itself become the old era. After Wang Quan killed him, Wang Ming’s plundered resources returned to the world, and Qing He considered what to do next.

• Wang Ming recounted how Young Master had defeated him and explained why he feared death more than serving as Young Master’s dog.
• Wang Quan told Wang Ming that thirty-three eras had passed and that Wang Ming now belonged to the old era.
• Wang Ming described the High Priestess, who had once rivaled Young Master, and Wang Quan argued that their current efforts mirrored Young Master’s past campaign against her.
• Wang Ming insisted Young Master had protected his foundations through a million historical anchor points and declared that more versions of himself remained in history.
• Wang Quan smashed Wang Ming’s head with a hammer, and the millstones ground away his remains.
• Qing He realized that Wang Ming’s death had returned his stolen resources to the world, then asked Fellow Daoist Flower-Scatter whether she would stay or go back.

Wang Quan chose to return to the Real World while Qing He decided to remain in the historical fragment and asked him to leave resources and plans for her lineage. After the world was restored, Wang Quan returned to Clear Wind Temple and questioned its new temple master about the book he had received.

• Qing He told Wang Quan she wanted to stay and change the course of history, and he agreed to help her lineage with Magic Treasure Purple Mansions and two near-top-grade Golden Cores.
• Wang Quan traveled back to Clear Wind Temple and saw the restored landscape, town, and temple bustling with life again.
• The new temple master thanked Wang Quan and Qing He for saving the world, and explained that Wang Quan's arrival had weakened Wang Ming's authority.
• Wang Quan asked where the [General Compendium of Unorthodox Paths] had been found, but the new temple master insisted the book was the [Yellow Sand Book].
• The new temple master pointed Wang Quan toward a skeleton he identified as the first temple master for an explanation.