Chapter Summaries

Wang Quan completed his Lifebound Divine Ability and was ordered by the Dao Court to demonstrate its power. After a ten-day journey with a female Grotto Heaven Cultivator, he reached the First Layer of the Underworld, where he was warned that the battlefield’s enemies were impossible to identify clearly.

• Wang Quan told the great cultivators that his Divine Ability was complete, and the Dao Court ordered him to demonstrate it for possible wider use.
• A female cultivator took Wang Quan aboard her handkerchief Magic Treasure and hosted him during their ten-day journey.
• The handkerchief arrived in the First Layer of the Underworld, a strange region formed from fused realms and fragments of other places.
• The female cultivator warned Wang Quan to keep a low profile on the nearby battlefield and explained that its enemies included many kinds of beings, sometimes even humans.

Wang Quan traveled with the female cultivator through a battlefield where powerful beings were pinned beneath Magic Treasures and Divine Abilities. She explained that the captives were not worth rescuing and warned him about Myth Creatures and the danger ahead.

• Wang Quan endured the slicing wind as he and the female cultivator flew across a desolate battlefield littered with broken Magic Treasures and trapped beings.
• Wang Quan suggested rescuing the captives, but the female cultivator dismissed them as weaklings and explained that their grudges kept them from helping one another escape.
• The female cultivator used Sword Qi to silence a white ghost pinned beneath a banner while nearby captives argued and refused to cooperate.
• As they passed stronger captives beneath intact Magic Treasures, the female cultivator told Wang Quan that only Legends were worth consideration and warned him to yield to Myth Creatures.
• The female cultivator revealed that Legends could become Myths at a Legend Rating of one hundred, though no one had explained the transformation to the Human Race.
• After they reached a region where Divine Abilities suppressed severed body parts, the female cultivator warned Wang Quan that the limbs belonged to Legend powerhouses and that he must not listen to them.

Wang Quan and the female cultivator crossed regions where divine abilities and mirror fragments suppressed powerful beings, then entered a false world sustained by the battlefield’s endless fighting. They neared their destination as Wang Quan asked what the battlefield was called.

• Wang Quan refused True Person Six Yang's thigh, which begged him to free it, and continued onward.
• The female cultivator explained that mirror fragments from Purple Mansions, Blessed Lands, and Grotto Heavens sealed [One-Way Passage]-level experts.
• Wang Quan learned that a Purple Mansion merged with the Inner Landscape could hold the Foundation Establishment Dao Platform, Golden Core, and Yin Spirit, and he and the female cultivator laughed over the path his life had taken.
• Wang Quan and the female cultivator crossed a vast region where fragments fell from the sky, then entered a false world that could only be shattered through continued slaughter.
• The pair crossed battlefields where bizarre beings fought, saw Evil, and neared their destination before Wang Quan asked what the battlefield was called.

Wang Quan arrived at the Heavenly Gate Battlefield and agreed to face Shibi Tianluo, a Golden Core genius who had killed thirteen Legend Golden Cores. As both armies waited for Shibi Tianluo to appear, the crowd mocked Wang Quan and expected him to lose.

• The female cultivator explained the Ninth Heavenly Gate and brought Wang Quan to the All-Under-Heaven Dao Court's army.
• A serpent-riding cultivator asked Wang Quan to fight Shibi Tianluo, and Wang Quan accepted despite the female cultivator's concern.
• Wang Quan said he had refined his divine ability using around a hundred billion Golden Cores, astonishing the two cultivators.
• The serpent-riding cultivator announced Wang Quan's challenge to both armies, while a Dao Court cultivator and a three-headed tiger demon warned and mocked him.
• Shibi Tianluo's side said he was bathing and changing, so Wang Quan waited as the gathered beings doubted his chances.

Wang Quan waited on the Heavenly Gate Battlefield for Shibi Tianluo to appear so he could test his newly refined Divine Ability. Shibi Tianluo finally arrived and attacked Wang Quan at full strength, just as Wang Quan prepared to unleash his technique.

• Wang Quan remained in the Golden Core Realm while other experts fought, refusing to leave or choose another opponent.
• Wang Quan told the giant serpent cultivator that his Divine Ability might be too powerful for even Shibi Tianluo to test its limits.
• A three-headed tiger announced that Shibi Tianluo would arrive at twilight, and Shibi Tianluo appeared as the sun began to set.
• Shibi Tianluo mistook Wang Quan's purpose and declared him unworthy, then attacked with his golden bell, treasured pagoda, and Legacy Purple Mansions.
• Wang Quan said he would show Shibi Tianluo his Divine Ability, but Shibi Tianluo interrupted him and ordered him to die.

Wang Quan used his Lifebound Divine Ability to erase Shibi Tianluo and reveal the reality beyond the Heavenly Gate Battlefield’s false sky. The star river then traveled backward through time to Shibi Tianluo’s childhood, where he asked his master to avenge him.

• Wang Quan summoned a river of stars from his eyes and immobilized Shibi Tianluo as the sky split open above the Heavenly Gate Battlefield.
• A starry night spread across the battlefield, and the river of stars swallowed Wang Quan and Shibi Tianluo.
• The river of stars destroyed Shibi Tianluo, his Magic Treasures, and his realms as Wang Quan named his Divine Ability.
• The river of stars traveled a hundred years into the past, where the six-year-old Shibi Tianluo told his master he had died and begged for revenge.

Shibi Tianluo’s account of being killed by Wang Quan caused his master to glimpse Wang Quan’s Divine Ability, which reached backward through time and killed Shibi again. In the real world, Wang Quan’s river of stars swept through the city and vanished into the distorted sky.

• Shibi Tianluo told his master and fellow disciples that Wang Quan would kill him in the future.
• Shibi Tianluo’s master asked him to visualize Wang Quan’s Divine Ability, but Shibi could not reproduce it.
• Wang Quan’s river of stars crossed time and killed Shibi Tianluo again, destroying his historical fragment.
• Shibi Tianluo’s master realized the Divine Ability had traveled upstream through time and could not warn his original self.
• In the real world, Wang Quan’s river of stars tore through the city, crushed its defenses, and surged into the scarlet, distorted sky.

Wang Quan’s Divine Ability left the experts on the Heavenly Gate Battlefield unable to analyze or even remember it safely. After they erased their memories to stop its power from spreading, they pressured the giant serpent cultivator to contact Wang Quan and teach them the technique.

• Wang Quan’s Divine Ability distorted the Heavenly Gate Battlefield and revealed a vast, grotesque landscape beneath its false sky.
• The experts failed to reproduce or analyze the Divine Ability, so they examined their memories and saw rivers of stars emerging from their eyes.
• The experts crushed their brains and erased their memories, while detached eyeballs became dancing little people before a giant foot crushed them.
• The experts confronted the giant serpent cultivator who had welcomed Wang Quan and demanded that he ask Wang Quan to teach them the Divine Ability.
• The giant serpent cultivator claimed that cultivating the Divine Ability required tens of billions of Golden Cores, leaving the experts stunned and silent.

After Wang Quan’s divine ability exposed the bloody truth behind the sky, experts fled the Heavenly Gate Battlefield, while the Dao Court discussed how to use his power and recruit him for future work. Wang Quan learned that his ability had killed Shibi Tianluo and gained Legend Rating, then agreed to keep entering Historical Fragments as the Dao Court sought his help expanding safe zones.

• The One-Way Passage experts left the Heavenly Gate Battlefield after seeing the twisted, bloody scene behind the sky, and lower-realm cultivators fled after learning why.
• A headless giant trapped beneath a shield begged for help, but the fleeing beings abandoned him and a ghostly deity mocked his efforts to escape.
• At Cloud Kerchief Courtyard, the mistress praised Wang Quan’s divine ability and asked about its structure, but he said he could not explain how he unleashed it.
• The mistress relayed the Dao Court’s request for Wang Quan to enter future Historical Fragments and create another infinitely resetting fragment, while Wang Quan said he would keep entering them.
• Wang Quan’s Dao Register reported that he had killed the Historical Anchor Point Shibi Tianluo, destroyed a city, and gained Legend Rating, leaving him wondering whether his divine ability had pursued the target on its own.
• The mistress said the Dao Court wanted Wang Quan to expand safe zones in the Polar Lands’ third and fourth layers and establish corresponding zones in the Underworld.

Stone City prepared an extravagant celebration for Wang Quan’s return, with Officiant and the others eager to welcome the pillar they feared might never come back. As the preparations reached their height, sand eagles announced that Lord Flower-Scatter was approaching on a Cloud of Auspiciousness, carrying the sun.

• Stone City’s spirits decorated buildings, positioned thousands of cannons, and prepared food and entertainment for Wang Quan’s homecoming.
• Mei Niang gathered female cultivators and demons to welcome Wang Quan, while Ruo Jinghong groomed Tongtong and rode her into the clouds to await him.
• Officiant, Dream, Fairy Qin, and the Drowning Dao Lower Court’s old members arranged lanterns, performances, and magical dreams across the city.
• Officiant gazed into the distance as sand eagles arrived and announced that Lord Flower-Scatter had returned on a Cloud of Auspiciousness, carrying the sun.

Wang Quan returned to the Drowning Dao Lower Court and learned that Qian Xiuyue and Senior Sister Round Face had created lanterns that could protect people from evil and anomalies. He received one and prepared to test its defenses against a dying Foundation Establishment Ancestor.

• Wang Quan learned that the Lower Court was celebrating the creation of a Little Sun by Qian Xiuyue and Senior Sister Round Face.
• Wang Quan greeted the gathered clan heads and reunited with Qian Xiuyue and Senior Sister Round Face.
• Senior Sister Round Face explained that their lanterns used copies of the People-Crossing Scripture and Sun Flower Spirits and could establish stable safe zones.
• Qian Xiuyue gave Wang Quan a lantern and summoned a dying Foundation Establishment Ancestor so he could test its resistance to spells.

Wang Quan tested a lantern’s ability to resist curses and repel evil beings, finding that it grew stronger by absorbing objects dropped by them. When he entered the Fourth-Layer World, he found it had transformed into an apparently ordinary, bustling world, unlike the darkness he remembered, and returned to the Real World to contact the All-Under-Heaven Dao Court.

• Wang Quan tested curses on a Foundation Establishment Ancestor holding a lantern, then paid him to leave; the ancestor went home, divided his wealth, and died while arguing with his descendants about selling his body.
• Wang Quan entered the Third-Layer World with a lantern and found Yang Spirits using lanterns and Sun Gourds to expand a small safe zone.
• Wang Quan tested the lantern outside the safe zone and found that it burned evil beings and absorbed their dropped objects, gradually increasing its range and power.
• Wang Quan used the Self-Crossing Scripture to clear evil beings while collecting more objects for the lantern.
• Wang Quan entered the Fourth-Layer World and found blue skies, sunlight, and a bustling Drowning Dao Lower Court where he remembered only darkness and powerful evil beings.
• Wang Quan returned to the Real World and contacted the All-Under-Heaven Dao Court after sensing that the Fourth-Layer World’s transformation was abnormal.

Wang Quan’s report prompted the Dao Court to investigate strange places in the Third and Fourth Layers, while he tested the lantern’s power against Underworld ghosts and ghost gods. He learned that the lantern could destroy ghosts but used more power against them than against evil, and a ragged ghost god broke down in tears over the organizations that had repeatedly enslaved him.

• The Dao Court traced Wang Quan’s report to hundreds of similar incidents and sent Dharma Form Cultivators to investigate, warning him not to enter the strange places.
• Wang Quan returned to Qian Xiuyue and Senior Sister Round Face, discussed the lantern’s test results, then set off for Stone City through the Underworld.
• When ghosts and descendants of ghost gods attacked him, Wang Quan raised the lantern, which destroyed the ghosts and badly burned the descendants.
• Wang Quan compared the lantern’s power against Underworld creatures and concluded that ghosts were more numerous and dangerous than evil.
• Wang Quan found a ragged ghost god and asked to test the lantern on him, prompting the ghost god to recount how the Western Ghost Emperor, Reincarnation, Afterlife, and Future had each made him toil for thousands of years.

Wang Quan tested the lantern on the down-and-out ghost god, then restored some of its power and continued toward Stone City. He returned to a jubilant welcome from Ruo Jinghong and the city’s inhabitants, carrying the lantern that gathered sunlight on its own.

• Wang Quan shone the lantern on the down-and-out ghost god, whose pain was severe but whose injuries were minor, and saw the lantern’s power rapidly diminish.
• Wang Quan worshipped the stars and the Great Sun to restore his divine ability and lantern, then left the down-and-out ghost god, who disguised himself as a mountain and went to sleep.
• Wang Quan used his divine ability to return to Stone City in one day and discovered that sunlight was streaming into the lantern on its own.
• Sand eagle monsters spotted Wang Quan and rushed to Stone City to announce his return, where the city had prepared a festive welcome.
• Ruo Jinghong met Wang Quan on Yellow Steed, and the two rode toward Stone City while Yellow Steed Tongtong joked that Wang Quan should eat Ruo Jinghong instead of her.

Stone City welcomed Wang Quan’s return with a lavish feast staged with cannon fire, dancing, and food. As the celebration lasted three days, visitors from other cities admired Wang Quan’s standing and considered inviting him to become their city lord.

• The Officiant Daoist Nun fired a giant cannon and coordinated volleys from Stone City’s cannons, filling the sky with flowers, dream scenes, and golden-lotus imagery.
• Mei Niang and Fairy Qin led groups of women in a dance-off while monsters and spirit monsters prepared and served food for the feast.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun announced Wang Quan’s return, and Wang Quan arrived atop the city wall riding Yellow Steed and carrying a lantern.
• Mei Niang explained that the grand spectacle displayed Wang Quan’s status and could deter trouble from other cities, while the Officiant teased him about Ruo Jinghong.
• Stone City’s beings celebrated for three days and nights, and visiting beings praised Wang Quan’s standing before one suggested inviting him to rule their city.

Wang Quan learned that the [Madmen] organization, led by the immortal [Time Madmen], had established the Drowning Dao Lower Court as a base to harvest the Fourth-Layer World. After the Dao Court pledged support and stationed guards, Wang Quan accepted that conflict with the [Madmen] would likely come and wondered how he would fare against them.

• Wang Quan received the Dao Court’s warning that the [Madmen] organization had created the Drowning Dao Lower Court and should not be confronted lightly.
• Wang Quan watched memories of a Primordial Spirit Cultivator entering the safe zone, where the [Madmen] welcomed him before overpowering and eating him because pure-blooded humans strengthened their modified bodies.
• The Dao Court explained that the [Madmen] altered themselves and needed pure-blooded human flesh to stabilize their bloodlines and cultivation.
• The Dao Court asked Wang Quan to link the worlds and promised resources while arranging guards around the Drowning Dao Lower Court in the Third-Layer and Fourth-Layer Worlds and in the Real World.
• Wang Quan accepted the Dao Court’s request, anticipated a future clash with the [Madmen], and wondered whether he could defeat them.
• Mei Niang, Ruo Jinghong, the Officiant, and the others came to ask Wang Quan why he looked troubled.

Wang Quan and the cultivators discussed the benefits of the cloud pillar linking five worlds and the threat posed by the [Madmen] in the Fourth-Layer World. Although Wang Quan would eventually have to defend the Drowning Dao Lower Court, the group agreed to open a safe zone in their corresponding Fourth-Layer World first.

• Wang Quan observed that the cloud pillar had strengthened Stone City, improved cultivators and descendants, and begun producing valuable materials.
• Wang Quan shared a Primordial Spirit’s memories about the powerful [Madmen], prompting several cultivators to argue against confronting them.
• Mei Niang pointed out that the [Madmen] could descend to the Drowning Dao Lower Court, which Wang Quan had to protect, so he would eventually need to strike first.
• Wang Quan said the group should build a safe zone in their Fourth-Layer World before the [Madmen] arrived and noted that the Dao Court had sent resources for their use.
• The cultivators agreed to open up the Fourth-Layer World, with some eager to refine the [Madmen] into Dao Soldiers or use their bodies and souls in cultivation.

Wang Quan and the Dao Seal Golden Cores planned a safe zone in the Fourth Layer and discussed making Little Suns from local demons and spirit monsters. In the Underworld, Wang Quan learned that Black Hand was supplying evils as labor, then inspected the slow construction of his [Bygone Days] Title before heading to the Second Layer.

• Wang Quan and the Dao Seal Golden Cores studied projections of Fourth-Layer dangers and planned to establish a safe zone corresponding to Stone City.
• Mei Niang suggested waiting for Little Suns from the Drowning Dao Lower Court, but Wang Quan proposed voluntary procedures for refining more from local expendables.
• Wang Quan visited City No. 95 and learned that Black Hand had brought evils there to be bled and carved for Magic Treasure materials.
• Wang Quan inspected the [Bygone Days] Title construction site and heard that Black Hand had left after learning about the Pinnacle of the Mountain Range.
• Wang Quan declined to rush the Title's construction and then went to the Second Layer of the Underworld.

Wang Quan sacrificed to the Second Layer of the Underworld using a rite from the General Compendium of Unorthodox Paths, increasing his Underworld authority and seeing visions of the layer’s ancient past. He entered its safe zone and found its residents cultivating the land and worshipping the Great Sun, where his arrival prompted them to recognize him as Flower-Scatter Wang Quan.

• Wang Quan asked the Officiant Daoist Nun to prepare a five-tier Five-Colored Altar and willing monster livestock and fowl for a sacrifice.
• Wang Quan painted his body with the sacrificial victims’ blood and performed the rite from the General Compendium of Unorthodox Paths, while the Officiant Daoist Nun watched his aura turn savage and desolate.
• Wang Quan’s sacrifice revealed visions of the Second Layer’s past as a mortal world and increased his Underworld authority by one level.
• Wang Quan ended the sacrifice after a cup of tea and told the Officiant Daoist Nun he was going to the Second Layer of the Underworld.
• Wang Quan entered the safe zone and observed its residents tending the land, while Sun Flower Spirits’ prayers produced faint sunlight.
• The ghosts and monsters recognized Wang Quan as the legendary holder of Underworld authority and were prompted to bow, praise, and extol him.

Wang Quan summoned the Second Layer Ghost Gods to discuss the safe zone and the power being drawn from the sun. After they arrived, they sealed the area and rendered everyone unconscious, leaving Wang Quan readying his permissions in case they attacked.

• Ghosts outside the safe zone considered attacking Wang Quan but held back because the Manor housed powerful Ghost Gods, then began digging holes while pretending to gather sunlight.
• Wang Quan told the Manor's residents to watch for tunnels, healed them after they buried ears as alarms, and questioned the Ghost Gods about the safe zone's slow expansion.
• The Ghost Gods explained that power from the cloud pillar was being drawn to the sun and said they could contact local experts by launching a Cloud-Piercing Arrow.
• Five Second Layer Ghost Gods arrived, greeted Wang Quan, and scattered treasures that sealed a thousand li, knocked out the First Layer Ghost Gods, and trapped the other living beings in crystal.
• Wang Quan prepared to summon powerful strikes through his permissions and asked the Second Layer Ghost Gods what they meant by their actions.