Chapter Summaries

Chen Changsheng prepared Little Mountain Peak for his long trip to the Myriad Laws Sect and left Ouyang a meticulous ledger of household routines. Ouyang reassured him, then gathered the others and laid out wooden plaques bearing their names, leaving their purpose unexplained.

• Chen Changsheng gave Ouyang his mended clothes and instructions for caring for Hu Tutu while he was away for at least two months.
• Chen Changsheng handed Ouyang a massive ledger documenting Little Mountain Peak's routines, expenses, and past events.
• Ouyang discovered that Chen Changsheng had recorded others' offenses and used food to punish Leng Qingsong for a rude remark.
• Ouyang promised he could manage the peak, while Chen Changsheng worried that Ouyang would forget his instructions and Bai Feiyu and Hu Tutu could not take over.
• Ouyang told Bai Feiyu to fetch Hu Tutu from Azure Cloud Peak, then placed wooden plaques bearing different names on the courtyard table.

Ouyang gave Chen Changsheng, Bai Feiyu, and Hu Tutu wooden plaques from Hu Yun, then handed them crude peace talismans he had made for their protection. He kept plaques for Leng Qingsong and Xiao Feng, and the group prepared for the younger disciples to face more dangers away from Little Mountain Peak.

• Ouyang told Chen Changsheng and Bai Feiyu that he would soon travel somewhere only he could go, after speaking with the old sect master.
• Ouyang explained that the disciples would leave Little Mountain Peak more often and gave them wooden plaques made by Hu Yun to carry.
• Ouyang hung Hu Tutu's plaque around her neck and kept the plaques for Leng Qingsong and Xiao Feng.
• Ouyang gave Chen Changsheng and Bai Feiyu peace talismans he had carved and insisted they keep them close to their bodies.
• Chen Changsheng and Bai Feiyu treasured the talismans and put them away as Ouyang instructed.

Ouyang struggled to handle cooking and mending clothes after Chen Changsheng left Little Mountain Peak, while his fellow disciples kept busy with their own pursuits. Left bored and curious about Thousand Sand Valley, he ended the chapter wishing for anything to do.

• Ouyang served Hu Tutu a badly reheated bowl of Spirit Chicken Soup, but she refused to eat it and escaped to study.
• Ouyang tried to call Bai Feiyu down for a meal, but Bai Feiyu vanished after seeing the food, so Ouyang pinned Liang Zai down instead.
• Ouyang reflected on how everyone had left Little Mountain Peak for other pursuits and felt like an empty-nest Eldest Senior Brother.
• Ouyang thought about the mysteries of Thousand Sand Valley and wondered why demon fiends were imprisoned there.
• Ouyang lay bored on his reclining chair and wished for something to do, even a Heavenly Tribulation match-three.

Ouyang rushed to Azure Cloud Peak after a golden phantom demanded that Dongxu Zi hand over the one who defied the Immortal. He saved Su Xiaoqi from the phantom with a towering true-essence figure, but three golden-robed elders appeared and condemned him to death.

• A golden phantom formed above Azure Cloud Peak and demanded that Dongxu Zi hand over the Immortal defier.
• Passing-by A told Ouyang that Martial Aunt Su had attacked an old man who emerged from the Teleportation Gate, and Ouyang rushed to the summit with Bai Feiyu and Gouzi.
• Ouyang tried to enter Su Xiaoqi's battle against two old men but was thrown back by their Dao resonance.
• The golden phantom immobilized Su Xiaoqi and reached for her with an enormous hand.
• Ouyang summoned a huge figure of true essence, pinned the golden hand, and shattered the golden phantom with a throw.
• Three golden-robed old men appeared around Ouyang and declared, “Death to the Immortal Defier!”

Three Immortal Servants trapped Ouyang with a ritual that made him feel as though he were shedding his skin, while Bai Feiyu recognized them as Great Heavenly Sacrificers and suspected surviving Immortals remained. Dongxu Zi stopped Bai Feiyu from attacking and revealed that Thousand Sand Valley had once been called the Nine Hells.

• Three elders chanted arcane incantations that trapped Ouyang in a storm and made him grow drowsy, so he formed earplugs to stay awake.
• Bai Feiyu recognized the elders as Immortal Servants, or Great Heavenly Sacrificers, and wondered whether an Immortal had survived.
• Bai Feiyu summoned the God-Sealing book and prepared to use the Artifact Ancestor's true name against the elders.
• Dongxu Zi blocked Bai Feiyu and explained that Ouyang had willingly agreed to go to Thousand Sand Valley.
• Dongxu Zi revealed that Thousand Sand Valley had been called the Nine Hells during the Elder Ancient Era.

Bai Feiyu tried to stop the Immortal Servants from taking Ouyang to Nine Hells and prepared to fight Dongxu Zi. Ouyang vanished with the Immortal Servants, leaving Bai Feiyu to seal Little Mountain Peak until his senior brothers returned.

• Bai Feiyu learned that the three Immortal Servants worshipped him as Li Taibai and became enraged when Dongxu Zi tried to use them to take Ouyang to Nine Hells.
• Bai Feiyu struck at the Immortal Servants, and Dongxu Zi blocked his slash with a horsetail whisk, recognizing the threat of Bai Feiyu's power.
• Bai Feiyu prepared a decisive attack on Dongxu Zi, but Ouyang's wooden plaque fell from the sky and drained away his fighting spirit.
• Ouyang silently mouthed that he would be back in a moment, closed his eyes, and fell from the sky as the three Immortal Servants vanished.
• Bai Feiyu caught the unconscious Ouyang and realized his soul was missing.
• Bai Feiyu declared Little Mountain Peak sealed until Ouyang woke and Second Senior Brother and Third Senior Brother returned, threatening to kill anyone who approached.

Dongxu Zi explained to Su Xiaoqi that he had drawn out an Elder Ancient Era Great Heavenly Sacrificer to help Ouyang become a true living being, as Hu Yun had once needed the same intervention. Su Xiaoqi warned Dongxu Zi not to use Ouyang as a pawn, while Ouyang had been taken away unconscious and Dongxu Zi worried that the others would learn he had gone to the Nine Hells.

• Bai Feiyu flew away from Azure Cloud Peak carrying the unconscious Ouyang, and Liang Zai followed him.
• Su Xiaoqi confronted Dongxu Zi over his meeting with the Immortal Servants and struck at him in anger.
• Dongxu Zi took Su Xiaoqi to Beyond Heaven and revealed that he had lured away Ouyang's soul so Ouyang could become a true living being of this world, as Hu Yun had once done.
• Dongxu Zi gave Su Xiaoqi Ouyang's protective Wooden Plaque, and she warned him that she would kill him if he tried to use Ouyang as a pawn.
• After Su Xiaoqi left, Dongxu Zi worried that Chen Changsheng and Leng Qingsong would react furiously if they learned Ouyang had gone to the Nine Hells.

Ouyang accepted a system side quest that sent him to a barren yellow desert, where his cultivation, storage space, and Liang Zai were gone. He discovered his rope could understand and follow commands, then headed toward the only distant area that looked different.

• Ouyang accepted the side quest after finding that its panel offered no way to refuse and it demanded fifty years of lifespan.
• Ouyang threw Hu Yun's wooden plaque to Bai Feiyu before his consciousness was pulled away to the desert.
• Ouyang found his True Essence, storage space, and Liang Zai missing, but the rope at his waist remained.
• Ouyang discovered the rope could understand his commands, move on its own, and imitate a barking dog.
• Ouyang spotted darker scenery in the distance and walked toward it.

Ouyang used his sentient rope to cross the endless barren landscape, only to be dragged at great speed into a sea of red manjusaka flowers. There he met Hui Zhi, who wished him a swift passage to Paradise.

• Ouyang realized his rope could extend indefinitely and asked it to pull him toward the dark patch on the horizon.
• The rope pulled Ouyang through the air so fast that his surroundings seemed to replay his memories backward.
• Ouyang crashed into a sea of flowers and discovered he was unharmed.
• Ouyang recognized Hui Zhi among the flowers and greeted him warmly.
• Hui Zhi asked when Ouyang had arrived, then wished him a swift passage to Paradise.

Ouyang found himself in the Nine Hells, where he met the dead monk Hui Zhi and learned that the place was connected to Thousand Sand Valley. Ouyang believed he was not dead because he had no Yellow Springs Road, and he ended by asking Hui Zhi how he died.

• Ouyang confronted Hui Zhi, who explained that the flowers around them were Flowers of the Other Shore and warned that Ouyang was dead.
• Hui Zhi showed Ouyang his Yellow Springs Road, but Ouyang had no road behind him, leaving Hui Zhi baffled.
• Hui Zhi identified the place as the Nine Hells and explained that Thousand Sand Valley received disciples who had died.
• Ouyang suspected Dongxu Zi had not meant to make him a jailer and concluded that he was probably not dead because he had no Yellow Springs Road.
• Ouyang asked Hui Zhi how he had died.

Ouyang met the sorrowful monk Hui Zhi in the Sea of Flowers and learned that they were in the Nine Hells, where the divine souls of cultivators burdened by sin and karma came. As Hui Zhi explained the realm, Ouyang wondered whether he too was a divine soul.

• Hui Zhi told Ouyang that he had killed himself, and Ouyang tried to console him before nearly slapping his soul into oblivion.
• Ouyang and Hui Zhi traveled together through the Sea of Flowers, though Hui Zhi did not know where they were headed.
• Ouyang suspected Hui Zhi might be connected to his mission and repeatedly asked to kill him, but Hui Zhi refused.
• Hui Zhi explained that the Sea of Flowers lay in the Nine Hells, where only the divine souls of cultivators burdened by sins, cause and effect, and karma could arrive.
• Ouyang asked whether Hui Zhi was a divine soul, realizing the Nine Hells might contain the beings he struggled to fight.

Ouyang learned from Hui Zhi that cultivators who reach Soul Departure enter the Nine Hells after death, while others reincarnate in the Mortal World. As Ouyang questioned the world’s order and its cost to cultivators, he glimpsed a vast chessboard and declared that the closer one was to the Mortal World, the farther one was from the Dao.

• Ouyang asked Hui Zhi whether cultivators came to the Nine Hells after death, and Hui Zhi explained that only beings who had reached Soul Departure could enter.
• Hui Zhi said those without divine souls reincarnated in the Mortal World, while cultivators in the Nine Hells had to wash away their karmic burdens to reach the Land of Bliss.
• Ouyang challenged the fairness of the system, and Hui Zhi explained that the Mortal World was bound by karmic burdens and that cultivators feared becoming entangled in mortal life.
• Ouyang reflected that cultivators might be less free than mortals and wondered whether Heaven and Earth selected talented people only to use them.
• Ouyang saw a vast chessboard in his mind, steadied himself, and declared, “The closer to the Mortal World, the farther from the Dao!”

Ouyang noticed that something inside him was draining away and realized the Flowers of the Other Shore had taken his emotion of joy. He fought the flower spirit, captured its white radish form, and confronted it about stealing his joy.

• Ouyang felt his true essence drip into his Dantian as his mind grew calmer, then decided to test the rules of the Nine Hells.
• Ouyang entered the Sea of Flowers with Hui Zhi following, and the Flowers of the Other Shore opened a path before them.
• Ouyang challenged the unseen presence to treat them as guests, prompting the flowers to form a giant face that ordered them to leave.
• Ouyang used the Hemp Rope to fend off the face's petal attacks, seized control of the petals, and struck the face down.
• Ouyang bound the fleeing spirit, revealing it as a humanoid white radish, then accused it of secretly draining the emotion of joy from him.

After the Flowers of the Other Shore stripped away Ouyang’s joy, he became the ruthless, calculating “Tyrant” of his childhood and confronted the flower spirit Other Shore. Hui Zhi’s soul was restored, and after frightening Other Shore by eating its severed arm, he announced that he would follow Ouyang wherever he went.

• Ouyang regained his true essence and deduced that Hu Yun had arranged the journey to the Nine Hells to resolve his having a surname but no given name.
• Ouyang threatened Other Shore with a Tang Dao and wounded it, revealing that the flower spirit feared being killed.
• Other Shore’s scream began to shatter Hui Zhi’s divine soul, but Ouyang touched his forehead and restored him with Buddhist power.
• Ouyang handed the injured Other Shore to Hui Zhi, who introduced himself gently before tearing off and eating the flower spirit’s arm.
• Hui Zhi asked Ouyang what he planned to do next, then declared that he would go with him wherever he went.

Ouyang and Hui Zhi reached the River of Forgetfulness, where Ouyang pondered how to escape the fate Dongxu Zi and Hu Yun had planned for him. At the Three-Life Stone, Hui Zhi was revealed to possess great merit.

• Hui Zhi absorbed the Flower of the Other Shore's source power while the weakened flower spirit explained that a river spirit ferried the dead and the Three-Life Stone judged their karma.
• Ouyang decided he would not let anyone, including himself, dictate his fate, and he and Hui Zhi headed toward the Three-Life Stone.
• Ouyang and Hui Zhi bypassed the waiting Divine Souls, and Hui Zhi stood before the Three-Life Stone.
• The Three-Life Stone shone with golden light, astonishing the white radish and revealing Hui Zhi's great merit.

Hui Zhi’s golden light calmed the Divine Souls at the Ferry Crossing, revealing him as a Great Merit-Bearer. When Ouyang approached the Three-Life Stone, it exploded and unleashed chaos, prompting White Radish to recognize him as the legendary Peerless Great Demon.

• Hui Zhi radiated golden light before the Three-Life Stone, calming the River of Forgetfulness and the waiting Divine Souls.
• White Radish questioned how Hui Zhi could be a Great Merit-Bearer, while Ouyang suspected the false label on Hui Zhi’s status had disappeared and considered what his death meant.
• Hui Zhi descended from the Three-Life Stone, stepping over reverent Divine Souls, and told Ouyang there were no problems.
• Ouyang approached the Three-Life Stone, and its surface flashed with many colors as the sky darkened and the River of Forgetfulness surged.
• The Three-Life Stone exploded, a vast whirlpool formed in the river, and White Radish declared that the Peerless Great Demon had come to the Nine Hells.

Ouyang confronted the giant Lord of the River of Forgetfulness, whose death energy overwhelmed the way station. After discovering that his True Essence could counter it, Ouyang struck the creature and seized its tongue, then faced its renewed attack with a True Essence blade.

• The Lord of the River of Forgetfulness emerged as a colossal frog-like creature, and its death energy swallowed the way station's Divine Souls except those protected by Hui Zhi.
• Ouyang realized his life-awakening True Essence countered the Nine Hells' death energy and lashed the creature with the Hemp Rope.
• The creature struck at Ouyang with its tongue, but Ouyang caught it and shouted for the Lord to rise, making it stumble toward him.
• Ouyang released the tongue, causing the Lord to fall back into the river, where it raised the waters to attack him.
• Ouyang formed a Tang Dao from True Essence, aimed it at the Lord's eye, and commanded it to kneel.

Ouyang used his life-filled True Essence to frighten and overpower Catfish Toad, the Lord of the River of Forgetfulness, in the Nine Hells. As Hui Zhi declared Ouyang his senior brother, Ouyang restrained Catfish Toad and demanded that he kneel or have his legs broken.

• Catfish Toad sensed the power of life in Ouyang's Tang Dao and tried to flee into the River of Forgetfulness.
• Ouyang caught Catfish Toad with a hemp rope and dragged him down onto the river, then beat him into submission.
• Hui Zhi called Ouyang his senior brother and reflected that his own past obsession had led him to the Nine Hells.
• Ouyang realized his True Essence countered the dead creatures of the Nine Hells and suspected Catfish Toad recognized its power.
• Ouyang stood on Catfish Toad's upper jaw and threatened to break his legs unless he knelt and behaved.

Ouyang questioned Catfish Toad about a powerful Daoist it had once encountered and learned how the Daoist’s power had transformed it into the Lord of the River of Forgetfulness. He asked which Daoist had worn blue-green robes, but Catfish Toad said neither had.

• Ouyang used the Hemp Rope to capture Catfish Toad, made it absorb the death qi, and brought it ashore.
• Ouyang questioned Catfish Toad and the Flower of the Other Shore’s flower spirit, then told the flower spirit to keep his joy for now.
• Catfish Toad recalled two Daoists crossing the River of Forgetfulness long ago, when the Great Daoist gave it devouring power and set it on the path to becoming the river’s lord.
• Ouyang wondered whether his quest might involve correcting another period in time and asked which Daoist wore blue-green robes.
• Catfish Toad answered that neither Daoist wore a blue-green robe.

Ouyang learned that souls crossed Mount Naihe after the River of Forgetfulness, then decided to cross the river with Hui Zhi using his hemp rope. The White Radish returned to its place guarding the Flowers of the Other Shore as Ouyang and Hui Zhi prepared to continue.

• Ouyang deduced that the young gray-robed Daoist seen by the catfish-toad had probably been Hu Yun as a child and that the elder Daoist was likely Hu Yun’s former master.
• The catfish-toad explained that souls climbed Mount Naihe to take Heart clouds toward the Land of Ultimate Bliss, though he did not know what lay there.
• Ouyang asked whether another River Lord had come before the catfish-toad, who said he had devoured a Rascal Snake to become the river’s lord.
• Ouyang chose to cross the River of Forgetfulness with Hui Zhi, and his hemp rope stretched across the river and returned after securing itself on the far bank.
• The White Radish explained that he could not leave his guarded territory, then shriveled back into a Flower of the Other Shore and returned Ouyang’s absorbed joy as golden light.
• Ouyang’s cold expression faded, and he joked that he had thought he looked cool.