Chapter Summaries

Bai Feiyu recalled how his arrogance had led him to destroy his Dao Foundation and lose the God-Sealing Treasure Book, then Ouyang helped him rejoin the subdued life on Little Mountain Peak. Seeing his disciples weighed down by gloom, Ouyang urged them to leave the mountain and travel in different directions.

• Bai Feiyu remembered that the Immortals' true spirits had assimilated him, forcing him to sever his Dao Foundation, and that the ensuing turmoil had killed Jiang Shang and cost him several treasures.
• Ouyang slapped Bai Feiyu out of his dejection, then brought him into the courtyard, where Bai Feiyu saw Leng Qingsong, Zhao Qiansun, and the transformed Diao Mao.
• Ouyang and Bai Feiyu joined Chen Changsheng, Liang Zai, and Bie San for a quiet meal while the others remained gloomy and Tutu still had not woken.
• Ouyang teased the three disciples by suggesting they break up, then told them each to choose a direction and travel down the mountain.

Ouyang sent his junior brothers in different directions, and Chen Changsheng chose to leave to face the Great Calamity on his own terms. The next morning, Ouyang and Bai Feiyu descended the mountain together, while Chen Changsheng and Leng Qingsong watched from the summit.

• Ouyang had the brothers draw slips to choose their directions, and agreed to stay with Bai Feiyu, who had lost his cultivation.
• Leng Qingsong told Ouyang he had drawn east, and Ouyang gave him a string of advice before he returned to his room.
• Chen Changsheng told Ouyang he had decided to seek his own answer and face the Great Calamity, and Ouyang let him leave without saying goodbye.
• Ouyang waited in the courtyard for Bai Feiyu, then returned to his room when Bai Feiyu did not come.
• The next morning, Bai Feiyu urged Ouyang to leave, and they descended the mountain with the little fox, Diao Mao, and Liang Zai as Chen Changsheng and Leng Qingsong watched.

Ouyang and Bai Feiyu traveled south from Azure Cloud Sect, but Bai Feiyu’s ruined cultivation and exhaustion deepened his despair. Ouyang reassured him and had Diao Mao carry him onward, setting their destination as Jiangnan and Chao Ge.

• Ouyang and Bai Feiyu traveled on foot for three days because Bai Feiyu could no longer use Sword Flight.
• Bai Feiyu complained that Ouyang was making him walk without explaining where they were going or how he would help him.
• Ouyang told Bai Feiyu that even the old Sect Master could not help his damaged body, leaving Bai Feiyu convinced he had lost his last hope.
• Bai Feiyu wondered whether he was unnecessary and cursed his terrible luck, but Ouyang reassured him that even something seemingly unnecessary could prove decisive.
• Bai Feiyu pinched Ouyang’s face, surprised by his unusually thoughtful words, and Ouyang urged him to keep moving.
• Ouyang called down Diao Mao, who grew larger and carried Bai Feiyu away as Ouyang decided they were heading to Jiangnan and Chao Ge.

Unable to help Bai Feiyu restore his Dao, Ouyang took him on a journey to the Cities of the past, hoping to find a way forward. Ouyang believed Bai Feiyu was a hidden contingency left by Li Taibai, and the chapter ended with him hinting that he had placed two pieces on the chessboard.

• Dongxu Zi examined Bai Feiyu and admitted he had no way to help, then gave Ouyang a map to seek out powerful cultivators in seclusion.
• Ouyang reflected that the Immortals had manipulated Li Taibai and that Bai Feiyu might be the Sword Immortal's contingency in the altered timeline.
• Ouyang decided Bai Feiyu needed to live as himself rather than as Li Taibai's reincarnation, making him a variable who could change the world.
• Ouyang chose to take Bai Feiyu to the Cities of the past, since he had no better way to help him find a path forward.
• Ouyang looked at Bai Feiyu on Diao Mao's shoulder, returned to a jaunty smile, and thought that he had placed two pieces on the chessboard.

After Diao Mao carried Bai Feiyu for two months, they reached Chao Ge, the city where Bai Feiyu had lived as Sword Immortal Li Taibai. Ouyang set up a stall selling Sword Immortal Quotations, and the city's sword cultivators eagerly bought them, leaving Bai Feiyu embarrassed and bewildered.

• Diao Mao brought the exhausted Bai Feiyu to Chao Ge after two months of travel.
• Bai Feiyu recognized Chao Ge as the city where he had grown up and lived as Sword Immortal Li Taibai.
• Ouyang began selling Sword Immortal Quotations outside the city gates while Diao Mao barked in support.
• Ouyang recited a quotation, and the white-clad sword cultivators crowded his stall and bought copies.
• Bai Feiyu tried to leave unnoticed, then watched in disbelief as the sword cultivators enthusiastically bought the quotations.

Ouyang and Bai Feiyu entered Chaoge City, where Ouyang learned that drawing Li Taibai’s sword could make him the city’s lord. Bai Feiyu saw how Li Taibai had become a revered figure among sword cultivators, while Ouyang mocked the city’s statue of him.

• Ouyang showed Bai Feiyu that his Sword Immortal Quotations were actually Chen Changsheng’s illustrated picture books, which he had sold for profit.
• At Chaoge City’s gate, the guards recognized Ouyang as the Dog-Lifting War God after seeing Gouzi and treated him with respect.
• Ouyang gave a white-clad sword cultivator two supreme-grade spirit stones to learn that Li Taibai’s sword was embedded in a rock and could be drawn only by his acknowledged successor.
• Ouyang and Bai Feiyu entered Chaoge City and saw sword cultivators across the city reciting Li Taibai’s quotations and imitating him.
• Bai Feiyu felt moved that people still remembered Li Taibai and smiled faintly, while Ouyang criticized the statue’s appearance.

Ouyang and Bai Feiyu visited Li Taibai’s statue in Chaoge City and discovered that the Sword-Forging Clan charged visitors to draw his sword, claiming Li Taibai had authorized the business. They reached Bai Feiyu’s former home, where a new sign charged admission to visit the residence.

• Ouyang and Bai Feiyu joined the crowd at Li Taibai’s enormous statue and heard the increasingly absurd legends told about him.
• Ouyang stole an apple from the offering table and showed Bai Feiyu a leaflet advertising sword-drawing attempts for ten top-grade spirit stones.
• A Cultivator told Ouyang and Bai Feiyu that Li Taibai had supposedly granted the Sword-Forging Clan the right to profit from his sword and the Immortal Tomb it built.
• Bai Feiyu grew furious after realizing the Sword-Forging Clan had built his tomb without permission, but the rain eased his anger as he walked with Ouyang.
• Bai Feiyu returned to his childhood home and found a sign charging one top-grade spirit stone for a quarter-hour visit.

Bai Feiyu returned to Li Taibai’s former residence and was angered to find his descendants charging visitors, while Ouyang bought their lavish service with spirit stone marrow. As they toured the preserved residence, Bai Feiyu reflected on his former home, and they reached the training grounds where a stone sword stood embedded in the center.

• Bai Feiyu objected to the Li Family charging admission to Li Taibai’s former residence, but the entrance guards dismissed him.
• Ouyang impressed the guards with supreme-grade spirit stone marrow and arranged cushioned sedan chairs, guides, and a private visit.
• Ouyang offered Li Yu spirit stone marrow to make Li Taibai’s projection thank him, and Li Yu agreed to have the ancestor perform a dance.
• Bai Feiyu rode into his former residence, recognized its preserved layout, and resigned himself to the family’s disgrace.
• Ouyang and Bai Feiyu arrived at the training grounds, where a stone longsword stood embedded in the center.

Ouyang and Bai Feiyu visited the Li family’s Martial Arts Practice Ground, where Bai Feiyu climbed an ancient tree and discovered that Chaoge City’s layout recorded the route he and Ouyezi had once traveled. The realization brought his old memories into focus and showed him that his past self had left him a path to walk again.

• Ouyang learned that the Li family’s Sword in the Stone had been buried only last month, and Li Yu claimed the courtyard’s ancient tree had once hosted Li Taibai.
• Bai Feiyu asked to be left alone in the practice ground, and Li Yu agreed after Ouyang offered him spirit marrow.
• Bai Feiyu recognized that the great tree had grown from a branch of the one he remembered and climbed it despite having lost his cultivation.
• From the tree’s crown, Bai Feiyu saw that Chaoge City’s wards and streets formed a map of the route he and Ouyezi had once traveled.
• Bai Feiyu realized that retracing that road could reconnect him with his past self’s Dao heart and resolve, and memories of his two friends returned to him.

Bai Feiyu reflected on Li Taibai’s map and the mystery of the ancient Immortals’ sacrificial rites, then realized he had taken the wrong path and needed to keep searching for the answer. With his resolve renewed, he prepared to set out with Ouyang.

• Bai Feiyu studied Li Taibai’s map and remembered how Ou Yezi and Ou Yezi had each saved him in different ways.
• Bai Feiyu wondered why the Immortals of the Elder Ancient Era had demanded sacrificial rites that held no value for them and recalled the destruction those rites had caused.
• Bai Feiyu told Ouyang he had taken the wrong path, then said the answer lay somewhere along the road ahead.
• Ouyang decided to keep Bai Feiyu safe on his search for the Dao and suggested they set off.
• Bai Feiyu agreed, and the group prepared to take to the road.

After Bai Feiyu lost his cultivation, he began recording the world as he traveled with Ouyang and Liang Zai. Ouyang found that Bai Feiyu’s route circled much of the Mortal Worlds and decided they would travel to the first one.

• Bai Feiyu told Ouyang he planned to write a book recording the world, and Ouyang suggested naming it the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
• Ouyang gave Bai Feiyu the world map Dongxu Zi had entrusted to him, and Bai Feiyu accepted it despite suspecting it might be part of a scheme.
• Dongxu Zi silently bowed to someone unknown while Ouyang praised him sarcastically and criticized his ideals.
• Ouyang used his true essence to expand the map, and Bai Feiyu traced a route from Chaoge City that looped around nearly two-thirds of the Mortal Worlds.
• Ouyang concluded the route might lead to something Bai Feiyu needed and announced they would go to the Mortal World.

Ouyang and Bai Feiyu entered a Mortal World where Heaven and Earth Essence was scarce but demonic aura was overwhelming, leading them to suspect it was connected to the Demon Ancestor. They arrived in a city during a Ten Thousand Immortals Festival procession, where a worshipper mistook Ouyang’s gold for a divine blessing.

• Ouyang took Bai Feiyu toward the Mortal World on Liang Zai, despite Bai Feiyu suggesting they travel there on foot.
• As they crossed into the Mortal World, Ouyang and Bai Feiyu noticed the Heaven and Earth Essence diminish and found the demonic aura unusually dense.
• Bai Feiyu identified the aura as resembling the Demon Ancestor’s, and Ouyang suspected the Mortal World had formed from the Demon Ancestor’s body.
• Ouyang and Bai Feiyu landed in a city amid a Ten Thousand Immortals Festival procession featuring worshippers and divine statues.
• Ouyang gave gold to a kneeling worshipper, who took it as a blessing and offered him a place to kneel.

Ouyang and Bai Feiyu learned about the Mortal World's Ten Thousand Immortals Festival and its 108,000 worshipped Immortals. Ouyang suggested that Bai Feiyu redefine what an Immortal was and asked whether the world could accept one more.

• A middle-aged man explained the Ten Thousand Immortals Festival to Ouyang and Bai Feiyu after Ouyang gave him gold.
• The middle-aged man said that the Mortal World worshipped 108,000 Immortals, and that he believed they had answered his prayer by sending Ouyang and Bai Feiyu.
• Bai Feiyu dismissed the Immortals as likely Demon Cultivators posing as divine beings, while Ouyang considered that they might truly exist in the Demon Ancestor's Mortal World.
• Ouyang told Bai Feiyu that Immortals could come from the Mortal World, prompting Bai Feiyu to glimpse an idea he could not recall.
• Ouyang reasoned that Bai Feiyu should start by redefining Immortals from the bottom up, then asked whether one more Immortal would hurt.

Ouyang persuaded Bai Feiyu to wear a white dress and pose as an Immortal, planning to stage a demon attack at the Ten Thousand Immortals Festival so Bai Feiyu could save the city. He began rehearsing the scheme with Liang Zai as the demon, while Bai Feiyu reluctantly prepared for the performance.

• Ouyang gave Bai Feiyu a white dress and convinced him that wearing it would help hide his identity from the Demon Ancestor.
• Bai Feiyu resisted, but Ouyang forced him to change into the dress and secretly recorded his transformed appearance.
• Ouyang explained that he would create suffering for Bai Feiyu to remedy by staging an attack on the city during the Ten Thousand Immortals Festival.
• Ouyang cast Liang Zai as a bloodthirsty demon, and Liang Zai eagerly listened as Ouyang explained the performance.
• Bai Feiyu remained uneasy about deceiving the people, but he checked his dress as Ouyang rehearsed the plan with Liang Zai.

During Ping City’s Ten Thousand Immortals Festival, Ouyang and Bai Feiyu unleashed Liang Zai on the city, where the giant demon terrorized the crowds without deliberately harming anyone. The Immortals answered the believers’ prayers, but their attacks barely affected Liang Zai, and they fled after their statues shattered.

• Ouyang and Bai Feiyu observed Ping City’s festival before Ouyang sent Liang Zai toward the city to frighten its people.
• Liang Zai grew into a gigantic demon and clambered over Ping City’s wall, prompting its residents to flee.
• Ouyang entered the city and watched Liang Zai wreck pavilions and government buildings while carefully avoiding people.
• The believers’ prayers summoned attacks from the Immortals’ statues, but the lights only tickled Liang Zai and his sneeze destroyed a house.
• The divine statues cracked apart, and the Immortals’ lights fled, leaving Ping City’s believers abandoned.

Ouyang used a Golden Light Spell to calm Pingcheng and stage Bai Feiyu’s appearance as a celestial savior, allowing Bai Feiyu to enter Dao Enlightenment. As hostile black clouds advanced on the city, Ouyang confronted them alone and barred their way.

• Ouyang cast an enormous Golden Light Spell that cleared the storm and soothed the people of Pingcheng.
• Bai Feiyu appeared in disguise atop the Three-Colored Divine Bird, and the people knelt to pray for his help.
• Bai Feiyu began comprehending a new Dao of all living beings while the Three-Colored Divine Bird fought the Heavenly Dog.
• Ouyang noticed a subtle disturbance in the heavens and went beyond Pingcheng to intercept the approaching black clouds.
• Ouyang drew the Cold, Clear Sword and declared that no one could pass while Bai Feiyu comprehended the Dao.

As Bai Feiyu absorbed Pingcheng’s wishes, he realized that his plan to make Immortals into gods repeated the mistake of imposing his own Dao on all living beings. His master’s waist token rebuilt his Dao Foundation and revealed a new path, though Bai Feiyu still had to work out how gods could be regulated and kept in check.

• Bai Feiyu felt the tangled wishes and suffering of Pingcheng’s people and questioned whether his past actions, including Immortal-Slaying, had truly benefited them.
• Bai Feiyu nearly lost himself in the multitude of inner voices before his master’s waist token struck the ground and brought him back to his senses.
• Bai Feiyu recognized that he was a new person named Bai Feiyu, not merely Li Taibai reborn, and the token entered his body to rebuild his Dao Foundation.
• Bai Feiyu realized that gods should come from all living beings and be restrained by them, rather than being Immortals elevated through his own power.
• Pingcheng’s wishes gathered into a golden Divine Core, and Bai Feiyu considered how to regulate gods as he watched worshippers praying at the shrines.

Bai Feiyu reforged his Dao Foundation, reached the Nascent Soul Realm, and awakened the divine power of Words Become Law. After reuniting with Ouyang, he learned his senior brother had protected him from the Demon Ancestor and others, then set out to travel the Mortal World with him.

• Bai Feiyu reshaped his Dao Foundation, rose to the Nascent Soul Realm without True Essence, and formed a purple-gold Magatama.
• Bai Feiyu spoke the word “Rain” and made rain fall through the power of Words Become Law.
• Diao Mao finished the staged fight with Liang Zai and carried him away from Pingcheng as Bai Feiyu vanished.
• Bai Feiyu reunited with Ouyang, who revealed he had turned away would-be visitors and received the Heaven-Measuring Ruler from the Demon Ancestor.
• Bai Feiyu told Ouyang he wanted to travel, and Ouyang invited him to see what the Mortal World had to offer.
• Bai Feiyu watched Ouyang fly ahead, thanked him through tears, and silently sent him a final farewell.

After the Great Calamity began despite Chen Changsheng’s efforts to prevent it, he spiraled into despair, haunted by the memories of his previous life. Eldest Senior Brother helped him face the disaster rather than flee, and Chen Changsheng resolved to protect his fellow disciples and confront the calamity head-on.

• Chen Changsheng recalled his former life, his rebirth, and the many measures he had taken to stop the Great Calamity.
• When Demonic Qi spread and a golden Vertical Pupil appeared, Chen Changsheng became overwhelmed by the belief that the catastrophe would repeat itself.
• Eldest Senior Brother comforted Chen Changsheng and urged him to face the calamity and trust his companions.
• Chen Changsheng remembered the strength of his fellow disciples and resolved to protect them through the coming disaster.
• Chen Changsheng stood atop Little Mountain Peak and vowed to go ahead of the others and hold up a clear sky and bright moon for them.

Chen Changsheng left Little Mountain Peak and walked to Azure Cloud Peak, where he tried to meet Sect Master Dongxu Zi. After receiving no answer, he departed the Azure Cloud Sect alone, resolved to carry out what he needed to do.

• Chen Changsheng put Little Bie San to sleep, told it to wait for Eldest Senior Brother, and left Little Mountain Peak.
• Chen Changsheng greeted Azure Cloud Sect disciples on his way to Azure Cloud Peak, smiling as they recognized him as the Holy Son.
• Chen Changsheng startled a stone lion at the mountain gate, gave it a supreme-grade spirit stone, and entered Azure Cloud Peak.
• Chen Changsheng knocked at the Main Hall and requested an audience with Dongxu Zi, but received no reply and left.
• Dongxu Zi rose and bowed to the everlasting lamp as Chen Changsheng turned away, and the lamp went out.
• Chen Changsheng left the Azure Cloud Sect alone, humming Ouyang's nursery rhyme and deciding to proceed without anything weighing on his mind.