Chapter Summaries

Yuangeng traced the Bodhi Seed to Feiluo, an ascetic cultivator whose wisdom and cultivation had grown beneath the remains of the Bodhi Tree. After Feiluo declined his invitation to leave his home star, Yuangeng studied the seed and recovered the Human Dao portion of the Immortal Monk King’s Sixteen-Foot Golden Body technique.

• Yuangeng used Reflect the Ancient on the Bodhi Seed and found Feiluo, a peak Great Saint living on a remote planet at the Cosmic Frontier.
• Feiluo explained that he had found and tended the seed in his youth, gaining wisdom beneath the Bodhi Tree and learning cultivation by imitating a golden figure in his dreams.
• Yuangeng invited Feiluo to travel with him, but Feiluo refused, choosing to remain and watch over his native star.
• Yuangeng studied the Bodhi Seed for more than two hundred years and reflected an old monk whose teachings completed the Human Dao portion of the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body.
• Yuangeng decided to take the Bodhi Seed back to his ancient world and plant it beneath the Mars Sea Eye.

Yuangeng and the Qilin Emperor studied the Bodhi Seed and discussed the origins and true nature of Immortal Medicines. Years later, a message from the Underworld arrived inviting Yuangeng to meet.

• Yuangeng and the Qilin Emperor identified the Bodhi Seed as an Immortal Medicine once connected to a solitary emperor from the early Primordial Era.
• The Qilin Emperor asked what Immortal Medicines were, and Yuangeng explained that they were fallen beings whose true essence and Dao could survive the destruction of their medicinal bodies.
• Yuangeng told the Qilin Emperor that restoring the Kirin Immortal Medicine in the Immortal Domain could help the old qilin gain another life.
• Yuangeng demonstrated the Immortal Qilin Aspect, and he and the Qilin Emperor discussed the Dao for a year as the Kirin Immortal Medicine resonated with him.
• Three years later, an Extreme Dao arrow bearing an invitation from the Underworld landed beside Yuangeng’s stone house.

Yuangeng entered the Underworld after accepting an invitation from the Corpse Emperor, who hoped he might recognize the face of the corpse from which he had awakened. Yuangeng did not recognize him, and the Corpse Emperor ended their conversation by asking whether Yuangeng had any connection to the Underworld.

• Yuangeng arrived at the Underworld and was met by its First Judge, a Quasi-Emperor Xiezhi who relayed the Corpse Emperor’s invitation.
• The First Judge led Yuangeng through the Underworld’s formations to the Corpse Emperor Hall.
• The Corpse Emperor introduced himself and asked Yuangeng whether he recognized his face.
• Yuangeng said he did not recognize the Corpse Emperor, who explained that he had awakened from an ancient corpse bearing a Reincarnation Seal.
• Yuangeng pressed the Corpse Emperor about his reason for summoning him, and the Corpse Emperor asked whether Yuangeng had any connection to the Underworld.

Yuangeng explained to the Corpse Emperor that their burial methods shared a source in the Burial Domain, then unleashed his burial Dao across the Underworld. After the Underworld’s Imperial Dao weapons and formations resisted his strike, the Heavenly Nether Treasure fled with a radiant deity.

• Yuangeng connected the similarities between his burial methods and the Underworld’s to their shared ties to the Burial Domain.
• The Corpse Emperor admitted that his Reincarnation Seal had yielded only fragments of memories, and Yuangeng invited him to seek him out if he recalled anything important.
• Yuangeng spread his burial Dao across the Underworld, forcing its inhabitants to kneel and prompting ancient halls to mistake him for the Netherworld Venerable.
• Three Imperial Dao weapons arrived to investigate, and the Heavenly Nether Treasure struck Yuangeng with the power of the Underworld’s formations.
• Yuangeng’s blow shattered outer palaces but left the imperial formation intact, and the Heavenly Nether Treasure escaped with a radiant deity.

Yuangeng confronted the Underworld’s ancient survivors after the Heavenly Nether Treasure fled, then learned about the Netherworld Venerable’s disappearance and the Underworld’s decline. The Corpse Emperor ended the discussion by asking Yuangeng to take command of the Underworld.

• Yuangeng’s clash with the Underworld’s formation patterns failed to stop the Heavenly Nether Treasure from fleeing to the Reincarnation Sea.
• The Corpse Emperor explained that the Heavenly Nether Treasure had panicked after sensing Yuangeng’s resemblance to the Netherworld Venerable, and Yuangeng spoke with the Prison-Suppressing Venerable, Yama Emperor, and Rebirth Venerable.
• Yuangeng learned that the Netherworld Venerable had used death to escape at the end of the Mythological Era, leaving his old allies behind.
• The Prison-Suppressing Venerable said the Longevity Heavenly Venerable had gone mad, unleashed an upheaval, and taken much of the Underworld’s reserves.
• Yuangeng said he would find a chance to kill the Longevity Heavenly Venerable, and the Corpse Emperor asked him to take command of the Underworld.

Yuangeng discovered that the Underworld rested above an immense Burial Zone containing the remains of a previous epoch, and the Underworld's ancient rulers offered him command of their forces. Recognizing the Burial Zone's value to his cultivation, he agreed to take charge of the Underworld and claim the Netherworld soil.

• The Corpse Emperor invited Yuangeng to take charge of the Underworld, and Yuangeng questioned what it could offer him.
• The Corpse Emperor revealed a vast mass of ancient bones and remains beneath the Netherworld soil, which Yuangeng identified as a Burial Zone.
• Yuangeng used Reflect the Ancient on a broken iron fragment and deciphered runes pointing to Yuyu Heaven and the Chaotic Ancient Era.
• The Corpse Emperor and Rebirth explained that the Underworld depended on the Epoch Burial Pit and offered Yuangeng its resources, Yin Soldiers, and other followers.
• Yuangeng agreed to lead the Underworld, provided he could also use the Netherworld soil, and the four ancient rulers approved.

Yuangeng secured the Underworld’s alliance and claimed two ancient palaces, establishing himself as the Burial Emperor. His power alarmed beings across the universe, while the Underworld’s hidden figures and the Heavenly Nether Treasure reacted with fear.

• The Yama Venerable asked Yuangeng whether he had fought the Undying Heavenly Emperor, and Yuangeng revealed the Undying Heavenly Blade, making the four Underworld supreme beings fear the Emperor was dead.
• Yuangeng seized the Longevity and Nether Mountain palaces, erased their old formations, and renamed them with the character “Burial.”
• Yuangeng sat upon a throne formed from nether death energy and declared himself the Burial Emperor, prompting the Underworld’s inhabitants to submit to him.
• Powerful beings across the universe sensed Yuangeng’s aura, and ancient figures in the forbidden zones wondered whether the Netherworld Venerable had returned.
• Yun Gen recognized the Burial Emperor’s power and urged those nearby to lie low, while Source God, Source Demon, and Source Ghost hid themselves in fear.
• The Heavenly Nether Treasure admitted its weakness after failing to wound Yuangeng and resolved to become an Immortal Artifact.

Five hundred years after Yuangeng began drawing death energy from the Netherworld, he completed the Burial Emperor Hall and demonstrated how its Burial Method turned death into life. He used the Immortal Bell to bury the corpse of the Five-Colored Heavenly Phoenix beneath the hall, hoping to nurture another self until the phoenix returned through nirvana.

• Yuangeng emerged after five hundred years of refining the hall, while the Corpse Emperor marveled at its power and the vast death energy flowing into it.
• Yuangeng told the Corpse Emperor that the Epoch Burial Pit might have buried the entire Chaotic Ancient Era and contained remains from many different ages.
• Yuangeng activated the Burial Emperor Hall's formation, which transformed extreme death energy into a strange, precious vitality.
• Yuangeng summoned the Immortal Bell and opened a doorway to reveal the corpse of the Five-Colored Heavenly Phoenix.
• Yuangeng buried the phoenix beneath the hall to cultivate another self within its corpse, then spoke of his and his wife's dream of raising chickens.

Yuangeng and the Corpse Emperor discussed nurturing the Undying Heavenly Emperor’s corpse to form a Reincarnation Seal, drawing on the Underworld’s extensive research. The Corpse Emperor revealed his hope of gaining a second seal and shared what he knew of the Netherworld Venerable’s past lives, while Yuangeng asked to study the Venerable’s scriptures.

• Yuangeng sealed the Undying Heavenly Emperor’s five-colored phoenix corpse in the Burial Emperor Hall and began nurturing it as a possible source of aid.
• The Corpse Emperor explained that the corpse might form a Reincarnation Seal and described the Netherworld Venerable’s experiments and theories about the seals.
• The Corpse Emperor revealed that he hoped to form a second Reincarnation Seal after death and pass his memories to the new primordial spirit, but Yuangeng argued that this would not make the new being truly him.
• The Corpse Emperor estimated that the Netherworld Venerable had accumulated at least two Reincarnation Seals and might have lived another life while the Underworld searched for him.
• Yuangeng considered the Netherworld Venerable’s ambition to unite the Dao Fruits of nine lives and asked the Corpse Emperor for the Venerable’s scriptures.

Yuangeng received the Netherworld Venerable’s two scriptures from the Corpse Emperor and began preparing to prove his Dao as the Qilin Emperor’s control over the Heavenly Heart weakened. On Big Dipper, Cao Yusheng recalled his past lives, hid from the Underworld, and sealed himself in an iron coffin as his lifespan ended.

• The Corpse Emperor explained the Netherworld Venerable’s mastery of the Origin Dao and how his achievements helped create the Heavenly Nether Treasure.
• Yuangeng gave the Corpse Emperor permission to study his Death-and-Life Grand Array at Burial Emperor Hall in exchange for the Corpse Emperor spending his remaining lifespan there.
• Yuangeng manifested his water-element Dao Palace Divine Spirit, who took the imperial throne and spread netherworld aura across the star domain.
• Yuangeng sensed the Qilin Emperor’s hold over the Heavenly Heart Imprint weakening and left to prepare to prove his Dao.
• On Big Dipper, Cao Yusheng recalled his past lives and worried that the Lord of the Underworld might discover him.
• Cao Yusheng concealed himself in an iron coffin with his Extreme Dao Weapon, and the coffin sank into the lake after his lifespan ended.