Duan De

Biodata

Power Progression

The chapters recount earlier attainments retrospectively. Duan De’s current reincarnation is initially unspecified in realm, but later passages explicitly identify his Four Extremes and Dragon Transformation cultivation. His previous-life attainments and potential should not be confused with his current-life cultivation 25 205 224 455.

Background / History

Duan De’s earlier identity, Cao Yusheng, was an Immortal Dao expert in the Chaotic Ancient Era. The scriptures and formation texts he left behind later gave Qin Tian the foundation needed to enter the Formation Dao and escape the source mines 25 46.

He created the Nine-Life Reincarnation Immortal-Ascension Method. As the Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable, he systematized the secret-realm cultivation method. In another life, he became the Netherworld Venerable, founded the Underworld, and taught Emperor Venerable 27.

His legacy also brought lasting enemies. A method he passed down for attaining immortality after death encouraged widespread hopes of posthumous ascension; Heavenly Venerable Lingbao intervened against the resulting corpses. The Underworld fears his return, while the Divine Organization and other remnants of the Ancient Heavenly Court resent him over the Court’s destruction 9 25.

By his fifth life, he has condensed four Reincarnation Seals. Although earlier passages describe his previous lives as imperial attainments, later explanations clarify that he does not need to compete for the Heavenly Heart Imprint in every life: Alternative Dao Attainment is sufficient to perfect a lifetime’s cultivation and advance his reincarnation method 51 232.

Rebirth and Lost Memories

Duan De remembers emerging from the ground as an adult walking corpse, without parents, childhood memories, or an understanding of his former identity. The Nine Secrets expedition returns him to his birthplace, a Small World where he had slept for hundreds of thousands of years. A supreme Source Formation had gathered the world’s power to accelerate his transformation 130 131.

He initially fears recovering his previous-life memories, believing they might change who he is. Nevertheless, his reincarnation method preserves the same underlying Primordial Spirit through successive lives and deaths. Handwriting, treasure-hunting habits, and tomb-robbing instincts persist even after he severs his cultivation and memories 130 133.

His obsession with excavation has a deeper origin than greed alone. Subconsciously, he seeks his lost past and traces Shi Hao’s footsteps, remembering at an instinctive level that he once buried Huang in Burial Soil. What had been an occasional hobby as Cao Yusheng becomes an enduring compulsion as Duan De 205.

Immortal Dao Legacy

Qin Tian credits the Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable with two foundational achievements: organizing attainment through the Five Great Secret Realms and devising a reincarnation-based road to immortality. His Netherworld Emperor incarnation subsequently stood alongside Emperor Venerable, with the Underworld and Heavenly Court ruling the universe 232 256.

The Spiritually Awakened Nether Treasure was the Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon of his Netherworld Emperor incarnation and later rebelled. Qin Tian suspects that Duan De retains other powerful safeguards from his earlier lives, including a possible surviving Heavenly Venerable Weapon, but these reserves are not fully revealed 51.

Appearance

• Build: Plump and bulky, though his movements are light, nimble, and nearly silent 24 25.
• Face: Ruddy complexion, a broad grin, and conspicuously dazzling white teeth 24.
• Recognizability: His appearance and distinctive bearing allow Qin Tian to identify him despite having known him only through written descriptions 25.
• Self-description: Insists that he is “brawny, not fat” when Ye Fan calls him a fat Daoist 200.

Personality

Duan De combines treasure-hunting enthusiasm with caution and shameless scheming. Qin Tian regards him as a veteran of swindling whose tricks predate his own. Before examining the Demon Lid, Duan De checks his surroundings repeatedly and sweeps the area with a compass 25.

He values survival enough to sacrifice an irreplaceable resource when necessary. Although reluctant to spend his scarce Heavenly Venerable blood, he decides that securing half an Emperor Weapon will compensate for losing that safeguard 25 26.

The theft of the lid exposes his explosive temper. His grief and anger produce smoke-like innate essence, uncontrolled divine power, and a furious four-hundred-lap run around the Fire Domain. He eventually channels his indignation back into tomb excavation 27 50.

His enthusiasm for “archaeology” makes professional recognition an effective way to win his cooperation. He is moved to tears when Qin Tian praises his skills, yet immediately begins considering how to profit from his new partner’s bounty after the expedition. Fleecing acquaintances is an ingrained habit rather than an exception to his friendships 129.

Duan De prefers retreat, negotiation, and indirect retaliation to open combat. He sees no need to compete on the Emperor Road and would rather cultivate peacefully while excavating great tombs. Qin Tian regards this leisurely attitude as a waste of extraordinary potential and repeatedly engineers pressure to make him cultivate more seriously 224 232 323.

His passion is not satisfied by wealth or flattery alone. In Heavenly Court, he rejects would-be disciples who offer their own ancestral tombs to gain his favor, finding their behavior objectionable. What he values is the surprise and uncertainty of an unexplored tomb; knowing its contents in advance sharply reduces his interest 453.

Abilities & Skills

Nine-Life Reincarnation Immortal-Ascension Method

• A self-created method underlying his successive lives and pursuit of immortality 27.
• Qin Tian describes condensing the current life’s Reincarnation Seal as another step along Duan De’s Mortal World Immortal path; its completion is not shown 45.
• By his fifth life, four Reincarnation Seals have already formed in his repeatedly transformed Emperor Body 51 133.
• Each completed seal contains a Supreme’s Dao Fruit and a Primordial Spirit cultivating within it. Completing nine lives and nine seals is intended to culminate in immortal ascension 451.
• Does not require claiming the Heavenly Heart Imprint in every subsequent life; Alternative Dao Attainment can supply the necessary lifetime’s cultivation 232.
• His Primordial Spirit remains fundamentally the same across reincarnations, despite the severance of conscious memories 130.

Heavenly Venerable Physique

• Passes through successive layers of the Fire Domain and reaches its tenth layer 25.
• Remains conscious after two direct blows to the back of his head from the Phoenix-Winged Gilt Trident 26.
• Can still be knocked unconscious by Qin Tian’s sustained ambush with a wooden plaque and stacked formation diagrams 26 27.
• Qin Tian judges that his physique surpasses a Desolate Ancient Sacred Body at the same realm, despite his severed cultivation 25.
• Eight divine swords wielded by a Dragon Transformation cultivator fail to pierce his skin and rebound with bent tips 54.
• His nirvana body has undergone repeated imperial Dao baptisms and reincarnation transformations. Qin Tian considers its peak quality comparable to a Heavenly Emperor’s treasured body, rather than an ordinary Emperor Body 212.
• Endures blows from Ye Fan’s temporarily Dragon Transformation-level Sacred Body without bruising; Ye Fan’s own fists instead become painful 224.

Heavenly Venerable Blood

• Initially retains only a few drops of precious emperor-level blood, described as vitality born across the divide between death and life 26.
• Uses it to awaken the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid and destroy the blood imprints left by Saints and Quasi-Emperors 26.
• Exhausts this reserve during the purification; ordinary Fire Domain flames, including those of the tenth layer, fail to accomplish the same task 25 26.
• His reincarnated Emperor Body still contains extraordinary Dao principles. Later, Qin Tian draws three large bowls of blood from him during Yaoguang’s pursuit, leaving him pale and weakened; Qin Tian considers refining his body’s blood a possible source of Heavenly Venerable Treasure Blood 133.

Resistance to Future Sight

• Qin Tian cannot observe even a trace of Duan De through his temporal eye 25 34.
• Qin Tian attributes this failure to Duan De’s exceptional standing in fate as a reincarnated Heavenly Venerable approaching the Immortal Dao 25.
• This does not prevent spatial tracking: Qin Tian follows him while concealed in the void and displaced into the past 25.
• Yaoguang’s attempts to divine his whereabouts result in several Heavenly Diviners growing red fur and dying under an ominous curse. The search eventually succeeds through physical investigation and dog-demon tracking instead 54.

Formation Knowledge and Treasure Hunting

• Cao Yusheng’s inherited texts teach Qin Tian the foundations of the Formation Dao 11 25.
• Duan De excavates major tombs and obtains the Demon Lid from one of the Ruthless Great Emperor’s tombs 27.
• Has visited Yaoguang Holy Land to rob tombs and survey its feng shui 50.
• His Tomb-Raiding Notes record principles of terrain closely related to the Source Heaven Book. Qin Tian also notices similarities to techniques in the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art, but the proposed connection to the Ruthless Great Emperor remains speculation 133.
• Possesses an extensive repertoire described as three hundred and sixty volumes of tomb-robbing abilities. At Four Extremes, however, his techniques cannot overcome the Azure Emperor’s flawless Extreme Dao Emperor Formation 205.
• Recognizes the Azure Emperor’s Yin-Yang Tomb arrangement after Qin Tian provides a hint and identifies the transition when its Yin Tomb’s killing power is weakest 201.
• Uses a secret technique from a predecessor’s handwritten notes to anchor the Azure Emperor’s Yin Tomb, impressing Qin Tian with its time-and-space implications 207.
• After Qin Tian awakens his past-life wisdom, undertakes the design of a Heavenly Cycle Starry Battle Formation intended to link the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands and trap Supremes 430.
• Works on countermeasures against the Underworld’s Yin Spirits and Yin Soldiers for Heavenly Court’s planned campaign 438.

Possible Heavenly Divination

• Two pursuers identify him as the Daoist who sold them Qin Tian’s predicted location for ten thousand jin of source 32.
• Qin Tian initially considers the possibility of a lucky swindle, then concludes that heavenly divination likely explains the repeated encounters with his hunters 32.
• The calculation itself is not shown 32.

Movement and Spiritual Perception

• Uses profound footwork that is described as not much slower than Nine Secrets: Xing, allowing him to evade Four Extremes and Dragon Transformation pursuers 54.
• Escapes encirclement through a forced Void Shift 54.
• Combines evasive footwork with a spatial Compass to avoid Wang Chongxiao’s attacks 323.
• Has unusually precise insight into cultivation realms and combat strength, despite his own low cultivation. Qin Tian attributes much of his survival across successive lives to this discernment 210.
• Detects a hidden Saint behind the Underworld’s pursuers and refrains from exposing his full strength against their weaker fighters 323.

Tribulation-Transcending Heavenly Art

• Unleashes a furious strike with Great Dao aura when Qin Tian drains his blood; the attack makes Qin Tian sense a slight threat 133.
• Can command tribulations as well as transcend them. Against a yin spirit, he turns the Nine Divine Weapons into instruments of heavenly punishment 233.
• Uses the art to fight a Half-Step Great Power from Dragon Transformation and delivers the finishing blow after Ye Fan exposes the enemy’s core 233.

Innate True Spirit

• When examining the earlier Cao Yusheng, Qin Tian discovers that his Innate True Spirit can repeatedly restore his Primordial Spirit 603.
• Qin Tian considers this constitution exceptionally suited to the Yang God Dao. This is an assessment of potential, not confirmation of a completed Yang God advancement 603.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Devouring Heaven Demon Lid — former possession: Half of the Ruthless Great Emperor’s Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon, containing the jar’s deity and most of its inherited imprints. Duan De purifies it but loses it to Qin Tian before placing his own mark on it 25 26 27.
• Compass: Used to sweep his surroundings before revealing the Demon Lid in the Fire Domain 25.
• Spatial Compass: Used to shift his position during Wang Chongxiao’s pursuit. An enemy Great Power recognizes it as a burial offering stolen from their patriarch’s tomb 323.
• Tomb-Raiding Notes: A manual recording terrain principles and excavation techniques that persist across his reincarnations; studied by Qin Tian 133.
• Nine Divine Weapons: Nine King-grade weapons whose combined light forms powerful attacks. Duan De channels the Tribulation-Transcending Heavenly Art through them against the tomb’s yin spirit 232 233.
• Demon Emperor’s Essence Blood: Receives a crystal-sealed drop from the Azure Emperor Lineage as payment for delivering Ye Fan 209.
• Immortal Tear Green Gold Lock: Bears a Sage’s death curse that Qin Tian secretly strengthens to put further pressure on Duan De’s cultivation 323.
• Profound Jade Platforms: Given by Qin Tian to help him escape the Underworld’s pursuit 323.
• Jade Purity Bottle: A Great Power-level vessel he hands Qin Tian while asking him to collect Eight-Treasure Merit Spring Water 323.
• Heavenly-Penetrating Nether Treasure: Produces a pitch-black wheel during the Starry Sky Ancient Road tomb expedition. Its Dao resonance, curses, and laws allow him to render space and time inert and block the burial area’s attempted spatial escape 453 454.

Relationships

• Qin Tian — Initially a self-appointed disciple through Cao Yusheng’s formation inheritance, rather than a formally accepted disciple 25. Their Nine Secrets expedition develops into an acknowledged master–disciple relationship, and Duan De later openly calls Qin Tian his disciple 132 199 210. Qin Tian ambushes him, steals his lid, and impersonates him while claiming these acts demonstrate “filial devotion” 25 26 45 50. Their association combines genuine reliance with reciprocal scheming: Duan De plans to sell Qin Tian’s bounty, while Qin Tian sells his location, takes his blood, rescues him, and manipulates his circumstances to encourage cultivation 129 133 323. Qin Tian later employs him as Heavenly Court’s formation designer 430.
• Emperor Venerable — Student during Duan De’s Netherworld Venerable incarnation 27.
• Underworld — Founded by his former incarnation; its later lineage fears his return and seeks him 25 27. Its agents pursue him after his tomb robberies, while Qin Tian repeatedly redirects its attention toward his identity as the Netherworld Emperor 304 323 389.
• Divine Organization and Ancient Heavenly Court remnants — Long-standing enemies who blame the Netherworld Emperor for the Court’s destruction 25. A staged declaration spread by Qin Tian draws the God Organization into a renewed search for him 389.
• Yaoguang Holy Land / Ruthless Lineage — Hunt him after Qin Tian’s impersonation makes him appear responsible for using the Demon Lid to raid a source mine 49 50. Their pursuit persists for years and unintentionally accelerates his cultivation 129 133 224.
• Ye Fan — Initially a victim of Duan De’s treasure thefts and sale to the Demon Race; later a recurrent excavation partner and fellow member of the Universe’s Three Blacks 199 200 209 453. Each attempts to profit at the other’s expense. Ye Fan knocks him unconscious to claim a Feathered Green Gold Cauldron and also leaves Duan De’s name at robbed tombs, multiplying his enemies 233 311. Duan De nevertheless regards Ye Fan as a lucky star because their meetings repeatedly lead to major opportunities 232.
• Black Emperor — Treasure-hunting partner and mutually scheming friend. Their association with Ye Fan forms the Universe’s Three Blacks 451 453. Black Emperor covets his Heavenly Venerable blood, but a safeguard carrying Cao Yusheng’s recorded message breaks the dog’s teeth when he tries to bite Duan De 451.
• Shi Hao / Desolate Heaven Emperor — Close friend from his Cao Yusheng existence, described as closer than a blood brother. His subconscious search for Huang contributes to his persistent grave-digging obsession 205. Shi Hao rescues the earlier Cao Yusheng from thousands of pursuers; they later reunite in Heavenly Court, where Duan De introduces him to the gathered Heavenly Emperors and enthusiastically praises his accomplishments 603 646 647.
• Heavenly Venerable Lingbao — Previously opposed the consequences of his posthumous immortality teachings. Later recognizes him as the Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable and states that he no longer wishes to hunt him 9 468.
• Azure Emperor Lineage / Qin Yao / Yan Ruyu — Pays him Demon Emperor essence blood for delivering Ye Fan. He subsequently offers Yan Ruyu emergency assistance for further payment in essence blood 209 211.
• Ji Family — Repeated targets of his interest in ancestral tombs. Ji Zi once pursues him for thousands of li with the Void Mirror after he surveys the family’s feng shui 255.
• Wang Chongxiao — Netherworld King Body who pursues him with Underworld-affiliated forces. Their hostility intensifies when Duan De inadvertently admits robbing their ancestral graves 323.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Loss of the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid

Qin Tian secretly follows Duan De into the Fire Domain and discovers his newly excavated Demon Lid. Duan De fears that its inherited imprints will allow the Ruthless Lineage to reclaim the weapon and control him, so he spends his Heavenly Venerable blood to erase them 25 26.

Immediately afterward, Qin Tian ambushes him with the Phoenix-Winged Gilt Trident, Shi Hao’s wooden plaque, and formation diagrams. He takes the purified lid before Duan De can mark it. On awakening, Duan De searches desperately, smashes rocks in rage, runs four hundred laps, and finally spits blood 26 27.

Selling Qin Tian’s Location

Qin Tian later learns that Duan De sold a prediction of his whereabouts to hunters soon after Yaoguang issued its notice. The timing reveals that Duan De had already profited from Qin Tian’s predicament before their Fire Domain encounter 32.

Framed for the Yaoguang Mine Raid

Qin Tian adopts Duan De’s appearance and name, uses the stolen lid to kill the cultivators and bandits at a Yaoguang source mine, and takes 1,500,000 jin of source. His purpose is to draw out practitioners of the Ruthless inheritance 48 49.

Yaoguang reconstructs the scene and launches an Eastern Wasteland-wide search for Duan De, offering its next Holy Son position to anyone who captures him alive. Duan De remains unaware of the approaching hunt and continues excavating tombs 50.

Divination fails disastrously, but physical searches and dog-demon tracking eventually locate him as he emerges from a tomb. His physique repels a Dragon Transformation cultivator’s swords. Realizing that the thief who took his lid has also framed him, he feigns a desperate counterattack and escapes through Void Shift. His pursuers remain convinced that he possesses their ancestral weapon 54.

Nine Secrets Expedition and Renewed Betrayal

In the Divine City, Qin Tian invites Duan De, then using the title Great Virtue Daoist, to search for the Nine Secrets. Duan De welcomes the chance to resume serious excavation after years of pursuit, but secretly plans to claim Qin Tian’s bounty once the expedition has yielded its profits. Qin Tian anticipates the betrayal and sends a paper effigy to sell Duan De’s location to Yaoguang 123 129.

Their search returns Duan De to his own birthplace, a Small World altered by the Source Formation supporting his long transformation. Qin Tian obtains Dragon Marrow and leaves some for Duan De as nourishment during the expedition in which their master–disciple relationship becomes acknowledged 130 131 132.

Qin Tian studies Duan De’s Tomb-Raiding Notes and finds an incomplete copy of the Tribulation-Transcending Heavenly Art. When Yaoguang’s forces arrive, he exposes Duan De’s escape route. Disguising himself among the pursuit, Qin Tian draws three bowls of blood before pretending to be defeated by Duan De’s furious Heavenly Art 133.

Azure Emperor’s Tomb and Encounters with Ye Fan

At the opening of the Azure Emperor’s Yang Tomb, Duan De takes an azure dagger from Ye Fan, initially mistaking him for Qin Tian. Qin Tian then approaches under the alias Cao Yusheng and forces Duan De to surrender the treasure. The pattern repeats when Duan De takes a blood-colored bead from Ye Fan 199 200.

Qin Tian recruits him to investigate the Yin Tomb. Duan De analyzes its Yin-Yang layout and helps identify the best entry timing, but its flawless Emperor Formation exceeds what his Four Extremes cultivation can overcome. Qin Tian uses his connection to Shi Hao to make him bait for the Desolate Pagoda and later knocks him unconscious, concealing the pagoda’s acquisition 201 205 207.

After awakening, Duan De anchors the Yin Tomb with a secret technique. Qin Tian secures his silence about “Cao Yusheng” by promising access to the Origin Emperor’s and Netherworld Emperor’s tombs, without revealing that these are connected to Duan De’s own former identity 207.

Selling Ye Fan and Entering Reincarnation Space

Duan De delivers Ye Fan to the Azure Emperor Lineage in exchange for a drop of Demon Emperor essence blood. He presents the betrayal as an opportunity for Ye Fan and later offers Yan Ruyu paid emergency assistance after detecting the Ji Family’s movements 209 211.

Qin Tian subsequently draws Duan De, Ye Fan, and other recruits into the Six Paths of Reincarnation Space. Ye Fan immediately attacks him for selling him out, but cannot meaningfully damage his physique. The encounter also reveals that the pressure of Yaoguang’s pursuit has already pushed Duan De into Dragon Transformation 224.

Duan De is fascinated by the space’s Emperor Weapons and other exchange offerings. In the Stone Village instance, he recognizes the wounded Willow Tree as an extraordinary being in nirvana and feels an instinctive reverence he cannot explain, wondering whether this world is his forgotten home 225.

Feathered Green Gold Cauldron

Ye Fan waits near Duan De’s excavation intending to ambush him after he opens the tomb, but Duan De detects him and recruits him as a helper. They discover a Feathered Green Gold Cauldron prepared for posthumous immortal ascension. Their agreement to share the treasure immediately turns into a confrontation, interrupted by the emergence of a powerful yin spirit 232.

Duan De deploys his Nine Divine Weapons and Tribulation-Transcending Heavenly Art against the creature. Ye Fan shatters Qin Tian’s emerald dagger to expose its core, allowing Duan De to destroy its remaining soul imprint. Afterward, Ye Fan knocks Duan De unconscious and takes the cauldron and other valuables 233.

Exposure of His Origins and Underworld Pursuit

Ye Fan invents a “Small Underworld” organization to stall Yaoguang pursuers and identifies Duan De as its leader and the reincarnated Netherworld Emperor. Qin Tian, listening nearby, confirms that the supposedly invented account of Duan De’s identity is substantially true. He explains Duan De’s successive imperial lives and Mortal World Immortal method to the group 255 256.

Ye Fan later compounds Duan De’s troubles by leaving “Duan De was here” at robbed tombs. Unaware of the impersonation, Duan De assumes his own excavations have been exposed and readily accepts responsibility 311.

Qin Tian plans to draw the Underworld’s attention through news of the Netherworld Emperor’s tomb and Duan De’s involvement. When Wang Chongxiao and Underworld-affiliated forces pursue Duan De, Qin Tian intervenes, drives Wang away, and kills the hidden sentient corpse Saint 304 323.

Duan De asks his disciple to collect Eight-Treasure Merit Spring Water in the Western Desert. Qin Tian provides escape platforms but secretly strengthens the death curse on his Immortal Tear Green Gold lock, intending to spur his cultivation rather than let him return entirely to leisurely grave digging 323.

Qin Tian later stages a declaration presenting Duan De as the returning Netherworld Emperor. Its recording spreads through the Cloud Dream Realm, redirecting the Underworld and God Organization toward Duan De and away from Qin Tian’s party 389.

Heavenly Court’s Formation Designer

After restoring Heavenly Court above Big Dipper, Qin Tian recruits Duan De to design the Heavenly Cycle Starry Battle Formation. Reincarnation immortal light awakens his past-life wisdom for the task 430.

Duan De repeatedly wants to leave and resume excavation, but Qin Tian recounts the powerful enemies seeking the Netherworld Emperor, including Chuan Ying, the Corpse Emperor, and the Heavenly-Penetrating Nether Treasure. Fear of those enemies persuades him to remain under Heavenly Court’s protection, though the Astrology Division’s workload leaves him exhausted 430 435.

For the planned campaign against the Underworld, Qin Tian again uses the promise of great tombs to motivate him, securing his assistance in devising counters to Yin Spirits and Yin Soldiers 438.

The Universe’s Three Blacks

Ye Fan summons Duan De and Black Emperor to a mysterious tomb on the Starry Sky Ancient Road, bringing together the Universe’s Three Blacks. Duan De eagerly leaves behind Heavenly Court’s flattery and would-be disciples for the prospect of an unknown excavation 453.

Their initial attempts fail because the tomb’s defenses are a spontaneous gathering of the Great Dao rather than a conventional formation. Duan De brings out a black wheel, then uses the Heavenly-Penetrating Nether Treasure’s laws and curses to prevent the core burial area from escaping through space while Ye Fan breaks through Dao-formed stars 453 454.

Despite boasting of his Netherworld Emperor identity, Duan De explicitly warns that his former incarnation’s strength is not the strength of his present life. The trio continue their familiar pattern of placing one another in front when danger appears 455.

Later Battles and Reunion with Shi Hao

Heavenly Venerable Lingbao recognizes Duan De as the Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable but declares that he no longer wishes to hunt him 468. Duan De later joins Ye Fan and Black Emperor in fighting and collecting treasures during the campaign in Immeasurable Heaven 489.

In the narrative’s return to the Chaotic Ancient Era, Qin Tian manipulates fate to send successive waves of Venerables after Cao Yusheng and his Reincarnation Nine-Leaf Grass. More than ten thousand pursuers eventually chase him until Shi Hao rescues him. Qin Tian treats the ordeal as training for his earlier teacher and prepares to guide him toward the Divine Flame stage 603.

When Shi Hao emerges into the future, Duan De reunites with him at Heavenly Court, explains the Great Purge’s destruction of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, and introduces him to the arriving Heavenly Emperors as the Desolate Heaven Emperor. His enthusiastic praise is interrupted by a bolt of tribulation lightning 646 647.

Duan De remains involved with his old companions in later years. Hearing the extraordinary story of Ye Fan’s dream-life marriage, he even emerges from a grave to seek out the woman involved 658.

Notable Quotes

“It was stolen before I could even put my mark on it!!!” 27

“Damn it, this Daoist's luck has hit rock bottom. I actually ran into someone in the same trade!” 27

“A kindred spirit!” 129

“I'm brawny, not fat.” 200

“Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable, fighting and killing don't suit this Daoist. I have no intention of competing on the Emperor Road either. I only need to cultivate in peace.” 323

“The Netherworld Emperor may be strong, but that isn't the power of this life!” 455