Chapter Summaries

After the boy who had cared for her was returned dead, the girl buried him and vowed to live on in his place. She chose to embrace the role of the Ruthless Great Emperor and swore revenge on the Feathered Divine Dynasty.

• The girl saw the bloodstained Ghost Face Mask among the returned dead and remembered how the boy had rescued and cared for her for eight years.
• She recognized the boy's corpse and heard his lingering will urge her to live and see the world for him.
• The girl carried his body into the mountains, struggling to keep going despite her frail physique.
• Three days later, the girl stood at his grave with the Bronze Ring and Ghost Face Mask and promised to live well and see the world he had loved.
• The girl declared that she would become the Ruthless Great Emperor, repay kindness, kill her enemies, and make the Feathered Divine Dynasty answer for what had happened.

After Li Qingyue used her Survival System to evolve the Northern Darkness Divine Art into Kunpeng Devouring, she began cultivating through visualization and consuming ferocious beasts. After surviving a beast’s enormous foot and eating its flesh, she sensed true qi forming within her, though she still could not open her Bitter Sea.

• Li Qingyue spent all 1,000 survival points to evolve the Northern Darkness Divine Art into Kunpeng Devouring and felt a faint current of qi gather within her.
• Li Qingyue left her brother’s grave to hunt for food and survive alone in the mountains.
• Half a month later, Li Qingyue survived an enormous ferocious beast’s footfall and gained 100 survival points.
• Li Qingyue ate the nearby ferocious beasts’ flesh while visualizing Kunpeng Devouring, and her wounds began to heal.
• After seven days of eating and cultivation, Li Qingyue felt her body grow stronger and sensed warm true qi circulating with her blood.

Li Qingyue spent a year devouring Fierce Beast flesh, using Kunpeng Devouring to build her strength and true qi despite her waste body. Near the Ten Thousand Mountains, she encountered hunters killing a wounded Savage Armored Elephant, and her snapped twig drew their attention.

• Li Qingyue realized Kunpeng Devouring turned the excess life essence from Fierce Beast flesh into true qi that strengthened her body.
• Over the next year, Li Qingyue ate her way through the mountains, grew far stronger, and reached the limits of what her imperfect method could achieve.
• Li Qingyue decided she needed cultivation arts and other sources of knowledge to evolve her method and advance further.
• Half a month later, Li Qingyue spotted thirteen village hunters attacking a wounded Giant Elephant near the Ten Thousand Mountains.
• Li Qingyue hid behind a tree and snapped a twig while adjusting her tattered clothes, prompting a hunter to shout, "Who's there!"

Li Qingyue followed a group of hunters from Stone Village back to their settlement, where Shí Pánshān took her in and gave her the name Shi Yue. At the village feast, her beauty stunned the children, who eagerly offered her their roast meat.

• Li Qingyue pretended to be a frightened, nameless girl, and Shí Pánshān invited her to return to Stone Village with the hunters.
• The villagers dragged the Savage Armored Elephant back to the settlement, and Shí Pánshān offered to take Li Qingyue into his home.
• When Li Qingyue withheld her name, Shí Pánshān gave her his surname and named her Shi Yue.
• Shí Pánshān made Shi Yue a wooden hairpin, and she put up her hair before the village feast.
• A boy offered Shi Yue some roast meat, and after she smiled at him, the children crowded around to offer her theirs too.

Li Qingyue settled into the village and accepted more meat from its children, whose kindness earned them beatings from their parents. The next morning, she helped the village elder with chores and shared another meal with the children, who again gave her their meat.

• Li Qingyue waited for the village elder's permission before eating the roast meat, then accepted more from the eager children and the elder.
• That night, the village children were beaten for giving Li Qingyue their meat, and she wondered if she should eat less next time.
• Shí Pánshān heard Li Qingyue's considerate words outside the elder's house and decided not to interrupt her.
• The next morning, Li Qingyue helped the village elder with chores and switched their bowls so he would get the fuller portion of bone broth.
• Seven or eight children found Li Qingyue and piled meat into her bowl, while the watching adults silently returned food to the pot and prepared to discipline them again.

Li Qingyue tried to find a way to cultivate and repay Stone Village for its kindness, but raiders slaughtered the villagers while she was away. A scar-faced cultivator captured her and rode off with the surviving bandits.

• Li Qingyue watched Stone Village’s children train and resolved to develop a cultivation method she could teach them, though she still struggled to advance her own cultivation.
• Over two peaceful months, Li Qingyue helped the villagers and hunted small game, but her True Qi stopped increasing while she relied on ordinary food.
• Returning from checking her traps, Li Qingyue found Stone Village in ruins and discovered that Erya, Stone Monkey, Little Chubby, Second Stone, and the other villagers had been killed.
• A scar-faced cultivator and his riders arrived, and the scar-faced man targeted Li Qingyue after noticing her beauty.
• Li Qingyue prepared to fight the scar-faced man, but he bound her with a Divine Chain, lifted her onto a horse, and ordered his bandits to return to their stronghold with the spoils.

Li Qingyue was captured by a scar-faced cultivator, but used her system to evolve the Kunpeng Swallowing Technique and devised a chance to attack him. She fought through the divine chain and her own injuries, driving her dagger deeper into his chest as he prepared to kill her.

• Li Qingyue used the survival system to evolve the Kunpeng Swallowing Technique and glimpsed how the Kunpeng formed its swallowing whirlpool from countless small breaths.
• The scar-faced man brought Li Qingyue to a room and ordered her to feed him, confident that she was only a mortal.
• Li Qingyue pretended to be frightened and clumsy, then thrust a fork at the scar-faced man and followed with a dagger.
• The scar-faced man’s divine chain caught Li Qingyue, but she lunged forward and drove the dagger into his chest with her strength.
• As the divine chain tightened around her neck and the scar-faced man crushed her hand, Li Qingyue continued attacking, forcing the dagger deeper until blood spurted from his chest.

Li Qingyue killed the scarred bandit leader, used his Dao Scripture and source stone to strengthen her cultivation, then slaughtered the rest of the stronghold to avenge Stone Village. As she left at dawn, a young man in white descended from the sky and found her amid the bodies.

• Li Qingyue stabbed the scarred man to death, ate fierce beast meat to recover, and searched his room for supplies.
• Li Qingyue found the Dao Scripture Opening Chapter and a source stone fragment, then combined its methods with Kunpeng Devouring to absorb vital essence from the air.
• Li Qingyue used the source stone to strengthen her True Qi and body, though she still could not sense her Bitter Sea or Wheel of Life.
• Li Qingyue put on her Ghost Face Mask and killed everyone in the stronghold, then said she had avenged Stone Village.
• A young man in white descended from the sky, saw that the stronghold was dead, and stopped when he noticed Li Qingyue.

Li Qingyue met Yang Wuzheng, a powerful disciple of the Nine Saints Gate, after he destroyed the bandit stronghold. He helped her return to Stone Village, where she buried its dead, but his music could not erase her grief over the loved ones she had lost.

• Yang Wuzheng introduced himself to Li Qingyue and destroyed the bandit stronghold with a sweep of divine radiance.
• Li Qingyue admitted she wanted to return to Stone Village, and Yang Wuzheng flew her there after she pointed out the direction.
• Li Qingyue found Stone Village lifeless and buried its villagers herself while Yang Wuzheng watched without interfering.
• Yang Wuzheng played the guqin to comfort Li Qingyue, bringing back memories of her family and brother.
• Li Qingyue thanked Yang Wuzheng but told him everyone who wanted to see her smile was gone.

Yang Wuzheng comforted Li Qingyue after hearing of her sorrow, then reunited with Yan Wushuang as they traveled toward the Primordial Ancient Mine. After changing into clothes Yang Wuzheng gave her, Li Qingyue rejoined them and found both men staring at her.

• Yang Wuzheng offered Li Qingyue his condolences when her cold words revealed her grief.
• Yan Wushuang arrived and clashed fists with Yang Wuzheng before Yang Wuzheng introduced him as his junior brother from the Nine Saints Gate.
• Li Qingyue accepted a moon-white outfit from Yang Wuzheng and introduced herself.
• Yan Wushuang told Yang Wuzheng that an ancient tomb had been unearthed at the Primordial Ancient Mine and that powerful forces were heading there.
• Li Qingyue emerged in her new robes, and when she noticed Yang Wuzheng and Yan Wushuang staring at her, she asked why they were looking at her that way.

Li Qingyue joined Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng for a meal after her hunger grew unbearable, and her appetite astonished both men. She devoured nearly all the Giant Deer and asked whether anyone still wanted its last leg.

• Yan Wushuang hunted a cultivated Giant Deer and teamed up with Yang Wuzheng to prepare and roast it for Li Qingyue.
• Li Qingyue eagerly ate the venison while Yan Wushuang fussed over her and Yang Wuzheng noticed his junior brother's unusual attentiveness.
• Li Qingyue felt the deer meat's vital essence strengthen her body and increase her true qi as she ate.
• Li Qingyue ate a deer leg weighing several hundred pounds down to the bones, then pointed at the last leg and asked whether they were still going to eat it.

Li Qingyue accepted Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng’s invitation to travel with them to the Primordial Ancient Mine, hoping to grow stronger. As they prepared to leave, she insisted on eating the leftover deer meat, leaving the two disciples shaken by her determination to survive.

• Li Qingyue finished the deer leg, increasing her true qi and strengthening the vortex in her dantian.
• Yang Wuzheng asked where Li Qingyue planned to go, and she admitted she did not know while longing to grow stronger and find her family.
• Yan Wushuang invited Li Qingyue to join him and Yang Wuzheng, and they reassured her that they could protect her on their journey to the Primordial Ancient Mine.
• Li Qingyue accepted the invitation after learning that Yan Wushuang had the Human Sacred Body and Yang Wuzheng had an innate Dao body.
• As the group prepared to leave, Li Qingyue cut and ate more raw deer meat so its strength would not go to waste, moving Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng.

Li Qingyue studied the Dao Scripture and asked Yang Wuzheng to explain cultivation, despite believing her waste body made cultivation impossible. As Yang Wuzheng offered her another text, she sought a way to understand the world and left the story with a new possible lead: Heaven and Earth Dao Patterns.

• Li Qingyue told Yang Wuzheng she had found the Dao Scripture Opening Chapter in the bandit stronghold and admitted she could not understand it because she had a waste body.
• Yang Wuzheng and Yan Wushuang realized that Li Qingyue relied on eating to gain strength and survive, and Yan Wushuang went into the mountains to find more food.
• Yang Wuzheng explained his understanding of the Bitter Sea, Wheel of Life, divine power, and life essence while Li Qingyue questioned him.
• Li Qingyue wondered how she could understand the world, and Yang Wuzheng gave her a book called Heaven and Earth Dao Patterns.

Li Qingyue killed a band of mounted raiders attacking a mountain village, but the villagers recoiled from her. Yang Wuzheng and Yan Wushuang understood that her violence came from the loss of Stone Village, and she declared that others’ opinions were none of her concern.

• Yang Wuzheng and Yan Wushuang followed Li Qingyue along a mountain path until hoofbeats alerted them to danger near a village.
• Li Qingyue rushed into the village and stabbed the bandit leader to death after he attacked her with Divine Power.
• Li Qingyue killed all forty-three bandits, then turned toward the villagers, who backed away in fear.
• Li Qingyue remembered Grandpa Shi and the children of Stone Village and explained that she had wanted to protect the villagers.
• Yang Wuzheng told Li Qingyue that the villagers were only afraid, and she said their opinions were none of her concern.

Yan Wushuang tended to Li Qingyue's wounds and gave her medicine and clean clothes, stirring memories of her brother and leaving her confused by the two men's kindness. After Li Qingyue went into the forest to change, Yang Wuzheng and Yan Wushuang argued over what she needed and agreed to settle their disagreement by their usual rules.

• Yan Wushuang stopped Li Qingyue and gently wiped the blood from her face, reminding her of how her brother used to care for her.
• Yan Wushuang gave Li Qingyue medicine and clean clothes, while she noticed Yang Wuzheng had also prepared medicine and wondered why they were treating her so kindly.
• Li Qingyue went into the forest to change, and Yan Wushuang criticized Yang Wuzheng for speaking harshly to her.
• Yang Wuzheng insisted that Li Qingyue did not need the care and protection Yan Wushuang offered, and the two agreed to settle their disagreement by their usual rules.

Li Qingyue watched Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng fight to a draw, then quietly tended their wounds while mourning her lost family. She ended the chapter renewing her resolve to become stronger.

• Li Qingyue gathered the keepsakes in the cave and vowed to repay the kindness she had received.
• Li Qingyue found Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng battling amid a shattered mountain and watched their clash from a distance.
• After the two fighters were badly injured and exhausted, Li Qingyue approached and wiped the blood from their faces.
• Li Qingyue envied Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng's bond and quietly said she missed her family.
• Li Qingyue scratched at the blue stone and resolved to stop dwelling on sorrow and grow stronger.

Li Qingyue realized she could use source stones to activate Dao Patterns and temper her true qi, giving her a possible path to grow stronger despite being unable to open her bitter sea. As the group traveled toward the Primordial Ancient Mine, Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng offered her a source stone and promised to help her find more.

• Li Qingyue engraved the 108 basic Dao Patterns but found they had no power without divine power or another catalyst.
• Yang Wuzheng used a source stone to activate Li Qingyue's Fire-Element Dao Patterns, showing her that source power could let her manifest the workings of heaven and earth.
• Li Qingyue realized she might use source stones to temper her true qi and thought of finding more at the Primordial Ancient Mine, though obtaining them would be dangerous.
• Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng offered Li Qingyue a source stone and said they would help her find more when they reached the mine.
• Li Qingyue accepted their kindness, thanked them, and privately resolved that good people would be rewarded by her if heaven did not reward them.

Li Qingyue tried to use a Source Stone to form Five Elements Dao Patterns in her dantian, but the patterns collided and shattered her true qi vortex, leaving her injured. Yan Wushuang offered her Silkworm Grass for her internal injuries, and she fled when she realized she might have to eat it.

• Li Qingyue saw that her strength had reached its limit and failed to use the system to simulate Dao patterns.
• She used the Source Stone's essence to draw five Dao patterns in her dantian, but they collided, exploded, and injured her.
• Yan Wushuang examined Li Qingyue and offered Silkworm Grass to treat her shaken internal organs.
• Li Qingyue recoiled from the Silkworm Grass and insisted she was not afraid of it.
• After realizing the medicinal herb might need to be eaten, Li Qingyue ran from the cave as Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng laughed.

Li Qingyue reached Five Elements Mountain and used her evolution ability to perceive how its five powers and Dao patterns worked together. She entered a state of Dao enlightenment despite being a mortal, astonishing Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng.

• After more than ten days of silent anger over Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng laughing at her, Li Qingyue stopped at Five Elements Mountain and listened to Yang Wuzheng explain its legends.
• Li Qingyue revealed that her injuries had healed and that her scattered true qi had formed nine vortices, multiplying her accumulated true qi and devouring power ninefold.
• Li Qingyue went to the foot of Five Elements Mountain, sat on a bluestone, and used her evolution ability to merge her consciousness with the mountain.
• Li Qingyue sensed the mountain’s five powers and connected Dao patterns, feeling as though she could raise her hand and suppress everything with mountains.
• Yang Wuzheng and Yan Wushuang realized Li Qingyue had entered Dao enlightenment, and they marveled that a mortal could comprehend the Dao laws of heaven and earth.

Li Qingyue realized how to use the Dao patterns of heaven and earth to rebuild her dantian and begin cultivating despite her Waste Body. After an awkward exchange with Yan Wushuang, she and her companions reached Ancient Source City, the largest city outside the Primordial Ancient Mine.

• Li Qingyue understood that her nine dantian vortices corresponded to the Dao and that inscribing and merging Dao patterns could let her open a Sea of Bitterness world.
• Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng admired Li Qingyue's rare, joyful smile, and Yan promised to help her keep smiling.
• Yan Wushuang brought up Li Qingyue's embarrassing past, making her glare at him and walk away while Yang Wuzheng followed.
• Three days later, Li Qingyue arrived with Yang Wuzheng at Ancient Source City, where he told her it had existed since the immemorial era and was the largest city outside the Primordial Ancient Mine.