Chapter Summaries

Xiao Hua failed to save True Person Jingting’s Nascent Soul from the Star Lord Palace’s defensive array, then learned that Fairy Jing’s Human Vitality was actually a Mother-Child Spirit Fruit. As the array swept cultivators away, Xiao Hua and green-robed Xiao Hua concluded that an overwhelming force was targeting Nascent Souls, but they could not break the array or rescue Jingting.

• Xiao Hua tried to shield True Person Jingting’s Nascent Soul, but the Righteous Qi Pillar swept it away before he could reach it.
• True Lord Huode, the Xuanjia cultivator, Shui Ming, and other cultivators were carried off by the defensive array’s blood-red radiance.
• Fairy Jing gave Xiao Hua the Human Vitality, and Xiao Hua recognized the fruit as a Mother-Child Spirit Fruit rather than the Human Vitality he sought.
• Xiao Hua took Fairy Jing’s Ink Cloud Pupil, returned the fruit to her, and sent her away with the radiance after learning her demon beast was named Ying Huo.
• Green-robed Xiao Hua told Xiao Hua that a powerful force threatened Nascent Souls outside their bodies, while the array’s protection kept that force from acting until they left.

Xiao Hua realized that the Star Lord Palace’s killings at Yaotai Mountain were part of a plan to eliminate nearly every cultivator, so he sent green-robed Xiao Hua to seek a way through the imperial formation. Xiao Hua was caught in the blood-colored glow, while his connection to green-robed Xiao Hua began to weaken as the latter tried to refine the Ice Mirror.

• Xiao Hua and green-robed Xiao Hua concluded that the Star Lord Palace intended to leave almost no cultivators alive at Yaotai Mountain, and Xiao Hua decided they had to find a flaw in the imperial formation.
• When green-robed Xiao Hua first flew out, Xiao Hua’s innate suction force kept him from being drawn in, so Xiao Hua used Nascent Souls to summon the formation’s righteous energy, dense fog, and pulling force.
• Xiao Hua equipped green-robed Xiao Hua with a mid-Nascent Soul body, the Ice Mirror, another mirror from True Person Xifan’s Cosmic Bag, and a two-colored spirit flame.
• The imperial formation pulled green-robed Xiao Hua into the dense fog as he used the spirit flame to refine the mirror, then drew Xiao Hua into the blood-colored glow as well.
• Blood-red inscriptions sealed much of Xiao Hua’s magical power and cut off his senses, while his perception of green-robed Xiao Hua began to weaken.

Xiao Hua entered a blood-red void within the imperial formation, lost contact with green-robed Xiao Hua, and was ambushed by Daoist sect cultivators who accused him of being a Confucian spy. He warned them to leave as he counted down, and the chapter ended with the cultivators still surrounding him as he reached two.

• Xiao Hua lost his link to green-robed Xiao Hua and realized the blood-red sky was a void where his divine sense, Buddhist consciousness, and soul sense could not reach beyond his body.
• A sudden force shifted Xiao Hua to a star-filled sky, where a cultivator attacked him with a long halberd and dozens of Nascent Soul cultivators closed in.
• True Lord Huode accused Xiao Hua of being a Confucian spy and demanded that he seal his cultivation for an investigation.
• Xiao Hua defended his efforts to help Jiang Kingdom and revive the Daoist sect, then gave the surrounding cultivators until the count of ten to leave.
• True Lord Huode, Ao Zhantian, and Shui Mingzi dismissed Xiao Hua's warning while the surrounding cultivators remained in place.
• Xiao Hua counted down to two as the assembled cultivators waited and watched.

Xiao Hua fought True Lord Huode and dozens of Nascent Soul cultivators inside a formation that restricted divine sense, using lightning and his Dragon Vein Nascent Soul to counter their attacks. After True Lord Huode exposed his real target—the sword gourd—Xiao Hua faced a renewed assault from Huode, Shui Mingzi, and Ao Zhantian.

• Xiong Yi tried to leave the encirclement, but True Lord Huode attacked him with a fire shuttle; Xiao Hua stopped it with lightning and declared the others would no longer control their own fates.
• Xiao Hua had Dragon Vein Xiao Hua control his Nascent Soul, and its Five Qi True Thunder shattered the magic treasures of two early Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Xiao Hua sent the Spirit Severing Primordial Light after True Lord Huode while Huode rallied dozens of cultivators to combine their life-bound magic treasures into a strike.
• Shui Mingzi and Ao Zhantian joined the attack, but Xiao Hua used five-colored heavenly lightning to damage the attackers' treasures with his bare hands, leaving his Nascent Soul weakened.
• True Lord Huode seized the opening to extinguish the Spirit Severing Primordial Light with his fire gourd and sent its infant-like hand reaching for Xiao Hua's sword gourd.

Xiao Hua fought True Lord Huode, Ao Zhantian, and Shui Mingzi at once, using Confucian techniques and multiple treasures to overwhelm them. He crippled True Lord Huode and seized his life-bound fire gourd, then continued attacking as the battle remained underway.

• Xiao Hua sent the Sea-Overturning Seal and Divine Strength Centipede against Shui Mingzi while meeting Ao Zhantian's dragon halberd with the As-You-Wish Staff.
• Xiao Hua's Confucian verses struck True Lord Huode with Righteous Qi and internal fire, forcing him to use Fire Qi Ascending to Origin.
• Xiao Hua's staff broke Ao Zhantian's dragon halberd and sent him plunging away as a blood-red dragon phantom revealed his True Dragon bloodline.
• Shui Mingzi used his essence blood to empower his whisk and halt the Sea-Overturning Seal while Xiao Hua abandoned the seal and rushed at True Lord Huode.
• Xiao Hua's Spirit Severing Primordial Light and golden scissors severed True Lord Huode's left arm, and Xiao Hua stole the fire gourd.
• Xiao Hua launched sword lights at True Lord Huode, who was repeatedly struck by attacks on his Niwan Palace.

Xiao Hua defeated Ao Zhantian and forced him and the other Nascent Soul cultivators to swear thousand-year oaths of service. After True Lord Huode escaped, Xiao Hua controlled the remaining battle and began binding the cultivators to his command.

• True Lord Huode escaped through a jade pendant’s array, leaving Xiao Hua unable to pursue him.
• Ao Zhantian summoned his blood dragon Dharma Body, but Xiao Hua’s Golden Body and As-You-Wish Staff shattered it and wounded him.
• Xiao Hua halted his Spirit Severing Primordial Light and offered Ao Zhantian the choice of death or a thousand years of service, promising cultivation support.
• Xiao Hua demanded that the other Nascent Soul cultivators also swear oaths, while his Soaring Flood Dragon Scissors severed the arm of one who tried to flee.
• Ao Zhantian swore to serve Xiao Hua for a thousand years, and Xiao Hua absorbed the oath’s sigil before ordering the remaining cultivators to choose.

Xiao Hua subdued Shui Mingzi and gathered the Nascent Soul cultivators into his space as Yaotai Mountain’s imperial formation began collapsing. He fled the spreading crimson torrents and rescued Xiong Yi, leaving them racing to escape the destruction.

• Xiao Hua ordered the Nascent Soul cultivators to surround Shui Mingzi, accepted their blood oaths, and let Xiong Yi leave.
• Shui Mingzi agreed to serve Xiao Hua for a thousand years after Xiao Hua gave him a ten-thousand-year-old human essence; Xiao Hua also gifted one to Ao Zhantian.
• As the imperial formation began collapsing, Xiao Hua persuaded the cultivators, Ao Zhantian, and Shui Mingzi to enter his space for safety.
• Xiao Hua flew away from the advancing crimson torrents and rescued Xiong Yi, who was fleeing on a flying shuttle.

Xiao Hua learned that the Imperial Array consisted of separate spaces and that a collapsing section was closing in around him. After enduring streams of deadly blood-colored liquid, he found the route he had entered through and raced toward it with Confucian cultivator Xiao Hua's aid.

• Xiao Hua questioned Xiong Yi about True Lord Huode's group and learned that Fairy Jing and True Person Yuanqing had not appeared in their section of the Imperial Array.
• Xiong Yi agreed to follow Xiao Hua, who stored him in the Mountain River Seal.
• Blood-red streams struck Xiao Hua, corroding his protective golden light and piercing his body with poison and Netherworld power.
• Xiao Hua realized the Imperial Array contained separate spaces and identified the place where he had first entered as his escape route.
• Xiao Hua used the Lightning Evasion Technique to race toward the collapsing exit, while Confucian cultivator Xiao Hua's verses increased his speed severalfold.

Xiao Hua escaped the imperial formation by forcing his Lightning Evasion Technique into the realm of Thunderous Three Realms, but he was swept through successive spatial fractures and emerged somewhere unknown. Meanwhile, True Lord Huode reached the Immortal Soldiers’ camps seeking Lord Linghu, only to be condemned for violating military law and struck by a deadly sword.

• Xiao Hua used Five Qi True Thunder to activate the Lightning Evasion Technique, escaped the formation, and was carried through more spatial fractures.
• True Lord Huode used his jade pendant to enter the blood-cloud territory and learned that Shangguan Yeran had perished.
• True Lord Huode persuaded Zhou Hong to take him toward Lord Linghu’s military camp with news concerning Shangguan Yeran’s death.
• An Immortal General barred True Lord Huode from the central command tent, and Lord Linghu emerged after hearing their argument.
• Lord Linghu declared that True Lord Huode had violated Military Order Article Four and swung his treasured sword at him, cutting through the radiance from his Nascent Soul.

True Lord Huode brought news of Jing Mu An’s death to Kong Hongwu’s camp, where Linghu Piran subjected him and Zhou Hong to a harsh military inquiry. Huode identified Xiao Hua as Jing Mu An’s killer, but Kong Hongwu’s reaction suggested he already suspected him.

• Linghu Piran ordered True Lord Huode and Zhou Hong into the command tent, then accused Zhou Hong of bringing a Daoist cultivator into camp without authorization.
• Linghu Piran discovered Zhou Hong had not been informed that Huode’s Star General Token was revoked and ordered an investigation that could cost Zhou Hong his life.
• Linghu Piran told Huode that entering the command tent as a Daoist cultivator warranted execution, then summoned Kong Hongwu to decide his fate.
• Kong Hongwu rejected Huode’s claim to Star General status, and Huode offered to reveal secrets before entering the formation to seek death.
• True Lord Huode named Xiao Hua as the cultivator who concealed his cultivation and killed Jing Mu An, while Kong Hongwu appeared unsurprised.

Kong Hongwu and Linghu Piran discussed Xiao Hua, Huode, and other powerful cultivators inside the Yaotai Gathering, while Kong Hongwu sent Huode to hunt Xiao Hua as a final chance to keep his rank. Xiao Hua emerged from a spatial interstice into a vast star-filled space, where he saw an enormous sphere encircled by a slowly rotating ring of shattered rocks.

• True Lord Huode blamed Xiao Hua for Shangguan Yeran’s death and offered to execute him, and Linghu Piran persuaded Kong Hongwu to grant Huode one last chance.
• Kong Hongwu promised to restore Huode’s position if he killed Xiao Hua, while Linghu Piran warned Huode that soldiers would escort him back.
• After Huode left, Kong Hongwu and Linghu Piran discussed Huode’s ambition, Xiao Hua’s strength, and the other prominent cultivators at the Yaotai Gathering.
• Kong Hongwu warned Linghu Piran to be cautious if he confronted Xiao Hua, then departed the command tent.
• Linghu Piran went to a cloud-shrouded space and looked at several brilliant stars.
• Xiao Hua emerged from a spatial interstice and saw a massive sphere surrounded by a rotating ring of enormous shattered rocks beneath a starry sky.

Xiao Hua encountered Zhang Daoran’s Daoist cultivators aboard a flying ark and was invited to join them against the dangers in the star formation. A second ark led by Xunkong Shangren arrived, and the two leaders began discussing how to handle their rivalry over the Qing Ming Dragon Saliva as Xunkong took notice of Xiao Hua.

• Xiao Hua recognized the recurring starry sky and wondered about its connection to the Star Moon Palace and the star-power seals on Liu Yi and the others.
• Fairy Jing explained that Zhang Daoran had gathered Daoist cultivators aboard his ark and led them through the star formation after Confucian soldiers and generals ambushed them.
• Zhang Daoran invited Xiao Hua aboard, and Xiao Hua hesitated because he had killed Star Lord Palace immortals, soldiers, and generals.
• Xunkong Shangren arrived aboard another ark and challenged Zhang Daoran over who should claim the Qing Ming Dragon Saliva.
• After noticing Xiao Hua’s unusual cultivation, Xunkong softened his stance and addressed him as a peer, then asked where he practiced.

Xiao Hua, Xunkong Shangren, and Zhang Daoran tried to form an alliance at the Yaotai Gathering, but Xunkong killed three cultivators who rushed for a jade case. Xiao Hua then backed Xunkong’s judgment and attacked four others who had tried to undermine Zhang Daoran, leaving their Nascent Souls exposed.

• Xiao Hua told Xunkong Shangren that he sought only the National Teacher’s token and had no interest in the three rare treasures, while Zhang Daoran proposed a temporary alliance.
• A jade case appeared after a meteor-like radiance blasted open the banded object, and three cultivators from Zhang Daoran’s boat flew to seize it.
• Xunkong Shangren struck down the three cultivators despite Zhang Daoran’s pleas, and their Nascent Souls vanished amid purple Vast Righteous Qi.
• Xiao Hua used a golden giant hand to suppress the cultivators who had incited others against Zhang Daoran, then killed four of them as their Nascent Souls escaped.

Xiao Hua killed four Nascent Soul cultivators in the imperial array and helped stop Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren from fighting over the jade boxes. After revealing that he had killed a Star Lord and feared Star Lord Palace’s pursuit, he found Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren willing to join forces with him.

• Xiao Hua restrained and killed four early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, impressing the onlookers and winning Xunkong Shangren’s admiration.
• More jade boxes emerged from the imperial array, and Xiao Hua persuaded Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren to send cultivators to search for them.
• Zhang Daoran told Xiao Hua that he sought the Chilling Phantom Gall to break through to the Out-of-Body Realm, while Xunkong Shangren sought the Qing Ming Dragon Saliva to extend his lifespan.
• Xiao Hua declined to join forces with the two men because he feared Star Lord Palace would pursue him for killing a Star Lord.
• After Xiao Hua confirmed that he had erased the Star Lord’s Primordial Spirit and burned his body, Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren agreed to join forces with him.

Xiao Hua, Zhang Daoran, and Xunkong Shangren agreed that the Yaotai Gathering was a Star Lord Palace trap designed to eliminate Nascent Soul cultivators, and they made a pact to cooperate and protect the Daoist sect cultivators. They began organizing a fair distribution of the jade-box treasures and a search for a way out of the formation.

• Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren told Xiao Hua that the Yaotai Gathering was unusually dangerous and likely intended to wipe out most Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Xiao Hua agreed to join them in competing for treasures and helping other cultivators, while warning that he would not recklessly fight Star Lords on their behalf.
• Xiao Hua, Zhang Daoran, and Xunkong Shangren sealed their trust with a handclap pact and agreed to work together.
• The cultivators returned with sealed jade boxes, and Xiao Hua advised that the leaders take charge of them rather than leave them with their finders.
• Fairy Jing invited Xiao Hua aboard her flying boat, while Zhang Daoran told the gathered cultivators they would cooperate, trade for the treasures, and inspect the formation.

Xiao Hua, Zhang Daoran, and Xunkong Shangren prepared to distribute their treasures later, but the imperial formation suddenly unleashed a storm of falling giant stones. The cultivators formed a defensive line as the three leaders prepared to confront the bombardment, which had just begun.

• Zhang Daoran, Xunkong Shangren, and Xiao Hua agreed to postpone trading their treasures until they reached Zhang Daoran's Haofeng Mountain, and the other cultivators accepted the arrangement.
• The imperial formation shook, releasing Righteous Qi Pillars and sending countless giant stones hurtling through the formation.
• Xiao Hua urged Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren to join forces, and Zhang Daoran arranged the cultivators into a defensive formation while Xunkong Shangren put away his flying boat.
• Xunkong Shangren released his Nether Macaque, Chang Geng, and ordered it to find a path through the formation using its Void Piercing Eyes.
• Zhang Daoran and Xiao Hua formed their Dharma Bodies and raised their magical weapons to block the approaching stones, while Zhang Daoran challenged Xiao Hua to destroy more stones than he did.

Xiao Hua and Zhang Daoran defended their cultivators against an unending rain of flaming boulders, but Zhang Daoran gradually became exhausted while Xiao Hua kept smashing the stones apart. The two groups joined forces so Zhang Daoran could rest, leaving Xiao Hua to hold off the boulders.

• Zhang Daoran used his magic treasure and a giant fist to shatter falling boulders, while Xiao Hua broke another boulder with the As-You-Wish Staff.
• Xiao Hua repeatedly struck the boulders at their weak points, making smaller fragments and outperforming Zhang Daoran as the barrage continued.
• After an hour, Zhang Daoran's body and meridians grew sore, and he struggled to keep the boulder fragments from overwhelming the cultivators behind him.
• Zhang Daoran asked Xunkong Shangren whether Chang Geng had found anything, but Xunkong Shangren said the immense fluctuations had prevented him from discovering a way through.
• Zhang Daoran tried using a semicircular magic treasure as a shield, but several boulders damaged it and his giant hand could clear only a small area.
• Xiao Hua proposed combining their groups and taking on more boulders so Zhang Daoran could rest, and Zhang Daoran agreed before withdrawing to recover while Xiao Hua continued fighting.

Xiao Hua continued protecting the cultivators from the Giant Stone Array while Xunkong Shangren and Zhang Daoran searched for the array’s control flaw. After discovering that his divine sense could redirect and shatter the stones, Xiao Hua helped the group reach the exit, and their cheers softened his disappointment in the Daoist sects.

• Xiao Hua kept smashing the increasingly massive stones until Xunkong Shangren asked Zhang Daoran to protect him while they searched elsewhere for a flaw in the array.
• Xiao Hua set aside his staff and dodged upward through the falling stones, then used his divine sense to hurl stones into one another and shatter them.
• Xiao Hua tempered his divine sense as he redirected the stones, while the cultivators watched in astonishment.
• Xunkong Shangren found the exit for controlling the array, and Zhang Daoran called for Xiao Hua to bring the other cultivators to them.
• Xiao Hua used his divine sense and Sleeve Universe technique to clear a path through the stones, and the cultivators cheered as they followed.
• The cultivators’ cheers eased Xiao Hua’s disappointment and coldness toward the Daoist sects.

Xiao Hua urged the trapped cultivators to uphold Daoist and human virtues, then stayed behind in Yaotai Mountain’s falling-boulder formation to protect anyone who might enter and cultivate his Wind Escape Technique. Several days later, he heard new cultivators crying out nearby and sensed more than a dozen Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators struggling against the boulders.

• Xiao Hua shattered the falling boulders and declared that Daoist sect disciples should act with humanity and defend one another.
• Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren discussed Xiao Hua’s boldness and their own choices while Xunkong used Chang Geng to reveal an exit.
• Zhang Daoran helped the cultivators pass through the exit in order, while Xunkong went ahead to open a path through the defensive formation.
• Xiao Hua refused to leave, explaining that he would stay to rescue anyone trapped in the formation, and Zhang Daoran gave him a jade pupil and medicinal pills before departing.
• Xiao Hua remained in the formation to cultivate Wind Escape by dodging the falling boulders, healing from repeated impacts with Primordial Qi.
• Several days later, Xiao Hua heard cries and sensed more than a dozen Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators struggling nearby.

Xiao Hua rescued cultivators trapped in the Giant Stone Formation and spent months mastering the Wind Escape Technique and strengthening his Divine Thought. After resting inside a giant stone, he began tempering his body beneath falling rocks and summoned his Buddha Sarira, drawing the attention of the formation’s guards and Kong Hongwu.

• Xiao Hua made Lan Dianzi and the other trapped cultivators swear five-hundred-year oaths of service, then took them into his space.
• Xiao Hua spent over two months cultivating the Wind Escape Technique and Divine Thought Technique while rescuing more Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators.
• Exhausted, Xiao Hua carved a shelter inside a giant stone and slept for three days while Dragon Vein Xiao Hua guarded him.
• Xiao Hua began tempering his body by letting suitable falling stones strike him, then summoned his Buddha Sarira to cultivate Mountain Power.
• The Buddhist light from Xiao Hua’s Buddha Sarira alerted the immortal soldiers, and Star Lord Ma Taishi Zhanran sent a star chart into the formation.
• Kong Hongwu appeared beside Ma Taishi Zhanran and questioned why he had activated the star chart before the formation’s final stage.