Chapter Summaries

Xiao Hua struggled against the Demon Refining Pot’s vortex while Kong Hongwu watched, convinced he would die. Xiao Hua and green-robed Xiao Hua coordinated a plan to break out, but after green-robed Xiao Hua rescued True Person Jingting and several other Nascent Soul spiritual bodies, Xiao Hua was still trapped inside.

• Xiao Hua flew around the vortex to resist its suction, but Kong Hongwu followed and watched as the vortex dragged him deeper.
• The vortex pulled a Nascent Soul into itself and stretched it into a vast form, while Xiao Hua endured the tearing forces with his tempered body and Dragon Vein Xiao Hua subdued the violent Primordial Qi in his meridians.
• Xiao Hua sensed green-robed Xiao Hua and secretly coordinated with him, then expanded his body and released a spiritual-fire net against the vortex.
• Green-robed Xiao Hua joined his spiritual-fire net with Xiao Hua’s, and used the Ice Mirror to open a gap in the vortex before escaping with True Person Jingting’s Nascent Soul spiritual body.
• Green-robed Xiao Hua also brought several other Nascent Soul spiritual bodies out of the vortex, leaving Xiao Hua to prepare for another attempt to escape.

Xiao Hua escaped the Demon Refining Pot’s vortex with green-robed Xiao Hua’s help and stole more than a dozen Nascent Souls before fleeing into the starry labyrinth. Kong Hongwu pursued him by a shorter route, while green-robed Xiao Hua recovered in Xiao Hua’s space and declared that he also wanted to found a sect and accumulate merit.

• Xiao Hua used an exploding Nascent Soul spiritual body to propel himself and green-robed Xiao Hua out of the vortex’s suction.
• Xiao Hua seized more than a dozen Nascent Souls and sealed them in his lower dantian as Kong Hongwu attacked.
• Green-robed Xiao Hua used the Ice Mirror to redirect Kong Hongwu’s Vast Righteous Qi and help propel Xiao Hua beyond the vortex.
• Xiao Hua escaped into the starry labyrinth with Lightning Escape, and Kong Hongwu pursued him with wings formed from Vast Righteous Qi.
• Green-robed Xiao Hua returned to Xiao Hua’s space, recovered under lightning strikes, and announced that he wanted to found a sect and accumulate merit.

Xiao Hua realized that fleeing through Yaotai Mountain would leave him exposed to Kong Hongwu and the Star Lords, so he turned back into the Demon Refining Pot formation to kill Kong Hongwu. He persuaded green-robed Xiao Hua to help, and the group entered the darkness together as fighting resumed in the Blazing Sun Great Formation.

• Green-robed Xiao Hua studied Du Shanjun’s jade slip while the other Primordial Spirits began cultivating in response to the danger.
• Xiao Hua reconsidered his escape and decided that killing Kong Hongwu was his only path to survival.
• Jade Slip Xiao Hua promised to help green-robed Xiao Hua found a sect after leaving Yaotai Mountain, and green-robed Xiao Hua agreed to assist in the fight.
• Xiao Hua returned to the formation, released green-robed Xiao Hua with the Formless Nascent Soul and Kunlun Mirror, and summoned Bodhi.
• Xiao Hua, green-robed Xiao Hua, and Bodhi advanced into the darkness to ambush Kong Hongwu while Nascent Souls fell into the Demon Refining Pot’s vortex.

Xiao Hua and his allies ambushed Kong Hongwu in the darkness, but Kong Hongwu countered with the Star Lord Palace’s Infant Annihilation Art and grievously damaged Xiao Hua’s lower dantian. Bodhi and green-robed Xiao Hua struck Kong Hongwu in turn, and Xiao Hua rose again using Golden Qi Dawn as the battered Kong Hongwu recognized Bodhi’s Buddha Sarira.

• Xiao Hua, Bodhi, and green-robed Xiao Hua hid along the star path and waited for Kong Hongwu to approach.
• Kong Hongwu cautiously tested the route before advancing, and Xiao Hua attacked him with fire talismans and the As-You-Wish Staff.
• Kong Hongwu used Vast Righteous Qi to suppress the talismans and struck Xiao Hua with the Infant Annihilation Art, tearing his lower dantian and sending him falling.
• Bodhi hit Kong Hongwu with a Buddhist hand seal, and green-robed Xiao Hua followed with the Kunlun Mirror, shattering Kong Hongwu’s star armor and hurling him away.
• Xiao Hua stopped his fall with Golden Qi Dawn and returned to the fight, while Kong Hongwu recognized Bodhi as a Buddha Sarira.

Xiao Hua and Kong Hongwu fought inside the cave, each using powerful techniques as Xiao Hua revealed that he could still wield his golden body despite his damaged lower dantian. The battle left Kong Hongwu badly wounded and shocked by Xiao Hua’s defenses, but the two remained locked in combat.

• Kong Hongwu realized Xiao Hua had been tempering a Buddhist Sarira and concluded that his Nascent Soul had been destroyed, while Xiao Hua prepared to fight with only the true essence remaining in his meridians.
• Xiao Hua charged Kong Hongwu, who enlarged his secondary body and struck at him with a massive hand; Xiao Hua answered with his Dharma Body Golden Body and shattered the giant hand with a punch.
• Kong Hongwu sent spinning wheel spikes at Xiao Hua, but Xiao Hua blocked them with sword light as Bodhi’s Mountain Buddha Seal attacked Kong Hongwu and a Vast Righteous Qi peak rose to oppose it.
• The green-robed Xiao Hua appeared behind Kong Hongwu and struck his secondary body with the Kunlun Mirror, then a lightning bolt hit his head.
• Xiao Hua attacked again with his extended As-You-Wish Staff as Kong Hongwu used inscribed characters to form a crystalline cage and lash Xiao Hua with Righteous Qi bands.
• Xiao Hua broke free of the binding threads, and the Righteous Qi bands faded against his golden body, leaving Kong Hongwu astonished.

Xiao Hua and his allies faced Kong Hongwu, who tried to recruit Xiao Hua by claiming his Nascent Soul had been destroyed and offering him control of Star Lord Palace. Xiao Hua refused and charged into battle as Kong Hongwu brought out two powerful Imperial artifacts and raised a layered defense.

• Kong Hongwu used three-colored clouds to protect himself and praised Xiao Hua, then claimed Xiao Hua was a hidden move of Ancestor Hongmeng and urged him to join Star Lord Palace.
• Xiao Hua rejected Kong Hongwu's offer and declared that only one of them would leave the formation alive.
• Kong Hongwu revealed the Imperial Star Thorn and Imperial Shield Defense, offering to spare Xiao Hua if he evaded the thorn's attack.
• Xiao Hua challenged Kong Hongwu to withstand one strike and charged at him, while Bodhi attacked with Innate True Water and the Mountain Buddha Seal.
• Kong Hongwu poured inscriptions into the Imperial Shield Defense, shrinking his avatar and forming layers of protective poetry, crystal threads, and Vast Righteous Qi.

Xiao Hua, Puti, and green-robed Xiao Hua battered Kong Hongwu’s Imperial Shield Defense, but his Imperial Star Thorn gravely wounded all three. Xiao Hua then unleashed a demonic blade that killed Kong Hongwu, only for the Demon Refining Pot to injure Xiao Hua and unleash his demonic nature as a golden-armored Heavenly General rose to face him.

• Puti, Xiao Hua, and green-robed Xiao Hua broke through parts of Kong Hongwu’s Imperial Shield Defense with their combined attacks.
• Kong Hongwu launched three Imperial Star Thorn strikes that pierced Xiao Hua, Puti, and green-robed Xiao Hua, badly wounding them.
• Xiao Hua summoned a demonic blade and split Kong Hongwu’s avatar, swallowing his body and Primordial Spirit in black Qi.
• The Demon Refining Pot struck Xiao Hua, destroying nearly half his golden body and causing the suppressed demonic nature within him to erupt.
• Green-robed Xiao Hua gathered Kong Hongwu’s artifacts with the Kunlun Mirror while Puti used Innate True Water to protect them from the vortex’s suction.
• Xiao Hua’s demonic blade attacked the Demon Refining Pot, which produced a golden-armored Heavenly General wielding a Coiled Dragon Spear.

Confucian cultivator Xiao Hua regained control of his body after the Demon Refining Pot absorbed the vortex, then escaped the collapsing formation as a giant sword. Elsewhere in the Blazing Sun Great Formation, Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren continued leading a group of cultivators while mourning Xiao Hua, who had been missing for nearly a year.

• The Demon Blade and Demon Refining Pot fought over the vortex, and the pot absorbed it before sending five-colored radiance into Xiao Hua.
• Vast Righteous Qi restored Xiao Hua to his Daoist form, and Bodhi and green-robed Xiao Hua returned to his body.
• Confucian cultivator Xiao Hua took control of the true body and transformed it into a giant sword to escape the collapsing formation.
• The formation's collapse destroyed the mountaintop, and the water-type Heavenly General pursued the light that escaped.
• Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren's group defeated a fire giant and gathered its fire crystals.
• Xunkong Shangren told Zhang Daoran that Xiao Hua should have returned by then, while Zhang Daoran still hoped he had survived.

After Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren united their cultivators to defeat an assault in the Blazing Sun Great Formation, they set out toward the shooting star marking the Pure Yang Ancestor. Gusu Qiuran watched them go as Zhai Xingzi and True Lord Huode arrived at the treasure’s location, where Huode still worried that he had failed to find Xiao Hua.

• Xunkong Shangren comforted Zhang Daoran over Xiao Hua, and the two reflected on their newfound trust and the cultivators’ gratitude.
• Xunkong Shangren organized the cultivators while Zhang Daoran attacked the incoming Fire Crows and flying dragons, and together they won a costly battle.
• After a Golden Core cultivator spotted a shooting star, Xunkong Shangren led the united group toward the Pure Yang Ancestor.
• Gusu Qiuran praised the Daoist cultivators’ unity, wondered who Xiao Hua was, and hoped they could endure until the one-year deadline.
• The shooting star struck a volcano and revealed a jade box; Zhai Xingzi and True Lord Huode arrived, and Huode worried he had not found Xiao Hua to fulfill his mission.

After most cultivators at the Yaotai Gathering had died, Zhai Xingzi’s group attacked a volcano holding the final strange treasure, but its inscriptions repelled them and killed one cultivator. As Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren approached, True Lord Huode persuaded Zhai Xingzi to make another attempt while concealing his own plans.

• The surviving Daoist sect cultivators gathered around Zhai Xingzi and True Lord Huode as they surrounded the volcano and attacked it with their magical treasures.
• Zhai Xingzi sent his Cloud-Glow Hand toward the jade casket, but explosive inscriptions and Vast Righteous Qi erupted from the volcano and destroyed his attack.
• Zhai Xingzi and True Lord Huode tried to counter the inscriptions, but one Nascent Soul cultivator was dragged into the volcano and the others barely escaped.
• Xunkong Shangren mocked Zhai Xingzi as he and Zhang Daoran approached with other survivors.
• True Lord Huode urged Zhai Xingzi to attack again, then proposed leading the next strike while Zhai Xingzi supported him.

Zhai Xingzi and Gusu Qiuran were both shaken by a fleeting glimpse of each other, while the cultivators prepared a final assault on the jade casket in the Blazing Sun Great Formation. Their attack was interrupted by a terrifying aura and a pillar of light, leaving the formation collapsing around them.

• Zhai Xingzi caught sight of Gusu Qiuran through the clouds, and both felt an inexplicable familiarity and powerful stir of emotion.
• True Person Withered Tree warned Zhai Xingzi that True Lord Huode might be hiding something, but Zhai Xingzi chose to trust him while keeping watch.
• Zhai Xingzi urged the surviving cultivators to make one final attempt, and Zhang Daoran proposed that they unite their strength if the assault failed.
• Zhai Xingzi launched Falling Star as True Lord Huode attacked with the Flame Hand, both reaching for the jade casket atop the volcano.
• A terrifying aura burst from the distant mountain of flames, extinguishing much of the formation's fire as a pillar of light shot into the sky.
• The Blazing Sun Great Formation began to collapse, with volcanoes falling, clouds turning into Flowing Fire, and forests becoming swirling fire pools.

The collapse of the Blazing Sun Great Formation trapped the cultivators in a deadly chaos of spatial cracks and flames, even after Zhai Xingzi seized the jade box. Xiao Hua emerged gravely wounded and feigned unconsciousness to test True Person Yuanqing, but Fairy Jing reached him first and discovered his Dantian was shattered and his Nascent Soul missing.

• The Blazing Sun Great Formation collapsed completely, destroying Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren's divine senses as spatial cracks and flames killed several cultivators.
• Zhai Xingzi grabbed the jade box, but a spatial crack severed his giant hand, and True Lord Huode caught the box as the danger continued.
• True Person Yuanqing and his group tried to survive the collapse, but Hong Songzi was torn apart by spatial cracks and his Nascent Soul was swallowed.
• Xiao Hua emerged from the clouds badly injured and motionless, while True Person Yuanqing approached with a healing bottle and aimed his halberd at Xiao Hua's head.
• Fairy Jing arrived before True Person Yuanqing could act, rushed to Xiao Hua, and examined his Dantian, realizing it was shattered and his Nascent Soul was missing.

Xiao Hua awakened beside Fairy Jing as the Blazing Sun Great Formation collapsed, and a mysterious rainbow bridge appeared to carry the cultivators away. The chapter left the cultivators heading through the bridge while the Demon Refining Pot’s pursuer reached the distant Qionghua Palace.

• Xiao Hua woke beside Fairy Jing, learned that his dantian was shattered, and pretended to be weak so she could help him conceal his condition.
• A meteor struck the crimson Flowing Fire and formed a rainbow bridge that halted the formation’s collapse; True Lord Huode warned that it was a Star Lord Palace trap, not the Dragon Gate.
• Zhai Xingzi stepped onto the bridge, and Xiao Hua, Fairy Jing, Zhang Daoran, Xunkong Shangren, and True Lord Huode followed him into the black hole.
• Gusu Qiuran used the bridge to escape, unaware that Linghu Piran was watching her from the palace atop Yaotai Mountain.
• The heavenly general pursued the Demon Refining Pot through the void in a flying shuttle, which passed through a restriction toward Qionghua Palace.

Gu Xianyun discovered that the object she had been guarding had returned early and tried to reach Princess Qingqing, who was away at Ziwei Palace. Meanwhile, Xiao Hua and Fairy Jing left Yaotai Mountain, where Zhai Xingzi insulted Xiao Hua over True Lord Huode’s slander before Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren rejoined them and found Xiao Hua injured.

• Gu Xianyun saw the pavilion’s protective armor activate and learned Princess Qingqing was away at Ziwei Palace, so she decided to question Kong Hongwu about what had happened on Yaotai Mountain.
• Gu Xianyun returned to guard the pavilion, then flew away to seek answers from Kong Hongwu.
• Xiao Hua and Fairy Jing crossed the rainbow bridge out of Yaotai Mountain, and Zhai Xingzi scorned Xiao Hua after hearing True Lord Huode’s slander.
• Fairy Jing noticed Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren were missing, while Xiao Hua pretended he had lost his cultivation.
• Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren caught up, and Zhang Daoran asked whether Xunkong Shangren had medicinal pills after Xiao Hua explained his condition.

Xiao Hua concealed his injuries with Sky Mending Pills and joined the cultivators gathered after the Yaotai Gathering, where Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren organized a trade of their gains. After Xiao Hua revealed that he could refine pills, Zhang Daoran hinted at a future request, while Fairy Jing escorted Xiao Hua and accepted his gifts.

• Xiao Hua told Xunkong Shangren and Zhang Daoran that Sky Mending Pills could repair his dantian, then gave them pills in thanks for their care.
• Fairy Jing took Xiao Hua to a snowy mountain peak, where Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren gathered cultivators to arrange the distribution of their Yaotai Mountain gains.
• Xiao Hua declined to oversee the trade but agreed to hear its arrangements after tending to his supposed injuries.
• Zhang Daoran asked whether Xiao Hua could refine pills, and Xiao Hua confirmed that he had personally made the Sky Mending Pill.
• Xiao Hua gave Zhang Daoran a Small Qiankun Bag of pills and presented Fairy Jing with a Rejuvenation Pill and a Sky Mending Pill.

Xiao Hua agreed to help Fairy Jing and Zhang Daoran pursue the Nascent Soul Departure stage while inspecting the damage to his dantian and discussing the Nascent Souls he had rescued. His inner selves planned to repair and control those Nascent Souls and refine several artifacts, while Xiao Hua confronted the demonic blade’s influence and the growing estrangement among his incarnations.

• Xiao Hua agreed to help Fairy Jing and Zhang Daoran comprehend the Nascent Soul Departure barrier, and Zhang Daoran proposed uniting their forces with Xunkong Shangren’s.
• Fairy Jing stood guard while Xiao Hua inspected his damaged dantian and green-robed Xiao Hua used the Sky Mending Pill to repair it.
• Jade Slip Xiao Hua and green-robed Xiao Hua discussed the more than one hundred and forty rescued Nascent Souls, whose Primordial Spirits were damaged, and Soul Cultivator Xiao Hua offered a technique to repair them.
• Jade Slip Xiao Hua asked green-robed Xiao Hua to refine the Spirit Severing Primordial Light using the fire gourd and void-beast thigh, as well as the Soaring Flood Dragon Scissors.
• Green-robed Xiao Hua warned against relying on Demonic Cultivation Techniques, but Jade Slip Xiao Hua said he needed them to control the demonic blade and questioned whether its backlash had affected them all.
• Jade Slip Xiao Hua rebuked Confucian cultivator Xiao Hua for allowing estrangement to grow between him and green-robed Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua examined five mysterious imperial artifacts sealed in Kong Hongwu’s Cosmic Bag, then joined the cultivators to discuss a fair gathering and asked them to spread Daoist cultivation methods. As Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren prepared to leave, Xiao Hua began urging them to help preserve the Daoist sect’s inheritance.

• Confucian cultivator Xiao Hua admitted his error about demonic qi, and Jade Slip Xiao Hua agreed to give him the Imperial Star Thorn, Imperial Shield Defense, and other Confucian items.
• Green-robed Xiao Hua told Jade Slip Xiao Hua that Kong Hongwu’s Cosmic Bag held a rune-covered jade box, which Jade Slip Xiao Hua opened to find five linked imperial artifacts sealed inside.
• Xiao Hua woke to Fairy Jing’s watchful gaze and warned her not to blame him if she later discovered he had deceived her, then went to join Zhang Daoran and the assembled cultivators.
• Zhang Daoran gave Xiao Hua the plan for a fair gathering scheduled three years later, and Xiao Hua urged the cultivators to act with conscience and fairness.
• Xiao Hua distributed jade slips containing low-level Daoist cultivation methods and asked the cultivators to teach or copy them for younger disciples; Xunkong Shangren agreed to have his disciples make ten thousand sets.
• After the cultivators departed, Xiao Hua told Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren that preserving the Daoist sect’s inheritance would depend on their efforts.

Xiao Hua arranged for Daoist cultivation techniques to be passed on and prepared to leave Yaotai Mountain with Fairy Jing. After reuniting with his disciples, he received a delivery from Ying Bo and continued his dealings with the demon merchant.

• Xiao Hua told Zhang Daoran and Xunkong Shangren that Confucian cultivators might have altered Daoist techniques, gave them cultivation methods to share, and asked them to find gifted children.
• Xiao Hua explained to Fairy Jing that he was building his own power, then agreed to hurry to Yaotai Mountain’s front mountain and leave soon.
• Fairy Jing met Chang Yu and Wu Tian, gave them magical treasures, and learned they planned to follow Xiao Hua to Black Wind Ridge.
• Xiao Hua gave Chang Yu and Wu Tian the National Teacher’s token and told them to go to Black Wind Ridge without him, but a communication talisman interrupted his explanation.
• Ying Bo arrived with two demons and delivered six Cosmic Bags of goods; Xiao Hua paid them in primordial stones and gave Ying Bo a jade slip for future transactions.

Xiao Hua returned from the Yaotai Gathering and confronted Xiao Jun in the Danliang Kingdom’s golden tent over the throne Xiao Jun had taken from Xiao Jian. Xiao Jun stopped his guards from interfering, leaving the two men to face one another as Fairy Jing subdued the Buddhist cultivators.

• Xiao Hua accepted Ying Bo’s offer to gather unusual goods and told him the yuanstones he provided were sufficient.
• Xiao Hua led Fairy Jing, Chang Yu, and Wu Tianfei to the allied camp, where Xue Ping confirmed Xiao Jun was still there.
• Xiao Hua recognized two old men who had once protected Xiao Jian, seized them, and ignored Xue Ping’s pleas.
• Xiao Hua forced his way into Xiao Jun’s golden tent and demanded that Xiao Jun return the stolen throne or surrender his life and kingdom.
• Xiao Jun ordered his generals and Buddhist Protectors not to interfere, while Fairy Jing’s Nascent Soul pressure silenced the Buddhist cultivators.

Xiao Hua confronted Xiao Jun over the throne of Danliang Kingdom, but Zhi Ji’s defense and Xiao Jun’s account revealed that Xiao Jian had been an unfit ruler who was removed to save the kingdom. Xiao Hua admitted he might have been misled and began investigating the family’s past, including the mystery of Zhi Ji’s disfigured face.

• Xiao Jun dismissed his guards and offered to return the throne, while Zhi Ji insisted that Xiao Jian had been a selfish and reckless ruler.
• Fairy Jing urged Xiao Hua to investigate before acting, and Xiao Hua sent everyone else out to hear Xiao Jun’s account.
• Xiao Jun explained that Xiao Jian had deceived him over Zhi Ji, later neglected state affairs, and gambled away three border cities before Zhi Ji and Xiao Jun drove him from power.
• Xiao Hua acknowledged that he might have been wrong and asked Zhi Ji about her face.
• Zhi Ji revealed purple bumps covering the left side of her face and said they had begun appearing after Xiao Jun left the Imperial Academy.