Chapter Summaries

Shi Qingyun and Shi Hao attended Youyan’s Heavenly Genius Gathering, where he revealed that the Great Calamity would arrive within months and tried to recruit them into the Netherworld. They refused, and Youyan’s threat left the gathering on the brink of violence.

• Shi Qingyun and Shi Hao entered the gathering, where Youyan introduced them to the Upper Realm geniuses.
• Youyan told the guests that the Great Calamity was only a few months away and that the Lower Realm would face ruin.
• Youyan invited Shi Qingyun and Shi Hao to join the Netherworld, and the other cultivators also offered them places in their sects.
• Shi Qingyun rejected the invitations, and Shi Hao declared that he did not fear the coming battle.
• Youyan warned that no one in the Lower Realm could refuse him, and Shi Qingyun set down his cup as mysterious energy rippled from the table.

Shi Hao and Shi Qingyun fought Youyan and his skeletal protector in Ravine-Below City while Youyan’s allies slaughtered the fleeing Upper Realm prodigies. Little Pagoda empowered Shi Hao, letting him match Youyan, as Shi Qingyun continued battling the seemingly undead skeleton.

• Youyan revealed his skeletal protector and claimed that two Lower Realm prodigies had attacked the gathering, prompting the Upper Realm prodigies to flee.
• The skeletal protector trapped Shi Hao in a spatial cage, but Shi Qingyun shattered it and charged the skeleton while Shi Hao attacked Youyan.
• Youyan fought Shi Hao with Soul Breaker as Shi Qingyun and the skeletal protector exchanged blows, their clash destroying buildings across the city.
• Ban Zimo and Youyan’s other allies attacked the escaping prodigies beneath a formation enclosing Ravine-Below City.
• Little Pagoda sent mysterious energy into Shi Hao, allowing him to fight Youyan evenly, while Shi Qingyun struck the skeletal protector and sent it flying before it recovered.

Shi Qingyun and Shi Hao fought Youyan and his allies in Ravine-Below City, where the apparent deaths of Youyan and a black-robed puppet revealed a terrifying struggle involving gray figures and the city’s white bones. Shi Qingyun defeated the black-robed man’s restored true body, but the man laughed that he would not let Shi Qingyun go even after death.

• Shi Qingyun used his Golden Divine Being to strike Youyan, but Little Pagoda warned that Youyan was still alive and the black-robed puppet was reviving.
• Gray Figures emerged from the white bones and merged into the black-robed man, revealing that the bones were Youyan’s true body and the Youyan who had fallen was a puppet.
• Shi Hao realized Ravine-Below City was a dead city and furiously attacked Ban Zimo and the others.
• Shi Qingyun trapped the black-robed man in a formation and burned away the gray shadows, but the man escaped in a Golden Pearl before the formation shattered.
• Shi Qingyun caught the Golden Pearl and divine weapons, then pinned the battered black-robed man beneath his foot as the man laughed and vowed revenge.

Shi Qingyun and Shi Hao discovered that Youyan had slaughtered Ravine-Below City, buried its victims, and left to recover from the battle. As Shi Qingyun entered a strange vision of a blood-filled lake and a murderous version of himself, the lake shattered and he began falling into an abyss.

• Shi Qingyun saw skeletons pour from spatial rifts over Ravine-Below City and realized they were the people Youyan had killed.
• Ban Zimo and the others succumbed to madness, and Shi Hao killed them.
• Shi Qingyun and Shi Hao buried the city's dead, and Shi Qingyun burned Youyan's remains and spread the ashes across the city.
• Shi Qingyun formed a protective formation over Ravine-Below City, then parted from Shi Hao and went to rest on a mountain.
• Shi Qingyun fell asleep as Solar Essence gathered around him, then encountered a blood-red reflection of himself in a vision of a lake.
• The reflection seized Shi Qingyun with hands reaching from the blood, and the lake shattered beneath him.

Shi Qingyun confronted and reintegrated the red-robed version of himself, accepting his fear and choosing to enter the struggle rather than remain apart from it. After emerging from a long period of cultivation, he awoke with a completed heart and formidable power, certain of his own identity.

• Shi Qingyun used the Taiji Dao Diagram to dispel the dark realm and faced the red-robed version of himself, who had entered by exploiting the massacre of a city.
• Shi Qingyun acknowledged that fear and cowardice were part of himself and resolved to join the battle; the red-robed figure then merged into him.
• His heart grew complete, his yin-yang qi returned, and a Taiji Dao Diagram gathered the essence of the surrounding land as he cultivated on the mountain peak.
• After an unknown span of time, Shi Qingyun awakened and fired a destructive beam into a great lake, then declared that he now knew himself.
• Shi Qingyun’s power and life-level pressure remained immense even after his divine light and Dao sounds faded.

Shi Qingyun reunited with the Demoness and learned that the Netherworld and other powers were blaming him and Shi Hao for Ravine-Below City's destruction while coveting their treasures. As Shi Qingyun departed for Deer-Chasing Academy, the Demoness sent Venerables to protect him, and the Stone Emperor sensed that war was approaching.

• Shi Qingyun reached the late stage of the Arraying Realm, created a Taiji Dao Platform at his place of enlightenment, and traveled to the Stone Kingdom Imperial Capital.
• The Demoness and Little White greeted Shi Qingyun, and he told the Demoness what had happened during his absence.
• The Demoness explained that the Netherworld had blamed Shi Qingyun and Shi Hao for Ravine-Below City's destruction and that other powers were preparing to attack Deer-Chasing Academy.
• Shi Qingyun learned that the Stone Emperor had been pressured to stay out of the matter and that Stone Kingdom troops guarded Deer-Chasing Academy while monitoring it.
• After Shi Qingyun departed before dawn, the Demoness ordered her Venerable protectors to follow him and defend him at any cost.
• The Stone Emperor sensed the powerful figures pursuing Shi Qingyun and reflected on the coming conflict as his calligraphy displayed the character for war.

Shi Qingyun cut through the ambush on the road to Deer-Chasing Academy, freezing the mountain forest and its hidden attackers with his black sword. He confronted the white-haired Venerable and broke his formation, but the elder then summoned powerful formation flags to suppress him.

• Shi Qingyun killed the masked scouts following him and learned that a burly Array Formation Realm man had been waiting outside Deer-Chasing Academy.
• Shi Qingyun found a large ambush in the mountain forest, including several Array Formation Kings and a white-haired Venerable.
• The white-haired elder sensed danger, warned the others to run, and fled with the Array Formation Kings as Shi Qingyun raised his black sword.
• Shi Qingyun unleashed a freezing sword strike that turned the forest, its formations, and many fleeing warriors into ice and shattered them.
• Shi Qingyun caught up with the surviving attackers, and the white-haired elder raised a formation around them that Shi Qingyun tore apart.
• The elder dodged Shi Qingyun's punch, produced powerful formation flags, and commanded them to suppress Shi Qingyun.

Shi Qingyun broke through the elder’s formation and defeated him in battle, but the elder revealed that a group had targeted him in hopes of surviving the Great Calamity. The elder sacrificed himself in a formation explosion that destroyed Shi Qingyun’s body, though Shi Qingyun survived elsewhere and set out to confront those behind the attack.

• Shi Qingyun shattered the elder’s formation and pursued him after defeating the Array Formation Realm cultivators sent to block his path.
• Shi Qingyun’s Kun Peng Precious Technique overwhelmed the elder’s Black Tortoise Precious Technique, and Shi Qingyun broke the elder’s staff and struck him down.
• The elder revealed that others had promised his group survival during the Great Calamity in exchange for Shi Qingyun’s head.
• The elder triggered a formation within his body, sacrificing himself in an explosion that shattered Shi Qingyun’s body.
• Shi Qingyun survived at a distance, vowed to face whoever sent the elder, and vanished from the forest.

Shi Qingyun returned to Deer-Chasing Academy and found it surrounded by hostile forces, with its defenders battered and under pressure. As an attack began, he rallied the academy to fight, while a black-robed envoy promised the attackers entry to the Upper Realm for killing him.

• Shi Qingyun reached Deer-Chasing Academy, saw signs of battle, and learned from the patrolling disciples that the academy had endured several days of attacks.
• Elder Bai and the other leaders debated whether to awaken the Sacrificial Spirit, but Shi Qingyun arrived and asked for a report on the siege.
• Shi Qingyun learned that major sects and independent cultivators had surrounded the academy, apparently waiting for him and other targets.
• A disciple reported that the enemy was attacking, and Shi Qingyun told the academy to fight rather than retreat, inspiring the disciples to rally.
• A black-robed envoy assured the approaching forces that no Divine Flame experts would interfere and promised to lead them into the Upper Realm if they killed Shi Qingyun.
• Elsewhere, Xiling Beast Mountain's Venerable demanded to know why the forces had not attacked the Stone Kingdom Army, but a cold snort interrupted him.

Shi Qingyun prepared Deer-Chasing Academy to resist a massive invasion and drew four Venerables away to fight them alone. He briefly held them off, but the battle intensified when the Venerables unleashed their full power.

• Shi Qingyun inscribed an incomplete Immortal-Locking Formation onto four formation flags and brought them to the academy’s defenders.
• Shi Qingyun and the Deer-Chasing Academy forces confronted the invading army, led by four Venerables, and the War Goddess received formation flags and secret instructions.
• Shi Qingyun charged the four Venerables, then lured them away from the main battle so he could hold them off alone.
• Shi Qingyun fought the four Venerables with his Twin Swords, using extreme yin and extreme yang powers to withstand their attacks.
• The Venerable from Xiling Beast Mountain urged the others to stop holding back, and all four unleashed powerful techniques against Shi Qingyun.

Shi Qingyun fought four Venerables while the War Goddess used the Mountain Master’s formation flags to turn the battle against Deer-Chasing Academy’s enemies. After suffering a severe whip strike, Shi Qingyun escaped the three Venerables surrounding him and prepared to continue fighting.

• The War Goddess activated four formation flags, weakening the enemies and helping the Deer-Chasing Academy disciples slaughter them.
• Shi Qingyun revealed his Myriad Laws Invulnerable defense, then attacked the four Venerables with a giant golden palm.
• The Xiling Beast Mountain Venerable transformed into a giant tiger and fought Shi Qingyun’s golden divine being while the other three attacked him.
• The female Venerable’s whip shattered Shi Qingyun’s Taiji Dao Diagram and sent him crashing through mountains into a crater.
• Shi Qingyun climbed from the crater, evaded the three Venerables as a Kunpeng, and hovered in the void with his back wound rapidly healing.

Shi Qingyun defeated the three Venerables with his Taiyin Domain, helped the Golden Divine Being bring down the giant tiger, and returned to turn the battle at Deer-Chasing Academy. He froze and killed the fleeing invaders, declaring that anyone who attacked the academy would die.

• Shi Qingyun trapped the three Venerables in a dark domain, where chains and black mist consumed them.
• The Golden Divine Being struck down the giant tiger with Heaven-Toppling Palm, and Shi Qingyun stored its defeated body.
• A black-robed man watched Shi Qingyun with greed but withdrew after pressure from Deer-Chasing Academy stopped him.
• Shi Qingyun returned to the battlefield and blasted the invaders with a crimson sun and a yin moon, rallying the Deer-Chasing Academy disciples.
• Shi Qingyun spread profound ice through the fleeing enemies, killing them, then declared that all who invaded Deer-Chasing Academy must die.

After Deer-Chasing Academy survived an attack, Shi Qingyun sacrificed the enemy corpses to forge a blood crystal and a White Bone Jingguan, then returned to cultivate as the threat around the academy grew. The chapter ended with a mysterious assassin striking at him from behind, and Shi Qingyun narrowly evading the dagger.

• Shi Qingyun destroyed the hidden water mirror watching him and ordered the fallen disciples gathered while he prepared the enemy corpses for a blood sacrifice.
• Shi Qingyun used the corpses, including those of three Venerables, to make a blood crystal, then raised the buried bones into a White Bone Jingguan and embedded the crystal in it.
• The War Goddess told Shi Qingyun that many Venerables had gathered outside Deer-Chasing and that a battle in the Stone Kingdom Imperial Capital might mean the Stone Emperor was abdicating.
• Shi Qingyun urged the academy to remain vigilant, returned to his residence, and cultivated while tensions grew around Deer-Chasing Academy.
• A black-clad attacker thrust a dagger at Shi Qingyun from behind, but he tilted his head and evaded the strike.

Shi Qingyun and the War Goddess repelled another group of attackers while Deer-Chasing Academy prepared for a final battle. The Sacrificial Spirit arrived and revealed that another opponent at least as powerful as she was had entered the conflict.

• Shi Qingyun killed the last probing attacker, then sent the exhausted War Goddess and disciples back to Deer-Chasing Academy to rest.
• Elder Bai told Shi Qingyun and the elders that the Sacrificial Spirit had replied, advising them to proceed without worry.
• Shi Qingyun ordered the elders to prepare for the imminent battle after sensing the enemy forces gathering outside the academy.
• Shi Qingyun saw several powerful golden auras facing Deer-Chasing Academy from afar, and the Sacrificial Spirit appeared beside him.
• The Sacrificial Spirit told Shi Qingyun that another person of at least her realm had entered the fray.

Shi Qingyun accepted that Deer-Chasing Academy had to face the invading forces and led its defenders into battle. As the academy's disciples charged after him, the fighting began.

• The Sacrificial Spirit told Shi Qingyun that the conflict had grown beyond his control and urged him to remain true to his heart.
• Shi Qingyun attempted to break through to the Venerable level during a night of cultivation, but the barrier did not budge.
• An army approached Deer-Chasing Academy, and its defenders activated the protective formation to block the attackers' first volley.
• Shi Qingyun offered the defenders a chance to withdraw, but none left, so he vowed to fight to the death.
• Shi Qingyun charged at the enemy with a Kunpeng phantom behind him, and Deer-Chasing's disciples rushed after him.

Shi Qingyun fought a large group of Venerables while the War Goddess and Deer-Chasing Academy’s forces attacked under cover of her formation. Badly wounded and steadily retreating, he drew his pursuers toward the Jingguan, where he had prepared a surprise.

• Shi Qingyun battled the Venerables with his twin swords, evaded their attacks, and killed another Venerable with a strike through the forehead.
• The Venerables’ attacks devastated the forest and surrounding land as Shi Qingyun moved the fight away from the War Goddess and the others.
• Shi Qingyun’s eyes bled from using the Taiji Dao Imprints, and relentless attacks left him battered and struggling to endure.
• Shi Qingyun continued retreating toward the Jingguan, where he had left a surprise for his pursuers.

Shi Qingyun recovered while the Venerables struggled in the Ghost Domain, but a blue-robed old man sacrificed himself to break the Formation. As the Ghost Domain began to collapse, Shi Qingyun entered it to attack the trapped Venerables before they could awaken.

• Shi Qingyun absorbed the essence of heaven and earth, rapidly healing his wounds as the Ghost Domain drained and weakened the Venerables.
• A blue-robed old man fought the evil spirits, then burned away everything to unleash a sword strike that shattered the mound of heads and opened cracks in the Ghost Domain.
• Shi Qingyun sensed that the Formation was breaking, summoned his black and white swords, and rushed into it to attack the Venerables before they woke.
• Shi Qingyun saw the blue-robed old man turning into a shower of light and realized he had sacrificed himself.

Shi Qingyun broke the formation, killed a Bald Strongman, and fought the Venerables as they tried to flee. Meanwhile, the Sacrificial Spirit battled two black-robed men, and Shi Qingyun unleashed Sun Devourer against the Venerables, whose attacks burned away before reaching it.

• Shi Qingyun shattered the formation and killed a Bald Strongman with his Black Sword.
• Shi Qingyun struck the Venerables with Heaven-Toppling, then fought those who charged him while others fled.
• The Sacrificial Spirit confronted two black-robed men, who claimed her Academy had likely already been wiped out.
• The Sacrificial Spirit summoned her Wooden Sword and gained the upper hand by absorbing the men’s deathly energy.
• Shi Qingyun summoned his Taiji Cave Heaven and cast Sun Devourer, burning away the Venerables’ attacks as the black sun descended.

Shi Qingyun returned to the battlefield and helped the black-clothed men slaughter the Venerables who had been fighting them. After the Upper Realm’s chains dragged away the fallen and attacked fleeing Venerables, the survivors found their escape blocked by ranks of soldiers and Venerables from major powers.

• Shi Qingyun returned to the battlefield and killed a red-eyed Venerable who was about to ambush a black-clothed man.
• Shi Qingyun wielded the Black-and-White Twin Swords, shattered an old man's Small Cauldron, severed his arm, and beheaded him.
• Shi Qingyun and the mysterious Venerables overwhelmed the exhausted Venerables, killing them one after another.
• Order chains descended from the fissure, pierced the corpses, and dragged them into the Upper Realm.
• The chains struck down fleeing Venerables, while others came to a halt before soldiers and Venerables from major powers.

Shi Qingyun fought the chains targeting Venerables and rescued the Deer-Chasing Academy from the battlefield attack, then seized a golden thread from one chain before escaping its destruction. The chapter ended with a white phantom streaking through a storm-dark sky.

• Shi Qingyun evaded the chains while Venerables near the Deer-Chasing Academy were captured and dragged toward the Upper Realm.
• Shi Qingyun used his cold power to freeze and break a chain, then thanked the black-clad figures who had helped him before they departed with a spatial talisman.
• Shi Qingyun reached the battlefield and crushed the enemy forces with a strike from his golden divine being, ending the Deer-Chasing Academy's immediate calamity.
• When chains moved to bind him, Shi Qingyun drew them toward an open clearing and used his formation to resist them.
• Shi Qingyun and his golden divine being pulled against a chain, and his trident struck it hard enough to reveal a thin golden thread that he believed could help him break through.
• Shi Qingyun escaped as the Taiji Dao Diagram shattered, while a white phantom streaked through the storm-dark firmament.