Chapter Summaries

Di Yi accompanied Huo Yueling to the Peace King's Manor in the Fire Kingdom's imperial city, where the Fire Emperor had arrived as an honored guest. As Huo Yueling showed Di Yi around the vast estate, she explained how the kingdom's true nobles differed from self-appointed nobles in remote regions.

• Huo Yueling's second granduncle teased her about Di Yi, whom she introduced as a senior brother from the Heaven Mending Pavilion.
• Huo Yueling led Di Yi through the grand imperial city toward her family's residence on Prince's Manor Road.
• At the Peace King's Manor, Guard Zhang told Huo Yueling that the Fire Emperor was inside, being received personally by her father.
• Huo Yueling showed Di Yi the manor's gardens, lakes, and other splendors while they waited to find her mother.
• Huo Yueling explained that remote self-appointed nobles ruled far fewer people than real nobles like her father, who governed more than a billion.

Huo Yueling showed Di Yi her family’s strange tree and explained its unusual flowers and poisonous leaves. The Peace King learned that Di Yi had resolved Heaven Mending Pavilion’s Elder Paranormal Turmoil and reconsidered the young man’s strength.

• Huo Yueling explained that False Marquises could draw power from special Domains that suppressed outsiders.
• Huo Yueling led Di Yi through Peace King’s Manor to a guarded garden and showed him a strange tree transplanted from a Secret Land.
• Huo Yueling told Di Yi that the tree’s flowers had dream-inducing medicinal properties, while its plucked leaves were lethally poisonous.
• The Fire Emperor and the Peace King arrived, and Huo Yueling greeted them before introducing Di Yi as her guest.
• The Peace King teased Huo Yueling about inviting Di Yi, then learned that Di Yi had resolved the turmoil at Heaven Mending Pavilion.
• The Peace King reassessed Di Yi as a young man whose strength might rival his own.

Di Yi demonstrated the Vermilion Bird Precious Technique he had learned from a Black Cauldron, prompting the Fire Emperor to reveal the Fire Kingdom’s incomplete inheritance and demonstrate its Vermilion Bird Four Strikes. They recognized that both techniques shared the same source but were incomplete in different ways, leaving Di Yi without a clear path to the Vermilion Bird’s full inheritance.

• The Fire Emperor recognized Di Yi’s technique as connected to the Black Cauldron from the Stone Kingdom’s First Ancestral Land and explained its history.
• Di Yi demonstrated his Vermilion Bird Precious Technique, and the Fire Emperor and Prince Ping recognized fluctuations matching the Vermilion Bird True Feather.
• The Fire Emperor explained that the Fire Kingdom’s inheritance was incomplete and demonstrated the Vermilion Bird Four Strikes for Di Yi.
• Di Yi compared the techniques and concluded that his had the Vermilion Bird’s rhythm but lacked its form, while the Fire Kingdom’s strikes resembled its form but lacked its spirit.
• The Fire Emperor confirmed that both techniques came from the same source, though he could not determine whether Di Yi’s was complete.

Di Yi proposed using the Vermilion Bird True Feathers in the Sacred Emperor Palace to restore the complete Vermilion Bird Precious Technique. After the Peace King recognized Di Yi as the deity from the Hundred Broken Mountains, Di Yi offered to share the inheritance with the Fire Kingdom if he could obtain it.

• The Peace King suggested combining the two branches of the Vermilion Bird Precious Technique, and Di Yi said the original True Feathers might provide a foundation for restoring it.
• The Fire Emperor explained that the Sacred Emperor Palace lay in a dangerous divine small world that was difficult to enter, but Di Yi said he could handle it.
• The Peace King recognized Di Yi as the deity who had appeared at the Hundred Broken Mountains, and Huo Yueling learned his identity.
• Di Yi told the Fire Emperor he would share the complete inheritance if he obtained it, and the Fire Emperor asked whether he was truly confident.

Di Yi stayed at Huo Yueling's Home while the Fire Emperor searched the records for a safe route into the Sacred Emperor Palace's Divine Small World. As Di Yi questioned Huo Yueling about her Vermilion Bird bloodline and the Fire Kingdom's towering Sacrificial Spirit Divine Tree, her questions about what counts as human deepened.

• The Fire Emperor explained the Divine Small World's dangers and said he would consult ancient records before guiding Di Yi there.
• Di Yi declined the Fire Emperor's invitation to the Imperial Palace and chose to rest at Huo Yueling's Home.
• The Fire Emperor and the Peace King left to organize records, while the Peace King urged his daughter to treat Di Yi well.
• Di Yi asked Huo Yueling how her Vermilion Bird bloodline affected her use of the Vermilion Bird Precious Technique, and she pondered whether she counted as a pure-blooded creature.
• Di Yi redirected Huo Yueling's thoughts by asking about the huge tree near the Imperial Palace, and she identified it as the Sacrificial Spirit Divine Tree.
• Di Yi asked why the Fire Kingdom had a divine tree if its Sacrificial Spirit was a Vermilion Bird.

Huo Yueling took Di Yi to see the Fire God Tree and explained its divine origins, its role in the Fire Kingdom, and the rumors surrounding its fate. After reaching the crowded landmark, they heard an old man confirm that the tree’s divine flame was said to be undergoing Nirvana.

• Huo Yueling told Di Yi that the Fire God Tree had once been a god and had helped the First Sacrificial Spirit Vermilion Bird and the ancient Sacred Emperor establish the Fire Kingdom.
• Huo Yueling led Di Yi from Peace King’s Manor through the Imperial City and explained how the Fire Kingdom recognized its many peoples, including the Fire Clan and the Divine Stone Clan.
• Huo Yueling and Di Yi reached the eastern district and saw the immense, crimson Fire God Tree, which drew crowds of residents, visitors, cultivators, and merchants.
• Di Yi questioned why the Fire Kingdom treated its fallen Sacrificial Spirit as a scenic attraction, and Huo Yueling explained the rumor that its divine flame was undergoing Nirvana.
• An old man overheard Huo Yueling and expressed approval that young people still knew the rumor before departing.

Di Yi and Huo Yueling visited the Fire God Tree’s Heavenly Towers and discussed cultivation, mortality, and the Fire Kingdom’s dealings with outsiders. Di Yi discovered a hidden gateway inside the tree leading to a Golden Coffin containing the Ancient Fire Clan Sacred Emperor, contradicting the kingdom’s histories.

• Huo Yueling explained that the Fire God Tree had once received divine fire during the kingdom’s sacrificial rites, though few still believed it might rekindle.
• Huo Yueling took Di Yi into the royal Heavenly Towers, where he sensed abundant spiritual energy and found his runes easier to transform.
• Huo Yueling reflected that mortal life and the lights of ordinary homes felt more beautiful to her than secluded cultivation, and she recalled losing an older brother.
• Huo Yueling told Di Yi that outsiders often came to the Fire Kingdom seeking royal cooperation to explore ruins, uninhabited lands, and secret realms.
• Di Yi used his power of true understanding to see a gateway made from Vermilion Bird Wings inside the Fire God Tree, with a Golden Coffin beyond it.
• Huo Yueling identified the man in the coffin as the Ancient Fire Clan Sacred Emperor and was shocked because histories said he was buried in the Fire Kingdom Ancestral Land.

Di Yi discovered that the Fire God Tree concealed a closed passage linked to another world and learned it might be part of the Fire Kingdom’s preparations for a future Great Calamity. He and Huo Yueling went to report the discovery to the Fire Emperor, while Di Yi asked about the imperial palace’s dragon qi.

• Di Yi saw a hidden opening behind the Fire God Tree’s gateway and identified a battlefield beyond it, where an enormous cauldron’s power held time still.
• Di Yi told Huo Yueling the passage had closed and might have been intended to connect another world to this place.
• Huo Yueling recalled a story about the Sacred Emperor arranging a divine formation to counter the Great Calamity, and Di Yi said he knew it involved a cage and exiled sinners.
• Huo Yueling took Di Yi to the central imperial palace so they could report the discovery to the Fire Emperor.
• As they walked through the palace, Di Yi asked Huo Yueling whether imperial dragon qi and the imperial jade seal could let a Marquis fight a Venerable.

Di Yi accompanied Huo Yueling to the Fire Kingdom’s Temple of Literature, where the imperial ancestors’ lingering Dao traces responded to his presence. The ancestors were left wondering whether those traces had chosen him as a future ruler, despite the current Fire Emperor still reigning.

• Huo Yueling explained that a nation’s fortune drew on the mind secret power held within its people, and told Di Yi of legends about the Three Thousand Divine Kingdoms.
• The Peace King welcomed Di Yi and Huo Yueling at a concealed palace gate, then guided them to the Temple of Literature, which preserved the Fire Kingdom’s secret texts and foundations.
• The Fire Clan ancestors greeted Di Yi beneath an ancient tree, while the Peace King admitted he did not know how Huo Yueling had gained such a powerful backer.
• When Di Yi stepped onto the Temple of Literature’s stairs, golden lotuses and radiance appeared, and he, Huo Yueling, and the Peace King entered a state of Dao comprehension.
• The ancestors realized that the ancient emperors’ Dao traces had responded to Di Yi, not Huo Yueling or the Peace King, and wondered whether the traces had chosen a new master.

Di Yi questioned the Fire Emperor about the sealed opening beneath the Fire God Tree and the ancient defenses against the Great Calamity. The Fire Emperor revealed that the next cycle was predicted to come within a hundred years, and Di Yi asked what further information the Sacred Emperor had left about it.

• Di Yi met the Fire Emperor in the Temple of Letters and asked about the Sacred Emperor's coffin and the sealed opening beneath the Fire God Tree.
• The Fire Emperor explained that the opening manifested a battlefield against hostile beings and was sustained by divine fire energy offered through the kingdom's sacrifices.
• The Fire Emperor said he had considered investigating the opening but could not do so without disturbing the Sacred Emperor's remains, the Fire God Tree, and the Imperial City's ancient defenses.
• The Fire Emperor identified a failed imitation of the Wall of Gods and Demons inside the Sacred Emperor Palace and invited Di Yi to see it.
• Di Yi asked whether the ancient arrangements were meant to resist the Great Calamity, and the Fire Emperor confirmed they were and said another cycle was expected within a hundred years.
• Di Yi asked whether the Sacred Emperor's prophecy contained further information about the Great Calamity.

Di Yi asked the Fire Emperor about the Great Calamity and learned that Upper Realm beings used it to eliminate Lower Realm gods while pursuing powerful legacies and a mysterious treasure realm. When the Fire Emperor mentioned the Original True Understanding, Di Yi recognized it as his own method and realized the Willow Tree in Stone Village had likely cultivated it.

• Di Yi asked the Fire Emperor what caused the Great Calamity, and the Fire Emperor explained that Upper Realm beings used it to lure and eliminate Lower Realm divine beings.
• The Fire Emperor said Upper Realm representatives sought the Ten Fiends' legacies and that the Eight Regions might be prisons for Sin Blood.
• The Fire Emperor revealed that the Upper Realm's main objective might be a Primordial Treasure Realm containing the Original True Understanding.
• Di Yi recognized the Original True Understanding as his own method, leaving the Fire Emperor stunned by the possibility that the scripture existed before heaven and earth.
• Di Yi realized that the Willow Tree in Stone Village must have cultivated the Original True Understanding.

Di Yi learned from the Fire Emperor that Immortal Mountain was the likeliest place to learn about the Primordial Treasure Realm and might hold a surviving Primordial-era being. He decided to visit Immortal Mountain, while wondering whether the Willow Tree’s original true understanding was the key he sought.

• Di Yi realized that the Willow Tree had used the original true understanding and wondered how his art had entered the newborn world.
• The Fire Emperor explained that the Heaven Mending Sect had expelled the founder of the Heaven Mending Pavilion, who had established his own school in the Desolate Region.
• The Fire Emperor identified Immortal Mountain as the likeliest lineage to know about the Primordial Treasure Realm.
• The Fire Emperor told Di Yi that an Immortal Being, perhaps a surviving Heaven-Ranked Primordial Ferocious Beast, was said to be pinned beneath Immortal Mountain.
• Di Yi resolved to visit Immortal Mountain, thanked the Fire Emperor, and left the Temple of Literature with him.

Di Yi learned that the Fire Clan's ancestral land was one of the Primordial Vermilion Bird's traveling palaces and obtained the Fire Emperor's token to visit it. He traveled to an ancient hall in the Imperial Palace to reach the ancestral land.

• The Fire Emperor told Di Yi that a great sect from beyond the region wanted access to the Fire Clan's ancestral land in exchange for a dubious claim about the Qilin Old Land.
• The Fire Emperor explained that the ancestral land was one of the Primordial Vermilion Bird's traveling palaces, prompting Di Yi to ask to visit it.
• The Fire Emperor gave Di Yi a token and directions to the Fire Kingdom Ancestral Land, and Di Yi declined an escort.
• Di Yi followed the directions to an ancient hall in the Imperial Palace, where the guards let him enter with the token.

Di Yi explored the Fire Kingdom Ancestral Land and discovered that divine substance in its magma pools transformed ordinary creatures and accelerated their cultivation. He began collecting the substance across the Gobi desert to investigate its connection to the Primordial Vermilion Bird and its Traveling Palace.

• Di Yi traveled through the barren, scorching Fire Kingdom Ancestral Land in search of a place that explained the kingdom’s rise.
• Di Yi found a magma pool and defeated creatures that emerged from it, discovering that they were jackdaws transformed by divine substance.
• Di Yi used True Understanding to identify the magma’s essence energy and watched it rapidly heal the jackdaws and support their transformation.
• Di Yi suspected the divine substance came from the Primordial Vermilion Bird’s cultivation path and might reveal clues about its Traveling Palace.
• Di Yi collected divine substance as he roamed the desert and encountered other transformed creatures, but found no native Primordial Remnants.

Di Yi witnessed a volcanic eruption in the Fire Kingdom Ancestral Land and discovered a Fire-Crowned Lotus thriving in the resulting lava lake. After the lotus displayed cultivation and the ability to kill attacking birds, Di Yi rushed toward it as it began to sink, only to find a whirlpool opening in the lava.

• Di Yi reasoned that cultivating with divine substance likely had special requirements rather than hidden drawbacks.
• A massive eruption transformed a gorge into a lava lake, and Di Yi observed how the Fire Kingdom’s harsh environment selected for powerful survivors.
• A Fire-Crowned Lotus emerged from the lava, and Di Yi recognized it as a potent treasure that had absorbed divine substance.
• Strange birds swooped toward the lotus, but the lotus raised scalding columns of lava that burned them to ash and appeared to benefit from them.
• Di Yi pondered the lotus’s unusual cultivation and status, then charged toward it as it began to sink.
• A whirlpool opened in the lava beneath the lotus, revealing a peculiar structure.

Di Yi followed the Fire-Crowned Lotus into an ancient manor beneath the magma and explored its abandoned sacrificial hall. He found clues about a hurried, unfinished rite and a “great enemy at the gates,” but could not determine how they related to the Great Calamity.

• The Fire-Crowned Lotus used a special Precious Technique to open the manor’s rune-sealed entrance, and Di Yi followed it inside.
• Di Yi learned the technique through True Understanding and chose to enter without damaging the manor.
• Di Yi followed the Fire-Crowned Lotus to a sacrificial hall, where it rooted itself in a vessel of ancient blood.
• Di Yi found a headless statue and partially burned sacrificial paper bearing fragments about a fallen divine kingdom, a great enemy at the gates, and the Void God.
• Di Yi connected the words “Void God” to the Void God Realm but concluded that the Lower Realm had likely remained a safe place outside the Great Calamity’s battlefield.

The author explained Di Yi’s characterization, powers, and place in the story, grounding his amnesia and weakened state in the source novels. The author outlined future plot ambitions and announced that the book would move behind a paywall on May First.

• The author said Di Yi’s amnesia came from the original description of the Rotten Wooden Box’s primordial spirit imprint, and that he must build strength rather than repeat Emperor Bone Brother’s failed path.
• The author explained that Emperor Bone Brother died soon after becoming an Immortal Emperor, leaving Di Yi with incomplete memories, a damaged body, and power that could still overwhelm the Lower Realm.
• The author said Di Yi’s amnesia also kept the Weird Immortal Emperors from detecting him through his thoughts, while his revival and actions were partly connected to Shi Hao.
• The author explained that Di Yi went to Stone Village to use the Bone Cauldron of the Original True Understanding, and said the Lower Realm could help him understand and resist black blood.
• The author described plans to expand the histories and mysteries of Perfect World, Shrouding the Heavens, and Sacred Ruins, including material left unwritten in an earlier fanfiction.
• The author announced that the book would go behind the paywall the next day and promised to finish it as long as it remained available.

Di Yi reflected on the purpose of the Void God Realm and the history of the Eight Regions of the Lower Realm, then watched the Fire-Crowned Lotus cultivate in the Sacrificial Ground. As the lotus inscribed sword intent and began forming a Sword Formation, a plant took shape before Di Yi could learn from its deductions.

• Di Yi reasoned that the Eight Regions of the Lower Realm imprisoned physical bodies while the Void God Realm may have imprisoned spiritual bodies, and considered how the Upper Realm treated descendants of Sin Blood.
• Di Yi suspected the Sin Blood Ancestors' spiritual bodies remained in the Void God Realm and their physical bodies in the Eight Regions, but decided not to investigate further.
• Di Yi returned to the Fire-Crowned Lotus and saw it cultivate with Divine Radiance at the Array Formation Realm.
• The Fire-Crowned Lotus drew on the divinity-bearing substance and began inscribing a sword technique into its lotus body, developing new runes and profound meanings.
• Di Yi recognized that the Fire-Crowned Lotus was forming a Sword Formation, and a plant took shape as it continued its deductions.

Di Yi used True Understanding to uncover the Grass Character Sword Art, a fragmentary inheritance of the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass, and traced it to a battle in the Upper Realm. He suspected the sword grass’s defeat was part of the Immortal Ancient Battle and wondered whether the Lord of the Forbidden Zone or the Immortal Domain had intervened.

• Di Yi recognized the Fire-Crowned Lotus’s sword intent as a fragment of the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass inheritance and used True Understanding to reconstruct the Grass Character Sword Art.
• Di Yi learned that the sword art could turn any matter into a sword and saw one of his Ten True Spirits evolve with nine sword leaves.
• Di Yi traced the Grass Character Sword Art’s origins and manifested a vision of a silver-leaved Nine-Leaf Sword Grass battling four powerful beings at the frontier of the Upper Realm.
• Di Yi realized the sword grass had been surrounded and killed, and connected its battle to the war between two worlds described by Heavenly Desolate.
• Di Yi wondered whether the Lord of the Forbidden Zone or the Immortal Domain had intervened to prevent the Primordial Ancient Realm’s destruction.

Di Yi considered why the Primordial Ancient Realm had imposed the Lower Realm Exile Land and suspected its leaders were divided or compromised during the war with the Foreign Realm. He wondered whether the conflict and the appearance of Original True Understanding were somehow connected to his own ancient legacy.

• Di Yi concluded that the Primordial Ancient Realm had suffered catastrophic losses and feared another War Between the Two Realms would end it.
• Di Yi suspected that some Upper Realm decision-makers had betrayed their realm or pledged allegiance to another force.
• Di Yi reasoned that the Foreign Realm's invasion likely sought something beyond resources, possibly something connected to Original True Understanding.
• Di Yi questioned whether the chaos had originated with him, though he believed his existence predated the newborn world.
• Di Yi wondered whether Broken Willow had inherited Original True Understanding and considered whether he had deliberately spread the legacy in the distant past.