Chapter Summaries

After Cheng Xinzhan united with the Dao, he welcomed visitors at Redwood Ridge, took in his disciple Xiao Lu, and sent Elephant Dragon to defend Loushan Pass. Five days later, Daoist forces across the Southwest began coordinated campaigns against the Southern Wastes and Southern demons.

• Heavenly True Boy discussed the possibility of ancient seniors attaining Golden Immortalhood, then left Kaiming at Redwood Ridge and departed.
• Zhao Wuji returned the Mysterious Female Pearl, reported completing the Nine Washings, and brought Xiao Lu to Cheng Xinzhan to be taught by his master.
• Cheng Xinzhan spared Elephant Dragon and ordered him to clear Southern School demon fiends from Loushan Pass and guard against Xuanmen moving south.
• At the Winter Sacrifice on Mount Jiuyi, Deng Qingyang beheaded Heavenly Silkworm Immortal Lady and proclaimed an expedition against the Southern Wastes.
• Daoist lineages in the Miao Borderlands lifted their seals and proclaimed war against the Southern demons, while forces across the Southwest launched campaigns along rivers and lakes.

Cheng Xinzhan completed a towering Heaven and Earth Altar in the Miao Borderlands and used its power to drive away Green Robe’s demonic weather. He began a broader ritual to contend with Green Robe across the southwestern regions, but had not yet revealed its full effect.

• Green Robe unleashed unnatural storms, snow, hail, and poisonous miasma across the southwestern Divine Land, drawing the deathly energies toward Rotten Peach Mountain.
• Cheng Xinzhan built a three-tier altar of stone, jade, and gold, linked it to local earth veins, and dedicated its summit to the Thunder Ancestor.
• The completed altar summoned divine light that cleared the thunderclouds above Redwood Ridge, prompting the Miao people to chant in support of Cheng Xinzhan.
• Cheng Xinzhan ascended the altar and scattered Sun-Charioteer Light-Rain Gang, dispelling Green Robe’s demonic clouds across Southern Guizhou and invigorating righteous cultivators.
• Cheng Xinzhan explained that he and Green Robe were using weather and spiritual conditions to shape a wider war, then continued preparing his true Altar Rite.

Cheng Xinzhan appointed Baolu guardian of his altar, which greatly strengthened the lion, then used Altar Rites to disperse the thunderclouds over Southern Guizhou. As Cheng Xinzhan prepared to clear the poisonous miasma, Green Robe sent a river of blood and ghosts toward Redwood Ridge.

• Cheng Xinzhan purified the altar and appointed Baolu its spirit guardian, causing the lion to reach the perfection of the Third Realm's ninth washing and gain Fourth Realm strength within the sanctuary.
• Cheng Xinzhan performed Altar Rites, sending white rainbows and fiery rosy clouds across Southern Guizhou to dispel Green Robe's thunderclouds and restore clear skies.
• Cheng Xinzhan explained the chief benefits of Union with the Dao, including extended lifespan, a sanctuary empowered by heaven and earth, and insight into the great Dao.
• Cheng Xinzhan turned to address the poisonous miasma east of Redwood Ridge, but Green Robe sent a river of blood filled with skeletons, wronged souls, and ghosts toward the altar.

Cheng Xinzhan recalled the history of the Asura Treasury and discovered that Green-Robed Ancestor was using an evil altar at Rotten Peach Mountain to turn the bloodshed of the Southern Wastes’ war into Asura forces. As blood clouds closed in on the ritual altar, the Snow Lion summoned thousands of copies of itself to defend it.

• Cheng Xinzhan traced the history of the Asura Treasury, learning how Red-Haired Ancestor and Green-Robed Ancestor had taken different Asura teachings and how Green-Robed Ancestor’s methods had fueled his madness.
• Cheng Xinzhan recognized Long Youpo, a Bone Dragon, and the Blood-Vine Cult’s creatures within Green-Robed Ancestor’s blood river, then attacked it with Yang Fire and summoned Hairy Head Lodge to strengthen the flames.
• Cheng Xinzhan cast Life-Nourishing Rain Gang and Purple Tenuity Imperial Procession Gang to aid and guide the Three Xiang Daoists lost in the purple miasma.
• Green-Robed Ancestor’s Weapon-Flame Rakshasa Baleful Intent weakened Cheng Xinzhan’s Yang Fire, and Asura fiends from Rotten Peach Mountain swelled the blood river despite his Samadhi True Fire.
• Cheng Xinzhan saw an evil altar at Rotten Peach Mountain and realized it was drawing bloodshed, baleful energy, and resentment from the border wars to create Asuras.
• As crimson blood clouds surrounded the ritual altar, the Snow Lion cast a snow spell, multiplied into thousands, and attacked the Asura fiends.

Cheng Xinzhan coordinated defenses against Green Robe’s weather attacks, sent a cleansing wind into the Southern Wastes, and began joining with the Peach Blossom River. As Green Robe sensed the river changing, a scarlet-robed man arrived at Biji Mountain and called for Renying.

• The Lion summoned snow and multiplied into armed manifestations, holding back the Asura demon soldiers at Redwood Ridge while Cheng Xinzhan empowered his troops with a talisman.
• Cheng Xinzhan surveyed the threatened regions as the Dragon Earls thawed Yuyang and Mount Lü’s cultivators redirected Green Robe’s hail and rain toward Fuxian Lake, forcing him to withdraw the weather attack.
• Cheng Xinzhan sent a Gentle-Wind Dispelling-Evil Gang south into the Southern Wastes to clear turbid qi and suppress demons without harming the land.
• Cheng Xinzhan sent the Taiyin Emperor into the Peach Blossom River and used his magical power to comprehend water as his land joined with the Dao expanded downstream.
• Green Robe sensed Cheng Xinzhan’s influence spreading through the Peach Blossom River and saw a scarlet rainbow arrive at Biji Mountain, where a red-robed man asked Renying to meet him.

Emei’s Tong Yuanqi visited Yan Renying at Biji Mountain to persuade him to return, but Renying reaffirmed his anger over his family’s suffering and refused to let the past go. As Tong Yuanqi departed, a golden-robed man attacked, and two reinforcements arrived to protect Renying.

• Green Robe worried that Emei would exploit his inability to defend every front and move against Yan Renying at Biji Mountain.
• Cheng Xinzhan sent a qi body to Dianwen after learning that Tong Yuanqi had gone to meet Renying.
• Zang Faxian and Cao Jin noticed Tong Yuanqi arrive at Biji Mountain while they fought over Fuxian Lake, and they sent warnings to their allies.
• Yan Renying told Tong Yuanqi that he still honored the Drunken Daoist as his master but regarded the Shu Central Region as enemy territory and would not return to Emei.
• Tong Yuanqi left after Renying mourned his parents, but an angry golden-robed man appeared and advanced on Renying.
• A blue-robed Daoist and a green-robed man arrived from the east and struck at the golden-robed attacker.

Xuanzhenzi and Zhong Yuanjue arrived at Biji Mountain to confront Yan Renying, but Cheng Xinzhan and Green Robe fought them instead. Green Robe devoured Zhong Yuanjue’s fleshly body, and Cheng Xinzhan captured and suppressed his Nascent Soul, leaving Xuanzhenzi asking what ransom he would accept.

• Zhong Yuanjue attacked Yan Renying, but Yunlai pierced his golden cymbal while Green Robe’s Bloodlight broke his flying sword and wounded him.
• Xuanzhenzi arrived and deflected Green Robe’s Bloodlight, then fought Cheng Xinzhan as Tong Yuanqi realized Emei had used him to lure Yan Renying out.
• Green Robe seized Zhong Yuanjue and bit into him, so Zhong Yuanqi attacked with his Fire Dragon Hairpin and Zhong Yuanjue destroyed his own fleshly body to escape.
• Green Robe swallowed Zhong Yuanjue’s fleshly body and recovered from his wounds, while Xuanzhenzi used Divine Thunder Thunderclap Pellets to drive Green Robe back.
• Cheng Xinzhan trapped Zhong Yuanjue’s fleeing Nascent Soul, bound it with his Yin-Yang Five-Phases Binding Hoop, and suppressed it with the Yangping Zhidu Merit Seal.
• Xuanzhenzi demanded that Cheng Xinzhan release Zhong Yuanjue, and Cheng Xinzhan asked what he could offer.

Yan Renying chose to defend the Nanpan River’s northwestern upper reaches for Green Robe while leaving other fronts undefended, and Cheng Xinzhan challenged Green Robe to a duel in the heavens. Their fight drew cultivators from across the Southwest, and Shi Yiniang hurried to see it.

• Xuanzhenzi fled after calling on Yan Renying to return to Emei’s doctrine, while Cheng Xinzhan and Green Robe let him escape.
• Tong Yuanqi departed, and Yan Renying thanked Green Robe and Cheng Xinzhan before weighing their competing demands.
• Yan Renying pledged to lead Biji Mountain in defending the Nanpan River’s upper reaches from Dianchi Lake northward, and Green Robe accepted his offer.
• Cheng Xinzhan challenged Green Robe to duel in the heavens, and both flew upward as cultivators across the Southwest followed to watch.
• Mu Guanghan recognized the duelists in the Third Heaven and welcomed Fa Wujiu to watch from Bailing City.
• Mu Sanniang summoned Shi Yiniang to Bailing City, and Shi Yiniang immediately left her room.

Cheng Xinzhan and Green Robe fought a duel in the Third Heaven, with Cheng using the setting sun and the five elements to attack Green Robe. Green Robe summoned Gang Wind from the Second Heaven to meet Cheng’s sea of fire, leaving their clash unresolved.

• Cheng Xinzhan vanished into the void, then attacked Green Robe with Five Elements Annihilation Divine Light and a mirage that concealed his position.
• Cheng Xinzhan used sunlight to bind Green Robe and form Sword Threads, while Green Robe defended himself with the Asura Gate, golden rings, and his halberd.
• Green Robe forced his way through the Asura Gate to close the distance, but Cheng Xinzhan turned the sunset into a sea of fire that surged toward him.
• Mu Guanghan, Fa Wujiu, and Qian Boya watched the duel, and Qian Boya praised Cheng Xinzhan’s mastery of the five elements.
• Green Robe summoned a hurricane of Gang Wind from the Second Heaven to rush into Cheng Xinzhan’s descending sea of fire.

Cheng Xinzhan held the upper hand against Green Robe with his Asura incarnation, using Yang Fire and astral wind while spectators watched the spectacular clash. As night fell, Green Robe challenged Cheng Xinzhan’s mastery of Taiyin, and Cheng Xinzhan answered with a moonlit attack that left Green Robe facing a massive crescent blade.

• Green Robe’s astral wind collided with Cheng Xinzhan’s solar fire, driving back Green Robe and his Asura ghost faces while creating towering cloud waves and golden flames.
• Shi Yiniang painted the scene and portrayed Cheng Xinzhan as an immortal overpowering Green Robe, while Zhou Qingyun watched and reflected on his growing strength.
• Cheng Xinzhan and Green Robe continued exchanging attacks; Cheng Xinzhan judged Green Robe’s incarnation to possess about sixty percent of his true body’s strength, while Green Robe wondered what spiritual object had formed Cheng Xinzhan’s incarnation.
• Green Robe pointed out that sunset had ended Cheng Xinzhan’s advantage in Yang Fire and asked whether he had equal mastery of Taiyin; Cheng Xinzhan invited him to test it.
• Cheng Xinzhan used Peach Capital to draw Green Robe closer, shifted into alignment with the rising moon, and cast Great Yin Upper Crescent, sending a huge silver blade toward him.

Cheng Xinzhan used lunar and stellar Daoist arts to counter Green Robe’s blood techniques and drive him into retreat. A concealed Yin Sword wounded Green Robe as he fled, but he escaped into the astral winds, leaving Cheng Xinzhan alone beneath the moonlit clouds.

• Cheng Xinzhan’s lunar blade split Green Robe apart, but Green Robe transformed into blood and reformed unharmed.
• Green Robe sent a river of blood bubbles toward Cheng Xinzhan and used them to evade the Great Yin divine light.
• Cheng Xinzhan summoned a river of purifying starlight that dissolved Green Robe’s blood bubbles and forced him to retreat.
• Cheng Xinzhan pursued Green Robe with lunar blades and stellar rain, but Green Robe used his blood-transformation art to flee toward the clouds.
• Cheng Xinzhan’s concealed Yin Sword pierced Green Robe’s chest and wounded the Blood Asura Heart.
• Green Robe fled into the astral winds, and Cheng Xinzhan arrived too late to stop him.

Cheng Xinzhan continued expanding his Dao Domain along the Peach Blossom River while pursuing a long-term plan to reclaim and cultivate the Southern Wastes. After accepting Qian Boya’s invitation to Peacock City to exchange Five Elements insights, he promised to visit Shi Yiniang in Haiqing City afterward.

• The Taiyin Emperor summoned moonlight to weaken the Black Dragon’s power in the Peach Blossom River, allowing Cheng Xinzhan’s Dao Domain to advance downstream.
• Cheng Xinzhan reflected on the long effort required to drive the Southern School from the Southern Wastes and turn the region into fertile, civilized land.
• Cheng Xinzhan attended a small banquet in Bailing City with Mu Guanghan, Qian Boya, Wujiu, Shi Yiniang, and others, where he learned Shi Yiniang had become Haiqing City’s young proprietor.
• After the banquet, Qian Boya invited Cheng Xinzhan to Peacock City and offered to share the Qian Clan’s Great Five Elements Annihilation Divine Light and Innate Five Elements Sword Formation in exchange for his own Five Elements insights.
• Cheng Xinzhan accepted the exchange, then told Shi Yiniang he would visit her in Haiqing City and bring her a gift.

Cheng Xinzhan visited Peacock City and studied the Qian Clan’s Great Five Elements Annihilation Divine Light before lecturing its disciples on how the Five Elements govern the organs and bodily tissues. He ended by urging them to use these principles to nourish life, leaving the gathered cultivators silently contemplating his teaching.

• Qian Boya welcomed Cheng Xinzhan with an elaborate procession, then led him to a secluded valley prepared for the Dao discussion.
• Qian Boya lent Cheng Xinzhan the Qian Clan’s Great Five Elements Annihilation Divine Light, and Cheng studied its principles of overwhelming and counteracting through the night.
• Cheng returned the technique at dawn, surprising Qian Boya by saying he had finished studying it and had no questions yet.
• Cheng lectured the gathered Qian Clan cultivators on generation and restraint among the five organs and bodily tissues, explaining how those principles could nourish life or cause harm.
• Cheng described his own Five Elements Annihilation Divine Light and urged the cultivators to prioritize preserving life; the valley fell silent when he finished.

Cheng Xinzhan taught the Qian Clan about the five elements, answered questions about cultivation, and earned the chance to study its Innate Five Elements Sword Formation. After reshaping the formation’s principles in his mind, he began a new lecture on the five directions and seasons, during which five sacred spirit beasts manifested in the valley.

• Qian Boya and the Qian Clan praised Cheng Xinzhan’s lecture on the five elements, and cultivators asked him how to manage excessive liver wood and dry, hot spleen earth.
• Cheng Xinzhan answered questions throughout the day until Qian Boya dismissed the crowd so the Great Master could rest.
• Qian Boya offered Cheng Xinzhan the Innate Five Elements Sword Formation in exchange for another lecture, and Cheng Xinzhan accepted the golden slip.
• Cheng Xinzhan studied the sword formation overnight and adapted its principles to his own methods and Five Dharma Swords.
• At sunrise, Cheng Xinzhan lectured on the five elements, directions, and seasons, causing Azure Dragon, white tiger, vermilion bird, tortoise and snake, and qilin phantoms to appear in the valley.
• The sacred spirit phenomenon lasted over an hour and dispersed after Cheng Xinzhan finished, leaving the cultivators too astonished to ask questions.

Cheng Xinzhan answered Qian Boya’s questions about alchemical principles, then accepted the Qian Clan’s ancestral Five-Colored Divine Light as thanks for his lectures. Qian Boya revealed that the art was modeled on the ancient Five-Colored Peacock’s divine ability and that its source traced to a Secret Realm owned by a descendant of the deity’s nominal disciple, surnamed Deng.

• Qian Boya asked about alchemical formulas, and Cheng Xinzhan explained their principles through the inner five elements.
• Cheng Xinzhan answered the cultivators’ questions until they left, then prepared to depart with the returned Sword Formation slips.
• Qian Boya offered Cheng Xinzhan a treasure casket in gratitude for his lectures, and Cheng accepted the Qian Clan’s Five-Colored Divine Light.
• Qian Boya explained that the Five-Colored Divine Light was modeled on the Five-Colored Peacock’s divine ability and had come from a Secret Realm.
• Qian Boya said the Secret Realm’s owner was a descendant of the ancient deity’s nominal disciple and identified that family as surnamed Deng.

Cheng Xinzhan studied the Qian Clan’s Five-Colored Divine Light from an ancient Shang brick and mastered enough to form the Five Elements Talisman Seeds and cast the spell. He shared thirty-six interpretations of the text with Qian Boya and asked about the craftsmen’s inscriptions on the bricks of White Jade Capital, leaving Qian Boya ready to explain more about the Ancient Heavenly Court.

• Qian Boya explained that the Five-Colored Divine Light could seal the five elements in its targets, but that mastering it required profound understanding of the five elements and the caster’s own cultivation.
• Cheng Xinzhan opened the Treasure Casket and found the spell inscribed on a Red Brick bearing a Shang-era mark naming its location, workshop, supervisor, clerk, and craftsman.
• After studying the brick for half a month, Cheng Xinzhan formed the five elements Talisman Seeds and learned to cast the Five Elements Divine Light, though he had not perfected its full power.
• Cheng Xinzhan revealed thirty-six interpretations of the spell, astonishing Qian Boya, and offered to write them down for the Qian Clan to study.
• As he wrote, Cheng Xinzhan asked about White Jade Capital’s Cloudroot Bricks, and Qian Boya explained their Ancient Heavenly Court origins and how their craftsmen’s inscriptions had been erased during construction.

Qian Boya explained the structure and history of the Nine Heavens to Cheng Xinzhan, including the distinction between the Wandering Immortal Realm and the Heavenly Court. He finished by describing the thirty-three layers, while Cheng Xinzhan connected the account to his sect’s records about different forms of ascension.

• Qian Boya described the first three heavenly layers and explained how the Gang Winds, restrictions, and distance separated mortals from immortals.
• Qian Boya explained how the Wandering Immortal Realm had once been called Flower Heaven and how failed tribulation survivors came to be known as Wandering Immortals.
• At Cheng Xinzhan’s request, Qian Boya outlined the Heavenly Court’s regions, the Heavenly Gates, and the routes by which immortals could ascend.
• Cheng Xinzhan recalled his sect’s teachings about ascension at the Fourth and Ninth Heavens and identified famous immortals who had reached the Heavenly Court directly.
• Qian Boya described the military, servant, official, and imperial regions of the Heavenly Court, then explained that abandoned military grounds became the foundation of White Jade Capital.
• Qian Boya completed his account by describing the empty thirtieth layer and the Three Pure Ones Heaven above it.

Cheng Xinzhan and Qian Boya agreed to establish a Five Elements peak at Three Pure Ones Mountain, preserving and sharing the Qian Clan’s teachings. After leaving Peacock City, Cheng secured Zhong Yuanjue’s Nascent Soul at Redwood Ridge and continued north on a long journey.

• Qian Boya explained that Severing Heaven and Earth had cut off communication between the mortal and Immortal Realms, leaving cultivators divided over whether to ascend.
• Cheng Xinzhan described Three Pure Ones Mountain’s balanced approach to Heavenly and Earthly Immortals and completed a detailed record of thirty-six Five-Colored Divine Light interpretations for Qian Boya.
• Qian Boya granted Cheng’s disciples permission to learn the Five-Colored Divine Light, Extinction Divine Light, and Five Elements Sword Formation, making their teachings orthodox in both Peacock City and Three Pure Ones Mountain.
• Cheng Xinzhan proposed establishing a dedicated peak for Internal Alchemy and Five Elements study, with provisions to preserve the Qian Clan’s lineage if it ever failed; Qian Boya agreed.
• Qian Boya told Cheng that envoys from Jingwei City and Bifang City were waiting, but Cheng declined to meet them, lifted the spatial restriction, and departed through the void.
• Cheng Xinzhan left Zhong Yuanjue’s Nascent Soul in his true self’s protection at Redwood Ridge, then sent his Qi Body northward.

Cheng Xinzhan painted the people clearing ice jams at the Yellow River’s mouth, gaining insight that raised the Earth Book’s quality. He then reached Haiqing City, where Shi Yiniang’s carefully designed welcome gift revealed her thoughtfulness as their reunion began.

• Cheng Xinzhan painted the snowy Yellow River scene with the Daoists clearing ice jams, and the Earth Book absorbed the work and advanced in quality.
• Cheng Xinzhan gained insight into how people and scenery joined in the Dao, then laughed and flew up to the Third Heaven.
• Cheng Xinzhan arrived at Haiqing City, where Xiao Wanzhong and the Xiao Household welcomed him with a ceremony of dancing swans.
• The swans presented Cheng Xinzhan with an eighty-five-bead rosary embodying the Five Elements, and he accepted it and wore it around his wrist.
• Xiao Wanzhong told Cheng Xinzhan that Shi Yiniang had designed the rosary and welcome, and Cheng Xinzhan spotted her among the crowd.

Cheng Xinzhan visited the Xiao Household to thank Shi Yiniang for the Golden Water Trading Association’s contributions to the Haoran Alliance and gave the clan a spirit-refining art. He then gave Shi Yiniang a cultivation method tailored to her, leaving her hopeful about advancing further and wanting to be more than his beloved.

• Cheng Xinzhan praised Shi Yiniang’s work building the Golden Water Trading Association and thanked Xiao Wanzhong and the Xiao Clan for nurturing her talents.
• Cheng Xinzhan presented Xiao Wanzhong with the Great Yin Cold-Light Spirit-Refining Essentials, an art he had created for the Xiao Clan, and the clan accepted it gratefully.
• After lunch, Shi Yiniang walked alone with Cheng Xinzhan and asked whether his earlier gift had been the one he promised her.
• Cheng Xinzhan gave Shi Yiniang the Eastern Florescence Everlasting Spring Art, explaining how it could combine her Wood-Grafting Method with starlight cultivation and help her progress toward the Fifth Realm.
• Cheng Xinzhan promised to prepare Light Pills and Green Pearls to support Shi Yiniang’s cultivation, and she accepted, thinking she wanted to be more than his beloved.