Chapter Summaries

Chen Heng approached the Empress to propose joining forces against Tong Gaolu, but Rong Tuo mistook him for a disciple of a great sect. After proving he had fought Tong Yi, Chen Heng left Rong Tuo to decide whether to accept his help and demanded a considerable price.

• Chen Heng told the Empress he wanted to eliminate Tong Gaolu and asked her to summon the Imperial House's Qi Refining cultivators.
• Rong Tuo and Rong Xuantao arrived, and Rong Tuo sensed Chen Heng's extraordinary qi and assumed he belonged to a great sect.
• Chen Heng let Rong Tuo's mistaken belief stand and showed Talisman Artifacts taken from Tong Yi, adding that Tong Yi was imprisoned in Yuanjing with one arm severed.
• Rong Tuo hesitated over Chen Heng's motives, so Chen Heng turned to leave; Rong Tuo hurried to call him back.
• Chen Heng said his help came at a considerable price, and Rong Tuo was shaken.

Chen Heng negotiated with Rong Tuo and Rong Xuantao over compensation for dealing with Tong Gaolu, including access to the Rong Lineage’s Jade Womb Mother Pool. Rong Jin arrived and tested Chen Heng with a cup of wine, but Chen Heng absorbed the prince’s embryonic breathing and prepared to return the challenge.

• Chen Heng demanded Tong Gaolu’s cultivation resources and two thousand Talisman Coins as conditions for his help, but Rong Tuo and Rong Xuantao resisted the payment.
• Chen Heng asked to cultivate in the Rong Lineage’s Jade Womb Mother Pool for seven or eight days, and Rong Tuo hesitated over granting access to the lineage’s prized resource.
• Rong Jin arrived, and Rong Tuo introduced him as the Rong Kingdom’s crown prince and a fifth-level Qi Refining cultivator.
• Rong Jin sent Chen Heng a wine cup containing a strand of embryonic breathing as a test, but Chen Heng caught the cup and absorbed the strand.
• Chen Heng realized Primordial Beginning True Origin could absorb embryonic breathing and offered to pour a return cup for everyone at the table.

Chen Heng used wine and Embryonic Breathing to overwhelm Rong Jin and secure a Spirit Contract with the Rong Clan. He then memorized the clan’s entire library and, in the One True Dharma Realm, successfully triggered a new breakthrough.

• Chen Heng shaped wine into three swords, cut through Rong Jin’s Wind-Summoning Dao Art, and stopped the blades just short of his face.
• Rong Jin acknowledged Chen Heng’s power, and both sides signed a Spirit Contract granting Chen Heng one thousand Talisman Coins, five days in the Jade Womb Mother Pool, and Tong Gaolu’s cultivation resources.
• Chen Heng persuaded Rong Tuo to take him to the Rong Clan’s library and spent his one-hour limit memorizing every book with the Golden Cicada’s help.
• Chen Heng retired to a building, entered the One True Dharma Realm, and felt the circulating air and resounding bells signal that his attempt had succeeded.

Chen Heng used the One True Dharma Realm to repeatedly fight Rong Xuantao’s mind image, seeking to obtain the old cultivator’s Dao art. After finally acquiring Fish-Dragon Manifestation and beginning to study it, Chen Heng left the realm when Rong Jin came to summon him.

• Chen Heng reviewed his new Dao arts and artifacts, including Golden Man Substitution, the Lesser Wind and Mist-Summoning Technique, and Tong Jizhen’s Solid-Sinking Inkstone.
• Chen Heng examined Rong Xuantao’s mind image and learned that the old cultivator practiced the illusion Dao art Fish-Dragon Manifestation.
• Chen Heng repeatedly defeated Rong Xuantao’s mind image, receiving random mundane skills and Dao arts from its origin spirits.
• Chen Heng finally obtained Fish-Dragon Manifestation from an origin spirit and began studying its instructions.
• Chen Heng sensed the time had come, withdrew from the One True Dharma Realm, and heard Rong Jin summon him.

Chen Heng joined Rong Tuo’s court gathering to plan Tong Gaolu’s assassination and learned that Tong Gaolu had mastered a powerful body-tempering Dao Art. Two days later, Tong Gaolu’s household celebrated its rising influence, but Tong Gaolu suddenly sensed something unpleasant in his body.

• Rong Jin invited Chen Heng to the Palace of Worthy Virtue and offered him women, but Chen Heng refused, declaring his resolve to pursue the immortal Dao.
• Rong Jin told Chen Heng how the Rong Kingdom was founded by a Foundation Establishment cultivator and how Tong Gaolu’s ambitions grew after the kingdom’s ancestor died.
• Rong Tuo introduced Huang Zaichen and Sima Yu, then proposed ambushing Tong Gaolu with cultivators and mortal soldiers at the grand court assembly.
• Chen Heng objected to sacrificing soldiers in a futile attack, but Rong Tuo dismissed their lives and assigned Sima Yu to lead them.
• Rong Tuo warned Chen Heng that Tong Gaolu possessed a formidable Dao Art for externally tempering his flesh.
• On the morning of the grand court assembly, Tong Gaolu complained that his body felt unpleasant despite his mastery of the Earth Palace Golden Chapter.

Tong Gaolu ignored a warning of impending danger and joined the grand court procession, where the Rong Clan ambushed him and his followers. Chen Heng and the Rong Clan confronted Tong Gaolu, while Tong Xiangyan fled to find Tong Jizhen.

• Tong Gaolu felt a sudden pain in his heart but, after Tong Xiangyan urged him not to appear afraid of Rong Tuo, decided to attend the grand court assembly.
• Tong Gaolu learned that Tong Jizhen was at Spring Splendor House and ordered Qian Qi to accompany him.
• After Tong Gaolu's procession passed through the palace gate, the gate shut behind them and archers and crossbowmen attacked.
• Tong Gaolu killed attackers with his embryonic breath, and Chen Heng appeared, blocked his next strike, and declared that he had come to kill him.
• Rong Tuo and three Rong Clan members arrived with Huang Zaichen, and Rong Tuo used an iron-chain Talisman Artifact to kill Tong Gaolu's followers.
• Tong Gaolu told Tong Xiangyan to flee to Spring Splendor House, while Rong Tuo challenged Qian Qi for joining Tong Gaolu.

Chen Heng and Rong Tuo joined forces to kill Tong Gaolu after Chen Heng used Tong Yi to create an opening, then Chen Heng pretended to be badly injured to discourage Rong Tuo from turning against him. Zhou Chuyu attacked Chen Heng during his staged recovery, but he revealed he had anticipated her ambush and prepared to fight.

• Tong Gaolu killed Qian Qi and fought off the Rong Clan's attacks until Chen Heng used the Thunderfire Thunderclap Bead and Green Bamboo Thorn to keep him at a distance.
• Chen Heng brought Tong Yi before Tong Gaolu and threw him toward his father, triggering the Cold Dipper True Qi hidden on Tong Yi and freezing Tong Gaolu in place.
• Rong Tuo approached Tong Gaolu and activated the Blood-Red Flying Shuttle, which pierced his skull, while Chen Heng and the others struck him until Chen Heng finished him with the Green Bamboo Thorn.
• Chen Heng left with Tu Shan Ge, then pretended to be gravely injured so Rong Tuo would not suspect him of still being dangerous.
• Zhou Chuyu attacked Chen Heng beside a mountain stream, but his concealed armor blocked her strike, and he revealed that he had known she was nearby.

Chen Heng killed Zhou Chuyu after overcoming her talisman artifacts and then burned her corpse, while Yin Gonghao recovered her soul and condemned her to a beast body. Later, Chen Heng discovered a powerful Dao Art in Tong Gaolu’s Origin Spirit and celebrated its potential.

• Zhou Chuyu ambushed Chen Heng and Tu Shan Ge, but Chen Heng fought her through a prolonged battle of talisman artifacts and techniques.
• Chen Heng used Golden Man Substitution to evade Zhou Chuyu’s killing blow, then froze her embryonic breathing with cold dipper true qi and killed her with the Thunderfire Thunderclap Bead.
• Chen Heng burned Zhou Chuyu’s corpse and departed with Tu Shan Ge, while Yin Gonghao emerged, gathered her soul, and turned her into a small dog.
• Chen Heng detonated his Talisman Artifacts against Tong Gaolu’s body, seized his Origin Spirit, and discovered a Dao Art he believed could earn him a place in the Nine Provinces and Four Seas.

Chen Heng obtained Elder Tai Su’s Tai Su Jade Body from Tong Gaolu’s origin spirit and studied its requirements and dangers. He chose the Golden Cicada as its anchoring object and began refining it, triggering a loud reaction from the Dao Court’s magic prohibitions.

• Chen Heng repeatedly defeated Tong Gaolu’s mind image with talisman artifacts until he obtained the Tai Su Jade Body.
• Chen Heng learned that the Tai Su Jade Body was a powerful bodily cultivation method created by Elder Tai Su, but that it required an anchoring object and carried the risk of deadly tribulations if its concealment was broken.
• Chen Heng decided that the Golden Cicada was an ideal anchoring object because only he could see and touch it.
• Chen Heng began refining the Golden Cicada with his blood despite the Dao Court’s warning against unauthorized practice.
• The Dragon Radiance Ancient Bell rang across a distant land, and voices complained that someone had triggered the Dao Court’s magic prohibitions again.