Recaps

Ji Cha celebrated finally receiving a Great God Contract after years of pursuing it, thanking readers and editors for their support. He said he would finish the current book, estimated its length, and confirmed that his next novel would return to the harem genre.

• Ji Cha recalled how content restrictions and the failure of Planet had made him doubt he could ever earn a Great God Contract.
• Ji Cha described how his experimental book performed unexpectedly well, though illness and delayed evaluation disrupted his updates and rankings.
• Ji Cha thanked his editors and readers after learning he had earned the contract, and apologized for not promising extra chapters because of insomnia and writing difficulties.
• Ji Cha estimated the current book would end around 1.5 to 1.6 million Chinese characters and said he planned to write harem fiction next.
• Ji Cha defended his financial success and choice of genre against online critics, while promising to finish the current book and later discuss lessons from it.

After Chu Ge bought Zhang Xinghu’s house, he and Qiu Wuji discussed the pendant’s connection to the Vermilion Bird and their need to investigate Indonesia. Zhu Mengmeng asked to join them in the xianxia world, and Chu Ge agreed, suspecting her presence might bring more surprises.

• Zhang Xinghu sold the house to Chu Ge at a steep discount after Chu Ge temporarily exorcised the ghost, and Zhu Mengmeng urged Qiu Wuji to put her name on the deed.
• Chu Ge explained that the murals were harmless and that the pendant had absorbed a trace of the Vermilion Bird’s essence, pointing to a possible problem at a gold mine or temple in Indonesia.
• Chu Ge said he had asked his mother to send Moon Shadow to investigate and planned to build up a writing backlog before traveling with Qiu Wuji.
• Zhu Mengmeng asked to enter the book because she wanted to meet handsome sword immortals, and Chu Ge agreed, calling her their lucky charm.

Chu Ge brought Zhu Mengmeng to the Heavenly Realm, where she toured Qiu Wuji’s palace and met a modern-dressed avatar of Qiu Wuji. Their outing was interrupted by hostile forces targeting Qiu Wuji, and she warned Mengmeng that the handsome swordsman confronting them would likely die.

• Chu Ge added a scene keeping Chu Tiange in a cave to study a Buddhist treasure while he stockpiled chapters in the Heavenly Realm.
• Zhu Mengmeng marveled at Qiu Wuji’s grand palace, tried on enchanted outfits, and watched Qiu Wuji receive her reforged sword, Autumn Waters, Jade Green.
• Qiu Wuji split off a modern-dressed avatar to accompany Zhu Mengmeng, then Chu Ge left to write while the two women went shopping.
• A middle-aged swordsman confronted Qiu Wuji outside the palace, and forces associated with the Buddha Ancestor and Dao Venerable approached from both sides.
• Zhu Mengmeng admired the swordsman and asked if she could pursue him, but Qiu Wuji said he would probably die soon.

Qiu Wuji protected Zhu Mengmeng while the Buddha and Daoist attacked True Lord Xunfeng, then tried to leave rather than join the fight. When the Buddha’s lotus technique trapped them, Zhu Mengmeng noticed strange connection lines between the flames, the palace, and herself.

• Qiu Wuji decided not to kill True Lord Xunfeng, while reflecting on the Heavenly Realm’s factions and the growing extremism of the Buddha and Daoist.
• The Buddha and Daoist attacked True Lord Xunfeng together, and Qiu Wuji shielded Zhu Mengmeng as they watched the battle.
• Qiu Wuji led Zhu Mengmeng away from the fight, but the Buddha used a lotus technique to stop them.
• Qiu Wuji shattered the lotus restraint and walked onward with Zhu Mengmeng, then countered a lotus pond of water and fire.
• Zhu Mengmeng saw connection lines linking the flames to the Buddha and palace, as well as an unfamiliar line to herself that made her feel she would be safe even without Qiu Wuji’s protection.

Zhu Mengmeng severed the Buddha’s connection to his lotus fire, while Qiu Wuji defeated the Daoist and declared that the Heavenly Realm would face a new faction of emperors. As they left the desert, Zhu Mengmeng suggested that the Vermilion Bird might have scattered into sparks among ordinary people, prompting Qiu Wuji to consider investigating her connection to the nearby city’s Earthfire.

• The Heavenly Dao suppressed the lotus fire’s power as Qiu Wuji cautiously let it touch Zhu Mengmeng, who sensed an intimate but unsettling connection to the flames.
• Zhu Mengmeng cut the connection between the lotus fire and the Buddha, causing a backlash that let True Lord Xunfeng wound him.
• The Daoist attacked Qiu Wuji, but she revealed Profound Immortal-level sword power and killed him.
• The Buddha’s own flames burned him away, leaving only a Glazed Bead, while Qiu Wuji sent the wounded True Lord Xunfeng back east and declared the rise of the Emperors of the Four Directions.
• Zhu Mengmeng proposed that the Vermilion Bird might have scattered into sparks among countless households, and Qiu Wuji considered testing the idea at a nearby city built around Earthfire.

Qiu Wuji took Zhu Mengmeng sightseeing in the Heavenly Realm, where they encountered a brothel trying to abduct Zhu Mengmeng as a cultivation cauldron. Qiu Wuji revealed her Profound Immortal strength, but Room Fire Pig arrived and identified himself as a servant of the Blazing Flame Demon Lord, Yan Qianlie, who had ordered his people not to provoke Qiu Wuji or Chu Tiange.

• Qiu Wuji and Zhu Mengmeng sampled an immortal frozen dessert as they explored the city and discussed the Heavenly Realm.
• They passed a brothel, where Zhu Mengmeng criticized the world and Chu Ge for including it.
• A brothel woman recognized Zhu Mengmeng's unusual nature and tried to buy her, then ordered her people to seize the pair when Qiu Wuji refused.
• Qiu Wuji drew Autumn Waters, Jade Green and revealed her formidable Profound Immortal aura, frightening the brothel's people.
• Room Fire Pig arrived and explained that Yan Qianlie had warned his followers to avoid Qiu Wuji and Chu Tiange.

Qiu Wuji and Zhu Mengmeng entered a Demonic Path stronghold to investigate the powerful Earthfire beneath it. As Chu Ge watched and considered Zhu Mengmeng’s connection to the Vermilion Bird, the pair descended toward the flames to see what they could learn.

• Chu Ge used his growing control over the Heavenly Realm to fully charge his laptop and watched Qiu Wuji and Zhu Mengmeng through his Divine Sense.
• Room Fire Pig welcomed Qiu Wuji and Zhu Mengmeng into the stronghold, where its enforcers punished themselves for threatening them.
• Qiu Wuji questioned Room Fire Pig about the stronghold and learned that it occupied the city’s strongest Earthfire veins.
• Room Fire Pig opened a hidden passage, and Zhu Mengmeng sensed a welcoming connection to the Earthfire before pulling Qiu Wuji downstairs.
• Chu Ge theorized that Zhu Mengmeng’s fate-reading ability and her father’s divination might come from scattered Vermilion Bird attributes, and hoped the Earthfire would reveal more.

Qiu Wuji brought Zhu Mengmeng to the Earth Altar beneath the brothel, where Zhu Mengmeng trained amid the flames and discovered a new aspect of her esper ability. The chapter left Qiu Wuji suspecting that Zhu Mengmeng might be the Goddess of Fate.

• Room Fire Pig led Qiu Wuji and Zhu Mengmeng through the demonic lair to his Earth Altar, then secretly tried to alert Yan Qianlie about them.
• Yan Qianlie struck Room Fire Pig through his illusory projection and warned him not to provoke Qiu Wuji.
• Qiu Wuji transformed the sea of flames into an illusion of a pool so Zhu Mengmeng could safely enter and train.
• Zhu Mengmeng sensed threads linking her mind to the flames and undead, and realized she could see—and perhaps disrupt—the Demonic Path cultivators' control over their skeletons.
• Qiu Wuji praised Zhu Mengmeng's power and wondered whether fate had brought them together, calling her the Goddess of Fate.

Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji investigated Zhu Mengmeng’s connection to the Vermilion Bird and discussed finding a cultivation method for her. Chu Ge proposed granting her the Vermilion Bird’s attributes, which might make her the new Vermilion Bird.

• Zhu Mengmeng shaped figures from the sea of fire, and Chu Ge concluded that her fire affinity was rooted in the Vermilion Bird.
• Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji discussed whether Sandru’s soul-fire ability and Zhong Yi’s longevity might connect to the Vermilion Bird, and Chu Ge suggested another trip to Southeast Asia.
• Chu Ge searched his cultivation-method notes for something suited to Zhu Mengmeng’s mystical talents.
• Chu Ge proposed giving Zhu Mengmeng the Vermilion Bird’s attributes and asked whether she might become the new Vermilion Bird.

Chu Ge planned to find the original Vermilion Bird while preparing a backup path for Zhu Mengmeng, then discussed the Four Symbols with Qiu Wuji. Meanwhile, Yan Qianlie headed toward fire ruins in the south, where he and Room Fire Pig prepared to explore a new dungeon that might reveal clues about the Vermilion Bird.

• Chu Ge decided that finding the original Vermilion Bird was his priority, but planned to help Zhu Mengmeng study a cultivation technique based on its Law of Fate.
• Qiu Wuji and Chu Ge discussed how the Four Symbols could represent elements rather than directions, and how the Vermilion Bird might be found anywhere associated with fire.
• Chu Ge shifted the story to Yan Qianlie, who had traveled south to become a banner for the scattered Demonic Path in the Heavenly Realm.
• Yan Qianlie subdued a group of fire-wielding Demonic Path followers near the ruins, and Room Fire Pig submitted to him.
• Yan Qianlie sent Room Fire Pig to gather followers and prepare for the ruins' exploration, which could uncover clues about the Vermilion Bird.

Yan Qianlie took over Room Fire Pig’s demonic cultivators and founded the Flame Prison Sect beside the death swamp. After studying the swamp’s stone-slab inscriptions again, he suspected they revealed a way inside and considered using a vast mass of skeletons to cross.

• Yan Qianlie absorbed Room Fire Pig’s faction and sent him north to organize manpower.
• Yan Qianlie rejected a woman’s attempt to control him, exposed Room Fire Pig’s scheme, and used her as a chair to intimidate the assembled cultivators.
• Yan Qianlie named the new sect Flame Prison Sect and declared his ambition to spread demonic flames through both realms.
• Yan Qianlie dismissed the stone slab’s harvesting and corpse-control arts, then reconsidered them after the Heavenly Dao’s script prompted him to look again.
• Yan Qianlie realized the inscriptions might offer a way into the swamp and wondered whether collected corpses and skeleton soldiers could form a path across it.

Yan Qianlie used skeletons to cross the poisonous swamp and opened the Vermilion Bird’s tomb by channeling his inherited demonic flames into its stone slab. Inside, he found four undying fire seeds and the Southern Pole Immortality Emperor Scripture, leaving him with powerful new treasures and a path to greater cultivation.

• Yan Qianlie realized that bones could float unharmed on the swamp and ordered the demonic disciples to gather skeletons, corpse puppets, and bone artifacts.
• Room Fire Pig returned with five thousand men, and Yan Qianlie had their skeletons form a bone bridge across the swamp.
• Yan Qianlie crossed the bridge, reached the stone slab, and opened the tomb with his demonic flames.
• Yan Qianlie entered the fire-lit tomb and recovered his strength as its vitality soothed his injuries.
• Yan Qianlie found four undying fire seeds and read the inscriptions on the jade coffin as the Southern Pole Immortality Emperor Scripture.

Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji discussed the search for the mysteries behind the Black Tortoise and Vermilion Bird while their intimate moments affected Qiu Wuji’s avatar. Yan Qianlie organized his followers to explore the mausoleum, and Qiu Wuji fled from Zhu Mengmeng in embarrassment.

• Qiu Wuji complained that Chu Ge had given Yan Qianlie a cultivation scripture but not her, and Chu Ge explained that uncovering the Black Tortoise’s and Vermilion Bird’s deaths mattered more than the gift.
• Chu Ge urged Yan Qianlie to stop studying the scripture and lead his followers in searching for the Vermilion Bird; Yan Qianlie sealed the burial chamber and sent them into the mausoleum.
• Yan Qianlie told his followers they could cultivate inside if they could withstand the flames, and they rushed in to explore.
• Qiu Wuji’s avatar nearly collapsed while walking with Zhu Mengmeng because she shared the sensations of her true body’s lovemaking with Chu Ge.
• Zhu Mengmeng angrily accused Qiu Wuji of making her witness their intimacy, and Qiu Wuji ran off blaming Chu Ge.

Qiu Wuji and Chu Ge reconciled over their feelings about intimacy, then Qiu Wuji chose to share a night with him alongside her avatar. While they stayed together, Zhu Mengmeng got lost in the palace and discovered six mysterious wells aligned with the Southern Dipper stars.

• Qiu Wuji stopped the bedroom roleplay and asked Chu Ge whether he loved her for their games, and he reassured her that he did not want their intimacy to feel like cheating.
• Qiu Wuji withdrew her avatar and shared a tender round of dual cultivation with Chu Ge, leaving him surprised by how much cultivation he gained.
• Qiu Wuji revealed that she had not withdrawn her avatar, and the avatar insisted on joining Chu Ge for dual cultivation because she wanted to improve too.
• Chu Ge reflected that Qiu Wuji cared most about his love for her, and he imagined the possibility of enjoying three autumns in one day.
• Zhu Mengmeng wandered through the palace, lost her way, and found six wells sending beams of light toward the Southern Dipper Six Stars.

Zhu Mengmeng accidentally absorbed the six wells’ Southern Dipper immortality qi and nearly burst from the power before Chu Ge used his correction ability to save her. Her discovery revealed a clue to the Black Tortoise palace’s hidden mysteries, leading Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji to suspect the wells’ depths held the next answer.

• Zhu Mengmeng bathed in the radiance of all six dry wells and absorbed more immortality qi than her body could withstand.
• Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji reunited after their intimate encounter, then sensed that Zhu Mengmeng was in danger and rushed to her aid.
• Chu Ge used his correction ability to return Zhu Mengmeng’s excess energy to the wells, leaving her with a survivable share of the immortality qi.
• Chu Ge explained that the wells had granted Zhu Mengmeng longevity associated with the Black Tortoise and the Southern Dipper’s six stars.
• Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji connected the wells’ starry reflections to their search for the Black Tortoise’s hidden attributes and decided to investigate the bottoms of the wells.

Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji followed the Southern Dipper’s trial to the Sea of Xuanming, the northern heavenly extreme, while Yan Qianlie discovered a Vermilion Bird site in the southeast. The couple approached the Ao peaks as Yan Qianlie went to inspect the corpse-qi-filled skywell.

• Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji discussed Zhu Mengmeng’s unusual luck and the Vermilion Bird’s influence on her.
• Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji entered the first Southern Dipper palace, where its destiny screening failed for Chu Ge and recognized Qiu Wuji as its destined visitor.
• Qiu Wuji received the palaces’ power, advanced to the late Profound Immortal stage, and followed a rainbow bridge with Chu Ge.
• Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji reached the Sea of Xuanming and spotted the Ao peaks marking the northern heavenly extreme.
• Yan Qianlie learned that cultivators had died from corpse qi in a strange southeastern skywell and went to investigate it himself.

Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji confronted the Void Sun Rat, which attacked them on the Heavenly Emperor’s orders. Qiu Wuji defeated it using the powers Chu Ge had explained, and Chu Ge destroyed it after blocking the Heavenly Emperor’s attempt to rescue it.

• Qiu Wuji and Chu Ge reached Buzhou Mountain, where the Void Sun Rat ambushed Chu Ge and revealed its allegiance to the Heavenly Emperor.
• The Heavenly Emperor urged the Void Sun Rat to attack Qiu Wuji, and she fought it with her sword while Chu Ge explained its abilities.
• The Void Sun Rat used its emptiness powers to evade Qiu Wuji’s attack and counter with a blazing sun disk, but her Zhenwu sword protected her.
• Qiu Wuji trapped the Void Sun Rat inside a Black Tortoise shell as her Void-Breaking Divine Sword pierced toward it.
• The Heavenly Emperor opened a rift to pull the Void Sun Rat away, but Chu Ge blocked it, and the Void Sun Rat’s body disintegrated into Heavenly Dao inscriptions.

Qiu Wuji absorbed the Void Sun Rat’s Heavenly Dao Inscriptions and gained authority over time and other laws, then she and Chu Ge entered the past to witness the formation of the Heavenly Realm. As the old history unfolded, they saw the Heavenly Emperor move to erase Zhenwu, while the overlap between the old and new Heavenly Realms began to reveal a different cosmic order.

• Qiu Wuji gathered the scattered Heavenly Dao Inscriptions and gained the ability to rule aspects of the world, including time.
• Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji approached Buzhou Mountain, where Chu Ge sensed the Heavenly Emperor’s gaze and Qiu Wuji severed it with Zhenwu’s Sword.
• Qiu Wuji infused Chu Ge with the Law of Time, and the two witnessed the Four Symbols’ ascent and the Heavenly Emperor’s attack on the Black Tortoise in the ancient past.
• The new Heavenly Realm’s Zhenwu questioned the disappearance of the Azure Dragon’s Seven Lodges, and the Heavenly Emperor explained that the Four Symbols were meant to descend into the Mortal Realm.
• The Heavenly Emperor warned Zhenwu that the evolution of the Four Extremes would erase them, then appeared with a Buddha and a Daoist to announce that they had come to erase Zhenwu.

Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji tried to reclaim Ao’s Feet from Buzhou Mountain, while Yan Qianlie restored Room Fire Pig’s celestial office and helped awaken the northern constellations. Their efforts broke the Heavenly Emperor’s resistance, and the chapter ended as Yan Qianlie saw the ancient scene of Vermilion Bird’s fall.

• Chu Ge concluded that the Four Extremes no longer needed Ao’s Feet as pillars and began transforming Buzhou Mountain back with Qiu Wuji’s magical power.
• Yan Qianlie gathered the Corpse Accumulation Qi in the Four-Sided Heavenly Well and returned it to the heavens.
• Yan Qianlie questioned Room Fire Pig, learned he had served Zhenwu, and restored his Office of Room Fire.
• The Vermilion Bird and northern Room Mansion constellations shone together, strengthening Zhenwu’s revival and weakening the Heavenly Emperor’s resistance.
• Buzhou Mountain turned back into Ao’s Feet without the world collapsing, and Yan Qianlie witnessed the scene of Vermilion Bird’s fall.

Yan Qianlie witnessed the Vermilion Bird’s fall and learned that its surviving True Spirit reincarnated as Qingyan. Chu Ge concluded that Qingyan could inherit part of the Vermilion Bird’s legacy without becoming the Vermilion Bird, and planned to gather the scattered Vermilion Bird Essence.

• Yan Qianlie watched the Heavenly Emperor, Buddha Ancestor, and Dao Venerable destroy the Vermilion Bird, while the Buddha Ancestor secretly saved a wisp of its True Spirit.
• The Vermilion Bird’s True Spirit chose reincarnation to escape the Heavenly Dao, exchanging its authority over flames with the Buddha Ancestor before falling through the Bridge Between Heaven and Humans.
• Yan Qianlie saw the True Spirit reincarnate as Qingyan and realized her later connection to fire and Buddhism explained her place in the Flame Prison Sect and her resurrection through the Lotus Platform.
• Qiu Wuji asked Chu Ge whether he had arranged Qingyan’s fate, and Chu Ge said it had been a coincidence that confirmed his suspicions.
• Yan Qianlie worried that Qingyan’s past-life memories would change her, but Chu Ge explained that her Vermilion Bird Essence would be separated and sent to the stars.
• Chu Ge planned to give Qingyan a cheat so she could ascend with Dabei and to collect the Vermilion Bird Essence scattered throughout the Mortal World.

Chu Ge restored another Ao leg, returned with Zhu Mengmeng to the Mortal World, and gave her the Fate and Karma Chapter to cultivate her good fortune. He then met the Black Tortoise, who accepted the recovered legs and agreed to help Chu Ge find the Vermilion Bird and reopen the way to the Heavenly Realm.

• Chu Ge restored the Southern Celestial Pole pillar to an Ao leg and took a copy of the Fate and Karma Chapter from Yan Qianlie.
• Chu Ge returned to the Mortal World with Zhu Mengmeng and gave her magic treasures and the Fate and Karma Chapter, while Qiu Wuji began teaching her cultivation.
• Chu Ge hurried to the Arctic Ocean and gave the Black Tortoise the two Ao legs he had recovered.
• The Black Tortoise told Chu Ge that it and the Azure Dragon had stayed in contact with the Vermilion Bird, which still hated Chu Ge and wanted revenge on the traitors.
• Chu Ge explained that restoring a passage to the Heavenly Realm required the power of all Four Symbols, and the Black Tortoise pledged to help him find the Vermilion Bird.

After returning from the book world, Chu Ge told Qiu Wuji that his growing command of the Heavenly Dao Laws could help their plans align with events in Southeast Asia. He encouraged her to stop thinking of herself as only a character and recognize the real Qiu Wuji she had become.

• Chu Ge came home to find Qiu Wuji watching their TV series and discussing plans for their new home's renovation.
• Chu Ge explained that his growing grasp of karma, fate, time, and space let him sense events in the mortal world, including a temple in Indonesia.
• Qiu Wuji worried that her cultivation had a fixed upper limit and that Chu Ge would eventually surpass her.
• Chu Ge told Qiu Wuji that learning and creating in the mortal world could help her reach beyond the limits of her role in the book.
• Chu Ge pointed to her credit as the series' composer and told her the Emperor of the Arctic was only a character she helped portray.

Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji traveled to Yogyakarta to investigate a likely site connected to the scattered Vermilion Bird essence. Moon Shadow met them there, but their arrival was interrupted by an attempted robbery, which Qiu Wuji stopped with her sword.

• Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji discussed the Gu God, the Vermilion Bird’s scattered essence, and the possible fading of esper abilities as spiritual energy declined.
• Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji arrived in Yogyakarta, where Mount Merapi and nearby Buddhist and Hindu sites made the area a promising place to search for the Vermilion Bird’s core.
• Moon Shadow met Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji at the airport in a car she had rented despite having no driver’s license.
• Moon Shadow explained that esper abilities had thrown the area into chaos and that temples were among the few places still maintaining order.
• A group of armed robbers surrounded Chu Ge, Qiu Wuji, and Moon Shadow, and Qiu Wuji knocked them down with a flash of sword light.
• Chu Ge urged the group to get into the car and head straight to the temple while Moon Shadow explained the situation.

Chu Ge, Qiu Wuji, and Moon Shadow approached a temple amid a country collapsing into factional warfare, where Esper Abilities had become the basis of power. Chu Ge sensed the Vermilion Bird’s presence and demonstrated how his Fantasy Becoming Reality ability had grown as they prepared to confront the temple’s gods and Buddhas.

• Moon Shadow told Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji that the country had fallen into widespread coups and fighting, with powerful Espers dominating society.
• Moon Shadow explained that the temple was a stable but heavily armed regional power, and that past infiltrators had been killed.
• Qiu Wuji sensed the killing intent surrounding the temple as the group arrived, and Chu Ge decided they should enter directly after worshipping.
• The car stalled near the temple, and Chu Ge sensed the Vermilion Bird’s presence in the intense heat and deathly aura.
• Chu Ge told Moon Shadow to contact her local allies and used Fantasy Becoming Reality to repair the car’s wiring.

Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji confronted the false Buddha at Borobudur and exposed its connection to Vermilion Bird. Meanwhile, Chu Tiange reached the Western Buddha Kingdom and discovered that its Pure Land was a place of open sexual rites.

• Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji entered the temple, where the Buddha statue demanded that Chu Ge kneel.
• The false Buddha attacked them through their Divine Souls, but Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji resisted and Chu Ge challenged its claim to be a true Buddha.
• Chu Ge explained that the Buddha could project its will through a shared concept across worlds, then pointed out that its existence depended on his writing; cracks spread across the statue.
• Monks surrounded Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji, and Chu Ge accused the Buddha of sealing Vermilion Bird's essence in Zhang Xinghu's Pendant after she rescued a woman.
• Chu Tiange arrived at the Western Buddha Kingdom and saw Buddhas and celestial maidens practicing blissful union in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.