Chapter Summaries

Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue attended an audience at Divine Path Heaven, where the veiled holy maiden tried to bind the guardians to the sect with her innate ability, Sincere Words. Cui Jiuyang resisted with the Crane Feather numinous treasure, but still could not find a way to contact her before she withdrew behind the curtains.

• Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue joined eighteen other guardians in the hall after the sect leader selected them to remain.
• The holy maiden descended from behind the black curtains and spoke to the guardians, using Sincere Words to make them loyal to Divine Path Heaven.
• Li Mingyue protected herself by sealing her hearing, while Cui Jiuyang resisted the holy maiden's power with the Crane Feather numinous treasure.
• The holy maiden returned behind the curtains, and the sect leader invited the guardians to explore the sacred mountain and request anything they needed from Incense Master Wei.

Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue settled into Divine Path Heaven and investigated the Holy Maiden, while Rasputin sensed a sacred relic connected to his Lord somewhere on Qidao Mountain. Their search led them to the Book Repository and to a hidden courtyard bearing signs of Talisman-Paper Servants.

• Incense Master Wei congratulated the newly chosen protectors and cultivated friendly relations with them.
• Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue shared a room, used the Great Expansion Command Flags to block Divine Path Heaven's detection formation, and discussed the veiled Holy Maiden, whom Cui Jiuyang identified as Wang Tong's younger sister.
• Cui Jiuyang summoned Rasputin from the Five Warlords Register, and Rasputin claimed he had sensed the presence of his Lord and a possible sacred relic near their room.
• Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue received their protector tokens and the God and the Dao Complete scripture, which Cui Jiuyang quickly read and learned described Divine Path Heaven's all-encompassing doctrine.
• Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue searched Qidao Mountain and traced Rasputin's sensed presence to the Book Repository below the sacred statues.
• On their way back, Cui Jiuyang detected the presence of destroyed Talisman-Paper Servants in a secluded courtyard.

Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue investigated Divine Path Heaven’s Book Repository, where Rasputin awakened as a powerful Holy Angel through Hong Xiuquan’s Edict of Great Peace. With Rasputin’s strength at his side, Cui Jiuyang searched Qidao Mountain for a way to reach the Holy Maiden but found an invisible boundary separating the sect’s ordinary and leadership areas.

• Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue entered the Book Repository at midnight, where Rasputin sensed a sacred presence in Hong Xiuquan’s handwritten Edict of Great Peace.
• Rasputin touched the Edict of Great Peace, transformed into a many-eyed, many-winged Angel, and gained immense power before returning to his priestly appearance.
• Rasputin pledged himself to Cui Jiuyang, who promised to find more relics connected to Heavenly King Hong and returned him to the Five Warlords Register.
• Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue left the Book Repository and explored Qidao Mountain for a way to contact the Holy Maiden.
• Cui Jiuyang found that three enormous sage faces marked an invisible boundary between the area used by ordinary believers and the leadership’s great hall.

Cui Jiuyang used silver dollars bearing Wang Tong’s aura to send a message to Wang Lu and received her reply through a bird carrying a bead. Wang Lu explained that she was closely confined in Divine Path Heaven, but the cult leader’s upcoming departure might give her a chance to escape.

• Cui Jiuyang secretly imprinted a message for Wang Lu onto silver dollars carrying Wang Tong’s aura, using Li Sanyuan’s name as cover.
• Cui Jiuyang watched Li Sanyuan’s room for two days, then saw a bird repeatedly knock at the window before a powerful Divine Sense knocked it unconscious.
• The bird woke in Li Sanyuan’s room, delivered a crystal bead, and flew away; Cui Jiuyang revealed himself and read Wang Lu’s message.
• Wang Lu told Cui Jiuyang that elders and retainers closely watched her room beside the cult leader’s, making escape impossible for now.
• Wang Lu said the cult leader would soon leave on an important mission, which might give her an opportunity to escape, and thanked Cui Jiuyang while praising Divine Path Heaven’s treatment of her and Wang Tong.

Cui Jiuyang chose the mission to purge Dafushan Mountain’s Seventy-Two Caves and traveled with Li Mingyue toward Baise, observing Divine Path Heaven’s varied Cultivation of the Heart Halls and punishing evil practitioners along the way. After half a month, they reached Baise and discovered that its centuries-old Eastern Guangdong Guild Hall secretly served as a Cultivation of the Heart Hall.

• Cui Jiuyang selected the Dafushan Mountain demon-extermination mission because his Great-Grandfather had also gone there on an assignment.
• Cui Jiuyang planted a Heart Vine Parasitism Technique on Li Sanyuan and gave him three paper cranes before departing with Li Mingyue.
• Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue traveled between Divine Path Heaven’s Cultivation of the Heart Halls, where Cui Jiuyang encountered both benevolent followers and practitioners of evil arts.
• Cui Jiuyang struck down a female adept in Yunhuai after discovering that she drained infants’ vital energy to preserve her appearance and improve her cultivation.
• Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue reached Baise after about half a month and found that the Eastern Guangdong Guild Hall secretly served as a Cultivation of the Heart Hall.

Cui Jiuyang waited at the Eastern Guangdong Guild Hall for Divine Path Heaven’s campaign against the Seventy-Two Caves of Dafushan Mountain, learning that local chieftain families had secretly colluded with the fiends. After more than twenty Protectors assembled, Incense Master Shen appeared, and Cui Jiuyang sensed that his Gu Sorcery was unsettling before hearing a tale about General Jin’s attempt to sever the Southern Borderlands’ gu foundation.

• Cui Jiuyang searched the Eastern Guangdong Guild Hall for Great-Grandfather’s aura but found no trace of him.
• A Divine Path Heaven follower told Cui Jiuyang that local chieftain families obstructed the campaign and had long colluded with Dafushan Mountain’s fiends to exploit and terrorize the people.
• Cui Jiuyang named his repaired sword Three Chi Seven and practiced The Eight Extremes while Protectors gathered at the Guild Hall.
• More than twenty Protectors assembled, and Incense Master Shen arrived, prompting Cui Jiuyang to quietly circulate his spiritual power because Shen practiced Gu Sorcery.
• The account described General Jin making talisman water to sever the Southern Borderlands’ gu foundation, then dying in a landslide as his banner’s character changed from Jin to Liu.

Cui Jiuyang and the protectors entered Dafushan Mountain with Incense Master Shen, who warned them that the Tusi might be plotting against their campaign. A gigantic swarm of Blood Locusts surrounded the group, and when one bit a protector, Shen’s confidence in his Gu insect’s protection was shaken.

• Incense Master Shen told the protectors that the Tusi were acting unusually and that he would accompany them into the mountains to stop any attack.
• Cui Jiuyang pulled Li Mingyue behind him when he sensed danger, just before Shen’s Gu insect buzzed an alarm.
• Shen’s Gu insect spread its scent to ward off the approaching Blood Locusts, and the protectors crowded together beneath the fog.
• A vast swarm of Blood Locusts darkened the sky and piled into a towering wall around the group, while Cui Jiuyang warned Li Mingyue that the others might not survive an attack.
• A Blood Locust bit a protector, and Incense Master Shen urgently sent his Gu insect toward the injured man.

Cui Jiuyang and the guardians struggled against trained Blood Locusts hidden in a massive swarm, and Incense Master Shen warned that their attacker was deliberately targeting them. Cui Jiuyang sent Rasputin to locate the insect controller, who found a lone old man beneath a mound of Blood Locusts.

• A Blood Locust bit a guardian, and Incense Master Shen's scorpion Gu stopped the bleeding with white foam.
• Another guardian caught a Blood Locust, and Incense Master Shen identified it as one of several insects deliberately trained to ambush the group.
• The controlled locusts launched increasingly coordinated attacks, while Incense Master Shen warned the guardians not to use powerful spells against the surrounding swarm.
• Cui Jiuyang learned the swarm would take at least another hour to pass and sent Rasputin to find the insect controller.
• Rasputin located a lone old man standing beneath a huge mass of clustered Blood Locusts.

Cui Jiuyang led Incense Master Shen and the guardians to confront the Blood Locust controller, but the old man escaped into the sky with the insects. Cui Jiuyang sent Rasputin to follow him and learn his identity and destination.

• Cui Jiuyang used a drowned Blood Locust to pretend to track the insect controller and persuaded Incense Master Shen to lead the guardians toward him.
• Incense Master Shen and the guardians advanced through the mist under the protection of his scorpion-shaped Gu and soon found the old man beside a pile of Blood Locusts.
• The old man sent a swarm of Blood Locusts at the party, but the guardians defeated most of them and charged forward.
• The old man hid inside the insect pile, then used Blood Locusts to lift himself into the air as Cui Jiuyang warned the guardians he was escaping.
• Incense Master Shen sent his scorpion-shaped Gu after the old man, but Blood Locusts intercepted it and carried him into the mist.
• Cui Jiuyang ordered Rasputin to stay hidden near the old man and discover his background and destination.

Cui Jiuyang and the guardians reached a broad river that Incense Master Shen identified as their destination, while Rasputin secretly investigated the Tusi Tower. By the river, Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue discussed his Great-Grandfather and his fading desire to return to the future.

• Rasputin followed the Blood Locust controller back to Tusi Tower and began searching for the Tusi's secrets on Cui Jiuyang's order.
• Cui Jiuyang and the guardians arrived at a broad riverbank that Incense Master Shen said was their destination, though Cui Jiuyang wondered where Dafushan Mountain was.
• Cui Jiuyang told Li Mingyue that he had no way to contact his Great-Grandfather and complained that reaching the Seven Extremes Realm seemed nearly impossible.
• Li Mingyue reassured Cui Jiuyang that his current cultivation was already enough to travel the world and noted that his reputation would protect him from many opponents.
• Cui Jiuyang admitted that although he once wanted to return to the future, he had thought about it less the longer he stayed in this era.

Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue grew closer as she asked him to stay, while he struggled to answer her feelings. The guardians learned that Dafushan Mountain was a shrinking, moving mountain in the Nanluo River, then followed Divine Path Heaven’s markers to a recent battle site where Incense Master Shen warned that things looked bad.

• Li Mingyue asked whether Cui Jiuyang would return to his old world, and he said he had unfinished business in this era.
• Li Mingyue named Cui Jiuyang’s plans to save Ninth Lady and restore Little White Snake, then asked him to stay; the next morning, she told him to hold her hand.
• Incense Master Shen explained that Dafushan Mountain drifted through the Nanluo River and shrank anyone who landed on it, making its interior large enough for the demons of seventy-two caves.
• The guardians searched for Dafushan Mountain and found Divine Path Heaven’s concealed trail markers along the river.
• The guardians followed the markers to a hill where a fierce battle had recently taken place, and Incense Master Shen used his gu insect to inspect demon blood before warning that things looked bad.

Incense Master Shen’s group found evidence that their predecessors had suffered a devastating defeat, then continued searching the Nanluo River for Dafushan Mountain. At dawn, the drifting mountain appeared with Divine Path Heaven cultivators trapped inside, and Shen warned the guardians not to rush into a possible trap.

• Incense Master Shen used the Gu Insect’s findings and the battlefield’s traces to conclude that demons had defeated the previous group of guardians.
• Shen led the guardians to search cautiously along the riverbank, but they found no sign of Dafushan Mountain before nightfall.
• Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue shared a relaxed meal by the river while a bearded guardian urged the others to set aside their fear and prepare to fight.
• At dawn, Cui Jiuyang spotted Dafushan Mountain drifting toward them, and the guardians gathered at the bank as it came into view.
• Cui Jiuyang sensed Divine Path Heaven cultivators inside the mountain, and Shen confirmed they were surrounded by demons and warned the guardians that the scene might be a trap.

Cui Jiuyang contacted the Protectors trapped inside Dafushan Mountain and learned that they planned to detonate their Demon-Subduing Formation to distract the demons. After the formation erupted, Incense Master Shen led the rescue charge, transforming as he entered the mountain.

• Incense Master Shen asked Cui Jiuyang to learn how many Protectors remained in the cave and whether they could distract the demons.
• Cui Jiuyang discovered the exhausted Protectors holding a Demon-Subduing Formation and relayed their situation to Incense Master Shen.
• The young formation master proposed detonating the formation, and the young Miao woman agreed to consider the plan despite the risk.
• A Spirit-Eating Giant Lizard blocked Cui Jiuyang's Divine Sense, so he withdrew and reported what he had learned.
• Incense Master Shen ordered the Protectors to prepare to charge when the formation erupted, and they followed Dafushan Mountain along the riverbank.
• Golden light and Buddhist chanting burst from the mountain, and Incense Master Shen led the charge as his Scorpion Gu Worm triggered a transformation.

Cui Jiuyang and the Protectors of Divine Path Heaven fought their way through Dafushan Mountain’s demons, but two Cave Masters and a third, far stronger presence threatened to stop them. Cui Jiuyang suddenly took Li Mingyue and fled in another direction, with Ciguі and Refined Tiger Daoist pursuing them.

• Incense Master Shen led the Protectors into Dafushan Mountain, where the Buddhist light briefly immobilized the demons and monsters.
• The light’s restraint ended sooner than expected, leaving the Protectors surrounded; Incense Master Shen ordered them to break toward the riverbank.
• Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue used Vajra Warriors, spells, and a spinning shell blade to advance with the Protectors through the horde.
• Ciguі and Refined Tiger Daoist appeared as Cave Masters, while an even stronger aura emerged from Fuxian Cave.
• As the Fuxian Cave Cave Master began to speak, Cui Jiuyang sensed something elsewhere, took Li Mingyue by the hand, and raced in the opposite direction.
• Ciguі and Refined Tiger Daoist pursued Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue, with Ciguі closing to within seven zhang and Refined Tiger Daoist unleashing a tiger’s roar.

Cui Jiuyang detected The Eight Extremes on Dafushan Mountain and hurried after the aura, killing Ciguі and the Refined Tiger Daoist when they attacked him. The Golden-Eyed Man let Divine Path Heaven’s Protectors escape after an awkward, halfhearted battle, while Cui Jiuyang continued searching for his great-grandfather.

• Cui Jiuyang sent Heavenly Thunder at the Refined Tiger Daoist and killed Ciguі with Three Chi Seven before leaving with Li Mingyue.
• The Refined Tiger Daoist’s Tiger-Refining Soul failed to stop the Heavenly Thunder, and the strike left him a charred corpse.
• The Golden-Eyed Man emerged from behind a boulder, killed a snickering lesser demon, and ordered the demons to capture Divine Path Heaven’s Protectors.
• Incense Master Shen led the Protectors out of the encirclement, and the Golden-Eyed Man stayed behind the boulder instead of stopping them.
• Cui Jiuyang followed the concealed aura of The Eight Extremes across Dafushan Mountain, hoping to find his great-grandfather.

Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue tunneled into the heart of Dafushan Mountain and found Cui Chengshou carefully subduing two magical treasure true spirits. Cui Chengshou explained their origins and enlisted Cui Jiuyang to help claim Abyss in the Water, leaving them poised to subdue the treasures together.

• Cui Jiuyang sensed The Eight Extremes behind a solid rock wall, and Li Mingyue helped him tunnel through it.
• Cui Jiuyang entered the hidden cavern after sending in a paper-talisman warrior and heard Cui Chengshou call him over.
• Cui Jiuyang found Cui Chengshou carefully attaching spiritual threads to two glowing fish surrounded by the bones of powerful cultivators.
• Cui Chengshou revealed that the fish were the true spirits of Mountain Upon Mountain and Abyss in the Water, two magical treasures fused into Dafushan Mountain.
• Cui Chengshou told Cui Jiuyang to help subdue the blue Abyss in the Water while he claimed the yellow Mountain Upon Mountain, and Cui Jiuyang agreed after teasing him.

Cui Jiuyang and Cui Chengshou carefully subdued the two spirit fish that formed Dafushan Mountain’s ancient treasures, while Cui Chengshou explained their history and warned him about dealing with deities. Cui Jiuyang successfully refined the blue treasure, and the chapter left the yellow treasure still to be claimed.

• Cui Jiuyang joined Cui Chengshou in wrapping the two spirit fish in spiritual-energy cocoons while Li Mingyue stood guard.
• Cui Chengshou explained how the damaged treasures had merged into Dafushan Mountain and why previous cultivators had died trying to collect them.
• Cui Chengshou warned Cui Jiuyang not to investigate the deities and urged him to pursue ascension rather than fear their authority.
• Cui Chengshou revealed that the hundred thousand evil ghosts he had borrowed to fill the South Sea’s Sea Eye had gone missing, so he wanted Mountain Upon Mountain to replace them.
• Cui Jiuyang and Cui Chengshou collected both treasures without incident, and Cui Jiuyang refined the blue spirit fish into a translucent crystal palace.

Cui Jiuyang acquired Abyss in the Water and inherited Dafushan Mountain’s demons into his Five Warlords Register as Cui Chengshou investigated Divine Path Heaven’s links to the stolen hungry ghosts. After Dafushan Mountain collapsed, Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue planned to reach Qidao Mountain by joining Li Sanyuan’s escort mission under his identity.

• The Twelve Dragon Scales transformed into dragon-shaped eaves on Abyss in the Water, and Cui Jiuyang stored the magical treasure in his Dantian.
• Cui Chengshou transferred Dafushan Mountain’s phantom demons, including its seven surviving cave masters, into Cui Jiuyang’s Five Warlords Register to support his coming conflict with Divine Path Heaven.
• Cui Chengshou told Cui Jiuyang that Divine Path Heaven’s leader and Holy Maiden wore cloth made from East Sea Black Abyss mist, suggesting a possible Dragon Clan connection to the stolen hungry ghosts.
• Cui Chengshou vanished using sword escape, and Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue left Dafushan Mountain as it crumbled into the river.
• Cui Jiuyang learned Li Sanyuan was escorting formation materials from the Leizhou Strait and proposed reaching Qidao Mountain by posing as his friend.

Li Sanyuan’s exhausted convoy reached the inn on Laitou after a difficult journey escorting forty carts of formation materials. When the head driver returned from inspecting the carts, he found everyone inside the inn lying motionless on the floor.

• Li Sanyuan and the protectors endured attacks by demons and wandering ghosts while escorting the formation materials from Leizhou toward Guangzhou.
• The convoy struggled up Laitou’s rocky road, with the protectors repeatedly using magic to steady the carts.
• Lao E agreed to stop at the roadside inn, and Li Sanyuan promised the innkeeper a tip in exchange for food and wine.
• The head driver parked and inspected the carts while the convoy gathered inside the inn to eat.
• The head driver entered the front hall and found everyone sprawled motionless among overturned dishes and broken wine jars.

Cui Jiuyang captured Divine Path Heaven’s escort convoy and questioned its Protectors about the unusually large shipment of formation materials. A Protector’s account raised suspicions about the route, and an elderly local began to offer a possible explanation.

• Cui Jiuyang and Li Mingyue drugged the convoy’s escorts using venomous insects hidden in the cups, then Cui Jiuyang sent Lao E into the Five Warlords Register and spared the other Protectors.
• Fabre cured the surviving Protectors and ate the uncontaminated food while Cui Jiuyang waited for them to wake.
• Cui Jiuyang threatened a female Protector into recounting the escort assignment, but her account revealed nothing suspicious.
• A male Protector explained that Lao E regularly escorted formation materials from Qiongzhou through Guangzhou to Divine Path Heaven’s Cultivation of the Heart Halls, deepening Cui Jiuyang’s doubts about the route.
• Cui Jiuyang questioned an elderly Protector with a Southern Heaven accent, who said he did not know the reason for the shipments but could make a guess.