Chapter Summaries

Cui Jiuyang defeated Spirit Source Water Lord, brought him and the River Lord back to the mortal world, and learned how Marshal Tianpeng had trapped him in the Heavenly River. Spirit Source Water Lord’s account led Cui Jiuyang to deduce that the Heavenly Court and the Heavenly Dao had fallen into conflict, leaving him to ask the two water gods what was good about being a god.

• Cui Jiuyang had Ming freeze the Heavenly River troops while he held Spirit Source Water Lord back, then persuaded him to surrender in exchange for a tributary water-god office and a way back to the mortal world.
• Cui Jiuyang brought Spirit Source Water Lord and the weakened River Lord through the Water Eye to Mirror Lake, where Spirit Source Water Lord explained that Marshal Tianpeng had lured him into the Heavenly River to steal his divine office and escape punishment.
• Spirit Source Water Lord said the missing Water Palace Seal thwarted Tianpeng’s attempt to take his office, and the Heavenly Dao stripped Tianpeng of his powers before he drowned in the flood.
• Spirit Source Water Lord explained that the Heavenly Court had left the Three Realms and rebuilt beyond them while continuing to govern through its officials and envoys.
• Cui Jiuyang reasoned that the Heavenly Court and the Heavenly Dao had come into conflict as divine rule diverged from nature, then asked Spirit Source Water Lord and the River Lord what was good about being gods.

Cui Jiuyang learned that the Heavenly Court might have been rejected by the Heavenly Dao, then used divination to locate the Heaven-Climbing Ladder above Mount Song. After reassuring his companions, he entered the ladder’s formation and encountered a platform that assessed his merit and virtue.

• Cui Jiuyang argued that the Heavenly Dao’s rules had rejected the gods’ attempts to expand their authority, and the River Lord and Spirit Source Water Lord wondered what had happened to the Heavenly Court.
• Cui Jiuyang returned to Jidu Shrine, refined his treasures with Heavenly River sand, and divined the location of the Heaven-Climbing Ladder.
• Cui Jiuyang told Ninth Lady, Su Su, and Senior Sister that he had to visit the Heavenly Court, then left with their food and the jade disc as a possible way back.
• Cui Jiuyang reached Mount Song, ate the food Su Su had packed, and flew openly into the sky toward the Heaven-Climbing Ladder.
• Cui Jiuyang entered the ladder’s formation, where a golden platform scanned him and began filling the carved words “Merit and virtue” with red light.

Cui Jiuyang passed the merit, tribulation, and Heart Demon trials of the Heaven-Climbing Ladder, then reached the deserted South Heavenly Gate. He pierced the gate’s sealed seam with Three Chi Seven, letting familiar black and white qi seep through.

• The stone platform recognized Cui Jiuyang’s accumulated merit and formed a staircase for him to climb.
• The Heavenly Tribulation clouds gathered but vanished when Cui Jiuyang complained, revealing a staircase of violet lightning.
• Heart Demons appearing as Great-Grandfather, Hu Seventeen, Master Tiger, and the Ninth Lady tested Cui Jiuyang, but his resolve remained firm.
• Cui Jiuyang woke as the mist dispersed and revealed the enormous, silent South Heavenly Gate and its Demon-Revealing Mirror.
• Cui Jiuyang knocked and called out to the empty gate, then used Three Chi Seven to cut away the clouds packed into its seam.
• Black and white qi seeped through the gap; The Eight Extremes neutralized the black qi, while the white qi replenished Cui Jiuyang’s spiritual energy.

Cui Jiuyang opened the South Heavenly Gate, discovered the Heavenly Court’s divided black-and-white immortals and its seal, and was consumed by the seal as the immortals revealed their plan to find a new ruler. Great-Grandfather, Cui Chengshou, arrived and admitted Cui Jiuyang was being made the Jade Emperor, leaving him reduced to a remnant spirit and furious at the apparent betrayal.

• Cui Jiuyang opened the South Heavenly Gate and saw the Heavenly Court split between black and white qi and opposing groups of immortals.
• Cui Jiuyang crossed the boundary as the black and white immortals fought, then reached a platform holding the covers of The Eight Extremes and Eight Desolations Death and a seal engraved with Heaven and Earth's Rightful Rule.
• Cui Jiuyang picked up the seal, which swallowed the qi, immortals, and nearly all of his body and spirit despite the efforts of Three Chi Seven and the Soul Sword.
• Great-Grandfather, Cui Chengshou, caught the Soul Sword and explained that the Heavenly Court had created The Eight Extremes and Eight Desolations Death to find a new ruler after its destruction.
• Cui Jiuyang realized Cui Chengshou had maneuvered him into becoming the Heavenly Court’s chosen ruler, and Cui Chengshou called the opportunity a chance to become the Jade Emperor.

Cui Jiuyang rejected both the choice to become the Heavenly Court’s ruler and the choice to abandon the Three Realms, using his Eight Extremes power to seal the Heavenly Court and restore the Heavenly Dao. He returned to his home a hundred years in the future without spiritual power and set off to find Ninth Lady, Su Su, and Senior Sister.

• Cui Jiuyang confronted Great-Grandfather over his plan to ascend, and Great-Grandfather entered the Heavenly Gate after giving Cui Jiuyang his Eight Extremes spiritual power.
• Cui Jiuyang reached the perfected Eight Extremes realm and chose neither to merge with the Heaven and Earth Mandate Seal nor to abandon the Heavenly Dao.
• Cui Jiuyang rode Three Chi Seven beyond the South Heavenly Gate, severed the Heaven-Climbing Ladder, and sealed the shattered Heavenly Court with his magical treasures.
• Cui Jiuyang used the Heavenly Court’s Five Elements Qi to repair the Three Realms Barrier, cast the little seal into the sealed ruins, and returned his cultivation methods to the Heavenly Dao.
• Cui Jiuyang broke the jade disc and vanished, then appeared outside his courtyard a hundred years later with no spiritual power.
• Cui Jiuyang took his electric scooter toward town, planning to travel to Jining and find Ninth Lady, Su Su, and Senior Sister.