Chapter Summaries

A speck of incense ash awakened the Beginningless Bell phantom above Jiepai Pass, which twice blocked Yuanshi Tianzun’s Pangu Banner and protected the Three Xiao. Yuanshi Tianzun prepared to unleash genuine chaos heaven-opening origin, as a calm gaze from Guanjiangkou and a deeper bell toll began to stir.

• Incense ash lit the Beginningless Bell Mark between Yunxiao’s brows, and the bell’s first toll disrupted Yuanshi Tianzun’s link to the Heavenly Dao and forced his Sage might to recoil.
• Yunxiao realized Guanjiangkou had intervened, while Zhao Gongming and the Three Xiao recovered enough to face Yuanshi Tianzun’s renewed attack.
• Yuanshi Tianzun poured more power into the Pangu Banner, but the Beginningless Bell’s second toll shattered and ground away the incoming Chaos Sword Qi before it could reach the Three Xiao.
• The other Sages watched the bell block the attack, and Tongtian, Nuwa, Jieyin, and Zhunti reacted to Guanjiangkou’s power.
• Yuanshi Tianzun treated Guanjiangkou as a formidable enemy and raised the Pangu Banner with genuine chaos heaven-opening origin as the bell’s incense reignited.
• A calm gaze from Guanjiangkou fell upon Yuanshi Tianzun, and a deeper toll began to awaken within the divine bell.

Yuanshi Tianzun traced the chaos disrupting the Investiture of the Gods to the Ruined Temple at Guanjiangkou, whose bell wielded laws independent of the Heavenly Dao. He turned his Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage toward Barren Mountain to destroy the temple, leaving the Twelve Golden Immortals alive but still afflicted by the Three Xiao's formation.

• The Beginningless Bell's phantom annihilated the Chaos Sword Qi and made the Pangu Banner recoil, drawing blood from Yuanshi Tianzun's hand.
• Yuanshi Tianzun realized the bell's laws operated independently of the Heavenly Dao and identified the Ruined Temple at Guanjiangkou as the source of the changes to the Investiture of the Gods.
• Yuanshi Tianzun used Saint Divine Thought to trace karma and fate to the temple on Barren Mountain.
• Yuanshi Tianzun protected the Twelve Golden Immortals and suppressed their corruption, but left their formation locks in place.
• Yuanshi Tianzun turned the Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage toward Barren Mountain, and the Pangu Banner's chaotic edges locked onto the mountain.

Yuanshi Tianzun abandoned Jiepai Pass and crossed the void to destroy the Ruined Temple at Guanjiangkou, which he believed had disrupted the Investiture of the Gods. Zhao Gongming and the Three Xiao set out to return, while the temple’s Dao patterns held back Yuanshi Tianzun’s power until he struck it with the Pangu Banner.

• Yuanshi Tianzun withdrew the Pangu Banner and followed the Beginningless Bell’s lingering resonance to Guanjiangkou.
• Yuanshi Tianzun protected the Twelve Golden Immortals from the Yellow River Turbid Lock, then left Jiepai Pass to attack the Ruined Temple.
• Zhao Gongming and the Three Xiao decided to return to Guanjiangkou and try to protect the Dao Venerable.
• Yuanshi Tianzun arrived at the Ruined Temple in his Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage, but its Dao patterns blocked his Yuqing sacred light.
• Yuanshi Tianzun raised the Pangu Banner and sent a heaven-cleaving blade of energy toward the temple.

Yuanshi Tianzun attacked the Ruined Temple at Guanjiangkou, but its purple-gray power swallowed his Heavenly Dao thunder punishment. As he prepared to strike the temple himself, the clay Divine Statue began to crack and a figure opened its eyes within the incense.

• Yuanshi Tianzun arrived at the Ruined Temple and found that its incense ash blocked his approach and destroyed his Yuqing Daoist Music.
• Yuanshi summoned Heavenly Dao thunder punishment against the temple, but its purple-gray barrier stopped and swallowed the lightning.
• Yuanshi divined the temple’s connections to Zhao Gongming, Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, and Bixiao, but found its karma hidden from the Heavenly Dao.
• Yuanshi unfurled the Pangu Banner and threatened to cleave the temple from the Primordial World himself.
• The clay Divine Statue cracked as Xiaotian Dog turned toward the temple, and a figure opened its eyes within the purple-gray incense.

Gu Changqing emerged from the Divine Statue at Guanjiangkou and confronted Yuanshi Tianzun, who attacked with the Pangu Banner. Gu Changqing severed the karma linking Yuanshi to his power and the Heavenly Dao, leaving a crack in Yuanshi’s Saint Soul as the Heavenly Dao River shook.

• Gu Changqing stepped out of the Ruined Temple and warned Yuanshi Tianzun that he should not have crossed the threshold at Guanjiangkou.
• Yuanshi Tianzun raised the Pangu Banner and unleashed a Sky-Opening Axe strike to erase Gu Changqing from the Primordial World’s karma.
• Gu Changqing slashed with purple-gray sword light that severed Yuanshi’s connections to the Pangu Banner, the Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage, and the Jade Void Palace’s fortune.
• Yunxiao sensed Gu Changqing’s move as she and Zhao Gongming raced toward Guanjiangkou with Bixiao and Qiongxiao.
• Gu Changqing’s sword light cut the karma thread between Yuanshi Tianzun and the Heavenly Dao, cracking Yuanshi’s Saint Soul as the Heavenly Dao River shook.

Gu Changqing stopped Yuanshi Tianzun’s advance with a sword strike that severed karma and nearly threatened his Sage Dao Fruit. Yuanshi remained frozen above Guanjiangkou as Gu Changqing returned to the ruined temple, while Zhao Gongming and the Three Xiao hurried toward the scene.

• Gu Changqing’s sword cleaved apart the Pangu Banner’s axe phantom and left a karmic crack in the banner.
• The sword cut through Yuanshi Tianzun’s karmic bonds, damaged the Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage, and severed a lock of his hair without striking his Sage Dao Fruit.
• Gu Changqing warned Yuanshi Tianzun that he would die if he took another half step, and Yuanshi stopped advancing.
• Gu Changqing returned to the ruined temple with Xiaotian Dog, and the temple doors closed behind them.
• Zhao Gongming and the Three Xiao rushed toward Guanjiangkou as Yuanshi Tianzun remained suspended above the ground.

Gu Changqing’s sword strike left Yuanshi Tianzun unable to cross the final three feet to Guanjiangkou’s Ruined Temple, and Yuanshi ultimately retreated. His departure left the Twelve Golden Immortals abandoned at Jiepai Pass, while Zhao Gongming and the Three Xiao realized the Dao Venerable had forced a Sage to withdraw.

• Yuanshi Tianzun stopped three feet from the Ruined Temple, unable to see its fate or overcome the warning that another step would bring his death.
• Tongtian, Jieyin, Zhunti, and Nuwa witnessed the standoff and recognized the danger of challenging Guanjiangkou.
• Yuanshi turned the Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage around and left without advancing or making a threat.
• At Jiepai Pass, the Twelve Golden Immortals remained trapped in the Yellow River Turbid Locks as Yuanshi’s protection faded.
• Zhao Gongming and the Three Xiao sensed Yuanshi’s retreat and understood that Gu Changqing had forced a Sage to withdraw.
• Beings across the Primordial World turned their attention to Guanjiangkou, which became known as forbidden ground where even a Sage had to halt.

After Yuanshi Tianzun retreated from Guanjiangkou, Xiqi lost faith in its Heavenly Mandate and Great Shang launched a counterattack at Jiepai Pass. Jiang Ziya ordered a retreat toward Golden Rooster Ridge as Yin Jiao’s army overran Xiqi’s camp.

• Yuanshi Tianzun found a fissure in his Karma Thread and damage to the Pangu Banner, then sent edicts ordering Randeng to guard Xiqi and Jiang Ziya to hold the camp and seek another route.
• Jiang Ziya and the Xiqi soldiers saw Yuanshi Tianzun retreat while the Twelve Golden Immortals remained kneeling at the camp gate, leaving Xiqi’s morale shattered.
• Yin Jiao led Great Shang’s army out of Jiepai Pass and attacked Xiqi’s camp, while Wen Zhong, Zhao Gongming, and the Three Xiao supported the assault.
• Yin Jiao broke through Xiqi’s defenses and drove toward Jiang Ziya as Xiqi’s soldiers panicked and fled.
• Jiang Ziya ordered the army to retreat toward Golden Rooster Ridge, and Great Shang’s soldiers trampled Xiqi’s campaign banner into the mud.

After Xiqi’s army fled to Golden Rooster Ridge, Kong Xuan blocked its path and swept away three of its generals with his Five-Colored Divine Light. Just as he was about to take Jiang Ziya’s God-Beating Whip, Zhunti intervened and invited Kong Xuan to join the Western Religion.

• Jiang Ziya led Xiqi’s shattered army toward Golden Rooster Ridge, where Kong Xuan announced that the road was closed in the name of Great Shang.
• Lei Zhenzi attacked Kong Xuan, but Kong Xuan swept him away with the azure divine light.
• Huang Tianhua and Wei Hu attacked in turn, and Kong Xuan swept away both men and their treasures.
• Jiang Ziya recognized Kong Xuan as the first peacock between heaven and earth, but Kong Xuan’s yellow divine light nearly took the God-Beating Whip.
• Zhunti used his Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree to rescue Jiang Ziya and his whip, then invited Kong Xuan to join the Western Religion.

Kong Xuan resisted Zhunti’s attempt to recruit and subdue him, but Zhunti’s Three Thousand Great Dreams briefly disrupted his Dao Heart and wounded him. Zhunti withdrew after failing to capture Kong Xuan, leaving Jiang Ziya’s army to face the still-defended Golden Rooster Ridge.

• Kong Xuan rejected Zhunti’s offer to join the Western Religion and dismissed the Sage’s incarnation as unworthy.
• Zhunti attacked with the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree, but Kong Xuan’s Five-Colored Divine Light swept away the treasure light and forced Zhunti’s incarnation back.
• Zhunti manifested a Dharma body and fought Kong Xuan with eighteen magical treasures, which Kong Xuan’s Five Elements Dao Disc repelled.
• Zhunti used Three Thousand Great Dreams to overwhelm Kong Xuan with mortal lifetimes, briefly making his Five-Colored Divine Light falter.
• Kong Xuan escaped the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree by attacking the karma anchoring Zhunti’s incarnation, but he was wounded and Zhunti withdrew.
• Zhunti told Jiang Ziya that Kong Xuan would not leave the pass for a while, while Jiang Ziya remained uncertain how Xiqi could pass Golden Rooster Ridge.

After Zhunti's dream art weakened Kong Xuan and threatened Great Shang's defenses, Yin Jiao took him to Guanjiangkou to seek help from the Dao Venerable. In the Ruined Temple, Kong Xuan saw Zhunti's Dream Thread suppressed alongside a strand of Yuqing Saint's hair and a fragment of an Ancient Mirror.

• Kong Xuan admitted that Zhunti's Great Dream Heart Sutra had weakened his Five-Colored Divine Light and left him unable to leave Golden Rooster Ridge safely.
• Hu Li urged Kong Xuan to seek the Dao Venerable of Guanjiangkou, citing the figure's past aid to Yin Jiao, Zhao Gongming, and the Three Maidens of Sanxiao.
• Yin Jiao arrived with news that Xiqi's forces were moving against Great Shang's eastern and northern fronts and offered to take Kong Xuan to Guanjiangkou.
• Kong Xuan left Hu Li in command and sealed Golden Rooster Ridge behind a Five-Colored Divine Light Formation before traveling with Yin Jiao by night.
• At Barren Mountain, Kong Xuan's Five-Colored Divine Light could not affect the black dog guarding the Ruined Temple, so he followed Yin Jiao inside.
• Kong Xuan saw Yuqing Saint's hair and a cracked Ancient Mirror beside Zhunti's Dream Thread, which the Purple-Gray Incense held suppressed.

At the Ruined Temple, Gu Changqing refused to remove Zhunti’s Dream Thread from Kong Xuan, insisting he overcome his own Dao Heart flaw, but declared Golden Rooster Ridge under his protection. He sent Yang Jian with a Purple-Gray Dao Seal to confront Zhunti on his behalf and forbid the Western Religion from taking Kong Xuan.

• Yin Jiao brought the wounded Kong Xuan to the Ruined Temple, where Kong Xuan sensed its suppressed relics and saw that Zhunti’s Dream Art was restrained.
• Gu Changqing identified Kong Xuan’s hidden lineage and foretold that he would become the Great Bright King Peacock, but refused to remove the Dream Thread for him.
• Gu Changqing declared Kong Xuan under his protection and condensed Zhunti’s Dream Thread into a Purple-Gray Dao Seal.
• Gu Changqing sent Yang Jian to Golden Rooster Ridge to tell Zhunti that Kong Xuan would remain there and the Western Religion could not take him.
• Yang Jian accepted the mission and departed with Xiaotian Dog, while Gu Changqing assured Yin Jiao that Yang Jian alone was enough.

Yang Jian arrived at Xiqi Camp on his master's decree and challenged Saint Zhunti to leave Kong Xuan at Golden Rooster Ridge. When Zhunti attacked with the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree, Yang Jian opened the Hell Furnace and swallowed its seven-colored treasure light.

• Yang Jian arrived at Xiqi Camp, carrying a purple-gray Dao pattern and waiting for Zhunti.
• Yang Jian told Zhunti that Kong Xuan must remain at Golden Rooster Ridge and warned the Western Religion not to take him.
• Zhunti refused to withdraw and swept the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree's treasure light toward Yang Jian.
• Yang Jian opened the Hell Furnace and dragged the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree's light inside.
• The furnace extinguished the treasure light, leaving the Xiqi Camp stunned and Zhunti's smile frozen.

Yang Jian used the Hell Furnace and God-Demon Sealing to defeat Zhunti’s avatar at Golden Rooster Ridge. Zhunti withdrew, while Yang Jian reaffirmed Guanjiangkou’s edict that Kong Xuan would remain and the Western Religion could not take him.

• Zhunti poured his avatar’s sage Dao resonance into the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree, but Yang Jian’s Hell Furnace swallowed the resulting river of treasure light.
• Zhunti summoned his twenty-four-headed, eighteen-armed Golden Dharma Body and ordered Yang Jian to kneel.
• Yang Jian summoned a god-demon phantom with God-Demon Sealing, which pinned Zhunti’s projected might and forced his Dharma Body back.
• The sealing force cracked Zhunti’s Dharma Body and Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree phantom, and Zhunti spat golden blood as his avatar fell into a crater.
• Yang Jian told Zhunti that his master’s edict kept Kong Xuan at Golden Rooster Ridge and forbade the Western Religion from taking him.

After Yang Jian used the power of his master's edict to force Zhunti's incarnation to retreat from Golden Rooster Ridge, Kong Xuan realized his own path had reached a bottleneck. He decided to travel to Guanjiangkou, offer incense at the Ruined Temple, and seek the Dao Venerable's teachings.

• Kong Xuan watched Yang Jian suppress Zhunti's incarnation and realized that the Dao Venerable's power surpassed the limits of the Heavenly Dao.
• Yang Jian ordered Zhunti to withdraw the karma laid on Kong Xuan and leave Golden Rooster Ridge, warning that another intervention would sever the incarnation's return to Mount Sumeru.
• Zhunti withdrew after sweeping Jiang Ziya and several Xiqi commanders back to their camp, and Kong Xuan helped the exhausted Yang Jian stand.
• Yang Jian explained that his master’s arts were only borrowed power and said that cultivators could forge their own paths rather than kneel beneath the Heavenly Dao.
• Kong Xuan decided to go to Guanjiangkou to offer incense and seek the Dao, then flew toward the Ruined Temple after Yang Jian warned him to put away his Five-Colored Divine Light there.

Kong Xuan passed the Seeking the Dao Incense test and became Gu Changqing’s fourth direct disciple after letting go of his immediate desire for protection and a way to defeat Zhunti. Gu Changqing gave him Zhunti’s Dream Thread as a seed to refine, while the system prepared to authorize Kong Xuan’s exclusive art.

• Kong Xuan came alone to the Ruined Temple and asked Gu Changqing to accept him as a disciple and show him a path beyond the Heavenly Dao’s old game.
• Kong Xuan’s Seeking the Dao Incense stalled just short of six inches until he cast aside his worries about Zhunti and Golden Rooster Ridge, after which it burned all nine inches.
• Gu Changqing bestowed the Dao Venerable Seal on Kong Xuan and named him his fourth direct disciple after Yang Jian, Yin Jiao, and Yunxiao.
• Gu Changqing gave Kong Xuan Zhunti’s Dream Thread as a seed and told him to refine it before returning in three days to receive his first direct-disciple art.
• Kong Xuan departed for Golden Rooster Ridge, and the system triggered authorization for his exclusive art, Five-Colored Divine Light · Reverse Refinement of the Heavens.

After receiving complete mastery of the Five Elements Law, Gu Changqing taught Kong Xuan that his Five-Colored Divine Light was limited to cycling through the Five Elements and showed him how to create and return them to nothingness. Kong Xuan’s divine ability was transformed, leaving him able to create a world or erase the Dream Seed.

• Gu Changqing received complete mastery of the Five Elements Law after Kong Xuan’s incense offering established incense karma.
• Kong Xuan struggled to refine Zhunti’s Dream Seed, and Gu Changqing summoned him to the Ruined Temple when three days had passed.
• Gu Changqing explained that Kong Xuan’s Five-Colored Divine Light could cycle through the Five Elements but could neither create them nor return them to Guixu.
• Gu Changqing demonstrated the Five Elements emerging from Chaos and returning to nothingness, then infused the insight into Kong Xuan’s damaged light wheel.
• Kong Xuan’s Five-Colored Divine Light transformed into Dao Sources capable of creating worlds or sweeping the Dream Seed back into primal energy.

After ten thousand years in seclusion, Tongtian emerged with the Mythic Great Luo Technique, transcending the Heavenly Dao and freeing himself from the Sage seat. He saw the plot by the Chan Sect, Western Teachings, and Heavenly Mandate to destroy the Interception Sect, then summoned all his disciples to Biyou Palace.

• The Myriad Immortals Formation shook, the Qingping Sword rang, and Golden Turtle Island’s disciples lost their connection to the Heavenly Dao.
• Tongtian emerged from Biyou Palace with an aura that forced the Heavenly Dao to retreat, and Duobao and the other disciples welcomed him back.
• Tongtian declared that he could no longer be imprisoned by Hongjun’s Dao and had attained minor mastery of the Mythic Great Luo Technique.
• Tongtian saw that Yuanshi Tianzun, Jieyin, and Zhunti were conspiring to swallow the Interception Sect’s fortune and destroy its remaining support.
• Tongtian ordered every Interception Sect disciple to assemble before Biyou Palace.

Tongtian revealed that the Heavenly Dao and the Chan Sect and Western Religion had conspired to destroy the Interception Sect, and he shattered the River of Destiny’s display of their doomed future. With his disciples pledging to follow him, Tongtian declared that the Interception Sect would reject Heaven and the Dao and honor only his teachings.

• Tongtian showed the assembled immortals how Chan Sect and Western Religion had joined forces, with Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao approving a plan to destroy the Interception Sect.
• Tongtian revealed the Interception Sect’s destined destruction and the deaths and betrayals awaiting its disciples.
• Tongtian shattered the River of Destiny’s display, breaking its Karma Threads and causing the Interception Sect’s fortune to surge.
• Tongtian challenged his disciples to trust him, and Zhao Gongming, Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, Bixiao, the four personal disciples, and all ten thousand immortals pledged to follow him.
• Tongtian announced new rules: the Interception Sect would neither revere Heaven nor pay homage to the Dao, honoring only his teachings.

Sect Master Tongtian rallied the Interception Sect to rebel against the unjust Heavenly Dao and abolished its rules except the ban on killing fellow disciples. He then ordered Duobao to bring the Four Immortal-Slaying Swords and Myriad Immortals Formation Diagram so they could go to Jiepai Pass.

• Sect Master Tongtian cited the deaths and persecution of Shi Ji, Zhao Gongming, and the Three Xiao as proof that Heaven and the Dao had failed the Interception Sect.
• Sect Master Tongtian called on his disciples to rebel, and the Ten Thousand Immortals joined their voices and gathered their fortune into a colossal sword aimed at Purple Heaven Palace.
• Sect Master Tongtian abolished the sect's restrictive rules, forbade disciples from killing one another, and promised to bear responsibility for their actions against outsiders.
• Sect Master Tongtian ordered Duobao to fetch the Four Immortal-Slaying Swords and the Myriad Immortals Formation Diagram and accompany him to Jiepai Pass.