Chapter Summaries

Xu Xuan learned the three trials for reaching Purple Mansion and accepted Zhou Yongchang’s offer to become an Azure Wood Sect elder and serve as State Preceptor in the Yan Kingdom. He left the Great Xu Immortal Dynasty in the care of Xu Chen and Xu Mingxuan, then arrived in Yan Kingdom to take up his post and investigate an ancient cult and its suspected demonic artifact.

• Zhou Yongchang gave Xu Xuan An Introduction to Purple Mansion, and Xu Xuan studied its three trials: Preserving the Spirit Visualization, Guiding Spirit and Transforming the Body, and Spirit Platform Inquiry into the Dao.
• Zhou Yongchang invited Xu Xuan to join the Azure Wood Sect as a Foundation Establishment elder and offered him a thirty-year State Preceptor post in the Yan Kingdom, where he would investigate an ancient cult and a suspected demonic artifact.
• Xu Xuan accepted the post and secured permission to establish a sect compound, regulate earth veins, and mobilize Azure Wood Sect resources in Yan Kingdom.
• Xu Xuan entrusted the Great Xu Immortal Dynasty to Crown Prince Xu Chen and King Mingxuan, then set off with selected retainers, guards, priests, and troops aboard the Azure Dragon Cloud-Piercing Boat.
• Duanmu Hong welcomed Xu Xuan to Yan Kingdom and escorted him toward the prepared National Preceptor’s Residence.

Xu Xuan investigated his declining family homeland, uncovered the Blood Baleful Sect’s plan to sacrifice tens of thousands in the Kingdom of Wu, and killed its True Disciple Xue Li. He left the Kingdom of Wu under Yan’s control and the Azure Mystery Sect’s protection.

• Xu Xuan founded the Azure Mystery Sect in Yan and ordered its forces to register the kingdom’s cultivation factions and control their resources.
• Xu Xuan returned to Xu Household Market, paid respects at Liu Yunniang’s grave, and watched the family’s protective formation drive off Blood Refining Hall cultivators pursuing a child with a Spiritual Root.
• Xu Xuan raided a Blood Refining Hall branch in River Sun City, captured Wu Tianbao’s remnant soul, and learned that Xue Li planned a mass blood sacrifice in Golden Water City.
• Xu Xuan confronted Xue Li above Golden Water City, overcame his blood-based techniques, and killed him with the Ancient Bronze Mirror.
• Xu Xuan announced the Kingdom of Wu’s incorporation into Yan, while Duanmu Hong arrived with Yan’s army and obeyed the decree.

Xu Xuan imposed the Azure Wood Sect’s authority over the cultivation Lineages of the Kingdom of Wu and learned that the Lin Lineage of Spirit Rock Mountain had a secretive, distinct legacy. He decided to investigate the Lin Clan while Duanmu Hong focused on consolidating the kingdom and implementing the New Policies.

• Xu Xuan declared that the Kingdom of Wu’s Lineages must follow the Azure Mystery Sect Rules and warned them by reducing an Ironwood Table to powder with a precise flick of magical power.
• The Lineage heads submitted to Xu Xuan, who told them that the Azure Wood Sect now held authority over their land.
• Xu Xuan asked the Heyang Prefecture Lineage head about the Lin Lineage of Spirit Rock Mountain and learned that it kept to itself and possessed an unfamiliar legacy.
• Xu Xuan recalled his past encounters with the Lin Clan and decided to investigate its possible connection to an Ancient Treasure Demon Artifact.
• Xu Xuan instructed Duanmu Hong to consolidate the Kingdom of Wu and implement the New Policies, promising the Azure Mystery Sect’s help.

Xu Xuan used his authority as an Azure Wood Sect elder to overpower the Lin Clan and announce that the sect would establish a branch on their ancestral land. He then began forcibly altering Spirit Rock Mountain’s spiritual vein, leaving Lin Yuanfan and the clan unable to resist.

• Xu Xuan arrived at Spirit Rock Mountain and used his Foundation Establishment late-stage pressure to summon the Lin Clan before him.
• Xu Xuan recognized the former gatekeeper among the Lin Clan cultivators and sealed the mountain’s core with an azure ritual banner.
• Xu Xuan identified himself as Xu Chen, accused the Lin Clan of possible disloyalty and ties to the Blood Baleful Sect, and dismissed Lin Yuanfan’s explanation.
• Xu Xuan declared that the Azure Mystery Sect would establish a branch on Spirit Rock Mountain, prompting shock and resentment from the Lin Clan.
• Xu Xuan claimed the spiritual vein was stagnating and raised the Bronze Seal to command the earth veins, beginning to divide the vein.

Xu Xuan crippled the Lin Household’s spirit vein and warned them to stay within their bounds, while suspecting their bloodline had ties to the Demon Race. After subduing the surrounding cultivators, he studied Xue Li’s Blood River True Intent inheritance and discovered it could lead to the Great Dao.

• Xu Xuan severed most of Spirit Rock Mountain’s spirit vein, devastating the Lin Household’s cultivation resources, then threatened to destroy them if they crossed the forbidden line.
• Lin Yuanfan ordered the Lin clansmen to lie low and sent the clan’s talented youngsters away from the Kingdom of Wu, while Xu Xuan arranged to monitor the Lin Lineage for signs of Demon Race involvement.
• Xu Xuan returned to Golden Water City, where factions from the kingdoms of Yan and Wu came to pay homage and submit to the Azure Mystery Sect.
• After several days, Xu Xuan delegated routine visitors and affairs to Duanmu Hong and the sect disciples, then examined Xue Li’s treasures and inheritance Jade Slip.
• Xu Xuan learned that Blood River True Intent included domineering methods for refining blood, souls, and others’ cultivation, and could lead to the Great Dao.

After years of refining nascent water and fire true intents, Xu Xuan investigated an ancient mass-death case that might be linked to the demonic artifact he was seeking. He uncovered a blood-sacrifice altar and began comprehending its lingering true intent.

• Xu Xuan used his qi and blood to form Qi-Blood True Fire and Profound Nether Water, advancing toward refining water and fire true intents without raising his cultivation realm.
• Xu Xuan searched secret records and found an old account of more than ten thousand people whose blood had been drained in Heyang Prefecture.
• Xu Xuan suspected the case was tied to the Blood Baleful Sect or the force behind the Lin Clan and traveled to the abandoned site.
• Xu Xuan discovered and broke through a hidden seal beneath the ruins, revealing an underground cavern with a blood-stained sacrificial altar.
• Xu Xuan sensed the altar’s lingering blood baleful true intent, sat down to study it, and began gaining insight as the Five Aggregates Formless Sutra circulated.

After years of cultivating and expanding the Azure Mystery Sect’s influence, Xu Xuan investigated the Lu Household of Shiling Fort after reports linked its rise to savage bloodline powers. He discovered that the household had found Ancient Demon Ruins and decided to visit them himself to investigate their inheritance and the force behind the Lin Clan.

• Xu Xuan spent more than a decade in seclusion, strengthened the Azure Mystery Sect’s rule across neighboring kingdoms, and brought his Foundation Establishment cultivation close to its limits.
• The Sword-Wielding Office reported that the Lu Household in the Kingdom of Chen had rapidly grown stronger, attacked neighboring lineages, and left victims drained of blood.
• Xu Xuan suspected the Lu Household’s abilities came from an ancient bloodline and sent a squad to investigate its origins and power.
• The squad discovered bloodline markings and beastlike pupils among the Lu Household’s core members, whose methods let them refine demonic beast blood to strengthen their bodies.
• A Sword-Wielding Office squad found an Ancient Demon Ruin beneath the mountains behind Shiling Fort, and Xu Xuan ordered the area monitored while suppressing news of the discovery.
• Xu Xuan resolved to visit Shiling Fort to explore the ruins, learn more about the Lu Household and the Lin Clan, and see whether his Soaring Serpent blood could improve.

Xu Xuan infiltrated the Lu Household’s Ancient Demon Ruins and discovered murals depicting the Demon Race’s ancient history. The murals revealed that some demons had joined with humans, creating the Half-Demon Bloodline.

• Xu Xuan sensed that the Lu Household had awakened a chaotic Demon Race bloodline that drove its members toward violence.
• Xu Xuan found the hidden cave entrance in the forbidden grounds behind Shiling Fort and recognized its ancient demon characters and bloodline restriction.
• Xu Xuan used Qi-Blood True Fire to imitate a demon bloodline aura and pass through the restriction without triggering it.
• Xu Xuan entered the cavern and studied murals showing ancient Demon Race beasts and a devastating war against powerful beings.
• Xu Xuan saw murals of demons uniting with humans and realized they depicted the origin of the Half-Demon Bloodline.

Xu Xuan found the Lu Household cultivating around a corrupted mass of demon blood and learned that its power was turning them into savage creatures. After he repelled its attack, the Ancient Mirror at his chest reacted to something hidden beneath the altar: a dull-black Stone Bead.

• Xu Xuan reached an underground cavern and found a dark-red blood orb on a sacrificial altar, while Lu Household cultivators absorbed its power.
• The blood orb sensed Xu Xuan's powerful blood vitality and attacked him with a torrent of blood energy.
• Xu Xuan used his Qi-Blood True Fire and Profound Nether Water to devour the attack, frightening the blood orb and the Lu Household members.
• Xu Xuan sensed the Ancient Mirror reacting to something beneath the altar and held back from destroying the blood orb.
• The blood orb drained the surrounding Lu Household cultivators to replenish its power, while Xu Xuan located a fingernail-sized, dull-black Stone Bead beneath the altar.

Xu Xuan destroyed the Lu Household’s demonic blood and discovered a stone bead connected to the Ancient Mirror. He ordered the remaining Lu Household members exterminated, then returned to Golden Water City.

• Xu Xuan killed the Lu Household head and Clan Elders with a casual surge of Five-Element Magical Power.
• Xu Xuan split the blood sphere’s bloody net and annihilated the sphere with his five-colored sword fingers, then collected its blood.
• The stone bead joined the Ancient Mirror in Xu Xuan’s chest, revealing a mysterious connection between the two.
• Xu Xuan destroyed Shiling Fort and ordered the Sword-Wielding Office’s Qi Refining Practitioners to execute the remaining Lu Household members.
• Xu Xuan returned to Golden Water City in the Kingdom of Wu.

After thirty years overseeing the Yan Kingdom, Xu Xuan completed his cultivation of the Nirvana Bloodflame and Guixu Nethersea and prepared to return to the Azure Wood Sect. He left the kingdom in the hands of his successors, intending to use the Five Elements True Spirits from his master to advance toward the Purple Mansion.

• Xu Xuan spent ten years refining his water and fire true intents, developing them into the Nirvana Bloodflame and Guixu Nethersea.
• The Yan Kingdom, Xu Lineage, and Azure Mystery Sect grew stronger under Duanmu Hong and the sect disciples, while rival powers and Azure Wood Sect factions began watching their rise.
• Xu Xuan realized his thirty-year posting was ending when the sect informed him that his replacement would soon arrive.
• Xu Xuan told Duanmu Hong and the Azure Mystery Sect disciples that he would return to the sect, then handed over his authority and seals.
• Xu Xuan flew west toward the Azure Wood Sect, planning to cultivate another true intent with the Five Elements True Spirits from Zhou Yongchang.

Xu Xuan returned to the Azure Wood Sect after decades away and was confronted by Zhou Zi'ang, who accused him of abusing his guard-duty authority and tried to arrest him. Xu Xuan repelled Zhou's attack and faced him down until his master, Zhou Yongchang, intervened and praised his progress.

• Xu Xuan returned to the Azure Wood Sect, collected his contribution points, and sensed tension within the sect.
• Zhou Zi'ang accused Xu Xuan of interfering in mortal succession and exterminating the Lu Household and the Lin Clan, then ordered him to the Discipline Hall.
• Xu Xuan explained that his actions had followed his guard-duty authority and that he had submitted records and evidence to the Steward Hall.
• Zhou Zi'ang attacked Xu Xuan with a binding chain, but Xu Xuan blocked it and shattered it with his magical power.
• Xu Xuan warned Zhou Zi'ang not to continue hounding him, and Zhou Yongchang appeared and ordered Zhou Zi'ang to stand down.
• Zhou Yongchang praised Xu Xuan's progress and said his name would one day be known throughout the Azure Wood Sect.

Zhou Yongchang gave Xu Xuan the Longevity Wood and a Pine Crane token, and Xu Xuan secluded himself to refine the treasure and strengthen his cultivation. After forming his greenwood spirit body, Xu Xuan began refining a second spirit body using his nirvana bloodflame true intent.

• Zhou Yongchang apologized for Zhou Zi'ang's conduct and gifted Xu Xuan the Longevity Wood, along with a Pine Crane token.
• Xu Xuan returned to his cave abode and spent years refining the Longevity Wood until he formed the greenwood longevity true intent.
• With three perfected true intents, Xu Xuan prepared to condense spirit bodies as part of his path toward the Purple Mansion realm.
• Xu Xuan spent another ten years refining his greenwood spirit body, which could cultivate and cast spells independently while remaining under his control.
• After resting for several months, Xu Xuan began refining a second spirit body from his nirvana bloodflame true intent.

Xu Xuan completed the Bloodflame and Blood Sea Spirit Bodies, then attempted to advance to the Purple Mansion Realm. His breakthrough failed when he discovered that the world's five-element Dao was incomplete.

• Xu Xuan spent fifteen years forging the Bloodflame Spirit Body, subdued its urge to attack him, and found it possessed seventy percent of his strength.
• Xu Xuan spent twenty years forming the Blood Sea Spirit Body and completed all three of his true-intent Spirit Bodies.
• Xu Xuan found that the three Spirit Bodies strengthened his soul and increased his magical power, but further cultivation destabilized them.
• Xu Xuan assigned the Greenwood Spirit Body to support Spiritual Expanse Mountain, the Blood Sea Spirit Body to establish a secret overseas force, and the Bloodflame Spirit Body to travel and seek treasures and clues to other true spirits.
• Xu Xuan tried to break through the Foundation Establishment bottleneck, but the barrier resisted his attacks and he could not sense the five-element Dao.
• Xu Xuan realized that the world's five-element cycle was incomplete, making it impossible to comprehend the five-element Dao as he had planned.

After discovering that the five elements Great Dao was flawed and could not reliably lead to Purple Mansion, Xu Xuan investigated why Zhou Yongchang had guided him down that path. Evidence of the Zhou Lineage’s desperate circumstances and a devilish method for stealing Dao foundations left him fearing that he had been groomed as a target.

• Xu Xuan halted his cultivation after failing to break through and began investigating whether the five elements Great Dao was flawed in this world.
• He searched the Azure Wood Sect’s restricted archives and found records saying the five elements’ source streams had been damaged, making the path to Purple Mansion a dead end.
• Xu Xuan recalled Zhou Yongchang’s assurances that perfecting five elements true spirits would let him reach Purple Mansion, and he sensed that his master’s guidance was suspicious.
• He uncovered reports that True Person Pine Crane was nearing the end of his lifespan, the Pine Crane branch was losing influence, and the Zhou Lineage had gathered five-elements treasures and cultivated a method for seizing another’s Dao foundation.
• Xu Xuan read an account of the Heaven-Seizing Pavilion’s Foundation-Seizing Cauldron-Swapping Great Method, which stole the perfected foundations of five-elements cultivators and destroyed its victims’ souls.

Xu Xuan suspected Zhou Yongchang planned to seize his perfected five-element foundation to break through to Purple Mansion, and spent years investigating and preparing to resist. When Zhou Yongchang finally appeared in Xu Xuan’s cave abode, his Purple Mansion pressure revealed that the confrontation had begun.

• Xu Xuan recalled Zhou Yongchang’s Foundation-Seizing Cauldron-Swapping method and resolved to grow stronger while preparing for the worst.
• Over the following dozen-odd years, Zhou Yongchang urged Xu Xuan to advance his True Intent, while Xu Xuan concealed his suspicions and investigated his master’s past.
• Xu Xuan discovered a record describing Zhou Yongchang’s affinity for the Four Symbols True Intent and deduced that Zhou Yongchang coveted his Greenwood Spirit Body.
• Xu Xuan volunteered for sect duties, using his new authority to prepare concealment arrays, Blood Escape Talismans, secret storehouses, and other defenses.
• As Xu Xuan simulated an attempt to break through, Zhou Yongchang appeared in his cave abode in person, his aura revealing the pressure of Purple Mansion.

Zhou Yongchang and three Pine Crane Zhou Clan ancestors trapped Xu Xuan in a powerful formation and revealed that they intended to seize his Five Elements Dao Foundation, Spirit Bodies, and Longevity Wood. Xu Xuan rejected Zhou Yongchang’s claim that this was his fate and unleashed his Bloodflame Spirit Body in a desperate attempt to break through the formation.

• Zhou Yongchang activated a vast formation that sealed the mountain and suppressed Xu Xuan, while three reclusive Purple Mansion ancestors appeared to support him.
• Zhou Yongchang admitted he had watched Xu Xuan’s preparations and revealed that he planned to take Xu Xuan’s Dao Foundation, Spirit Bodies, and Longevity Wood to perfect his own cultivation.
• Xu Xuan confronted Zhou Yongchang over decades of deception, but Zhou Yongchang dismissed their master-disciple bond and said Xu Xuan’s sacrifice would help him transcend the Purple Mansion realm.
• Zhou Yongchang explained that the ancestor believed Xu Xuan possessed a great secret that could perfect his mortal foundation and help him become an unsurpassed True Lord.
• Xu Xuan summoned his Bloodflame Spirit Body, burned its essence, and sent it charging at the formation in a bid to create an opening for escape.

Xu Xuan was overwhelmed by Zhou Yongchang and detonated his foundation to ruin Zhou Yongchang’s attempt to seize it, apparently dying in the process. Far across the sea, his Greenwood Spirit Body survived with the Longevity Wood and set out to establish a formation so Xu Xuan could reclaim it in his next life.

• A Purple Mansion ancestor shattered Xu Xuan’s attack and gravely wounded him, leaving him trapped in a crater.
• Zhou Yongchang began using a pitch-black rune to seize Xu Xuan’s Dao foundation and strengthen his own cultivation.
• Xu Xuan detonated his bloodline, treasures, Spirit Body, Dao foundation, soul, and mana, breaking Zhou Yongchang’s rune and the three Zhou Household ancestors’ defenses.
• The blast disrupted Zhou Yongchang’s cultivation breakthrough as Xu Xuan’s cultivation and consciousness rapidly faded.
• Zhou Yongchang lamented losing the Longevity Immortal Spiritual Root and his chance at the Longevity Realm, then discovered that his branch of the root was gone.
• The Greenwood Spirit Body emerged above a distant sea with the Longevity Wood and headed for the deep-sea floor to build a formation for Xu Xuan’s next life.

After Xu Xuan’s death, Zhou Yongchang discovered that the Longevity Wood had vanished and received Pine Crane True Person’s order to search for it. The Great Xu Kingdom and Xu Lineage were destroyed and scattered, while Xu Xuan’s Greenwood Spirit Body hid the wood overseas before fading away; his consciousness then returned to the Book of Time as the Fourth Life ended.

• Zhou Yongchang absorbed Xu Xuan’s Dao foundation but discovered that the Longevity Wood had disappeared.
• Pine Crane True Person ordered Zhou Yongchang and the Zhou patriarchs to search across the world for the Longevity Wood and told Zhou Yongchang to secure his place in the Purple Mansion realm.
• The Azure Wood Sect declared Xu Chen a traitor who had practiced the Blood Baleful Demon Art, and the Great Xu Kingdom and Xu Lineage were crushed by their enemies.
• Xu Mingxuan and the Xu Lineage’s survivors fled overseas, toward the Profound Sword Gate, or into hiding under new identities.
• Xu Xuan’s Greenwood Spirit Body guarded the Longevity Wood on a deserted overseas island until his remaining power ran out and he vanished.
• Xu Xuan’s consciousness re-formed in the Book of Time as the page of his Fourth Life turned.

After his fourth life ended in defeat, Xu Xuan received the golden register “Wandering Spirit, Shadowless” and began a new life as Yang Ye, born into the Yang Family of Burning Flame Valley. At the Yang Family’s spiritual root testing ceremony, the Spirit-Burning Stele erupted with golden-red light when Yang Ye touched it.

• Xu Xuan’s fourth lifetime ended after Zhou Yongchang and three Purple Mansion cultivators suppressed him, and the life chart granted him the golden register “Wandering Spirit, Shadowless.”
• Xu Xuan learned that the register let him become intangible and evade attacks, though using it consumed great amounts of mental energy and magical power.
• In the Southern Wilds, Yang Ye was born into the Yang Family after his pregnant mother absorbed fire spiritual energy, and a red birthmark appeared between his brows.
• At the Yang Family’s spiritual root testing ceremony, the Third Elder announced several children’s results as Yang Ye waited his turn.
• Yang Ye pressed his hand to the Flameheart Stone, and the Spirit-Burning Stele shook before releasing a dazzling pillar of golden-red light.