Chapter Summaries

Tie Hengjiang offered Qing Chen the Five Hells Coiling Dragon Staff to replace some of the strength he had lost with the Primordial Magnetism Cauldron. After examining Qing Chen’s spear and rare divine iron, Tie Hengjiang agreed that he could forge them into a spear-shaped Half-Spirit Treasure.

• Tie Hengjiang presented Qing Chen with the Five Hells Coiling Dragon Staff, a Blood Path Half-Spirit Treasure once used by the Blood Fiend Spirit Venerable.
• Qing Chen tested the staff and found its heavy, suppressive style did not suit his spear techniques.
• Tie Hengjiang said the Blood River God-Slaying Spear lacked the quality to serve as the staff’s spearhead.
• Qing Chen showed Tie Hengjiang a piece of fifth-tier low-grade great white void-splitting divine iron he had obtained from the Black Fox King.
• Tie Hengjiang said the divine iron could form a spearhead, and the spear’s accumulated blood path essence could help forge the weapons into a top-class Half-Spirit Treasure.

Tie Hengjiang agreed to reforge Qing Chen’s Blood Spear and revealed that Wu Gui had conspired with outsiders against the Nanhua Realm. He urged Qing Chen to enter the Reincarnation Dead Sea and uncover Wu Gui’s scheme, leaving Qing Chen faced with a dangerous mission that might also offer a path to Spirit Transformation.

• Tie Hengjiang explained that a half-spirit treasure could become a true spirit treasure if it developed its own rule characteristic, and revealed that he was a fourth-tier supreme-grade Artifact Refining Grandmaster.
• Tie Hengjiang agreed to reforge Qing Chen’s treasure in exchange for one Low-Grade Spirit Crystal, and Qing Chen promised to repay him with two.
• Tie Hengjiang told Qing Chen that Wu Gui had colluded with cultivators from outside the Nanhua Realm, prompting several factions to destroy Wu Gui’s lair and wound him before he escaped.
• Tie Hengjiang said Wu Gui might have fled to Immortal-Burying Valley and that Ding Buxing from the Eighth Prince’s Residence had apparently been one of his pawns.
• Tie Hengjiang explained that the factions were seeking Demon Lotus Holy Sons to investigate Wu Gui’s plan in the Reincarnation Dead Sea, where a chance at Spirit Transformation might await.
• Tie Hengjiang told Qing Chen that his cultivation, ranking, and Demon Seed Golden Lotus made him the one who would break the deadlock.

Qing Chen let Tie Hengjiang persuade him to prepare for the Reincarnation Dead Sea, while making clear that he would need more support from the Immortal Dynasty. After Tie Hengjiang took his treasures to reforge them, Qing Chen began planning what else to request when he was summoned to the Divine Capital.

• Qing Chen suspected the Central Authority had sent Tie Hengjiang to secure his cooperation and privately resented the conditions surrounding their meeting.
• Qing Chen described his weaknesses outside Great Jin and argued that his victory over the Black Fox King had depended on the Immortal Dynasty's treasures and forces.
• Tie Hengjiang told Qing Chen to ask the Immortal Dynasty for whatever treasures or spells he needed, and Qing Chen agreed to do his part to protect the Nanhua Realm.
• Tie Hengjiang took the Blood River God-Slaying Spear, the Five Hells Coiling Dragon Staff, and the great white void-splitting divine iron to reforge them.
• After Tie Hengjiang departed, Qing Chen felt the loss of the Primordial Magnetism Cauldron and his spear, and began considering what to request from the Imperial House and Inner Cabinet.

Qing Chen mobilized the Governor-General's Office and his sect to gather spirit stones and Blood Path materials, then used old smuggling cases to seize wealth from trading firms and regional powers. Months later, his aides reported over five hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones, twenty supreme-grade spirit stones, and a vast reserve of valuable materials.

• Qing Chen left Hua Tieshou to complete the final stage of forming his immortality demon nascent soul on his own.
• Qing Chen ordered Su Zixuan, Lin Changsheng, and Xu Jiuling to gather spirit stones, Blood Path materials, and files on Northwestern Circuit smuggling cases.
• Qing Chen directed his forces to arrest and seize the assets of traders and powers accused of smuggling with the Golden Tent Khanate and the Ten Thousand Saints Demon Kingdom.
• Qing Chen presented the Tongyu Merchant Association head with evidence of smuggling, branded him a spy, and ordered him killed.
• A sect resisted arrest and was destroyed by Qing Chen's forces, while the Blood God Sect and Dugu Household stayed silent as investigations spread across the Fifteen Northwestern Provinces.
• Su Zixuan reported that Qing Chen's reserves had grown to over five hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones, twenty supreme-grade spirit stones, and Blood Path materials worth about two billion low-grade spirit stones.

Qing Chen refused repeated orders to report to the Divine Capital, claiming he was in secluded cultivation while continuing to manage seized goods and withholding part of the Northwestern Circuit’s spirit taxes. The chapter left him welcoming Tie Ming and Tie Zhan from the Iron Household with conspicuous warmth.

• Qing Chen distributed seized spirit stones and stored the remaining treasures, blood materials, and corpses in the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.
• Wei Jin delivered the Imperial Edict summoning Qing Chen to the Divine Capital, but Qing Chen claimed he could not leave because of secluded cultivation and kept Wei Jin waiting for months.
• Qing Chen repeatedly appeared to handle business despite insisting that his cultivation was unfinished, and he ignored increasingly stern demands from the Divine Capital.
• Qing Chen remitted only one billion of the Northwestern Circuit’s required 1.5 billion Low-Grade Spirit Stones and told Wei Jin the remaining five hundred million would be owed later.
• Wei Jin grew terrified of Qing Chen and stopped pressing him to depart, claiming he had suffered a cultivation deviation and staying in his courtyard.
• Tie Ming and Tie Zhan arrived from the Northern Border, and Qing Chen hurried out to welcome them and ushered them into the Inner Hall.

Tie Zhan and Tie Ming delivered the reforged weapon to Qing Chen, who discovered that Tie Hengjiang had made it into a top-tier half-spirit battle halberd. After testing its devastating power, Qing Chen asked Tie Zhan to let him test it against the Iron God Golden Palace Armor.

• Tie Zhan presented Qing Chen with the sealed Vermilion Long Casket, and Qing Chen eagerly broke it open.
• Qing Chen saw that Tie Hengjiang had reforged the Five Hells Coiling Dragon Staff and the Blood River God-Slaying Spear into an eighteen-foot battle halberd.
• Qing Chen recognized the preserved blood refining mark and Blood-Path rules threads, then channeled his power into the halberd.
• Qing Chen tested the halberd at the Central Martial Training Ground, destroying a fourth-tier Artifact Testing Stone pillar and smashing through the training ground's foundations.
• Qing Chen declared that the halberd could help him face Yan Moyou and asked Tie Zhan to let him test it against the Iron God Golden Palace Armor.

Qing Chen named and spent several months refining the Blood Abyss God-Slaying Halberd, then prepared to leave for the Divine Capital after gathering the resources he wanted. Before departing, he transferred the Northwestern Circuit-Surveying Seal to Tie Zhan.

• Qing Chen joked about testing the halberd on Tie Zhan, who refused and praised Qing Chen’s strength alongside Tie Ming.
• Qing Chen named the weapon the Blood Abyss God-Slaying Halberd, and Tie Zhan and Tie Ming acknowledged that he was worthy of wielding it.
• Qing Chen spent several months refining the halberd, imprinting its nine blood restrictions and learning to summon it into his sea of qi.
• Qing Chen concluded that mastering the halberd’s full power would require decades of work and hoped to obtain the Spirit Transformation section of the Ananda Blood Sea Pagoda.
• After completing his refinement and amassing valuable resources, Qing Chen went to the Circuit-Surveying Platform at Yanmen Pass and handed the Northwestern Circuit-Surveying Seal to Tie Zhan.

Qing Chen left Yanmen Pass for the Divine Capital, entrusting the pass to Tie Zhan and reflecting on the Northwestern Circuit during the journey. As an undetectable red speck closed in on the treasure ship, Qing Chen sensed imminent danger and moved behind Wei Jin.

• Qing Chen gave Tie Zhan the seal and warned him not to neglect his duties at Yanmen Pass.
• Qing Chen departed for the Divine Capital aboard a Sky-Patrolling Treasure Ship as Tie Zhan, Pei Xuance, and the others saw him off.
• Qing Chen admired the Northwestern Circuit's scenery and recited a poem about his years governing the region.
• Wei Jin praised Qing Chen's service and literary talent while privately recalling his corruption and indulgences.
• A red speck approached the treasure ship undetected, and Qing Chen sensed it would kill him and shifted behind Wei Jin.

Qing Chen and Wei Jin were ambushed aboard the black-gold Sky-Patrolling Treasure Ship by a half-spirit treasure sword, which killed Wei Jin and wounded Qing Chen before escaping. Qing Chen concealed his strength and set a trap, waiting for the assassin to return within range of the Nine Extremes Blood Prison.

• Qing Chen summoned the Blood Abyss God-Slaying Halberd as a slender dark red sword pierced the treasure ship's formation curtains and killed Wei Jin.
• Qing Chen struck the half-spirit treasure sword head-on, but it slipped around the halberd's force, wounded him, and blasted him through several decks.
• The sword withdrew immediately, while the ship's guards and formation masters sounded the alarm and tried to seal the area.
• Qing Chen hid beneath the wreckage, placed nine Lawless Blood Seals around the ship, and prepared the Nine Extremes Blood Prison.
• Qing Chen feigned severe injury and waited for the assassin to return so he could trap them within a thousand zhang.

Qing Chen survived Xue Wugui’s long-range assassination attempt by feigning mortal injury and using the Blood Abyss God-Slaying Halberd to block the strike, though Wei Jin died protecting him. After identifying the likely assassin as the Bloodslaughter Alliance leader, Qing Chen turned his anger on the guards who arrived only after the danger had passed.

• Qing Chen revealed that his grave injuries had been an act and healed himself after the assassin fled beyond his reach.
• Qing Chen concluded that the assassin was likely Xue Wugui, the Faceless Killing King and leader of the Bloodslaughter Alliance.
• Qing Chen saw that Wei Jin had died taking the first edge of the attack for him and recognized how the eunuch’s sacrifice had helped him survive.
• The imperial guards and officials arrived after the attack, claimed they had rushed to Qing Chen’s aid, and praised Wei Jin’s loyalty.
• Qing Chen noticed that the senior officials’ weapons and formation equipment were unused and condemned them as useless trash.

Qing Chen condemned the treasure ship’s officers and nobles for failing to protect Wei Jin, then turned on them when they invoked their status to escape blame. He trapped the ship in the Nine Extremes Blood Prison as they cried that he was rebelling.

• Qing Chen discovered the treasure ship’s formation had not been fully powered and accused its guards and officials of negligence that helped lead to Wei Jin’s death.
• The Divine Strategy Guard commandant, the formation directorate deputy commissioner, and imperial kinsmen defended themselves by citing regulations, family ties, and Qing Chen’s lack of authority to punish them.
• Qing Chen named their powerful relatives and declared that there was no need for an accounting because they would be dead.
• The officers tried to summon help and activate their Jade Registers, but Qing Chen deployed the Nine Extremes Blood Prison around the treasure ship and destroyed their means of communication.
• The Guangling Commandery Prince’s maternal grandson panicked and shouted that Qing Chen was rebelling and that the Clan Court would pursue him.

Qing Chen massacred the imperial escort aboard the Dark Gold Sky-Patrolling Treasure Ship and staged the wreckage to suggest an attack by a thousand assailants. Days later, he arrived alone at the Divine Capital’s Northwest Heavenly Gate and identified himself as Qing Chen.

• Qing Chen used the Blood Abyss God-Slaying Halberd and the Nine Extremes Blood Prison to kill the imperial attendants, guards, and commanders aboard the treasure ship.
• Qing Chen erased traces of his attacks, damaged the ship, and set cabins ablaze to fabricate evidence of an ambush.
• Several days later, the ruined treasure ship reached the Northwest Heavenly Gate, where officials and soldiers waited after the escort’s soul lamps had gone out.
• Qing Chen emerged from the wreckage, declared his name, and presented the Cangming Duke’s Golden Seal.

Qing Chen returned to the Divine Capital with the Blood Abyss God-Slaying Halberd, claiming he was the sole survivor of a massacre and leaving the noble households unable to challenge his account. At the Bloodslaughter Alliance’s hidden altar, an unidentified client demanded a refund, but Xue Wugui argued that the client had concealed Qing Chen’s powerful treasure.

• Qing Chen told the sky-patrol commander that Wei Jin and the rest of the entourage had died defending him against the Bloodslaughter Alliance and waves of assassins, and promised to seek posthumous honors for them.
• Recordings of Xue Wugui attacking Qing Chen and the Blood Abyss God-Slaying Halberd blocking A Point of Red spread through the Divine Capital, while Qing Chen returned as the only survivor.
• Tie Qingyao welcomed Qing Chen, and they rode together to the newly renamed First-Rank Cangming Duke’s Manor.
• At a hidden Bloodslaughter Alliance altar, a masked client demanded to know where their payment had gone because Qing Chen was still alive.
• Xue Wugui replied that the alliance refunded half after a failed attempt but blamed the client for failing to disclose Qing Chen’s Blood Abyss God-Slaying Halberd.

After learning that Qing Chen had gained the Blood Abyss God-Slaying Halberd, Xue Wugui accepted extra payment to attempt another assassination. Qing Chen reunited with Tie Qingyao, received intelligence she had gathered, and went to Jade Capital Mountain for the palace summons, confident in his newfound strength.

• A masked man paid Xue Wugui another low-grade spirit crystal to renew the assassination contract against Qing Chen.
• The masked man asked whether the Bloodslaughter Alliance had sent the assassins who attacked the Dark Gold Sky-Patrolling Treasure Ship, and Xue Wugui denied it by explaining the alliance had fewer than a thousand members and accepted only Great Liang people.
• Qing Chen carried Tie Qingyao to their bedchamber despite her warning that the palace had summoned him, and he delayed his departure for more than ten hours.
• Tie Qingyao gave Qing Chen a blackwood casket containing intelligence gathered through her contacts, and he burned it after reading the jade slips.
• Four hours later, Qing Chen arrived at Jade Capital Mountain and reflected that his rank, forces, cultivation, and treasures now let him face the sacred mountain with confidence.

Qing Chen returned to Jade Capital Mountain and presented himself to Emperor Jingtai in the Profound-Nurturing Hall. When the emperor tried to rebuke him, Qing Chen instead offered a dream-cultivation scripture and his own collected insights, claiming he had rushed to deliver them.

• Qing Chen ascended Jade Capital Mountain, reflecting that its lavish spiritual materials no longer impressed him.
• The Golden-Armored Guards and officials recognized Qing Chen’s titles and bowed as he passed through the formation gates.
• Qing Chen reached the Profound-Nurturing Hall, where Emperor Jingtai’s divine sense settled over him.
• Emperor Jingtai began to admonish Qing Chen for delaying his arrival and defying the court, but Qing Chen knelt and presented two jade slips.
• Qing Chen said he had found the Yinghuo Illumination-of-the-World Dream Scripture and compiled his insights into dream cultivation, then offered them to Emperor Jingtai.

Qing Chen presented Emperor Jingtai with two dream-cultivation texts, and the emperor was impressed by the complete first volume of the Yinghuo Illumination-of-the-World Dream Scripture. Qing Chen then asked to study the Fourth Dream Seal, leaving Emperor Jingtai amused by his calculated request.

• Qing Chen knelt before Emperor Jingtai and presented the Record of Dreaming of Butterflies and Carefree Wandering and the Yinghuo Illumination-of-the-World Dream Scripture.
• Emperor Jingtai found Qing Chen’s personal insights modest but discovered that the Yinghuo scripture was a formidable cultivation method reaching the Nascent Soul peak.
• Qing Chen attributed the scripture to ancient ruins beneath the Scarlet Radiance Sand Sea in Persia, and Emperor Jingtai praised his decades of service in the northwest.
• Emperor Jingtai offered Qing Chen a reward for presenting the scripture, but Qing Chen asked to view the Fourth Dream Seal so he could offer further insights.
• Emperor Jingtai recognized that Qing Chen still wanted access to the Fourth Dream Seal and laughed at his forthright request.

Emperor Jingtai allowed Qing Chen to view the fourth Yinghuo Grand Void Dream Seal, the enigmatic painting of an elk that embodied past and present. As Qing Chen studied it, the Nine-Colored Pearl reacted to the painting and revealed its place in the shattered summit of the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.

• Emperor Jingtai opened a hidden passage in the Profound-Nurturing Hall and led Qing Chen to the chamber containing the fourth Dream Seal.
• Emperor Jingtai identified the scroll as the fourth Yinghuo Grand Void Dream Seal and warned Qing Chen to withdraw if his Divine Soul could not bear it.
• Qing Chen contemplated the elk painting for ten days but gained little insight and prepared to leave.
• The Nine-Colored Pearl suddenly lit up as wisps of aura from the painting flowed into it.
• Qing Chen saw that the Nine-Colored Pearl fit into a circular gap where the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda's shattered spire had once been.

The Nine-Colored Pearl revealed the Timeless Scripture, a legendary time-based movement technique whose requirements Qing Chen could not meet. It drew him into a dream to begin cultivation, where he repeatedly failed to take even a single step safely.

• The Nine-Colored Pearl absorbed the temporal Dao resonance and swept Qing Chen into a river of past scenes and possible futures.
• Qing Chen read the Timeless Scripture and learned that it required a primordial spirit, a stable grotto-heaven, and comprehension of time rules.
• The Nine-Colored Pearl placed Qing Chen on a meditation cushion and sent his consciousness into a dream, where a blood-colored primordial spirit phantom appeared behind him.
• Qing Chen tried to raise his foot according to the scripture, but the dream shattered and returned him to the starting point.
• Qing Chen repeatedly attempted the technique, but his body shattered or split between different tributaries of time.

Qing Chen spent a hundred years in a dream mastering the beginnings of a time-based movement technique, then returned to Jade Capital Mountain after only forty days in the real world. He left the Profound-Nurturing Hall to meet Emperor Jingtai at Taiwei Hall, with time to explore the imperial gardens first.

• Qing Chen trained for a hundred years in the Nine-Colored Pearl's dream and learned to move through cracks in time, though he had not mastered the Timeless Scripture's Spirit Transformation section.
• The dream ended, leaving a faint silver mark in Qing Chen's divine soul, and he confirmed that the Nine-Colored Pearl would undergo no further changes.
• Qing Chen learned from the Divine Strategy Guard commandant that forty days had passed outside and that Emperor Jingtai had summoned him to the Southern Study of Taiwei Hall in four hours.
• Qing Chen followed the Azure Jade Path through Jade Capital Mountain's gardens, where guards and eunuchs bowed as he passed.

Qing Chen met the Eighth Prince and Xiao Canglan at the Rain-Listening Pavilion, where they tried to settle the two men’s grievances before their journey to the Reincarnation Dead Sea. Xiao Canglan demanded that Qing Chen pour him wine, apologize, and provide compensation, but Qing Chen silently judged him unworthy of deference.

• Qing Chen sent the Eighth Prince a message and received an invitation to meet at the Rain-Listening Pavilion.
• Qing Chen arrived and found Xiao Canglan waiting with the Eighth Prince, though the invitation had not mentioned him.
• The Eighth Prince explained that he wanted Qing Chen and Xiao Canglan to reconcile before their joint deliberations and journey to the Reincarnation Dead Sea.
• Xiao Canglan demanded that Qing Chen pour him wine, apologize aloud, and offer a valuable treasure as compensation.
• The Eighth Prince offered five Supreme-Grade Spirit Stones on Qing Chen’s behalf, but Qing Chen silently decided Xiao Canglan was not worthy of his humility.