Chapter Summaries

Shi Xuan revealed his strength against the Four Great Sects’ cultivators, using his purple sword light and two Dharma Treasures to overwhelm their defenses. He trapped the fighters in suspended time and began drawing the four Dharma Aspect True Persons’ souls into a vast yin-yang diagram.

• Shi Xuan unleashed purple sword light at Zhong Qiuping, Huitong, Puyan Nian, Miaoyin, and the Four Great Sects’ Golden Core Grandmasters.
• The four Dharma Aspect True Persons counterattacked with their Dharma Aspects, Spirit Tools, spells, and treasures, but Shi Xuan used a purple jade ruler to block their attacks.
• Shi Xuan divided his sword light into nine powerful streaks, forcing the four True Persons to defend themselves with their Dharma Aspects.
• Shi Xuan summoned a golden bridge that halted the cultivators, their spells, and their Dharma Aspects throughout the valley.
• Shi Xuan invoked a vast black-and-white yin-yang diagram, and transparent souls began flying from Zhong Qiuping, Huitong, Puyan Nian, and Miaoyin toward him.

Shi Xuan subdued four Dharma Aspect True Persons, escaped a Primordial Spirit attack, and lured Fang Qi and Yun Congyue into a strange valley. The valley transformed into primal chaos around them, leaving their fate unresolved.

• Shi Xuan used the Taiji Diagram and Great Cycle of Yin-Yang Life and Death to seize the souls of Zhong Qiuping, Huitong, Puyan Nian, and Miaoyin, while Miaoyin escaped with her body and sword.
• Zhong Qiuping’s Primordial Spirit attack forced Shi Xuan to expend several defenses, and Fang Qi and Yun Congyue launched a surprise attack as he flew backward.
• Shi Xuan’s teleporting sword lights destroyed Yun Congyue’s body, while her Dharma Aspect fled with her soul and Fang Qi prepared to pursue Shi Xuan.
• Fang Qi and Yun Congyue chased Shi Xuan a thousand li to a valley, where he stopped and transformed the surroundings into primal chaos filled with black-and-white vortices and lightning.

Shi Xuan defeated Yun Congyue and trapped Fang Qi while searching the souls of their companions for the Dharma Flower Sect’s Primordial Spirit method. When four Primordial Spirit auras arrived, Shi Xuan used the nine Yin Yang altars to turn their thoughts into a black-and-white beam that struck Fang Qi’s soul.

• Fang Qi and Yun Congyue attacked Shi Xuan inside his formation, but Shi Xuan’s sword lights intercepted their weapons and weakened Fang Qi’s defenses.
• Fang Qi invoked a method bestowed by a Primordial Spirit Yin Spirit, and Shi Xuan answered with the Nine Heavens Primordial Sun Ruler and the Azure Dragon Seven Mansions Sword Formation.
• Shi Xuan killed Yun Congyue with Earth Sha Yin Fire and the Other Shore Golden Bridge, then sealed Fang Qi inside his sword formations.
• Shi Xuan searched the souls of Huitong, Puyan Nian, and Zhong Qiuping for True Methods, while Miaoyin’s soul collapsed after a Primordial Spirit True Person destroyed it.
• After four Primordial Spirit auras arrived, Shi Xuan activated the nine Yin Yang altars and redirected their thoughts into a black-and-white beam that struck Fang Qi’s soul.

Shi Xuan escaped the Ancient Tomb of Desolate Beasts after striking Fang Qi and drawing the four Primordial Spirit True Persons into a battle with the Primordial Spirit Yin Spirit. He returned to Chiyang City and learned that all four True Persons had been killed, leaving the city in fear.

• The black-and-white radiance merged into Fang Qi's soul, but Shi Xuan broke his escape attempt, destroyed most of his Fortune Brocade Cloud, and fled after erasing the scene and taking Yun Congyue's storage bag.
• Shi Xuan evaded a Primordial Spirit True Person's inspection, then secretly changed course and made his way toward the tomb's exit while the four True Persons pursued the Yin Spirit.
• The tomb trembled and boomed as the four True Persons clashed with the Yin Spirit, while Shi Xuan slipped out and returned to his rented cave dwelling in Chiyang City.
• Shi Xuan reviewed the three Primordial Spirit cultivation methods he had obtained through soul-searching and considered their serious risks and drawbacks.
• After the Golden Core Grandmasters returned to Chiyang City, word spread that an escaped Yin Yang Demonic Cult Dharma Aspect Realm old demon and Heaven Seizing Young Master had trapped and killed all four Dharma Aspect Realm True Persons.

Shi Xuan learned what had happened in the Ancient Tomb of Desolate Beasts and began planning to spread two cultivation inheritances to avert backlash from the Great Thousand World. After three years of Yin Spirit cultivation, he overcame delusive images and set out to establish a Daoist venue beyond the Four Great Sects’ reach.

• Shi Xuan gave Wen Nianxi the Azure-Gap Sword as payment for her information, then learned that the Primordial Spirit Patriarchs had slain the Yin Spirit but Fang Qi had escaped.
• News spread that a Yin Yang Demonic Cult cultivator had killed five Dharma Aspect True Persons, and Rogue Cultivators admired the supposed demon for striking against the Four Great Sects.
• Shi Xuan touched his True Spirit Spark, defeated delusive images shaped by Earth Extreme True Person and Profound Sun True Person, and realized the inheritances he had taken were causing backlash.
• Shi Xuan decided to establish an open Daoist venue and teach the two inheritances, initially limiting his lessons to cultivation methods before Golden Core.
• Song Renjie remained fearful of the mysterious cultivator he had helped, while Shi Xuan passed him without concern and headed toward the teleportation hall to begin preaching the Dao.

Shi Xuan established a dojo on Zhushan and began teaching Daoist magic to anyone who wished to listen. After his first lesson drew hundreds of cultivators, the local Qi Induction Realm cultivators debated whether to let lower-level cultivators keep attending.

• Shi Xuan arrived at Zhushan, announced that he would teach Daoist magic without tribute or disciples, and built a bamboo hut for his dojo.
• Zhang Liu and Wan Chengfeng doubted Shi Xuan’s intentions but spread word of the lesson, while Qi Zicai urged his family to attend.
• Zhang Liu, Wan Chengfeng, and other Qi Induction Realm cultivators secretly came to the lesson alongside hundreds of cultivators, including Qi Zicai.
• Shi Xuan taught Body Tempering and Qi Nourishment, answering long-standing cultivation questions and drawing the attention of animals in the bamboo grove.
• After Shi Xuan ended the lesson and invited everyone back the next day, the Qi Induction Realm cultivators decided not to bar lower-level cultivators from attending.

Qi Zicai shared Shi Xuan’s teachings with his family, and word of the lectures spread until thousands gathered on Zhushan. Months later, Shi Xuan began teaching the method for advancing from Qi Induction to Spiritual Power, while Zhao Xingfan received advice on answering a mortal’s criticism of cultivation.

• Qi Zicai returned to Qi Family Village and recounted Shi Xuan’s lesson, prompting Qi Ziyan to apologize for doubting him.
• Several thousand cultivators gathered on Zhushan for Shi Xuan’s second lecture, and he announced that he would answer questions after every five days of teaching.
• Zhao Xingfan received Qi Ziyan’s letter about the lectures and decided to travel to Anxi City despite Sun Dong’s warning that cultivation brought danger and hardship.
• After months of lectures, Shi Xuan announced that he would teach the method for advancing from Qi Induction to Spiritual Power, delighting Zhang Liu, Wan Chengfeng, and the other cultivators.
• Zhao Xingfan asked Shi Xuan how to answer Sun Dong’s criticism of cultivation, and Shi Xuan told him to stay silent, cultivate, and ask Sun Dong again in twenty years.

Shi Xuan defeated cultivators sent by business firms to stop his public teachings, establishing himself as a formidable Golden Core Grandmaster and prompting the firms to retreat. Meanwhile, Zhao Xingfan reunited with Sun Dong in Sishui City and again heard that a peaceful mortal life was preferable to cultivating the Dao.

• Shi Xuan refused to hide his lectures, and cultivators warned him that the great merchant houses might retaliate.
• The Six Zhuo Business Firm and other firms sent Golden Core Grandmasters and Spiritual Power Realm cultivators to Zhushan to kill Shi Xuan and intimidate his listeners.
• Shi Xuan used the suction from his sleeve and two Thunderbolt Spikes to kill the attackers, then let the listeners divide most of the recovered possessions.
• The business firms learned that Shi Xuan was a Golden Core Grandmaster who taught methods for reaching that realm, but the great lineages withdrew rather than risk further losses.
• Zhao Xingfan visited Sun Dong after twenty years and heard him argue that a comfortable mortal life was better than the hardships of cultivation.

Zhao Xingfan repeatedly asked Shi Xuan why Sun Dong believed a mortal life was better than cultivating, but Sun Dong died before Zhao could ask him again. Shi Xuan asked Zhao whether he still did not understand, leaving him to reflect on the answer.

• Zhao Xingfan asked Shi Xuan about Sun Dong's preference for mortal life, and Shi Xuan told him to ask again in twenty years.
• Wan Chengfeng and other cultivators decided to leave the Purple Luo Kingdom and asked Shi Xuan for Spirit Artifacts, but Shi Xuan sent them away empty-handed; Zhang Liu declined to join them.
• Twenty years later, Zhao Xingfan asked Sun Dong again, but Sun Dong maintained that a peaceful mortal life was preferable to cultivation.
• Shi Xuan again told Zhao Xingfan to wait twenty years, while fewer than fifty cultivators remained to hear his teachings, including the poor young Xia Jing.
• When Zhao Xingfan returned to Sun Residence, he learned Sun Dong had died and told Shi Xuan the question would remain unanswered; Shi Xuan asked whether Zhao still did not understand.

Zhao Xingfan returned to Mirror Flower City as a Golden Core cultivator, where an unlucky thief’s stories and Wen Nianxi’s emergence as a Dharma Aspect True Person recalled the past. After Shi Xuan settled matters with Wen Nianxi, Zhao Xingfan returned to Zhushan and reunited with old acquaintances, while Yellow Mountain Lord brought his followers to pay respects to their teacher.

• Zhao Xingfan caught an unlucky thief attempting to steal his storage bag, listened to the thief’s tales of betrayal and misfortune, and watched Wen Nianxi pass through Mirror Flower City as a newly advanced Dharma Aspect True Person.
• Wen Nianxi thanked Shi Xuan on Zhushan after he obtained the rest of the Water Moon True Explanation, and Shi Xuan sensed a gate that would let him return to the Great Yuyu World.
• Zhao Xingfan traveled to Anxi City to report his Golden Core breakthrough to his teacher and met Yellow Mountain Lord, a former listener of Shi Xuan’s teachings, on the way to Zhushan.
• Yellow Mountain Lord brought his lesser demons up Zhushan, while Zhao Xingfan noticed a familiar fragrance and then recognized Zhang Liu, Xia Jing, and Qi Zicai among the cultivators at the bamboo forest.

Shi Xuan gave his final Dao sermon at Zhushan, teaching seven disciples how to advance from Golden Core to Dharma Aspect and then Primordial Spirit. After receiving moral Qi and Merit Qi, he departed in a display of purple light, and later generations remembered him as an immortal who had ascended.

• Zhao Xingfan returned to Zhushan and reunited with Zhang Liu, Xia Jing, and Qi Zicai, while Yellow Mountain Lord welcomed Zhan Tang and Ying Zi.
• Shi Xuan announced that his merit was complete and began his final, unlimited sermon, teaching the seven senior cultivators the path from Golden Core to Dharma Aspect.
• Shi Xuan continued with the method for advancing from Dharma Aspect to Primordial Spirit as crowds gathered around Zhushan and visions of flowers and mist spread across the mountain.
• On the seventh day, Shi Xuan finished teaching both methods and received black-and-white moral Qi and Xuanhuang Merit Qi as Zhushan’s plants blossomed.
• Shi Xuan sent a streak of purple light into the sky and disappeared; Zhang Liu and the other disciples believed he had gone to a place of eternal freedom and kept his teachings secret.
• Later generations called Shi Xuan’s departure an ascension, made Zhushan a legendary site, and prompted the Four Great Sects to restrain some of their tyranny.

Shi Xuan completed his work in the Seven Immortals Great World, and purple radiance revealed a power beyond the understanding of its strongest cultivators. The Primordial Spirit True Persons began investigating Old Ancestor Zhushan’s Merit while Shi Xuan returned to Huilong Temple beside Granny Yu.

• True Person Haori and other powerful cultivators across the Great Thousand World saw the purple radiance and rushed toward its source.
• Wen Nianxi recognized the radiance’s connection to Zhushan and wondered whether Master Shi had gathered the seven true inheritances to bring it forth.
• True Person Haori, True Person Wumu, True Person Jinluo, and True Person Jingyue compared what they had learned about Old Ancestor Zhushan’s final sermon and agreed to investigate without using harsh methods.
• The four True Persons suspected that Old Ancestor Zhushan’s completed Merit and final teaching had triggered the purple radiance, but they could not determine what Merit meant.
• Shi Xuan returned to Huilong Temple and found Granny Yu waiting as everything appeared just as it had before his journey.

Shi Xuan discussed the seven external Primordial Spirit methods and his Yin Spirit cultivation with Granny Yu, who warned him about delusions and the Life-and-Death Profound Pass. After Granny Yu sent him back to Penglai Sect with a water-attribute heavenly treasure and a spacetime beacon gate, the sect formation transported him to Heaven-Connecting Hall.

• Granny Yu praised Shi Xuan for gathering all seven external Primordial Spirit methods, then explained their risks, the limits of reincarnation, and the protection Merit Qi could provide against Heavenly Tribulations.
• Shi Xuan told Granny Yu that he had entered the Ensnared by Delusion stage, and she advised him to preserve his Dao heart and eventually confront his obsessions at the Life-and-Death Profound Pass.
• Granny Yu warned Shi Xuan not to rely on her or Xu Little Ghost for help in the dangerous Great Thousand World he would visit.
• Granny Yu gave Shi Xuan the water-attributed heavenly treasure Myriad Thunder Sky Strike Water and a spacetime beacon gate to the Seven Immortals Great World.
• Shi Xuan asked about Wan'er, and Granny Yu said Wan'er had achieved a high-grade Golden Core before sending him back to the Storm Sea.
• Shi Xuan returned to Penglai Island, where the sect's great formation swept him up and transported him to Heaven-Connecting Hall.

After returning to Penglai Sect, Shi Xuan presented the sect with Spirit Artifacts and eight external Primordial Spirit methods, and Lin Luo assessed which cultivation arts were safe to retain. The sect planned to preserve two methods, while Shi Xuan left with permission to share them with friends.

• Shi Xuan met Sect Master Zhang and gave him nearly forty Spirit Artifacts, then offered eight external Primordial Spirit methods for the sect to study.
• Sect Master Zhang sent Shi Xuan to End of the World Pavilion and told him to visit True Lord after resting.
• Shi Xuan met Chi Zhengde, learned that Xie was in closed-door cultivation and Cai Bo had left to seek an opportunity, and advised Chi Zhengde to venture beyond the sect.
• Lin Luo judged five of the methods to carry serious dangers and recommended that the sect retain only the Heavenly Phenomenon Natural Spirit Infusion Great Law and the Dharma Treasure method.
• Lin Luo allowed Shi Xuan to pass those two methods to his friends, and she sighed after hearing how Sect Master Zhang had reacted.

After returning to the sect, Shi Xuan learned how his fellow cultivators had fared and offered Zhou Dielan a choice between pursuing a high-grade Golden Core and using an external Primordial Spirit method. Zhou chose the latter, while Shi Xuan found Yu Ruoshui still determined to seek the Golden Core Great Dao.

• Shi Xuan returned to Tian Ji Peak, where Ao Gu told him that Wan'er, Liu Xi, Chen Ran, Qing Suo, Ming Qingyue, Yu Ruoshui, and Zhou Dielan had pursued their own cultivation paths.
• Shi Xuan visited Zhou Dielan, who told him she had been stuck at Spirit Soul perfected and was unsure whether to take the Nine Revolutions Jade Elixir Divine Pill.
• Shi Xuan explained the benefits and dangers of two external Primordial Spirit methods, and Zhou Dielan chose to pursue Primordial Spirit with the aid of a Dharma Treasure.
• Shi Xuan imprinted the secret method into Zhou Dielan's mind and left after accepting her decision.
• Shi Xuan sparred with Yu Ruoshui and saw that she had mastered Sword Qi Thunder Sound and remained resolved to pursue a high-grade Golden Core.

Shi Xuan visited Yu Ruoshui and Ming Qingyue, offering them external Primordial Spirit methods while learning of Yu Ruoshui’s resolve and a clue to the complete Circumstellar Star Dou Sword Art. He then entered a technologically advanced Great Thousand World where cultivators’ Daoist arts were restricted, and encountered a local who offered him a ride into the city.

• Yu Ruoshui rejected any suggestion of changing paths, declared she would pursue the Golden Core with her sword, and exchanged sword techniques with Shi Xuan.
• Ming Qingyue told Shi Xuan she had found a clue to the complete Circumstellar Star Dou Sword Art in a Dragon Clan geographical chronicle, and he discussed external Primordial Spirit methods with her.
• True Lord Xu warned Shi Xuan that the Great Thousand World he would visit restricted the use of Daoist arts and relied on formations and artifacts to empower groups of cultivators.
• Shi Xuan passed through a purple gate and arrived near a city, discovering that he could not cast Daoist arts outside his body and seeing wheel-less vehicles race along glowing paths.
• A young man stopped beside Shi Xuan and offered him a ride, leaving Shi Xuan feeling as though he had returned to Earth in a dream.

Shi Xuan entered Lin Yuan City with the help of Xiao Yang, who offered to arrange identity papers and explain the Great Luo Empire’s rules. After learning about the Empire and witnessing how peace officers enforced the law, Shi Xuan waited while Xiao Yang arranged his documents, unaware that Xiao Yang’s associate had considered killing him for his valuables.

• Shi Xuan refused Xiao Yang’s first offer of help, then agreed to pay for identity documents and an Imperial household number while declining a spellcasting license.
• Xiao Yang gave Shi Xuan more than a thousand regulations to read as they entered Lin Yuan City, where Shi Xuan saw a peace officer kill a drunk man who appeared to reach for a weapon.
• Xiao Yang brought Shi Xuan to a secluded courtyard and took a trace of his aura to arrange the documents.
• Xiao Yang’s associate proposed killing Shi Xuan, but Xiao Yang refused because Shi Xuan’s physical strength made him too dangerous to attack.
• Xiao Yang explained the Empire’s political division and shared what he had seen in the Imperial Capital before announcing that Shi Xuan’s documents were ready.

Shi Xuan obtained an identity and began adjusting to life in Lin Yuan City, where Spirit Stones had to be exchanged for Yuan Coin. Familiar details of the modern world stirred his memories and brought a slight breakthrough in his cultivation; he settled into a new apartment and prepared for the important matters ahead.

• Shi Xuan paid Xiao Yang for an Identity Document and learned about imperial accounts, Yuan Coin, and Spellcasting Licenses.
• Shi Xuan examined Xiao Yang's Spellcasting License badge, identified how its restrictions worked, and planned to tamper with the Imperial Great Formation when he took the examination.
• Shi Xuan exchanged five Upper-grade Spirit Stones at the Imperial Bank and received four million nine hundred thousand Yuan Coin after the fee.
• Shi Xuan bought a communication device and an apartment on the highest floor of an eighteen-story building.
• Shi Xuan reflected on how his new house contrasted with the home he had struggled to buy in his previous life, then meditated to suppress delusions.

Shi Xuan met his neighbors, learned about Lin Yuan City, and went to the Dao Palace to register for a Spellcasting License examination. As the first test began, Dao Palace master Xiao Cangtian became absorbed in Shi Xuan’s seemingly conventional answers.

• Shi Xuan met Li Wei and Huang Xiao, learned that Li Wei researched formations, and heard Li’s warning about Ba Zhiyuan.
• A carriage driver told Shi Xuan that a Golden Core wind-ghost had attacked people and that the city planned to send a cultivator corps after it.
• Shi Xuan visited the Lin Yuan City Dao Palace, registered for a Spellcasting License, and waited for the afternoon examination.
• Dao Palace master Xiao Cangtian introduced officials Ba Zhiyuan and Xu Zhang before the examination began with a Daoist magic theory test.
• Shi Xuan wrote carefully chosen answers, and Xiao Cangtian returned to study them after realizing they held deeper principles than they first appeared to.

Shi Xuan impressed Xiao Cangtian and Xu Zhang with his Daoist magic theory answers, earning a top grade on the written exam. In the practical test, he broke Ba Zhiyuan’s defense and countered his attack, passing the examination while leaving Ba Zhiyuan humiliated.

• Shi Xuan finished the written exam early, and Xiao Cangtian praised his clear, unusually thorough answers after reviewing his paper with Ba Zhiyuan and Xu Zhang.
• Xiao Cangtian, Xu Zhang, and Ba Zhiyuan gave Shi Xuan’s paper a top grade, and Shi Xuan advanced with seven others to the practical test.
• Ba Zhiyuan set a Sixth Tier defense for the Qi Induction Stage candidates and challenged Shi Xuan to break it within three attacks.
• Shi Xuan used his Seventh Tier Freezing Cold Light to shatter Ba Zhiyuan’s Yellow Earth Shallow Light Shield in one strike.
• Ba Zhiyuan attacked with a wall of Wind Slashes, but Shi Xuan shattered it with concentrated Freezing Cold Lights before it could hit him.
• Xiao Cangtian stopped Ba Zhiyuan from pressing the challenge and declared that Shi Xuan had passed.