Chapter Summaries

Shi Xuan visited the Five Elements Sect to thank Kong Ran for her help escaping the Chaotic Primordial Era, while investigating unsettling inconsistencies surrounding Kong Ji’s past. After Kong Ran refused to arrange a meeting with the Five Elements Dao Ancestor, Shi Xuan departed to pursue an imminent opportunity tied to a tribulation he could not understand.

• Shi Xuan gave Qing Lang Innate Pure Qi to complete his tribulation-crossing secret treasure, creating it by opening a nascent Lesser Thousand World.
• Shi Xuan and Qing Lang arrived at the Five Elements Sect, where Liang Boluan received them and summoned Kong Ran.
• Kong Ran welcomed Shi Xuan and explained the Five Elements Sect’s inheritance lineages; she said Jian Tonghui was secluded after making progress at the Tai Xu Dharma Assembly.
• Shi Xuan thanked Kong Ran for her help and questioned her about Qianxuzi and conflicting accounts of when Kong Ji discovered the Nameless Great World.
• Kong Ran declined Shi Xuan’s request to meet Kong Ji, and Shi Xuan left to pursue a great opportunity connected to his vanished tribulation.

Shi Xuan traveled to Purple Canopy Mountain in the Chongxuan Great World, where he attended True Lord Gong Hongdao’s public lecture while waiting for a foretold tribulation. The gathering was suddenly sealed off when Xu Jingshu attacked a fleeing second-tribulation Mighty One, threatening everyone who had heard his plea for help.

• Shi Xuan returned to his cave dwelling with Qing Lang and instructed him to stay and guide Ao Gu before leaving again.
• Qing Suo appeared and used her overwhelming aura to make Qing Lang carry her, shocking both Qing Lang and Ao Gu.
• Shi Xuan traveled to the Chongxuan Great World and met Hua Ziqi and Lu Xuer, who led him to Purple Canopy Mountain.
• Shi Xuan and the couple attended Gong Hongdao’s seven-day lecture on the Dao of Merit, but the expected tribulation did not appear during the lecture.
• A reddish-yellow light crashed into the Great Thousand World as a fleeing cultivator called for Gong Hongdao’s help against Xu Jingshu.
• Black smoke sealed Purple Canopy Mountain, a white light silenced the fleeing cultivator, and Xu Jingshu declared that everyone who had heard the plea must die.

Shi Xuan intervened when Xu Jingshu tried to kill everyone who had heard her secret, defeating and capturing her before she could escape. As the shaken cultivators recovered, Gong Hongdao summoned Guo Qian Xiu, who arrived asking where Xu Jingshu was.

• Xu Jingshu declared that everyone who had heard her must die and attacked Gong Hongdao with her Dao-Severing God-Slaying Flying Dagger.
• Shi Xuan countered Xu Jingshu’s attack with the Three Powers Dharma Destroying Sword, revealing his Grotto-Heaven and suppressing her techniques.
• Xu Jingshu tried to escape, but Shi Xuan used the Golden Bridge to immobilize her, wounded her Primordial Spirit with the Five Elements Immortal Slaying Sword, and captured her in the Taiji Diagram.
• Shi Xuan collected Xu Jingshu’s flying dagger and fled with her, leaving the cultivators safe and bewildered.
• Gong Hongdao contacted Guo Qian Xiu, who arrived through a reddish-yellow door and asked where Xu Jingshu was.

Shi Xuan discovered that Xu Jingshu had killed Sun Si Hao over a gestating Great Thousand World and tracked the hidden world down. After reaching it, he sent a fragmentary soul into a nascent Taiji Deity and reflected that Ancestor Yu could no longer directly influence this realm.

• Shi Xuan searched Xu Jingshu's memories, learned of the gestating Great Thousand World, and killed her while erasing her traces.
• Shi Xuan suspected Sun Si Hao had left clues with Shang Gu Sect and that True Lord Gu might find the world, so he decided to investigate first.
• Shi Xuan followed Xu Jingshu's memories through a hidden fissure into a miniature universe and found the gestating Great Thousand World.
• Shi Xuan saw forty-nine natural Gods nearing the emergence of intelligence and used the Six Paths of Reincarnation Wheel to send a fragmentary soul into the Taiji Deity.
• Shi Xuan considered his own transmigration and concluded that Ancestor Yu could no longer directly interfere in this realm.

Guo Qian Xiu discovered the gestating Great Thousand World and negotiated a Karmic Oath with Shi Xuan and Cold Mirror Heavenly Sovereign to share its treasures and make it a training ground for their sects. Shi Xuan then prepared the world’s natural Gods as future opponents, while two newly awakened deities found a mysterious temple called Purple Sky Palace.

• Guo Qian Xiu crossed a spacetime storm and found Shi Xuan and Cold Mirror Heavenly Sovereign waiting beside the gestating Great Thousand World.
• Shi Xuan, Cold Mirror Heavenly Sovereign, and Guo Qian Xiu agreed to share the world’s treasures, establish it as a training ground for three sects, and conceal one another’s information.
• After Guo Qian Xiu left, Shi Xuan explained that he valued tempering the sect’s disciples more than claiming every treasure and planned to make the world’s natural Gods into opponents.
• Shi Xuan used the Six Paths of Reincarnation to place remnant souls inside the gestating natural Gods so they could develop spiritual intelligence and serve as training opponents.
• A Taiji Deity and a giant emerged from the chaos, adapted to their powerful bodies, and discovered a Taoist temple bearing the name Purple Sky Palace.

Shangguan Piaoxue and Li Gu entered Purple Cloud Palace and met Tian Xuan, who gathered the Innate Deities to expound the Dao. After warning them of a great calamity and suggesting they suppress Yue Xiang, Tian Xuan began his sermon as Shangguan Piaoxue urged the Deities to unite instead.

• Shangguan Piaoxue and Li Gu introduced themselves, then entered Purple Cloud Palace and found Tian Xuan seated in its great hall.
• Yue Xiang and the other Innate Deities arrived, competed for the nine meditation cushions, and eventually all forty-nine took their seats.
• Tian Xuan explained that the Deities would share Heaven and Earth's lifespan, face Heavenly Tribulations, and confront a great calamity in a little over nine hundred years.
• Tian Xuan said suppressing the Innate Deity of Destruction could weaken the coming calamity, prompting the others to turn against Yue Xiang.
• Shangguan Piaoxue defended Yue Xiang and persuaded the Deities to consider uniting rather than sacrificing one of their own.
• Tian Xuan rang a bell and began the sermon.

Shi Xuan taught the Innate Deities at Purple Firmament Palace that controlling their power and tempering their dispositions were steps toward mastering their true nature, though many resisted his precepts. At the tenth sermon, chaos began to divide, the deities were compelled to merge with their law origins, and Shi Xuan steadied the newborn world after its elemental forces erupted.

• Shi Xuan taught the Innate Deities to control their power and temper their dispositions, and Shangguan Piaoxue and the others gradually learned to manage their auras.
• Across the following sermons, Shangguan Piaoxue challenged Shi Xuan’s precepts, while Lu Baoguang and Hu Ruojin embraced them and questioned the meaning of the nine cushions.
• At the ninth sermon, Shi Xuan explained that the cushions held no special power and warned that gaining a realm through cultivation differed from gaining it through an object.
• At the tenth sermon, Shi Xuan ended his teaching and told the deities that heaven and earth were about to open, while forbidding them from killing Yue Xiang.
• Li Gu’s law origin formed a giant axe that split chaos, and the Yin-Yang deity joined the Yin-Yang laws as the crack expanded into a vast new world.
• Yue Xiang and Shangguan Piaoxue were compelled to merge with their destructive and Taiji origins, and Shi Xuan used a Golden Bridge to calm the erupting elemental forces.

Shi Xuan suppressed the calamity in the Great Thousand World, bestowed treasures on the surviving Innate Deities, and ended his lectures at Purple Firmament Palace. After returning to the Void Universe, he learned that the Ancient Slaughter Dao might be hunting those connected to Xu Jingshu, leaving him wary of the threat and her lost memories.

• Shi Xuan used the Merit Treasure Pagoda to suppress Earth Fire, Wind, Water, and Fire, then announced that Purple Firmament Palace would no longer expound the Dao unless someone damaged the Heavenly Dao.
• Shi Xuan created Treasure Distribution Rock and allowed each surviving Innate Deity to claim one Dharma Treasure after the Primordial Thunder Clouds formed.
• Li Gu and the other surviving gods left Purple Firmament Palace as it withdrew into the Outer Chaos, then resolved to cultivate diligently while the Five Elements evolved.
• Shi Xuan met Cold Mirror Heavenly Sovereign and Guo Qian Xiu, who discussed his growing reputation and warned him that Black Robed Heavenly Sovereigns suspected to belong to the Ancient Slaughter Dao had been killing people connected to Xu Jingshu.
• Shi Xuan wondered whether Xu Jingshu's protected lost memories concerned the Slaughter Dao and considered the possible origin of a technique resembling the Immortal-Slaying Flying Dagger.

Shi Xuan learned that the Ancient Slaughter Dao might come after him and discussed ways to prepare, while Wu Yunxi and Barge True Lord were captured after fighting near Tianji City. The chapter ended with Shi Xuan meeting Shen Chenxi on a bridge in the Western Wilderness.

• Guo Qian Xiu warned Shi Xuan that the Ancient Slaughter Dao could identify him as Xu Jingshu’s killer, and Shi Xuan considered preparations against both the Slaughter Dao and the Divine Emperor.
• Guo Qian Xiu left to arrange Shang Gu Sect’s Immortal Formation and offered Shi Xuan shelter, while Cold Mirror Heavenly Sovereign discussed preparing a Grotto-heaven and seeking materials for Immortal Talismans.
• Wu Yunxi chased Barge True Lord toward Tianji City after he used a wooden substitute to escape her attack, and You Hua witnessed them endanger the city’s residents.
• An unseen second-tribulation Mighty One seized Wu Yunxi and Barge True Lord, then suppressed them beneath a mountain for five hundred years for fighting above Tianji City.
• Shen Chenxi recognized that Shi Xuan had crossed the Heavenly Human Second Decay, and Shi Xuan greeted him while fishing beside a bridge in the Western Wilderness.

Shi Xuan invited Shen Chenxi to Penglai after giving him a map of calamity sites, then lectured the sect on two cultivation arts and announced a new fundamental scripture. The Slaughter Dao launched a coordinated attack on Shi Xuan and the Penglai Sect as he began teaching, while another Slaughter Dao cultivator confronted Meng Nishang at the Guanghan Sect.

• Shi Xuan gave Shen Chenxi a detailed Western Wilderness Calamity Survey Map and invited him to visit Penglai after he raised his Calamity Decline Immortal Technique.
• One sixty-year cycle later, Shi Xuan lectured the Penglai Sect on the Star River True Law, benefiting Ming Qingyue and other listeners.
• Shi Xuan announced the Divine Firmament True Dao Attainment Treasure Scripture as the sect’s future fundamental law for true disciples.
• A Yuan Tu sword attack struck toward True Person Jiang and the Penglai Sect, while Shi Xuan countered with five Sword Qis.
• A Slaughter Dao swordsman carrying the Trap sword confronted Meng Nishang outside the Guanghan Sect, and she attacked him with Myriad Worlds Freezing Divine Light.
• An ordinary disciple in the Dao Listening Hall revealed himself as an Abhidharma Slaughter Dao attacker, while a saber-light entity joined two other peak Second Tribulation Mighty Ones in targeting Shi Xuan.

Shi Xuan defeated three Slaughter Dao Mighty Ones who attacked Penglai Sect, using his Eighth Tier Three Powers Dharma Destroying Sword to suppress their realms. He joined Meng Nishang and Cold Mirror Heavenly Sovereign afterward, and planned to hide in the Ice and Snow Cold Light Realm while they prepared for further attacks.

• Shi Xuan used the dim white auspicious cloud to suppress the three Slaughter Dao attackers, reducing their cultivation and leaving them unable to fight or escape.
• Meng Nishang and a Slaughter Dao elder paused their battle after sensing the attack on Penglai Sect, and the elder fled when Shi Xuan’s Sword Light approached.
• Cold Mirror Heavenly Sovereign revealed that Meng Nishang had been an incarnation holding off the elder while the real Cold Mirror Heavenly Sovereign guarded Shi Xuan.
• Cold Mirror Heavenly Sovereign asked Shi Xuan to stay in the Ice and Snow Cold Light Realm, and Shi Xuan agreed to search the three captured Mighty Ones’ souls immediately.

Shi Xuan survived a Slaughter Dao assassination attempt that used Golden Harmony True Lord and a karmic secret treasure as bait, then began refining the damaged treasure and returned to seclusion at the Penglai Sect. After sixty years, he stopped his work when Shen Chenxi arrived for a visit.

• Meng Nishang verified that Golden Harmony True Lord was genuine before Shi Xuan agreed to meet him, but the Slaughter Dao's Wen Dai used their encounter to lock a karmic attack onto Shi Xuan.
• Shi Xuan used the Cosmic Light Bell through the karmic connection, allowing Cold Mirror Heavenly Sovereign to freeze and kill Wen Dai with the power of the Ice and Snow Cold Light Realm.
• Shi Xuan freed himself from the grass effigy's bindings and learned that Golden Harmony True Lord had unknowingly served as bait; Golden Harmony True Lord swore a Karmic Oath to aid Shi Xuan.
• The Slaughter Dao learned Wen Dai had perished and chose to wait, while Shi Xuan received offers of support, obtained a method to refine the karmic secret treasure, and returned to the Penglai Sect.
• After one sixty-year cycle in seclusion, Shi Xuan paused his work when Qing Lang announced that Shen Chenxi had come to visit.

Shen Chenxi helped Shi Xuan trigger his Primordial Spirit Decay early, and Shi Xuan survived the first violent backlash by using the Yin-Yang Mixed Cavern Divine Light. As his tribulation continued, Hua Qianluo arrived to pay him a visit while worrying that he might discover the secret treasure she carried.

• Shen Chenxi entered Penglai Sect with Qing Lang and reflected that she might found a sect after settling her enmity.
• Shi Xuan asked Shen Chenxi to bring his Decay Tribulation forward, and she warned that waiting for it to descend naturally would be safer.
• Shen Chenxi used the Myriad Tribulations Chessboard to trigger Shi Xuan's Primordial Spirit Decay, while Cold Mirror Heavenly Sovereign sealed off the hall.
• Shi Xuan used the Yin-Yang Mixed Cavern Divine Light to withstand the backlash, then restored his Primordial Spirit enough to thank Shen Chenxi.
• Shen Chenxi left after declaring their karma settled, and Hua Qianluo arrived outside Shi Xuan's cave dwelling with a secret treasure she hoped he would not detect.

Hua Qianluo met Shi Xuan, who warned her about relying too heavily on her powerful magic treasure and learned of Mo Jingqiu’s journey to the Western Wilderness. Shi Xuan survived the final backlash of the Heavenly Human Third Decay, and a hundred years later he prepared to create a Grotto-heaven for the Penglai Sect.

• Hua Qianluo met Shi Xuan and was terrified by the decay surrounding him, but he revealed that he was undergoing the Heavenly Human Third Decay.
• Shi Xuan recognized Hua Qianluo’s Illusionary Magic Treasure, explained its limits, and advised her to rely on it sparingly while strengthening her foundation.
• Hua Qianluo told Shi Xuan about her encounter in the Western Wilderness, and he learned that Mo Jingqiu had traveled there as well.
• Shi Xuan endured the Decay Tribulation’s final backlash by using the Pure Qi Spirit Transformation Gourd to sustain his Primordial Spirit, then passed the Heavenly Human Third Decay.
• A hundred years later, Shi Xuan gathered the Penglai Sect’s True Persons above the sect and prepared to create a Grotto-heaven as Chu Wan'er and the others watched.

Shi Xuan opened the Shangqing Shenxiao Realm, establishing Penglai Sect’s Grotto-Heaven as a lasting foundation, and the gathered sects witnessed his achievement. After True Lord Xu survived his fourth Heavenly Tribulation, Shi Xuan set out to temper himself and address several threats and preparations for his next tribulation.

• Shi Xuan created a Lesser Thousand World through a Creation Scene, and the spectacle awakened Penglai Sect’s disciples and drew True Persons from across the region.
• Shi Xuan moved Penglai Island and the surrounding ocean into the Grotto-Heaven, established its protective immortal array, and named it the Shangqing Shenxiao Realm.
• The visiting True Persons congratulated Shi Xuan, while leaders from other sects reflected on their own uncertain prospects for advancing through the Heavenly Tribulations.
• Shi Xuan saw off the visiting sect leaders and discussed the growing number of Primordial Spirit True Persons and the possibility of future Heavenly Immortals with Meng Nishang and True Lord Xu.
• True Lord Xu gained insight from the Grotto-Heaven’s creation and successfully survived the fourth Heavenly Tribulation.
• Shi Xuan left the Grotto-Heaven to temper himself, pursue what he needed for the next decay, and deal with the Slaughter Dao and the Divine Emperor.

At Endless Rift Valley, Jiang Yanbo and the Imperial Gate Sect faced a devastating ghost invasion led by the Ghost Emperor. Shi Xuan appeared as Daoist Tian Xuan, destroyed Eternal Purgatory and the Ghost Emperor, and left the survivors stunned as he awaited an invitation from the Chaos Heavenly Emperor.

• Jiang Yanbo refused to abandon the Imperial Gate Sect as the Ghost Kings overwhelmed the immortal formations and two sects fell.
• Jiang Ya'er suggested seeking help from the Chaos Heavenly Emperor, but Jiang Yanbo said their ancient connection was too distant to rely on.
• As the God Burying Immortal Formation neared collapse, Jiang Yanbo made a Karmic Oath promising to fulfill any request from a power that saved his sect.
• Shi Xuan appeared in the formation as Daoist Tian Xuan and asked Jiang Yanbo whether he wanted the ghosts driven back, their source eliminated, or the threat settled once and for all.
• Shi Xuan grasped Eternal Purgatory with purple lightning, shattered it and the Ghost Emperor, and sealed the breach with a spatial storm.

Shi Xuan accompanied the Imperial Gate Sect to the Chaos Heavenly Palace for Lord Riyue’s millionth birthday, hoping to ask the Chaos Heavenly Emperor for materials needed to cultivate a tribulation-transcending secret art. At the celebration, Lian Yu recognized Shi Xuan and revealed his identity, leaving Shi Xuan exposed to the Slaughter Dao’s pursuit.

• Jiang Yanbo received a birthday invitation to the Chaos Heavenly Palace, and Shi Xuan admitted he planned to request Chaos and Space Great Dao Origin from the Heavenly Emperor.
• Shi Xuan, Jiang Yanbo, Jiang Ya'er, and Han Daolin traveled by invitation ship to the Heavenly Palace and were assigned a quiet, remote palace.
• Yan Zhenqing of the Jingshi Sect visited with his son Yan Ning, who complained about the Heavenly Palace’s treatment of their branch and bragged that he had met Calamity Prison Heavenly Sovereign.
• At the birthday celebration, Lian Yu arrived as the Disaster Dao Ancestor’s representative and greeted Shi Xuan by name.
• The Heavenly Sovereigns recognized Shi Xuan as the wanted Penglai cultivator, and Lian Yu realized that his friendly greeting had exposed Shi Xuan to the Slaughter Dao.

Shi Xuan reconciled with Lian Yu at the Chaos Heavenly Emperor’s birthday celebration and asked Jun Riyue for a trace of Chaos Origin. Jun Riyue agreed to help if Shi Xuan took part in a wager in the Zhenhai Great World, leaving Shi Xuan committed to confront five Three Tribulation Demon Race Great Saints.

• Shi Xuan assured Lian Yu that he held no grudge, and Lian Yu offered to escort him after the celebration in case the Slaughter Dao pursued him.
• Lian Yu treated Shi Xuan and the Imperial Gate Sect members with courtesy, and Divine Lord Dongnuan moved their seats to the front.
• Shi Xuan congratulated Jun Riyue, who privately invited him to a side hall after the celebration.
• Shi Xuan asked Jun Riyue for a trace of Chaos Origin, and Jun Riyue offered it in exchange for Shi Xuan taking his disciple’s place in a wager.
• Jun Riyue sent Shi Xuan to the Zhenhai Great World to compete against a Three Tribulation disciple by subduing three of the five Demon Race Great Saints who raised humans for food.

Shi Xuan arrived in White Ox Country, where demons enslaved and ate humans, and slaughtered the demons there before rescuing the people. His actions drew Great Sage Pingtian and two other Demon Saints away from Jilei Mountain, allowing Golden Cicada Monk to move against the isolated Great Sage Daohai.

• Divine Lord Dongnuan told Lian Yu that Shi Xuan was occupied with a task from the Heavenly Emperor, and Lian Yu left Chaos Heavenly Palace.
• Golden Cicada Monk was summoned by Buddha Ancestor while he practiced painting to temper his heart.
• Shi Xuan entered White Ox Country and used his sword light to kill its demons, including the white ox king, then announced himself as True Lord Tian Xuan and promised to save the humans.
• Su Zhao reported Shi Xuan's attack to Great Sage Pingtian, who decided the report was a trap and then ate Su Zhao and his son.
• Golden Cicada Monk watched Great Sage Pingtian leave with Great Sage Motian and Great Sage Tuntian, then headed toward Great Sage Daohai.

Shi Xuan used the Karma Dan Book to strike Great Sage Pingtian through their karmic connection, reducing his cultivation, while Great Sage Tuntian and Great Sage Moyun Golden Peng attacked Shi Xuan. Golden Cicada watched from a Sea Eye, waiting to see how the conflict unfolded.

• Great Sage Pingtian, Great Sage Tuntian, and Great Sage Moyun Golden Peng reached White Ox Country and found its people and belongings gone.
• Golden Cicada monitored the Great Sages and decided to wait rather than attack Great Sage Daohai before the conflict became clear.
• Shi Xuan prepared a karmic ritual on a Daoist platform, using the blood of a white ox related to Great Sage Pingtian to strengthen the Karma Dan Book.
• Shi Xuan used the Karma Dan Book to afflict Great Sage Pingtian, whose realm fell from a Three Tribulation Demon Saint to a One Tribulation Demon Saint.
• Great Sage Tuntian attacked Shi Xuan with Sun and Moon in Belly, while Great Sage Moyun Golden Peng struck with Cloud-Covering Claw.
• Golden Cicada sensed that the Great Sages had attacked Shi Xuan.