Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Chen Ling confronts Pei Wufeng, demanding to know whether Ye Li is protected by the Heaven-Cutting Sword Pavilion. Pei identifies herself as the Pavilion’s famed Sword Chief and warns that, if not for her sensitive position, she would already have killed Chen Ling. He backs down, unwilling to challenge her.
• As Chen Ling prepares to leave after failing to find Ye Li, Ye Li appears and invites him in for tea.
• Under the influence of Ye Li’s [Oblivion Calamity], Chen Ling’s instinctive fear of him disappears. He demands the Boundary Heaven Treasure Ye Li took from the Azure-Green Boundary Heaven, offering either its return or compensation in supreme-grade Treasure Medicine. He threatens to destroy Ye Li’s Dao lineage if he refuses.
• Ye Li calmly says the Jade Capital Society deserves to die, then instantly overpowers and crushes Chen Ling, an eighth-level Dao Master. When Chen Ling’s True Spirit escapes, Ye Li captures and burns it away.
• Enraged Jade Capital Society cultivators attack. Ye Li uses [World-Cleansing Purity] to annihilate them, destroying both their bodies and True Spirits.

Character developments and interactions

• Pei Wufeng remains composed under Chen Ling’s provocation and openly asserts her formidable reputation, forcing him to retreat without a fight.
• Chen Ling shifts from bullying and threatening Ye Li’s allies to panic when Ye Li attacks. He is killed after underestimating Ye Li.
• Ye Li displays calm confidence and overwhelming force, deliberately welcoming retaliation from the Jade Capital Society rather than yielding to its demands.
• Azure Water Dao Lord is shocked and frightened by Ye Li’s brutal display, despite having witnessed his abilities before.
• The Jade Capital Society cultivators respond to Chen Ling’s death with fury, but their charge ends in mass annihilation.

Significant themes

• Power and intimidation: Chen Ling’s status and threats mean little against Ye Li’s superior strength.
• Consequences of arrogance: Chen Ling’s coercive demands and underestimation of Ye Li lead directly to his death.
• Fear and perception: [Oblivion Calamity] suppresses Chen Ling’s fear, encouraging him to confront someone he would otherwise find terrifying.
• Escalation and retaliation: Ye Li treats the Society’s threat as an invitation to conflict, setting up a larger confrontation.

• Plot: After emerging from seclusion, Ye Li finds Pei Wufeng, a powerful swordswoman from the Heaven-Cutting Sword Pavilion, waiting in the palace. She is impressed by the bodies of Jade Capital Society members he has killed and asks whether he understood the consequences. Ye Li sidesteps the question and asks why she came. Pei explains that her pavilion detected sword intent resembling that of its founding master and sent her to investigate. Before she can learn more, Azure Abyss Dao Master Cangyuan arrives and is alarmed to discover the aftermath. He warns Ye Li that the Jade Capital Society is a formidable Transcendence-level power, but Ye Li reminds him they are already planning to confront the even more fearsome Wutong Mountain. Cangyuan’s resolve returns, and he explains that Wutong Mountain once took his wife from him. Ye Li says he is helping because he cannot stand bullies. Pei, amused and impressed by his willingness to act on that claim, reveals that the Heaven-Cutting Sword Pavilion has been invited to Wutong Mountain’s Emperor-Seeking Ceremony in two days. She offers to bring Ye Li and Cangyuan along under the pavilion’s name.
• Character developments: Ye Li remains calm and unconcerned by powerful enemies, focused on his plans and apparently untroubled by the consequences of his actions. Cangyuan shifts from alarm at the Jade Capital Society’s might to renewed courage when reminded of their planned mission to Wutong Mountain; his personal history there is revealed. Pei Wufeng’s initial curiosity about Ye Li grows into admiration for his boldness and unconventional honesty.
• Character interactions: Pei and Ye Li trade direct, teasing remarks, with Pei openly praising his decisiveness. Cangyuan warns Ye Li about the Society, then pledges to support him. Pei’s impatience interrupts Cangyuan’s account of his past, and she turns the discussion toward Ye Li’s motives and their next move. The Azure Water Dao Lord quietly withdraws, recognizing that the conversation is beyond her station.
• Themes: The chapter contrasts reputation and real courage: Ye Li dismisses the Jade Capital Society’s intimidation in light of his larger goal, while Pei distinguishes him from people who merely claim to oppose injustice. It also explores loyalty and personal vengeance through Cangyuan’s history, and establishes bold action against oppressive powers as a central thread.

Key plot points and events

• Pei Wufeng offers to help Ye Li reach Wutong Mountain during an upcoming ceremony, with the Heaven-Cutting Sword Pavilion providing cover. She says her support is based on curiosity about Ye Li’s plans—not on his accidental use of the Pavilion’s sword qi.
• Ye Li accepts, and Pei Wufeng promises to notify him when the ceremony is near.
• When the Azure Abyss Dao Master asks who she is, Pei Wufeng tosses him her token. He recognizes her as the Sword Chief of the Heaven-Cutting Sword Pavilion, a formidable figure said to be close to the Transcendence Realm.
• Two days later, news of Dao Master Chen Ling’s death reaches the Jade Capital Society. Its three ruling Demon Ape brothers meet to decide how to respond.
• The second brother accepts blame for failing to investigate Ye Li before sending Chen Ling. After reviewing Ye Li’s record—his seizure of the Primordial Continent and defeat of its other Dao Masters—he urges the Society to send gifts and make peace.
• The eldest brother’s angry rejection of that proposal leaves the Society’s response unresolved.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Li is candid about having no legitimate connection to the Sword Pavilion, but accepts Pei Wufeng’s help once she clarifies her motives.
• Pei Wufeng shows confidence, humor, and genuine curiosity about Ye Li. Her identity as Sword Chief reveals the weight behind her offer.
• The Azure Abyss Dao Master shifts from questioning Pei Wufeng’s authority to astonishment and respect after seeing her token.
• The Jade Capital Society’s second brother displays accountability and strategic caution, advocating reconciliation after grasping Ye Li’s strength.
• The eldest Demon Ape brother reacts with fury to the idea of seeking peace, setting up a clash within the Society.

Significant themes

• Power and reputation: Ye Li’s expanding record frightens even a major organization.
• Strategic alliances: The Sword Pavilion’s support could give Ye Li access to Wutong Mountain.
• Caution versus pride: The second brother favors diplomacy, while the eldest appears driven by anger.
• Monsters recognize monsters: Cangyuan reflects that extraordinary figures naturally find themselves among their equals.

Plot points

• Ape Three argues for revenge against Ye Li, who killed Chen Ling and several Dao Masters, while Ape Two urges caution and favors appeasement.
• Their leader, the Great Demon Ape, unexpectedly sides with Ape Three. He claims Ye Li is too vindictive to be placated and argues that the Jade Capital Society must appear strong before its ally, Wutong Mountain.
• The brothers agree to gather forces and attack Ye Li. Ape Three is sent to Green Snake Mountain to demand that it contribute troops, since its interference helped cause the crisis; Ape Two begins organizing the Society’s elite.
• After they leave, the Great Demon Ape secretly reveals that the campaign is actually ordered by Wutong Mountain. The true target is Cangyuan, a Dao Master hiding in the Sea of Nine Harmonies; Ye Li is only an additional target.
• Wutong Mountain has promised a rich reward. The Great Demon Ape intends to keep its instructions secret and use his brothers’ loyalty and the public pretext of solidarity to secure their obedience.

Character developments and interactions

• Ape Two shifts from cautious opposition to reluctant commitment after the Great Demon Ape invokes the brothers’ shared past and the Society’s alliance with Wutong Mountain.
• Ape Three remains hotheaded and focused on reputation and vengeance, but gladly accepts the mission to pressure Green Snake Mountain.
• The Great Demon Ape presents himself as a united, protective elder brother, yet privately proves calculating and self-serving: he conceals Wutong Mountain’s orders and manipulates his brothers into carrying them out.
• The brothers’ argument exposes the tension between Ape Two’s practical caution and Ape Three’s pride-driven aggression, while their shared resentment toward Green Snake Mountain briefly unites them.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: The stated reasons for war—revenge, reputation, and brotherhood—mask a secret political assignment.
• Power and alliance politics: The Society’s leaders fear appearing weak to Wutong Mountain and other major factions.
• Manipulation and loyalty: The Great Demon Ape exploits familial trust to advance his own position and fulfill a hidden bargain.

Key plot points and events

• At Green Snake Mountain, Qing Ruoxu reports his investigation of Ye Li to the Mountain Lord. He lists Ye Li’s powerful physical technique, Transcendent Sword Qi, mysterious silver spear, and rule-imposing Divine Ability.
• Qing Ruoxu proposes counters: trap Ye Li with the mountain’s array and god-eroding ink miasma, use the Mystic-Scale Treasure Umbrella against his weapons, and rely on the Mountain Lord’s Divine Art against his Divine Ability.
• The Mountain Lord approves Qing Ruoxu’s work and says his position as young master is safe for now. He orders elders to retrieve the umbrella and prepare to suppress and kill Ye Li.
• The Mountain Lord then criticizes Qing Ruoxu’s plan to use the Jade Capital Society to test Ye Li. He warns that, if the Society’s elites are defeated, its leaders will demand compensation regardless of proof—and may use pressure from Wutong Mountain to make greater demands.
• A Dao Master arrives with urgent news: someone is outside Green Snake Mountain’s protective array, demanding the head of a Transcendence Realm snake. The visitor is an unknown white-robed Dao Master, not the Jade Capital Society leader the Mountain Lord expected.

Character developments and interactions

• Qing Ruoxu shows composure and strategic initiative, hoping to prove his value. Though initially praised, he reveals political naivety when he assumes the Jade Capital Society can be dismissed with a denial.
• The Mountain Lord is confident, politically astute, and accustomed to controlling events. His prediction of a visitor is dramatically undercut when the newcomer proves to be someone unexpected.
• The Dao Master messenger arrives in fear, conveying the sudden threat and overturning the Mountain Lord’s assumption.
• The exchange between Qing Ruoxu and the Mountain Lord shifts from a successful report to a lesson in factional politics, then ends on a cliffhanger.

Significant themes

• Power and preparedness: Green Snake Mountain plans to counter Ye Li by matching his abilities with specific tools and tactics.
• Political consequences: A failed proxy attack could provoke retaliation, while larger powers may exploit the situation for leverage.
• Overconfidence and uncertainty: The Mountain Lord’s confidence in reading events—and Qing Ruoxu’s confidence in his own scheme—are both challenged by the unexpected visitor.
• Hierarchy and survival: Qing Ruoxu’s status depends on pleasing the Mountain Lord, while the mountain faces a threat that may force it into a dangerous confrontation.

Plot points and events

• Ye Li arrives at Green Snake Mountain to settle scores, deciding it should come before Wutong Mountain because its people tried to kill him first.
• He demands that a Transcendence Realm snake lose its head, making clear that the target is the Green Snake Mountain Master. The Mountain Master’s immense pressure clashes with Ye Li’s, while Ye Li’s own aura is unexpectedly powerful for someone still in the Dao Fruit Realm.
• Ye Li’s arrival throws the mountain into panic. His advancing pressure pins elders and disciples to the ground, silencing the front mountain.
• The Green Snake Mountain Master confronts Ye Li and accuses him of provoking multiple powerful factions, including the Jade Capital Society and Wutong Mountain. Ye Li dismisses the warning and refuses to back down.
• The Mountain Master attacks with a prepared formation of countless green snakes, designed to counter Ye Li’s Divine Fire by freezing the battlefield. Ye Li activates Golden Soul Revival, greatly amplifying his blood vitality; its golden energy instantly overwhelms the freezing effect. The confrontation remains unresolved at the chapter’s end.

Character developments

• Ye Li is shown as confident, methodical in pursuing revenge, and willing to challenge opponents above his realm. He treats the Mountain Master’s preparation as no obstacle and reveals a powerful second-phase ability.
• The Green Snake Mountain Master shifts from fury to calculated aggression, using knowledge of Ye Li’s abilities to prepare a specialized countermeasure.
• Qing Ruoxu is terrified by Ye Li’s power and recognizes that his threat is far beyond what his apparent realm suggests.

Significant themes

• Revenge and ordered retribution: Ye Li prioritizes targets according to who attacked him first.
• Power beyond appearances: Ye Li’s Dao Fruit Realm status belies his extraordinary pressure and combat ability.
• Preparation versus adaptability: The Mountain Master’s tailored counterattack is immediately challenged by Ye Li’s additional trump card.
• Defiance and escalation: Ye Li’s open hostility toward multiple major factions raises the stakes of his conflict.

Character interactions

• Ye Li ignores the mountain steward’s questioning and repeats his demand before the gathered demons.
• The Green Snake Mountain Master warns Ye Li that he is making enemies across the world; Ye Li responds with amused indifference.
• The Mountain Master orders Qing Ruoxu to remain behind, then personally confronts Ye Li.
• The Master’s snake formation targets Ye Li’s Divine Fire, but Ye Li counters it with Golden Soul Revival.

Plot points

• Ye Li and the Green Snake Mountain Master clash in midair. Despite being in the lower Dao Fruit Realm, Ye Li dominates their hand-to-hand fight through extraordinary physical strength.
• The Mountain Master orders Qing Ruoxu to activate Green Snake Mountain’s God-Eroding Ink Miasma, which stiffens living bodies and weakens Ye Li’s golden vitality. The miasma empowers the snake-aligned Mountain Master and helps him regain ground.
• Ye Li breaks through the Mountain Master’s defenses with a punch, shattering his jaw. When the Mountain Master anticipates Ye Li’s Divine Spear and has an elder open the Mystic-Scale Treasure Umbrella to counter weapons, Ye Li instead uses the Heaven-Intercepting Spirit-Plundering Technique to steal the umbrella from afar.
• Ye Li activates Dao Scripture My Book, raising his standing to the Transcendence Realm and removing the Mountain Master’s advantage in rank. He punches through the enemy’s chest, though the Mountain Master breaks Ye Li’s right arm in retaliation.
• Ye Li uses Highest Clarity Jade Edict to strengthen the humans present—but not the demon Mountain Master. His empowered left-hand strike splits the Mountain Master’s head and dharma body, leaving him grievously wounded.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Li reveals several previously unseen abilities and remains composed despite the miasma, his injured arm, and the Mountain Master’s counterattack. His confidence and tactical adaptability prove as important as his strength.
• The Green Snake Mountain Master shifts from amused confidence to alarm as Ye Li repeatedly overturns his expectations. He relies on the mountain’s formation and a hidden elder, but neither saves him.
• Qing Ruoxu obeys the Mountain Master’s command and activates the formation; an ambushing elder attempts to support the fight with the treasure umbrella but is injured when Ye Li steals it.
• The battle is a contest of escalating counters: the Master uses environmental advantage and specialized weapons, while Ye Li answers with unexpected techniques and overwhelming power.

Significant themes

• Power beyond rank: Ye Li’s physical ability and scripture technique challenge the assumed gap between cultivation levels.
• Preparation versus adaptability: The Mountain Master has defenses prepared for Ye Li’s known abilities, but Ye Li’s concealed techniques defeat those plans.
• Strength and sacrifice: Both fighters accept serious injury to land decisive blows, while Ye Li’s final edict turns the difference between human and demon into a tactical advantage.

Plot points and events

• After Ye Li cuts the Green Snake Mountain Master in two, the expected true spirit does not appear. The Mountain Master escapes death by using his innate Life-and-Death Molt ability, reconstituting himself from a shed husk hidden in his Cave Abode. The escape costs him heavily, damaging his cultivation and weakening his aura.
• To buy time to stabilize his new body, the Mountain Master commands every elder and Dao Master of the Myriad Manifestations Realm and above to stop Ye Li. Qing Ruoxu is ordered to activate the mountain’s grand formation.
• Dozens of elites—including several Dao Fruit Realm experts—charge Ye Li. He remains calm and kills them with a single sweep of Yin-Yang Divide, tearing through their Dharma Bodies and leaving Green Snake Mountain’s forces devastated.
• Before the Mountain Master can recover or the formation can be activated, Ye Li breaks through Rear Mountain’s wards and attacks. Empowered by Dao Scripture My Book, he stands at the Transcendence Realm without suppression.
• Ye Li’s punch badly cracks the Mountain Master’s freshly restored body. The Mountain Master is shocked to find himself physically outmatched.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Li is portrayed as composed and overwhelmingly powerful: he dismisses the Mountain Master’s attempt to stall and rapidly eliminates the defenders.
• The Green Snake Mountain Master shifts from confidence in his lineage and physical strength to fear and disbelief. Though he survives, he is weakened and can no longer dominate the fight.
• Qing Ruoxu is stunned by the destruction of the mountain’s forces and remains subordinate to the Mountain Master’s commands.

Significant themes

• Survival at a cost: The Mountain Master’s miraculous escape preserves his life but damages his cultivation and leaves him vulnerable.
• Power and helplessness: Green Snake Mountain’s elite defenses prove ineffective against Ye Li, emphasizing the vast gap between him and his opponents.
• Pride overturned: The Mountain Master’s belief that no one of his realm could surpass a snake demon’s physical strength is shattered by Ye Li.

Chapter summary

Key plot points

• Ye Li continues overwhelming the Green Snake Mountain Master with his enhanced physical strength, driving him into the ground and reducing much of the mountain range to ruins.
• Ye Li unleashes the Divine Spear’s full power. Its white-hot blast annihilates the badly injured Mountain Master and destroys nearly half of Green Snake Mountain.
• After announcing that anyone who escapes ten thousand miles within three breaths will be spared, Ye Li counts down. The cultivators flee in panic, but he then slaughters everyone remaining with a rain of spatial slashes.
• Ye Li collects Green Snake Mountain’s resources with his Highest Clarity Grotto-Heaven. He considers attacking the Jade Capital Society but decides against it so he can reach the coming event at Wutong Mountain.
• Later, Ape Three arrives with several hundred Jade Capital Society elites, intending to pressure Green Snake Mountain into providing support. He finds only a vast abyss and the stench of blood, and cannot understand how the entire forbidden land disappeared.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Li shows complete confidence in his newly elevated power. He ignores the Mountain Master’s plea for mercy, treats the surviving cultivators’ escape as a timed execution, and leaves satisfied with his immense haul of Malice Points and resources.
• The Green Snake Mountain Master shifts from relying on his Transcendence Realm advantage to terror and desperation once he realizes Ye Li can match him. His surrender is rejected, and he is killed.
• Green Snake Mountain’s cultivators go from mourning their fallen leader to fleeing in mass panic; those who fail to escape are killed.
• Ape Three enters aggressively, expecting to confront a powerful rival, but is left confused and shaken by the mountain’s total destruction.

Significant themes

• Overwhelming power and hubris: The Mountain Master’s confidence in his status proves useless once Ye Li’s strength reaches the same realm.
• Merciless vengeance and destruction: Ye Li gives the cultivators a chance to flee, but the countdown serves mainly to heighten their terror before his attack.
• Consequences and shock: The chapter ends by contrasting Ye Li’s deliberate devastation with Ape Three’s bewilderment at its aftermath.
• Ambition and priorities: Ye Li chooses the Wutong Mountain event over pursuing the Jade Capital Society, despite the prospect of further gains.

Key plot points and events

• Ape Three encounters the aftermath of Green Snake Mountain’s destruction. The lingering effects of a Transcendence Realm cultivator’s death make him weep, and he realizes the mountain’s master has truly died, spirit and all.
• Panicked, Ape Three rushes back to warn the Jade Capital Society’s leader, forgetting to use his communication talisman.
• At the Heaven-Cutting Sword Pavilion, Sword Chief Pei Wufeng tells the elders that she plans to take Ye Li and Cangyuan to Wutong Mountain’s ceremony in two days. The elders object, fearing the visit will entangle the Pavilion in Ye Li’s conflict.
• The elders explain that Wutong Mountain and the Dark Moon Directorate forbid anyone from reaching the Transcendence Realm without their approval. They cite the brutal destruction of Empty Sea Valley after its master defied the ban.
• Pei argues that suppressing her own Transcendence Realm cultivation indefinitely is no solution: Wutong Mountain is hostile to the Pavilion and will never permit its rise. She says she wants to befriend Ye Li, not wager the Pavilion’s future on him.

Character developments

• Ape Three shifts from confusion to alarm as he understands the scale of Green Snake Mountain’s destruction, then hurries to alert his superior.
• Pei Wufeng remains composed under pressure and shows growing resolve to confront the Sword Pavilion’s precarious position rather than continue hiding her power.
• The elders reveal their fear and caution, shaped by the Pavilion’s declining influence and the precedent of Empty Sea Valley.

Significant themes

• Power enforced through fear: Wutong Mountain and the Dark Moon Directorate use a prohibition—and exemplary violence—to control who may attain transcendence.
• Decline and survival: The Sword Pavilion must choose between continued concealment and taking steps to protect its future.
• Agency versus caution: Pei advocates making plans despite the danger, while the elders favor avoiding involvement.
• The cost of transcendence: A powerful cultivator’s death affects the world itself, while attempts to transcend can provoke catastrophic retaliation.

Character interactions

• Ape Three reacts to Green Snake Mountain’s destruction by rushing to warn the Jade Capital Society’s leader.
• Pei’s announcement sparks a heated confrontation with the elders, who challenge her judgment and question whether Ye Li can help them.
• Pei acknowledges the elders’ past support but rejects their fear-driven approach, clarifying that her interest in Ye Li is personal rather than a strategic gamble.

Key plot points and events

• At the Heaven-Cutting Sword Pavilion, the elders criticize Pei Wufeng for supporting Ye Li, a Dao Master who plans to challenge Wutong Mountain. They argue he is too weak to survive the faction’s retaliation and urge him to seek protection from Green Snake Mountain instead.
• Pei Wufeng insists Ye Li will eventually reach Transcendence, though the Grand Elder doubts he can live long enough to do so.
• A sudden, realm-wide omen—darkened skies and violently disturbed laws—signals that a Transcendent has died. A divination reveals that Green Snake Mountain has been destroyed and its master killed.
• The elders suspect Ye Li was responsible. Pei Wufeng confidently agrees, taking the destruction as proof of his extraordinary power.
• At Wutong Mountain, its ruler senses the same omen and is stunned to learn that Green Snake Mountain has fallen.

Character developments and interactions

• Pei Wufeng remains steadfast in her belief in Ye Li despite the elders’ ridicule. The news strengthens her confidence and vindicates her judgment.
• The Sword Pavilion elders, especially the Grand Elder, shift from dismissing Ye Li as doomed to stunned uncertainty when Green Snake Mountain’s destruction is announced.
• The Wutong Mountain ruler moves from stillness to alarm upon sensing the death of a fellow Transcendent and learning that Green Snake Mountain has fallen.
• Pei Wufeng clashes with the elders over whether Ye Li is worth supporting; the divination abruptly changes the conversation and leaves the hall in shock.

Significant themes

• Faith versus conventional judgment: Pei Wufeng trusts Ye Li’s potential while others assess him by his current rank and political danger.
• Power revealed through action: The destruction of Green Snake Mountain dramatically suggests Ye Li’s strength exceeds the elders’ expectations.
• The peril of ambition: Ye Li’s planned challenge to Wutong Mountain is framed as a potentially fatal undertaking, even as his apparent victory raises the stakes.

Summary

• The Lihuo Divine Lord senses Green Snake Mountain Lord’s death and recalls the chaos flames of Burn Heaven Boil Sea into his body. He is less concerned by Green Snake’s death itself than by the question of who could have killed a Transcendence Realm ruler—and why.
• He suspects a new cultivator has reached Transcendence. The Divine Lord believes another such cultivator would further reduce his own chance of advancing beyond Transcendence, because the Primordial Sea’s laws cannot support more beings at that level.
• He explains his alliance with the Dark Moon Directorate: together, they have blocked others’ paths to Transcendence. He is willing to kill even peak Dao Fruit Realm cultivators to secure his own advancement, and considers anyone who reaches Transcendence a threat that must be eliminated.
• His divination fails. He cannot trace the killer’s karma, an unprecedented result that suggests the person—or a secret connected to them—may rival his own standing. Growing alarmed, he leaves seclusion and goes to Wutong Mountain’s grand hall, where preparations are underway for the Emperor-Seeking Ceremony.
• The assembled cultivators kneel to him. Asked whether Green Snake Mountain had made an enemy, they are confused. Then the Divine Lord’s son steps forward, saying he knows something about the matter; the chapter ends before he explains.

Character developments and interactions

• Lihuo Divine Lord emerges as arrogant, deeply ambitious, and violently protective of his chance to surpass Transcendence. His failed divination unsettles him, revealing a rare loss of composure.
• The white-haired elder respectfully asks why the Divine Lord has left seclusion and tries to answer his question, but has no explanation.
• The Divine Lord’s son takes the initiative to address his father and offers information about Green Snake Mountain, setting up the next revelation.

Significant themes

• Scarcity and power: The Divine Lord sees cosmic laws as a limited resource, turning other powerful cultivators into rivals.
• Fear of the unknown: Green Snake’s death and the failed divination challenge his assumption that he can identify and control every threat.
• Ambition versus morality: He justifies mass killing and blocking others’ advancement as necessary to achieve his own goal.

Plot points and events

• Feng Changsi tells his father, Lihuo Divine Lord, that Ye Li is a newly advanced Dao Fruit Realm cultivator who has allied with Dao Master Cangyuan. Feng admits he ordered the Jade Capital Society to find a chance to eliminate them.
• Lihuo rebukes him and orders him to stop the plan. He reveals that Green Snake Mountain has been destroyed and its master’s soul obliterated.
• Lihuo commands Feng Changsi to investigate who carried out the destruction.
• At Jade Capital Society headquarters, Ape Three reports that Green Snake Mountain has been wiped out. Ape Two suspects Ye Li, reasoning that Green Snake Mountain had few other enemies and Ye Li had always seemed unconcerned by the forbidden lands.
• Ape Three confirms that the ruins held a lingering, extraordinarily sharp force. The Great Demon Ape connects it to Ye Li’s Transcendent Sword Qi and mysterious silver spear.
• Ape Two advises the brothers to stop antagonizing Ye Li. With the Emperor-Seeking Ceremony coming the next day, he urges the Great Demon Ape and Ape Three to go to Wutong Mountain and seek Lihuo’s favor.

Character developments and interactions

• Lihuo Divine Lord shifts from discussing Ye Li to warning his son against underestimating him. He acts decisively, halting the assassination plan and ordering an investigation.
• Feng Changsi expects praise for his precautions, but is chastened by his father’s warning. Though he resents Ye Li’s escape, he obeys.
• Ape Two emerges as the most cautious and perceptive of the brothers, piecing together clues and recommending reconciliation.
• Ape Three is shaken by the destruction and supplies the crucial evidence of the strange sharpness at the ruins.
• The Great Demon Ape initially dismisses the idea that Ye Li could be responsible, then grows grim as the evidence and Ye Li’s weapons make the possibility credible.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus true power: Ye Li’s apparent low cultivation contrasts with the destruction attributed to him.
• Consequences of underestimating an opponent: Both Wutong Mountain and the Jade Capital Society reassess their plans once Green Snake Mountain’s fate is known.
• Pragmatism and shifting alliances: Ape Two argues that survival and securing favor matter more than maintaining a petty feud.

Plot points

• Ape Two realizes the Great Demon Ape is reluctant to oppose Ye Li because he has accepted an advance payment from a young master of Wutong Mountain and promised to kill Ye Li and Cangyuan.
• Ape Two advises him to attend the upcoming Emperor-Seeking Ceremony and report that Ye Li appears to have reached Transcendence. This would shift responsibility to Wutong Mountain while giving the Great Demon Ape a defensible excuse for failing his contract.
• The Great Demon Ape accepts the plan and leaves with Ape Three for Wutong Mountain, placing Ape Two in charge of the Jade Capital Society and ordering it not to provoke the Sea of Nine Harmonies.
• Meanwhile, Ye Li recovers from destroying Green Snake Mountain, then swallows dozens of Dao Fruit Treasure Pellets and uses his Malice Points to strengthen himself. He reaches the peak of the Dao Fruit Realm.

Character developments and interactions

• Ape Two shows political cunning and loyalty to his elder brother, finding a way to avoid a direct confrontation with Ye Li. Despite his practical plan, he remains uneasy about what may happen.
• The Great Demon Ape admits that his hesitation stems from his obligation—and advance payment—from Wutong Mountain. He chooses to report Ye Li’s power rather than risk fighting him.
• Ye Li demonstrates extraordinary physical and spiritual resilience: he can withstand a quantity of powerful pills that would destroy an ordinary Dao Master, and he uses them to push his cultivation to a new peak.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism and self-preservation: Ape Two favors passing danger up the chain rather than risking the society’s destruction.
• Power reshapes obligations: The Great Demon Ape’s contract matters less than the threat Ye Li poses and Wutong Mountain’s ability to handle it.
• Relentless cultivation: Ye Li turns the spoils of his victory into another dramatic advance in power.

Key plot points and events

• After three billion malice points are spent, Ye Li’s Dao Fruit flares and he reaches a new realm. Some medicinal power remains in his body, which he saves for a future attempt at transcendence.
• He uses the Green Snake Mountain Master’s sacred-grade Life-Origin Great Transformation Scripture as a foundation, first perfecting it with the system.
• Ye Li then spends hundreds of millions more malice points to remake the method, removing its demonic weaknesses and incorporating his physique, bloodline, divine abilities, and understanding of natural laws. The result is the unprecedented divine-grade Highest Clarity Extreme Day Imperial Heaven Golden Register.
• Cultivating this method transforms Ye Li’s existence and brings him to half-step transcendence. His power bursts through the palace’s protective formations and spreads across the Eight Desolations Cosmos.
• Azure Abyss Dao Master fears the display will alert Wutong Mountain and the Dark Moon Directorate before their grand ceremony. Ye Li emerges, says he is only a sliver from transcendence, and calmly tells Azure Abyss they can worry when they reach Wutong Mountain.

Character developments

• Ye Li advances dramatically, establishing a cultivation path of his own rather than relying on the demon-derived method. He remains composed despite approaching a realm that could provoke the strongest powers.
• Azure Abyss Dao Master is overwhelmed by Ye Li’s presence. His awe at Ye Li’s unprecedented talent is mixed with fear that Ye Li’s breakthrough could bring immediate destruction.

Significant themes

• Self-created power and transformation: Ye Li turns an inherited method into a unique, superior path by reshaping it around his own strengths.
• The danger of challenging entrenched authority: Wutong Mountain and the Dark Moon Directorate suppress attempts at transcendence, making even research perilous.
• Power’s double edge: Ye Li’s progress inspires awe but risks exposing him and his allies to annihilation.
• Composure amid looming danger: Ye Li treats the threat of discovery with casual confidence, contrasting sharply with Azure Abyss’s alarm.

Character interactions

• Azure Abyss guards Ye Li’s secluded chamber and is shaken by the power erupting from it.
• After Ye Li emerges, Azure Abyss bows and asks how close he is to transcendence. Ye Li answers plainly, then teases him for worrying too soon, despite their imminent visit to Wutong Mountain.

Chapter Summary: “Setting out for Wutong Mountain!”

Key plot points and events

• Cangyuan remains uneasy about traveling to Wutong Mountain, a forbidden land at the pinnacle of the Primordial Sea. Ye Li jokes that he might defy its ban on breakthroughs by reaching Transcendence during the Emperor-Seeking Ceremony itself.
• Pei Wufeng arrives at the Highest Clarity Divine Palace in a burst of sword qi. She senses that Ye Li’s power is close to Transcendence, despite his having only recently gone into seclusion.
• Impressed rather than intimidated, Pei Wufeng is eager to join the confrontation. Ye Li, Pei Wufeng, and Cangyuan set out for Wutong Mountain immediately.
• At Wutong Mountain, preparations for the Emperor-Seeking Ceremony are in full swing. Amid the public celebration, the young master Feng Changsi is privately consumed by anxiety.
• Feng Changsi fears Cangyuan may come to disrupt the ceremony. Though he considers Cangyuan insignificant in strength, he knows his father, the Lihuo Divine Lord, reacts violently to anyone who causes trouble during a major gathering.
• Feng Changsi recalls a past incident in which a mysterious Colorful-Robed Sword Immortal nearly wrecked Wutong Mountain during a banquet, supposedly provoking the Divine Lord’s lasting fury toward ceremony disruptors.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Li is confident and provocative, openly entertaining the idea of breaking through to Transcendence at Wutong Mountain. His power has advanced enough to alarm even Pei Wufeng, who is already a Transcendent.
• Cangyuan remains cautious about challenging such a powerful forbidden land, but his resolve strengthens as the others prepare to go.
• Pei Wufeng arrives as an ally, quickly recovers from her surprise at Ye Li’s aura, and welcomes the prospect of making trouble at Wutong Mountain alongside him.
• Feng Changsi appears confident in Wutong Mountain’s superiority, yet privately reveals deep insecurity about the consequences of his past actions. He regrets sparing Cangyuan and worries that Cangyuan’s presence could expose him to his father’s wrath.

Significant themes

• Defiance against authority: Ye Li’s willingness to break Wutong Mountain’s rules underscores his rebellious confidence.
• Public grandeur versus private fear: The ceremony’s festive spectacle contrasts with Feng Changsi’s tense, guilty anticipation.
• Power and reputation: Wutong Mountain’s status intimidates even powerful figures, while its reputation for punishing disruption shapes everyone’s expectations.
• Unresolved past consequences: Feng Changsi’s old wrongdoing toward Cangyuan continues to threaten him, setting the stage for a possible reckoning.

Plot points

• Feng Changsi angrily berates the Jade Capital Society’s chiefs, the Great Demon Ape and Ape Three, for failing to capture Cangyuan and losing their men.
• The Great Demon Ape says he has come with important news: the Society believes Dao Master Ye Li, Cangyuan’s companion, destroyed Green Snake Mountain and is likely a Transcendence Realm cultivator.
• Feng Changsi quickly connects this claim with Cangyuan’s confidence, the Society’s defeat, and Green Snake Mountain’s destruction. Seeing a chance to impress his father, he promises the Society a major reward if the report proves true.
• He rushes off to deliver the news. Once he is gone, the Great Demon Ape and Ape Three relax, believing they have escaped the Society’s crisis by shifting attention to Ye Li.

Character developments and interactions

• Feng Changsi moves from fury and humiliation to excitement. His chief concern is securing credit with his father, who is investigating Green Snake Mountain’s destruction.
• The Great Demon Ape stays deferential under Feng Changsi’s anger, then strategically presents the Society’s intelligence as near-certain to win favor and protect the organization.
• Ape Three, usually aggressive, is subdued and embarrassed in Wutong Mountain’s presence; he shares the Great Demon Ape’s relief afterward.
• The encounter is defined by a power imbalance: Feng Changsi initially humiliates and threatens the chiefs, but their report transforms him into an eager benefactor.

Significant themes

• Political self-interest: Feng Changsi sees the revelation primarily as a chance to advance his standing, while the chiefs use it to safeguard their Society.
• Reputation and survival: The Great Demon Ape invokes the Society’s long-standing reputation to make the report persuasive and avoid punishment.
• Uncertainty used as leverage: The chiefs present Ye Li’s involvement as effectively certain, though their phrasing leaves room for doubt; Feng Changsi is willing to act on the claim because it suits his ambitions.

Key plot points

• As the Emperor-Seeking Ceremony approaches, Feng Changsi visits Li Yao, Cangyuan’s wife, who has been imprisoned in a secluded palace for tens of thousands of years.
• He taunts her with news that Cangyuan has allied with Ye Li, who has allegedly advanced to the Transcendence Realm without permission. Feng claims Ye Li will be killed by the Lihuo Divine Lord, and Cangyuan will die with him.
• Li Yao realizes Feng is exploiting the danger to Cangyuan to torment her. She breaks her long-obedient facade and turns the palace’s formations against him, hoping to take him hostage and bargain for Cangyuan’s life.
• Feng overwhelms the formations with a jade pendant that releases half-step Transcendence power. He seals Li Yao’s cultivation and leaves her helpless, intending to make her witness Cangyuan’s death at the ceremony.

Character developments

• Li Yao shifts from outwardly gentle compliance to open defiance when Cangyuan’s life is threatened. Her years of captivity have not weakened her loyalty or resolve; she has secretly mastered the palace’s formations and acts when she believes there is no more reason to submit.
• Feng Changsi is revealed as cruel and vindictive, taking pleasure in Li Yao’s distress. His confidence rests on his family’s power and his father’s protection, and he uses the jade pendant to reassert control when Li Yao resists.

Significant themes

• Loyalty under oppression: Li Yao’s devotion to Cangyuan survives years of imprisonment and abuse.
• Power and helplessness: Her careful preparation briefly challenges Feng, but overwhelming inherited power defeats her.
• Cruelty and revenge: Feng weaponizes the threat to Cangyuan to punish Li Yao for her enduring contempt.
• Hope amid despair: Li Yao’s attack is a desperate attempt to save Cangyuan and Ye Li, even when their prospects seem bleak.

Character interactions

• Feng and Li Yao’s exchange exposes the imbalance between them: he treats her as a captive and taunts her, while she calmly identifies the limits imposed on him by the blood contract.
• Li Yao’s insult—that Feng hides behind his father—provokes his rage and prompts her immediate attack.
• Their confrontation ends with Feng physically and magically subduing Li Yao, leaving her captive again and setting up the coming ceremony.

Chapter Summary

• Wutong Mountain’s grand Emperor-Seeking Ceremony begins, drawing powerful sect leaders and reclusive cultivators from across the Star Sea. The gathering matters not only because it honors Divine Lord Li Huo, but because its outcome could shift the Primordial Sea’s balance of power.
• Guests learn that a seemingly ordinary egg contains a Primordial Divine Phoenix, an Innate Dao Master born from the Divine Tree’s accumulated vitality and fortune. Li Huo discovered it through an costly act of divination.
• Wutong Mountain intends to imprint its Great Dao upon the Phoenix’s true spirit as it hatches, binding it to Li Huo as his Dao partner—and thereby securing its immense power and destiny for the mountain.
• A puzzled sect master asks why Li Huo revealed the Phoenix’s existence instead of hiding it. A Dao Lord explains that the ceremony is a calculated tactic: the Phoenix is said to enjoy admiration, so Li Huo has gathered a vast audience to dazzle it at birth and lower its guard, creating an opportunity to subdue it.
• The surrounding cultivators are astonished by the plan and recognize the cunning behind Wutong Mountain’s spectacle. The Phoenix has not yet hatched, so whether the scheme will work remains unresolved.

Characters and Interactions

• Divine Lord Li Huo is presented as powerful, ambitious, and strategically manipulative; his plan treats the Phoenix’s nature and the ceremony’s scale as tools for control.
• The middle-aged sect master voices the audience’s practical concern about exposing such a valuable being.
• The Dao Lord offers a confident explanation of Li Huo’s motives, impressing the nearby cultivators with the plan’s audacity.
• The Phoenix itself remains unseen and silent, though its reputed pride and fondness for admiration are central to the scheme.

Significant Themes

• Power and political ambition: The Phoenix could reshape the balance of power across the Primordial Sea.
• Manipulation versus consent: Wutong Mountain plans to exploit the Phoenix’s nature to bind it to Li Huo.
• Public spectacle as strategy: The ceremony is not mere celebration but a means of influencing the Phoenix at a vulnerable moment.
• The limits of control: Despite Li Huo’s careful preparation, the Phoenix’s awakening—and the success of the plan—have yet to occur.

Key plot points and events

• On Wutong Mountain’s main peak, the Lihuo Divine Lord drinks alone, eagerly anticipating the Divine Phoenix’s imminent descent. He hopes to control the newborn Dao Master and use its immense vitality to advance toward Transcendence and perhaps form a Treasure Ship.
• He remains troubled by the cultivator behind Green Snake Mountain’s destruction. Feng Changsi arrives with Li Yao, whose cultivation has been sealed, and reports that the culprit is named Ye Li.
• Pleased that the mystery is solved, the Divine Lord praises Feng Changsi and invites him to sit beside him during the ceremony. Feng Changsi sees this as a major boost to his standing as heir.
• Li Yao realizes Wutong Mountain has learned the truth and fears that Ye Li and Cangyuan will fall into a prepared trap if they come.
• The Divine Lord says the Phoenix will be ready in a few days, after the remaining factions arrive. The scene ends with the announcement that Sword Chief Pei Wufeng of the Heaven-Cutting Sword Pavilion has arrived with gifts.

Character developments and interactions

• Lihuo Divine Lord is revealed as ambitious and calculating: he wants to harness the Phoenix’s power, while treating Ye Li as a threat to be dealt with. His rare praise of Feng Changsi shows that practical usefulness can earn his approval.
• Feng Changsi seeks his father’s favor and gains it by efficiently delivering intelligence. He interprets the invitation to sit beside his father as confirmation of his position as young master.
• Li Yao, held captive and silenced by her sealed cultivation, shifts from hope to despair as she understands that Wutong Mountain is prepared for Ye Li and Cangyuan.
• The father-son exchange contrasts Feng Changsi’s eager deference with the Divine Lord’s reserved, conditional approval.

Significant themes

• Power and control: The Divine Lord views the Phoenix as a resource to command and exploit.
• Ambition and succession: Feng Changsi’s status depends on winning his father’s recognition.
• Knowledge as leverage: Identifying Ye Li changes the balance of danger, while Li Yao’s captured knowledge may expose others.
• Gathering danger: The incoming guests and impending Phoenix ceremony set the stage for a larger confrontation.