Recaps

Ning Chenxin confronted soldiers who planned to use villagers as human bombs, then struggled with the choice between saving a few dozen villagers and protecting a city of tens of millions. He chose to help defend the city, but a mysterious phantom pulled him into the sky and told him to keep watching.

• Ning Chenxin condemned the soldiers for treating the villagers’ lives as expendable, and the commander argued that their sacrifice could help save tens of millions of people.
• A soldier charged at Ning Chenxin, who used the word “Suppress” to pin him to the ground.
• The commander challenged Ning Chenxin to weigh the villagers’ lives against the city’s population, leaving Ning Chenxin conflicted.
• Ning Chenxin said he would help defend the city, but a phantom dragged him into the sky and told him to keep watching.

Ning Chenxin watched the consequences of choosing to save a village instead of letting its people become human bombs, as the city and surrounding towns fell to an enemy invasion. He questioned whether his choice was wrong and struggled with the conflict between saving those close to him and protecting the nation.

• The old man revealed that Ning Chenxin was watching a real place in the eastern Chaos Realm and warned that every choice meant giving something up.
• Ning Chenxin watched the enemy destroy the village, overwhelm the city, and conquer the surrounding cities, killing the villagers and many others.
• The old man said he would also have chosen to save the villagers, but Ning Chenxin still wrestled with the consequences of his decision.
• Ning Chenxin wondered whether he should save his family or his nation and how he could overcome the guilt of either choice.

Ning Chenxin overcame his inner turmoil, passed the trial, and broke through to the level of a Sixth-Level Lightning Tribulation cultivator. After he warned the old man that his companions would also cause trouble, Xu Yeming and the others confronted the old man's phantom about making their later tests difficult.

• Ning Chenxin recalled Lu Changsheng's advice and accepted that he had no regrets about choosing to protect the villagers.
• Ning Chenxin realized he could have used his companions' talismans, poisons, arrays, and puppets to help defend the cities, then reached enlightenment and advanced to rival a Sixth-Level Lightning Tribulation cultivator.
• The old man said Ning Chenxin had passed the trial and wondered how the Confucian scholar and Buddhist Buddha Son would fare alongside a sword cultivator and a mortal woman.
• Ning Chenxin revealed that the group had shared information between trials, angering the old man and prompting him to send Ning Chenxin out of the space.
• After hearing Ning Chenxin's report, Xu Yeming and the others asked the old man's phantom whether he planned to make trouble for them in the coming trials.

The cultivators who passed the second trial gathered in a great hall, where Xu Yeming learned that the next trial would combine strategic judgment and strength and carry a serious risk of death. The old examiner warned that nearly half could die, then fled as the scenery transformed after Xu Yeming kept interrupting him.

• The chapter explained that the second trial tested whether cultivators stayed true to themselves under pressure, and that handing over the divine object had disqualified many from all three halls.
• Xu Chen pointed out the powerful competitors gathered in the hall, while Xu Yeming remained unconcerned and focused on his mission and the Xu Clan’s younger generation.
• The old examiner praised the survivors, then claimed they would not have ranked among the strongest in his era.
• Xu Yeming challenged the old examiner to prove his claim and repeatedly interrupted his explanation of the next trial.
• The old examiner warned that the next trial could kill close to half the cultivators, then vanished as the scenery changed to avoid Xu Yeming’s remarks.

Xu Yeming and the others were transported to a dangerous sea and told to reach shore by sunset without using escape techniques or most external items. As deadly behemoths began hunting them, Xu Yeming suspected that something about the trial or the old man's instructions was wrong.

• Xu Yeming and the others arrived above a perilous sea, where a giant behemoth devoured several seagulls.
• Han Daoxuan and Huang Xin warned that the behemoth was too powerful to fight, while Xu Yeming demanded the trial's rules from the old man.
• The old man ordered everyone to run toward the sun and reach shore by sunset, forbidding escape techniques and limiting which items they could use.
• The old man barred anyone who had obtained multiple divine items from using them, angering Xu Yeming, then warned that the sea's Devil Beasts would eliminate anyone they caught.
• Behemoths erupted beneath the group, devoured one cultivator, and forced everyone to flee across the sea.
• Xu Chen asked what they should do, and Xu Yeming admitted he also suspected something was wrong with the old man's instructions and the trial.

Xu Yeming and the other cultivators raced toward the sun while enormous sea beasts attacked them, but they realized the shore might be unreachable in time. As massive whirlpools began dragging them under, a Xuanyuan Clan cultivator grabbed Xu Yeming’s foot, pulling him closer to danger.

• Xu Yeming gave Xu Chen one of Mu Wan'er’s speed-enhancing pills and claimed it was a reward for completing the trial first.
• Xu Chen and Xuanyuan Zixi noticed that the distant shore seemed impossible to reach within the allotted time and questioned what the trial was testing.
• Xu Yeming agreed that the trial could not be overcome through speed or strength alone, then challenged a Xuanyuan Clan descendant who dismissed his remarks.
• Whirlpools formed ahead, pulling the cultivators toward enormous underwater beasts, and two cultivators were torn apart.
• A Xuanyuan Clan direct descendant grabbed Xu Yeming’s foot as the suction dragged them toward the whirlpool.

Xu Yeming used Lunar Eclipse Nether Qi to break free from Xuanyuan Ming and escape the undersea beast’s maw, while Xuanyuan Ming fell into it. Xuanyuan Zixi recognized that “Xu Luo” had been hiding his abilities, leaving the others shaken by his composure and skill.

• Xuanyuan Ming clung to Xu Yeming and declared they would die together, while Xu Chen and Xuanyuan Zixi condemned his betrayal of their alliance.
• Xu Yeming focused on the approaching vortex and gathered Lunar Eclipse Nether Qi without revealing his other hidden abilities.
• The undersea beast burst from the sea and engulfed Xuanyuan Ming as he entered its attack range.
• Xu Yeming blasted Xuanyuan Ming’s gripping hand apart, used a disc formed from the illusory full moon to redirect his Qi, and shot clear of the beast’s maw.
• Xuanyuan Ming plunged into the beast’s throat, and Xuanyuan Zixi acknowledged Xu Yeming’s impressive hidden abilities as Huang Xin and Han Daoxuan looked on in shock.

After Xu Yeming escaped the giant beast vortex with the others, waterspouts separated the cultivators, and a giant beast appeared to swallow him. Inside the beast, Xu Yeming met the Desolate Beast Envoy, who recognized that he possessed the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

• Xuanyuan Zixi dismissed Xuanyuan Ming's betrayal as his own failing, while Xu Yeming warned the group to escape the giant beast's pull.
• Xu Yeming, Xuanyuan Zixi, Xu Chen, Huang Xin, and Han Daoxuan broke free, but eight other cultivators died and the Golden Scale Sect lost three people.
• Waterspouts rose across the sea and split the groups apart as Xu Yeming wondered whether their earlier alliance had met the trial's conditions.
• A giant beast swallowed Xu Yeming, leaving the others to react with shock, delight, or disbelief.
• Xu Yeming found himself in a dark chamber before an altar, where the Desolate Beast Envoy revived from a skeleton and introduced himself as one of the Chaos Divine Dynasty's Twelve Envoys.
• The Desolate Beast Envoy said he had chosen Xu Yeming because Xu Yeming possessed the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

Xu Yeming inherited the Desolate Beast Envoy’s Beast Blood Enters the Desolation technique after swearing to protect beasts. He quickly mastered it using his brush and Qilin, leaving the Desolate Beast Envoy stunned.

• The Desolate Beast Envoy explained that Xu Yeming had to cherish beasts and required him to swear a Heavenly Dao Oath against treating them as tools or slaughtering them at will.
• Xu Yeming swore the oath, and the Desolate Beast Envoy revealed that his former disciple had become a slaughterer by absorbing beast bloodlines.
• The Desolate Beast Envoy gave Xu Yeming the Beast Blood Enters the Desolation technique, which used beast blood to create imprints and brushwork to summon beast phantoms.
• Xu Yeming summoned the Qilin, absorbed some of its blood, and used his brush to form a Qilin imprint on a scroll.
• Xu Yeming summoned a Qilin phantom, astonishing the Desolate Beast Envoy and teasing him about his earlier doubts.

Xu Yeming learned the Beast Blood Enters the Desolation art from the Desolate Beast Envoy, who urged him to preserve and pass it on before fading away. Outside, Xu Chen and the others feared Xu Luo had died, but Xu Luo emerged from a giant beast and revealed he was alive.

• Xu Yeming quickly formed a substantial Qilin phantom and considered using the beast-taming art to conceal the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
• The Desolate Beast Envoy warned Xu Yeming not to neglect the art and asked him to pass it on only to someone who swore a Heavenly Dao Oath.
• The Desolate Beast Envoy faded away, and Xu Yeming bowed as the altar carried him upward.
• Giant beasts and traps killed more cultivators at sea, including a Cangxuan Ranking prodigy, while Xuanyuan Zixi suggested Xu Chen would become the Xu Clan successor after Xu Luo's apparent death.
• Han Daoxuan worried that the group would fail the trial before nightfall, but Xu Luo emerged from a giant beast and asked whether he had disappointed them.

Xu Yeming realized the sea trial required turning back toward the coastline before sunset, and he led the survivors to the next trial at a mountain of graves. Meanwhile, Ye Qiubai and Mu Fusheng reached the final stage, where Xuanyuan Clan members surrounded the weakened Ye Qiubai.

• Xu Yeming returned after being swallowed by a giant beast and told the others he had gained inheritances inside an inheritance ground.
• After learning how long the group had run, Xu Yeming realized they needed to head toward the setting sun and sprinted back the way they came.
• Xu Chen, Huang Xin, Han Daoxuan, Xuanyuan Zixi, and the others followed Xu Yeming, and the survivors reached the coastline just before sunset.
• The old man opened a gate to a grave-covered mountain, where coffins rose from the earth, and sent the group into a dangerous challenge against the Chaos Divine Dynasty's younger generation.
• Ye Qiubai and Mu Fusheng reached the final stage at another mountain of graves, but Xuanyuan Clan members surrounded the pale, unsteady Ye Qiubai.

Mu Fusheng and the injured Ye Qiubai faced an attack from the Xuanyuan Clan, which tried to recruit the Seven Treasures Holy Sect against them. Ji Yang instead turned the Seven Treasures Holy Sect against the Xuanyuan Clan, and Mu Fusheng badly injured Xuanyuan Ling before Ling accused them of making a deal and threatened war.

• Xuanyuan Ling proposed that the Xuanyuan Clan and the Seven Treasures Holy Sect capture Mu Fusheng and leave him to Ji Yang.
• Mu Fusheng said he would settle his grudge with the Seven Treasures Holy Sect then, and Ji Yang joined Xuanyuan Ling's side, prompting the two groups to attack.
• Mu Fusheng hurled talismans at Xuanyuan Che and thrust a lightning spear at Xuanyuan Ling as Ji Yang redirected the Seven Treasure Seal to strike Ling.
• The Seven Treasures Holy Sect attacked the Xuanyuan Clan, severely injuring several of its members while Mu Fusheng bombarded Xuanyuan Ling with lightning and talismans.
• Xuanyuan Ling broke the Seven Treasure Seal and escaped the lightning, badly injured, then accused Ji Yang of making a deal with Mu Fusheng and threatened war with the Xuanyuan Clan.

Ji Yang and Xuanyuan Che agreed to a temporary truce before the final trial began, while Mu Fusheng hinted that he had a plan to weaken the Xuanyuan Clan. In another ruin, the Buddhist Son advanced through the graveyard unharmed, prompting the old man to recognize his rare achievement.

• Xuanyuan Che admitted defeat, and Mu Fusheng proposed that the factions set aside their conflict; Ji Yang and Xuanyuan Che accepted the truce.
• The old man opened the iron gates to the mountain of graves and announced the final trial, while Mu Fusheng told Ye Qiubai he could make some of the Xuanyuan Clan lose their fighting strength.
• Ye Qiubai and the others entered the graveyard, where Ning Chenxin used Confucian Dao Qi and Mu Fusheng used lightning to repel the cold yin Qi.
• In another ruin, the Buddhist Son purified the cold yin Qi with Buddhist light and advanced through the trial as others watched.
• The old man observed the Buddhist Son and noted that he had condensed a sarira, wondering at the will that had chosen him.

Two black-robed figures plotted to use the Sun and Moon Tokens to reshuffle the Cangxuan Continent’s top forces, while Ye Qiubai and the others began a burial-mountain trial that selected challengers by talent. The old man forced Mu Fusheng into the trial after he tried to wait until everyone else had finished.

• A black-robed man told a black-robed woman their plan to collect Sun and Moon Tokens from multiple ruins was proceeding, and she took a scroll of information about the young cultivators.
• The black-robed woman warned the man not to ask why she was investigating the youngsters, then vanished into the wind.
• Ye Qiubai and Mu Fusheng watched the burial mountain, where sinister ropes pulled cultivators toward tombstones that appeared to select them according to talent.
• Mu Fusheng decided to wait until the others completed the trial so he could avoid revealing his strength, despite taunts from the Xuanyuan Clan members.
• The old man kicked Mu Fusheng into the air and ordered him to stop wasting time and enter the trial.

Mu Fusheng persuaded Mad Thunder to postpone their fight and drink with him while the other trials continued. As he watched the others from the mountain of graves, even the old man came over hoping for wine.

• Mu Fusheng mocked the old man for underestimating him after discovering that only Mad Thunder had chosen him as an opponent.
• Mad Thunder emerged from his coffin and challenged Mu Fusheng to a fight to the death, while the Xuanyuan Clan members dismissed Mu Fusheng’s chances.
• Mu Fusheng reminded the Xuanyuan Clan that he ranked third on the Cangxuan Ranking, then asked Mad Thunder to wait until the others had finished their trials.
• Mu Fusheng warned that their fight might destroy Mad Thunder’s body and soul, then promised him a satisfying battle later.
• Mad Thunder agreed to wait, and Mu Fusheng brought out wine for them to share as they watched the others.
• The old man smelled the wine, floated over, and asked Mu Fusheng to pour him some.

Ye Qiubai entered the burial mountain and drew the attention of more than a dozen ancient sword cultivators, whose ropes bound him. He chose the tomb of an azure-robed disciple of the Azure Cloud Sword Master, who recognized Ye Qiubai’s inheritance and began testing his swordsmanship.

• Ye Qiubai stepped onto the burial mountain, causing it to shake and drawing more than a dozen ropes to bind him.
• The old man and others marveled at Ye Qiubai’s Sword Dao talent, and Ye Qiubai asked the ropes’ owners to let him choose a tomb.
• Ye Qiubai followed a familiar strand of Sword Qi to a tombstone at the summit, and the other ropes snapped as its coffin opened.
• An azure-robed man revealed that he was a disciple of the Azure Cloud Sword Master and said Ye Qiubai had inherited part of his master’s mantle, with more inheritance awaiting in the dynasty’s core.
• The azure-robed man challenged Ye Qiubai to test his swordsmanship, and Ye Qiubai attacked while the man remarked that openings were everywhere.

The man in blue defeated Ye Qiubai by relying on refined swordsmanship rather than powerful techniques, then explained why swordsmanship mattered more as a cultivator reached the pinnacle. He launched a new attack to force Ye Qiubai to improve, and Ye Qiubai closed his eyes to trust his instincts.

• Ye Qiubai used the Three Origins Transforming into Purity Sword, but the man in blue evaded and countered each phantom with precise movements, then knocked Ye Qiubai into a gravestone.
• The man in blue warned Ye Qiubai that powerful sword techniques were useless if he could not land a strike, and Ye Qiubai thanked him for the lesson.
• The man in blue explained that swordsmanship was the foundation and ultimate contest between supreme sword cultivators, and Ye Qiubai understood why it could surpass sword techniques.
• The man in blue began another attack, and Ye Qiubai saw openings everywhere but could not find a safe way to strike.
• Ye Qiubai closed his eyes and trusted his heart as the man in blue charged.

Ye Qiubai adapted to the blue-clad man’s swordsmanship by concentrating his Mind’s Eye on his Sword Heart. After half a day of fighting, he could sustain the exchange without being wounded, and Mad Thunder looked forward to fighting Mu Fusheng.

• Mu Fusheng defended Ye Qiubai’s potential, saying his senior brother learned swordsmanship exceptionally quickly.
• Ye Qiubai closed his eyes and focused on his Sword Heart, using his Mind’s Eye to perceive his surroundings and the blue-clad man’s openings.
• Ye Qiubai found an opening and attacked, but the blue-clad man outmaneuvered him, cut his back, and sent him crashing into a gravestone.
• Ye Qiubai narrowed his perception to the blue-clad man and began countering his strikes more effectively, though he still suffered a wound to his chest.
• After half a day, Ye Qiubai could fight the blue-clad man for an extended stretch without being injured, impressing the old man and Mad Thunder.
• Mad Thunder told Mu Fusheng that Ye Qiubai’s talent made him eager to fight Mu Fusheng as well.

Ye Qiubai passed the swordsmanship trial and joined Xuanyuan Che and Ji Yang as the only survivors to clear the battles. Mu Fusheng prepared to fight Mad Thunder, but first manipulated the old man into promising not to reveal his hidden strength.

• Ye Qiubai wounded the man in green, who ended their fight and declared that Ye Qiubai had passed his test.
• The man in green returned to his coffin, and the old man sent Ye Qiubai through a gate of light using the Sword Intent as his credential.
• After a day of fighting, Xuanyuan Che, Ji Yang, and Ye Qiubai were the only ones to pass, while the other challengers died or withdrew.
• Mad Thunder challenged Mu Fusheng to a fight, but Mu Fusheng asked the old man not to reveal his strength afterward.
• Mu Fusheng blamed the old man for threatening to expose his secrets, prompting Mad Thunder to demand that the old man swear a Heavenly Dao Oath.

Mu Fusheng fought Mad Thunder after making the old man swear not to persecute them, revealing that he had survived the nine-level lightning tribulation and wielded eight kinds of ancient divine lightning. The battle escalated when Mu Fusheng used a talisman to raise his cultivation to the late-stage Lord Divine Realm and sent Mad Thunder flying.

• Mu Fusheng made the old man swear a Heavenly Dao Oath, then agreed to fight Mad Thunder.
• Mu Fusheng met Mad Thunder's opening charge with a punch, and Mad Thunder realized Mu Fusheng had survived the nine-level lightning tribulation.
• Mu Fusheng used a lightning afterimage to strike Mad Thunder from behind with a lightning dragon.
• Mad Thunder praised Mu Fusheng's control of eight kinds of ancient divine lightning and learned that Mu Fusheng had tempered his lightning with the nine-level tribulation.
• Mad Thunder charged Mu Fusheng at full strength, but Mu Fusheng used a talisman to advance to the late-stage Lord Divine Realm and punched Mad Thunder away.

Mu Fusheng fought Mad Thunder after using talismans to raise his strength to the late stage of the Lord Divine Realm, then overwhelmed Mad Thunder’s Extinction Lightning Magnetic Field with eight fused kinds of ancient divine lightning. Mad Thunder accepted the defeat, while the old man remained certain Mu Fusheng had kept many other tricks hidden.

• Mu Fusheng used talismans to boost his cultivation and explained that hiding strength was a normal combat tactic, angering Mad Thunder and the old man.
• Mad Thunder activated the Extinction Lightning Magnetic Field, filling the grave mountain with destructive black lightning.
• Mu Fusheng revealed eight kinds of ancient divine lightning infused with heavenly tribulation power and spread a lightning net that erased Mad Thunder’s black currents.
• Mad Thunder formed a black lightning hammer and repeatedly detonated it, but the lightning net pushed him back and exhausted his power.
• Mu Fusheng sent Mad Thunder flying, and Mad Thunder praised the fight while wishing Mu Fusheng had not used an underhanded move.
• Mu Fusheng called hiding a move a habit, while the old man suspected he had concealed many more abilities.

Mu Fusheng traded an explanation of how he survived and refined the ninth-level lightning tribulation for information about the Xuanyuan Clan, the Xu Clan, and the Divine Dynasty’s trials. The old man warned him about the God-Forbidden Land and gave him a scroll before disappearing to avoid Mu Fusheng’s request for more supplies.

• Mad Thunder returned to his coffin, and the old man demanded to know how Mu Fusheng survived and refined the ninth-level lightning tribulation.
• Mu Fusheng negotiated a trade, asking for information about the Xuanyuan Clan and the Xu Clan in exchange for explaining his method.
• Mu Fusheng told the old man that an expert had guided and safeguarded him, then explained how he had refined the tribulation.
• The old man warned Mu Fusheng not to be greedy in the Divine Dynasty’s core and explained that Realm God Realm experts could detect illusions in the God-Forbidden Land.
• The old man said Divine Realm infiltrators had obtained Sun and Moon Tokens and gave Mu Fusheng a scroll detailing the Xuanyuan Clan’s and Xu Clan’s movements.
• Mu Fusheng asked for suitable weapons, and the old man vanished to avoid giving him more.

Mu Fusheng shared intelligence about conspiracies within the Xu Clan and Xuanyuan Clan, while Xu Yeming identified Xuanyuan Zixi as a likely rebel but held back to avoid alerting him. At the final trial, contestants faced a free-for-all for the Sun and Moon Token, but no one dared make the first move.

• Mu Fusheng warned his fellow disciples that Xu Clan and Xuanyuan Clan members had killed their own for Sun and Moon Tokens, and that Divine Realm cultivators were hiding in the ruins.
• Xu Yeming concluded that rebels within both clans were plotting to seize control and had likely engineered the injustice against his father, Xu Canghai.
• Xu Yeming identified Xuanyuan Zixi as the rebel in his ruin but kept his suspicions to himself because he lacked proof and feared alerting him.
• The contestants entered a candlelit hall where the Sun and Moon Token rested on a stone platform, and the old man announced that the final trial would test combat with everyone’s cultivation suppressed to the Divine Realm.
• The old man declared that contestants could use external items and that whoever seized the token first would own it, but the contestants hesitated rather than risk being attacked by everyone else.
• A contestant proposed match rules, but another accused him of planning to seize the token amid the confusion, and the stalemate continued.

Xu Yeming mocked the gathered factions for their indecision, then turned Xuanyuan Zixi’s proposal to expel weaker factions into a plan to attack the Xuanyuan Clan first. The factions rallied behind him and charged Xuanyuan Zixi, who drew his sword to fight back.

• Xu Yeming drank wine and ate sunflower seeds while the factions failed to agree on how to compete for the Sun and Moon Token.
• Xu Yeming claimed the token would be his, provoking Xuanyuan Zixi to question his confidence.
• Xuanyuan Zixi proposed that the top-tier powers join forces to eliminate cultivators from the other factions.
• Xu Yeming rejected the proposal and urged the other factions to eliminate the Xuanyuan Clan first, winning their support.
• Xu Yeming, Huang Xin, Han Daoxuan, and the other factions attacked Xuanyuan Zixi, who drew his sword and prepared to retaliate.

Xu Yeming led an assault on Xuanyuan Zixi, revealed his identity to Xu Chen, and wounded Xuanyuan Zixi with the Lesser God-Slaying Sword Array. As the group pressed their attack, five fighters turned on Xu Yeming, who revealed that he had anticipated their betrayal.

• Xu Yeming, Huang Xin, Han Daoxuan, Xu Chen, and the others prepared to attack Xuanyuan Zixi, while Huang Xin and Han Daoxuan warned that the other factions might hold back.
• Xu Yeming acknowledged Xu Chen’s suspicions and said he would explain who he was, while Xu Chen agreed to deal with Xuanyuan Zixi first.
• Xu Yeming threw talismans at Xuanyuan Zixi, then joined Huang Xin, Han Daoxuan, Xu Chen, and the others in attacking him.
• Xuanyuan Zixi unleashed a powerful sword strike at Xu Yeming, but Xu Yeming used the Lesser God-Slaying Sword Array to break it and wound Xuanyuan Zixi.
• Xu Yeming urged everyone to finish off the wounded Xuanyuan Zixi, but five attacks suddenly turned toward Xu Yeming’s back.
• Xu Yeming said he had been waiting for the five attackers to betray him.