Chapter Summaries

Ning Chenxin accused Xu Tongyuan of serving the Supervisory Sacred Hall’s hidden ambition and demanded that he reveal its purpose. When Xu Tongyuan attacked, Ning Chenxin summoned a Divine General with the Nine-Character Mantra, and Xu Tongyuan struck at its Golden Scale Divine Spear.

• Ning Chenxin said the Supervisory Sacred Hall was concealing the Endless Sea’s secrets and warned that its ambition could bring calamity.
• Xu Tongyuan mocked Ning Chenxin’s ideals and questioned whether he could avoid killing and plundering for resources.
• Mu Wan’er defended Ning Chenxin’s conduct and recalled how he had restrained the Cloud Phoenix Empire’s conquests and won the people’s support.
• Ning Chenxin asked Xu Tongyuan to disclose the Supervisory Sacred Hall’s purpose, but Xu Tongyuan dismissed him and charged.
• Ning Chenxin pulled Mu Wan’er behind him and invoked the Nine-Character Mantra, summoning an armored Divine General.
• Xu Tongyuan gritted his teeth and punched the Golden Scale Divine Spear.

Ning Chenxin defeated and imprisoned Xu Tongyuan after the White-Robed Inspector donned his armor and attacked. Ning Chenxin and Mu Wan'er continued toward a presence he sensed, hoping it would lead them to something.

• Ning Chenxin offered Xu Tongyuan a chance to reveal his purpose, but Xu Tongyuan refused and transformed his formation into white armor.
• Xu Tongyuan attacked Ning Chenxin, but Ning Chenxin used the Divine General to form a shield that withstood his blows.
• Ning Chenxin commanded the Divine General to become a tower and suppress Xu Tongyuan, crushing his arm and pinning him down.
• Ning Chenxin left Xu Tongyuan behind and told Mu Wan'er he had sensed a presence drawing him in a direction that might reveal something.

Ning Chenxin accepted the Heaven-Shaking Court’s legacy and the task of rebuilding the Azure Firmament Academy, which the tower’s mysterious guardian said could help him spread his ideals. The guardian identified himself as Heaven-Shaking and revealed that he knew Ning Chenxin’s master before vanishing; meanwhile, Hong Ying and the others encountered two more members of the Supervisory Sacred Hall.

• Ning Chenxin and Mu Wan'er entered the Heaven-Shaking Tower after its ancient presence opened the doors for them.
• The tower’s guardian explained that the Heaven-Shaking Court gathered talented rogue cultivators and those from humble backgrounds to preserve its ideals and support the Mortal Realm.
• Ning Chenxin agreed to inherit the court’s will and rebuild the Azure Firmament Academy, eventually returning it to the Six Realms Academy Competition.
• The guardian said the tower’s candles held legacies, that it could help Ning Chenxin in battle, and that the Mortal Realm had once ranked second in the competition.
• The guardian named himself Heaven-Shaking, said Ning Chenxin’s master should know him, and then vanished.
• Hong Ying and the others encountered the other two members of the Supervisory Sacred Hall.

Hong Ying and Mu Fusheng reached the palace gate with Ai Xue and Qing, where Hong Ying’s Imperial Intent opened a gate that Ai Xue’s flames could not. The group entered the palace, while Ai Xue was left shaken by Hong Ying’s overwhelming imperial power.

• Hong Ying and Mu Fusheng met Ai Xue and Qing at the palace gate, and Hong Ying and Ai Xue exchanged suspicious, confrontational remarks.
• Ai Xue tried to open the gate by pouring her flames into its golden patterns, but the roaming dragon absorbed her power without opening it.
• Mu Fusheng suggested the trial had been prepared for Hong Ying, and Hong Ying agreed before placing her palm on the gate.
• The golden dragon absorbed Hong Ying’s Imperial Intent, turned scarlet, and grew until the gate opened.
• Hong Ying entered the palace with Mu Fusheng following, while Ai Xue wondered whose successor Hong Ying was.

Hong Ying and her companions entered the Imperial Heaven Court and faced an old man who demanded that they kneel. Hong Ying refused, defending her right to call herself an empress, and the old man declared her qualified to inherit the court’s will.

• Hong Ying and her companions explored the opulent hall and discovered a throne occupied by a powerful old man.
• The old man’s imperial intent forced the wooden-faced man to the floor, while Ai Xue and Hong Ying struggled to remain standing.
• Mu Fusheng pretended to be crushed and injured himself to avoid being judged for kneeling.
• Hong Ying resisted the old man’s pressure and said that an empress could not kneel before another, even if that person was stronger.
• The old man ended the pressure, praised Hong Ying’s emperor’s heart, and declared her qualified to inherit the will of the Imperial Heaven Court.

Hong Ying demonstrated her imperial heart and accepted the Imperial Heaven Court’s inheritance from Huang Tian, who recognized her as his master’s disciple. After Huang Tian vanished, an ancient presence erupted nearby, and Ai Xue and the wooden-faced man rushed toward it.

• Huang Tian praised Hong Ying’s talent and resolve, then offered her the Imperial Heaven Court’s inheritance.
• Hong Ying declared that she would lead the Cloud Phoenix Empire beyond the Mortal Realm’s summit, and Huang Tian said he believed she could reach the Human Ancestor realm.
• Huang Tian gave Hong Ying the Imperial Divine Throne, which she caught and transformed into a necklace.
• Huang Tian recognized Hong Ying as his master’s disciple, gave his name, and vanished.
• The earth shook as an immense ancient presence rose nearby, and Ai Xue and the wooden-faced man rushed toward it while Hong Ying and Mu Fusheng followed.

After learning that Huang Tian and Heaven-Shaking knew Lu Changsheng, Hong Ying and the others consulted their master, who went to seek information from the elders in the Heaven-Suppressing Pagoda. At the Ancestral Emperor Region, Ai Xue entered the canyon to pursue the Supervisory Sacred Hall’s mission, while Ye Qiubai’s group followed and a red-clad figure slipped in behind them; meanwhile, the Immortal Realm Passage faced worsening corruption.

• Hong Ying, Mu Fusheng, Ning Chenxin, and Mu Wan'er told Lu Changsheng that two remnant wills of Human Ancestors had claimed to know him, and he confirmed they had met before.
• Lu Changsheng told Huang Qian to watch the house and the dragon egg, then vanished to handle a few things.
• Ai Xue brought her group to the Ancestral Emperor Region, where Ye Qiubai said Song Ci and the others were dead.
• Ai Xue entered the canyon to complete the Supervisory Sacred Hall’s mission, and Ye Qiubai’s group followed her to learn what she was after.
• A red-clad figure entered the canyon after them, while the two skeletons worried that the Mortal Realm could not endure more upheaval.
• Lu Changsheng arrived above the Heaven-Suppressing Pagoda as evil Qi had corroded nearly forty percent of the Immortal Realm Passage.

Lu Changsheng asked the four Human Ancestors in the Heaven-Suppressing Pagoda about the Evil Devil Domain and learned that its armies were formidable, with no useful weaknesses and no way to reinforce the seal. He left to face the crisis, while the Human Ancestors discussed the potential of his disciples and placed the Mortal Realm’s future in his hands.

• Lu Changsheng asked the four Human Ancestors for a way to stop the Evil Devil Domain, but they said they had no solution.
• The deep-voiced Human Ancestor described the Evil Devil Domain’s seven armies, including its land and aerial forces, imperial guards, and Purgatory’s 250 God Emperor Realm members.
• A Human Ancestor explained that the armies specialized in different battlefields, but Lu Changsheng dismissed this as no meaningful weakness.
• Lu Changsheng asked whether the Human Ancestors could strengthen the seal, and they told him it was already at its limit.
• Lu Changsheng asked which Human Ancestors were Huang Tian and Heaven-Shaking, then tore open space and left.
• Huang Tian and Heaven-Shaking praised Lu Changsheng’s disciples but said the Mortal Realm’s prosperity would depend on Lu Changsheng.

Lu Changsheng worried over how to counter the Evil Devil Domain before the dragon egg began hatching. After he infused it with a bottle of powerful beast blood, a Torch Dragon emerged, able to turn day to night by closing its eyes and restore daylight by opening them.

• Lu Changsheng told Huang Qian about the ineffective advice he received for dealing with the Evil Devil Domain, and Huang Qian encouraged him to find a way to exploit its weakness.
• The dragon egg began cracking as multicolored clouds and immense rule-based power appeared above the Cottage.
• The hatching dragon exerted bloodline suppression over Xiangliu and the Bone-Winged Serpent Tiger, and Lu Changsheng poured a bottle of collected beast blood into the egg to strengthen its body.
• After a powerful heartbeat and surge of blood vitality, the eggshell shattered and revealed a crimson, human-faced serpent with golden scales and characteristics of a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon.
• The dragon closed its eyes and plunged the Changsheng Realm into darkness, then opened them and restored daylight, leading Lu Changsheng to recognize it as a Torch Dragon.

Lu Changsheng and Huang Qian’s bloodlines shaped the newly hatched Torch Dragon, who bonded with them and was named Zhu Jiuyin. Xiao Shitou returned from the Void Behemoth clan, but Lu Changsheng dragged him away for punishment after changing the cultivation goal he had set.

• The Torch Dragon hatched with five golden claws, golden-patterned scales, and nine kinds of Power of Rules, then ran to Huang Qian and called her “Mama.”
• The Torch Dragon knocked Lu Changsheng down, licked his face, and called him “Daddy,” while the Willow Tree explained his affinity with Lu Changsheng and Huang Qian’s bloodlines.
• Lu Changsheng named the Torch Dragon Zhu Jiuyin and tried to teach him rules, but Zhu Jiuyin pounced on him and licked him again.
• Xiao Shitou returned from the Void Behemoth clan, reporting that he had reached the early-stage God Emperor Realm and awakened his Void Sacred Body further.
• Lu Changsheng claimed Xiao Shitou’s target had been the late God Emperor Realm, stopped him from escaping through space, and dragged him into the forest for training.

Ye Qiubai and his companions reached the Ancestral Emperor Palace, a steel fortress built from rare rule steel, and learned that its first trial tested fortune. They entered the palace’s deadly passageways, hoping their Immortal Affinity Marks would improve their odds.

• Ye Qiubai and the others discovered that the Ancestral Emperor Palace stood on a vast plain of rule steel, which Mu Fusheng and Song Xiao recognized as a rare material that could hold many kinds of rules.
• Ai Xue and the wooden-faced man headed for the palace gates, while Ye Qiubai and his companions followed and bowed respectfully after hearing the Human Ancestors’ message about defending the Mortal Realm from the Evil Devil Domain.
• Inside, the group found ten passageways and heard that only one led to life, making the first trial a test of fortune.
• Ning Chenxin, Mu Fusheng, and Shi Sheng discussed whether their fortune was sufficient, and Shi Sheng suggested their Immortal Affinity Marks could strengthen it.
• Mu Wan'er entered a passageway first, and Ye Qiubai and the others followed, trusting their life-saving items and pressing on toward the means of resisting the Evil Devil Domain.

Ye Qiubai and his companions entered the middle passage and discovered that an unseen presence was devouring their providence. They protected themselves with the Immortal Affinity Mark, while the wooden-faced man used the Star-Shifting Compass to shield himself and Ai Xue; after half a day, they emerged before an enormous painting radiating spatial power.

• Ai Xue and the wooden-faced man followed Ye Qiubai and his companions into the middle passage.
• An unseen presence seeped from the steel walls and began devouring everyone’s providence.
• Hong Ying identified the danger, and Fang Qiong and the others used the Immortal Affinity Mark to slow the loss of their providence.
• The wooden-faced man used the Star-Shifting Compass to absorb the presence and gave the compass to Ai Xue.
• Ye Qiubai and his companions, Ai Xue, and the wooden-faced man left the passage after half a day and found an enormous painting filled with scenes of mortal life and radiating spatial power.

Ai Xue was pulled into the Fusheng Diagram and forced to face the Ninefold Rashomon’s trial, where refusing to answer truthfully brought a brutal punishment. As the next gate questioned her motives and threatened her other arm, the wooden-faced man worried she might reveal the Supervisory Sacred Hall’s mission.

• Ai Xue reached toward the Fusheng Diagram, but a black hole sucked her into the scroll.
• Ai Xue found herself surrounded by nine Rashomon gates, and the first ghost face demanded to know why she had come.
• When Ai Xue refused to answer, the gate unleashed a thorn-covered vine that pierced her arm and inflicted immense pain.
• Ye Qiubai and the others watched from outside the scroll and realized the gates punished those who withheld the truth.
• The wooden-faced man hoped Ai Xue would endure without revealing the Supervisory Sacred Hall’s objective.
• A second gate asked whether Ai Xue’s force sought its own interests or the good of all living beings, threatening to take her other arm if she lied or refused.

The Rashomon trial revealed that the Supervisory Sacred Hall sought the Fusheng Diagram, an ancient Ancestral Artifact, though its true intentions remained uncertain. Ye Qiubai and the others entered the gate, Xin Hongyi followed them through, and Liu Ziru reacted with alarm after learning the artifact’s name.

• Ai Xue answered that she sought the object for all living beings under heaven, and the Rashomon let her pass without attacking.
• The wooden-faced man named the Fusheng Diagram as his goal, then was punished when he said he did not know whether his faction sought it for selfish gain or for all living beings; he eventually passed the trial.
• Mu Ziqing identified the Fusheng Diagram as an ancient Ancestral Artifact that had helped resist enemies from beyond the realm.
• Ye Qiubai decided to report the Supervisory Sacred Hall’s goal to Liu Ziru, and he and his companions entered the Rashomon.
• Xin Hongyi entered the trial, truthfully answered that she came from the Xin Clan of the Wilderness Realm, and passed through the Rashomon.
• Liu Ziru received Ye Qiubai’s message about the Fusheng Diagram and reacted with alarm.

Liu Ziru realized the Supervisory Sacred Hall sought the Fusheng Diagram and contacted the Dark Lord and Lu Changsheng. After passing through Rashomon, Ye Qiubai and the others entered the diagram’s final trial, where they had to train villagers to compete for four stone houses through a village vote.

• Liu Ziru learned that the Supervisory Sacred Hall wanted the Fusheng Diagram and suspected it planned to use the artifact to strengthen its disciples.
• Liu Ziru left the Ancestral Emperor Palace and sent voice transmissions to the Dark Lord and Lu Changsheng.
• Ye Qiubai and the others arrived in a mountain village alongside Song Xiao, Jiang Qingluan, Ai Xue, the wooden-faced man, and Xin Hongyi, whose presence surprised them.
• A voice announced that the final trial required each participant to train at least one villager and help them earn a place in one of four stone houses within a year.
• The voice explained that the villagers and village chief would vote on who moved into the stone houses, and the participants began searching for promising villagers.

Ye Qiubai searched Fortune Temple Village for a disciple and chose Mu Shi for his character, despite Ai Xue’s dramatic display drawing away other candidates. Just after Ye Qiubai accepted Mu Shi as his disciple, Ai Xue offered to take the boy for herself.

• Ye Qiubai reassured the villagers of Fortune Temple Village and examined young people for sword-cultivation potential.
• Ye Qiubai selected two prospective disciples, including Niu Zhong and Mu Shi.
• Ai Xue displayed her power at the village entrance and invited villagers to undergo testing for discipleship.
• Niu Zhong and other candidates Ye Qiubai’s companions had chosen abandoned them and ran to Ai Xue’s platform.
• Ye Qiubai praised Mu Shi for staying loyal to his father’s teachings and accepted him as his disciple.
• Ai Xue told Mu Shi that he had good talent and asked him to become her disciple instead.

Ye Qiubai kept Mu Shi as his disciple despite Ai Xue’s attempt to recruit him, while several other disciples were chosen during the village trial. He began teaching Mu Shi swordsmanship with a wooden sword, leaving Mu Shi determined to surpass Niu Zhong, whom Ai Xue had taken as her disciple.

• Ai Xue challenged Ye Qiubai’s choice of Mu Shi, but Mu Shi refused to change masters, and Ye Qiubai shielded him from Ai Xue’s intimidating stare.
• Ai Xue took four disciples, while Mu Wan’er lost a potential alchemy disciple and Jiang Qingluan narrowly kept hers.
• Mu Wan’er went looking for another alchemy disciple as Ye Qiubai and the others began assessing their new disciples.
• Ye Qiubai gave Mu Shi a wooden sword and demonstrated how a slender branch could split a boulder.
• Mu Shi vowed to make Niu Zhong regret switching masters, and Ye Qiubai both warned him against envy and said a disciple sometimes needed to prove his strength.

Mu Wan'er met Xiaoshu, a girl searching the mountain for herbs to save her dying grandfather, and cured him with a healing pill. As Mu Wan'er prepared to leave to find a disciple, Xiaoshu asked her to teach her to be a pharmacist.

• Mu Wan'er heard villagers discuss Xiaoshu's daily search for herbs to treat her gravely ill grandfather and went to see her.
• Mu Wan'er told Xiaoshu that the herbs she had gathered could not cure her grandfather, then offered to examine him as a pharmacist.
• Mu Wan'er diagnosed the old man's accumulated toxins and failing health, then gave him a healing pill and used Immortal Qi to help it take effect.
• The old man's black spots faded and his strength returned, and he and Xiaoshu thanked Mu Wan'er.
• As Mu Wan'er stood to leave and continue searching for a disciple, Xiaoshu asked her to teach her to be a pharmacist.

Mu Wan'er accepted Xiaoshu as her disciple and began building up the girl’s cultivation and alchemy skills. Three months later, Ye Qiubai watched Mu Shi fight a Golden Core Realm silver lion, then challenged him to show how far his training had taken him.

• Xiaoshu told Mu Wan'er she wanted to heal the sick and save her grandfather, and Mu Wan'er agreed to take her as a disciple despite her poor talent.
• Mu Wan'er brought Xiaoshu to a mountain cave, demonstrated pill refining, and gave her four pills that improved her constitution, soul, perception of rules, and meridians.
• After Xiaoshu absorbed the pills, Mu Wan'er taught her the Alchemy Saint Scripture and guided her into Foundation Establishment, where she began sensing flame artistic conception and learning to refine pills.
• Three months later, Mu Shi defeated a Peak Golden Core Realm silver lion with his wooden sword, showing Ye Qiubai his Late Golden Core cultivation and progress toward becoming a Sword Master.
• As Ye Qiubai told Mu Shi to seek another opponent, the surrounding temperature rose, and an unseen speaker told them to stay so they could assess Ye Qiubai’s teaching.

Mu Shi faced Niu Zhong in a battle after Ai Xue brought her disciple to test his strength before the election. Niu Zhong’s artificially boosted cultivation gave him the advantage, but after being thrown into the river, Mu Shi returned with his Sword Intent beginning to swirl.

• Ai Xue arrived with Niu Zhong and challenged Ye Qiubai’s group to a spar before the election.
• Mu Shi volunteered to fight Niu Zhong, and Ye Qiubai gave him the Dark Demon Sword.
• Niu Zhong revealed his flame-patterned iron staff and charged at Mu Shi with peak Purple Mansion Realm strength.
• Ye Qiubai realized Ai Xue had used pills to force Niu Zhong’s rapid growth and confronted her about the cost to his future.
• Niu Zhong struck Mu Shi into the river and mocked his choice of master.
• Mu Shi climbed out of the water and demanded that Niu Zhong take back his insult as his Sword Intent began to swirl.