Chapter Summaries

After Nawachai sent assassins, troops, and retired martial arts champions to kill him, Li Qingshan used their attacks to uncover the crime lord’s hiding place. He boarded Nawachai’s yacht and killed his bodyguards, leaving Nawachai facing him in terror.

• Nawachai learned that Li Qingshan had destroyed Wu Tianxiong’s forces and ordered the Shadow organization, Khun Sa’s private army, and several fighters to hunt him down.
• Li Qingshan sensed the danger closing in, deliberately revealed himself in Bangkok, and lured his pursuers to an abandoned industrial district.
• Li Qingshan killed the Shadow assassins and Sa’s reconnaissance squad, then defeated Muay Thai grandmaster Chai, Nguyễn Văn Hùng, and Santos.
• Li Qingshan found a cobra-emblem communications watch on Chai and traced Nawachai’s location to the Pearl of Siam, a yacht that passed the factory district each night.
• Li Qingshan leaped aboard the yacht, killed Nawachai’s bodyguards, and confronted the terrified crime lord.

Li Qingshan attacked General Somchai’s military base, destroyed its defenses, and learned that the Golden Club’s members would meet aboard a cruise ship in the Gulf of Siam in three days. He left the ruined base close to reaching Elixir Jin, while Boss learned that his forces had been wiped out.

• After interrogating Nawachai, Li Qingshan learned that the Golden Club controlled the criminal network and that General Somchai’s base protected its operations.
• Boss warned General Somchai to tighten security, while Li Qingshan studied the base and slipped inside through a damaged fence.
• Li Qingshan planted C4 in the armory and fired a rocket at the generator room, then attacked the soldiers amid the explosions and chaos.
• Li Qingshan stormed the command center, killed Somchai’s guards, and forced Somchai to reveal that the Golden Club would meet aboard a luxury cruise ship in the Gulf of Siam in three days.
• Li Qingshan struck Somchai’s lethal acupoint and left the base as Yan Kan fled, while Li Qingshan’s cultivation approached Elixir Jin.
• Boss learned that the base had been wiped out and drank a glass of whiskey.

Lin Wei wondered whether the rumors about Shura Qing were connected to Master Li, while Li Qingshan secluded himself to consolidate his Golden Elixir and reach Primordial Breathing. After uncovering the Golden Club’s private island and its atrocities, he wiped out everyone involved and stood alone on the blood-soaked island at dawn.

• Lin Wei read rumors about Shura Qing and suspected the figure might be connected to Master Li.
• Li Qingshan spent two months in seclusion, stabilizing his Golden Elixir and advancing to the third stage of Embryonic Breathing, Primordial Breathing.
• Li Qingshan learned to condense spiritual Qi into liquid life energy that could replenish him and strengthen others.
• Li Qingshan tracked the Golden Club to a private island where wealthy figures hunted people, conducted cruel experiments, and practiced cannibalism.
• Li Qingshan slaughtered the island’s perpetrators, participants, and enablers, then stood amid the corpses as dawn broke.

The destruction of Heaven Island and the Golden Club made Li Qingshan a target of an international manhunt and sent Southeast Asia’s underground world into panic. In China, martial artists and business leaders reacted to his actions, while one elder concluded that Li’s fighting ability might have surpassed Elixir Jin and reached the legendary Gang Jin realm.

• Interpol issued a highest-level red notice for Li Qingshan, and governments around the world announced efforts to capture him or tighten security.
• Southeast Asian criminal networks reeled from the Golden Club’s destruction, with bosses hiding, operations shutting down, and no one willing to hunt Li for the enormous bounty.
• Yan Yuanyi read a report on Li’s battle and admitted that his courage and willingness to confront evil surpassed her own.
• Feng Cai ordered the Feng Group to sever all ties with the Golden Club and its associates while privately voicing support for actions against evil.
• Martial arts elders in Foshan discussed the island battle, and a white-haired elder judged that Li’s strength might have advanced beyond Elixir Jin to Gang Jin.

Chinese military leaders and covert intelligence teams debated how to identify and handle Li Qingshan, while several countries quietly agreed to monitor him and offer limited help rather than let him fall into hostile hands. Li remained in a mountain temple, advancing toward Gang Jin and regarding the global manhunt with calm confidence.

• Chinese military leaders reviewed footage of one person wiping out the life signs on an island and ordered a covert assessment of his identity and loyalties.
• A Chinese intelligence team in Southeast Asia tracked Li Qingshan near a three-country border and received orders to observe him and assist discreetly if needed.
• The team leader said Li was attacking the Golden Club, whose crimes and political protection had made it difficult for governments to act against it.
• Secret agencies in several countries adopted a tacit policy of covert observation and limited intervention while publicly responding to Interpol's wanted notice.
• Li Qingshan meditated in an abandoned mountain temple, strengthening his Golden Elixir and approaching the Gang Jin realm.
• Li opened his eyes and dismissed the worldwide manhunt as he looked toward the South China Sea and his hidden enemies.

Li Qingshan tested his Gang Jin against renowned masters before entering a South China Sea typhoon to complete his cultivation. After enduring a lightning strike, he broke through to shatter the void and behold the gods, then calmed the storm with his fist.

• Li Qingshan formed Gang Jin and tested his Inner Gang against Ba Liming, whose fist force met his evenly.
• Li Qingshan exchanged fist intent with Chang Mei, the leader of GOD, and both recognized the other's formidable strength.
• Li Qingshan trained underwater in the South China Sea, then rose into a developing typhoon to face nature's power.
• Li Qingshan let lightning strike him and guided its energy through his body, breaking through his final bottleneck.
• Li Qingshan perceived the acupoint deities within himself and used a casual punch to calm the storm, while meteorological centers watched the typhoon dissipate.

After returning to City C, Li Qingshan reunited with Tang Zichen and helped train her disciple Wang Chao. He then traveled through the mortal world to deepen his understanding before the stone gate summoned him to return.

• Li Qingshan quietly practiced in a City C park and gave Wang Chao advice that helped him unify his Jin.
• Tang Zichen visited Li Qingshan, and they discussed the path beyond seeing the gods and shared insights into cultivation.
• Tang Zichen introduced Wang Chao to Li Qingshan as his senior brother, and Li Qingshan trained him in martial arts and the Crystal Visualization Method.
• Li Qingshan taught Wang Chao a final lesson in martial arts and urged him to preserve his true heart.
• Li Qingshan traveled across the land, reflecting on ordinary life, then meditated beside a river in Binhai City and reached a clearer state of mind.
• As the stone gate summoned him, Li Qingshan began to vanish and bid farewell to Tang Zichen and Wang Chao.

Li Qingshan returned from the Dragon and Snake World to find that only four hours had passed in his own world. He absorbed the scarce surrounding energy and ignited his immense Qi and blood to break through, leaving his power contained but vastly increased.

• Li Qingshan returned to his room after two years away, though only four hours had passed in the main world.
• He examined his transformed body and wondered whether the Stone Gate had adapted him to other worlds and improved his potential.
• Li Qingshan sensed the main world's faint spiritual energy and his body greedily drew energy from the surrounding area.
• He released his suppression and ignited the Qi and blood stored in his body to break through the barrier in his cultivation.
• Li Qingshan's body and divine sense underwent a dramatic transformation, and he contained the breakthrough's phenomena within himself.

After reaching Primordial Breathing, Li Qingshan condensed a Divine Seed because the world lacked the spiritual Qi and S-rank technique needed to form a Sacred Embryo. He began planning a scholarly cover for his cultivation, secretly strengthened his parents, and sensed that the world held greater mysteries as he continued to cultivate.

• Li Qingshan used his true self as a seed and successfully condensed a Divine Seed, gaining a clearer sense of the laws between heaven and earth.
• He concluded that cultivating inward through his body's hidden potential was more effective than relying on the world's scarce spiritual Qi.
• Li Qingshan secretly nourished his parents with spiritual Qi and pure energy, improving how they felt without revealing his cultivation.
• He decided to pursue classical Chinese at a top university and eventually become a professor so he could study ancient texts and visit historical sites.
• That night, Li Qingshan sensed the Divine Seed resonating with the stars and resolved to keep cultivating as he investigated the world's hidden mysteries.

Li Qingshan’s Divine Seed awakened several natural abilities, including flight, inner vision, sensing the laws of heaven and earth, and gathering Solar True Force. He continued cultivating in secret, improved his parents’ health, and looked ahead to the stone gate opening so he could travel to another world.

• Li Qingshan discovered that his Divine Seed let him fly freely through the air without relying on Qi or external support.
• Li Qingshan used True Illumination of Inner Vision to perceive the vital forces, organs, and hidden divine treasures within his body.
• Li Qingshan sensed the laws of heaven and earth at sunrise and gathered a thread of Solar True Force to nourish himself and his Divine Seed.
• Li Qingshan practiced his abilities in secret while maintaining his ordinary routine and quietly healing Li Guoqiang and Su Wan.
• Li Qingshan pushed Heaven-Human Resonance to its limit beneath the stars and resolved to keep cultivating until the mysterious stone gate opened again.

Six years after returning from the Dragon and Snake World, Li Qingshan recognized Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Li Xiaoman, and Lin Jia on the new-student roster and realized he was on Earth at the opening of the events he remembered from Shrouding the Heavens. He located Ye Fan and Pang Bo on campus and prepared to teach their class, anticipating the journey that would begin at Mount Tai.

• Li Qingshan continued his university career and cultivation, while the stone door in his mind remained silent.
• Wang Qinian told Li Qingshan that the new ancient Chinese freshmen included several promising students, and Li Qingshan began reviewing their rosters.
• Li Qingshan saw the names Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Li Xiaoman, and Lin Jia and recalled the major events and figures of Shrouding the Heavens.
• Li Qingshan realized that Earth’s depleted essence Qi explained his sense of stillness and that the shackles within him were tied to the Body as the Seed method.
• Li Qingshan used the roster photographs to find Ye Fan and Pang Bo on campus and watched them talk together, unaware of their future.
• The teaching secretary assigned Li Qingshan’s class to a regular schedule, and Li Qingshan looked forward to meeting his new students.

At Jiangcheng University, Li Qingshan taught Ye Fan and his classmates how ancient writing could guide the mind and spirit, while secretly laying foundations for cultivation. Ye Fan began practicing Li Qingshan’s visualization method, and Li Qingshan awaited the Stone Gate’s next opening or the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin.

• Li Qingshan introduced himself to Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Li Xiaoman, Lin Jia, Zhou Yi, and the rest of the class, sensing the unusual vitality and potential in Ye Fan and Pang Bo.
• Li Qingshan taught that ancient characters reflected the ancestors’ perceptions of heaven, earth, and nature, prompting Ye Fan and several classmates to consider their deeper meaning.
• During discussions after class, Li Qingshan encouraged Ye Fan and others to calm their minds and use intuition alongside objective scholarship when studying ancient writing.
• A month later, Li Qingshan taught Ye Fan a simple visualization method for clearing distractions and focusing his mind, presenting it as a study and meditation technique.
• Ye Fan practiced the method in his dormitory and found himself calmer, clearer-headed, and more energetic, while Li Qingshan concluded that he had begun sowing the seeds of future cultivation.

Two years after beginning his teaching post, Li Qingshan continued guiding Ye Fan and his classmates while quietly cultivating and searching Earth for remnants of ancient cultivation. After returning from Mount Hua, he decided to prepare for an expedition to Kunlun before the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin arrived.

• Ye Fan declined Lin Jia’s movie invitation to study, and Li Qingshan lent him an old book about the evolution of the concept of Qi.
• Li Qingshan taught Ye Fan breathing and guiding exercises, unaware that Ye Fan’s spirit and physique were already improving under his simplified cultivation methods.
• Li Qingshan visited his parents and confirmed that his secret care and adapted exercises had greatly improved their health.
• Over two years, Li Qingshan searched Mount Shu, Mount Mang, Dunhuang, and other places, finding only remnants such as faded runes, fragments of scriptures, and a rusted Demon-Subduing Pestle.
• After returning from Mount Hua, Li Qingshan wrote “Kunlun” and began planning an expedition there before the next long holiday.

After deciphering the shifting star-chart gateway to Kunlun, Li Qingshan arranged summer fieldwork, reassured his family, and traveled to the mountains. He followed the growing essence Qi toward the predicted entrance, which was expected to fluctuate within days.

• Li Qingshan compared the Mount Hua carving with ancient texts and used the stars and earth veins to calculate Kunlun's shifting gateway and its next active window.
• Li Qingshan received Dean Wang's approval for a summer research trip to the west and promised to stay in touch.
• Li Qingshan persuaded Su Wan and Li Guoqiang to accept his trip, promising to contact them regularly and preparing protective talismans for them.
• Li Qingshan gathered rare spiritual materials, drew protective talismans, and finalized the gateway's timing and coordinates.
• Li Qingshan flew to Urumqi Airport and entered the Mount Kunlun Range, where the Chaos Divine Seed responded to the unusually dense essence Qi.
• Li Qingshan advanced toward the snow peaks, tracking the stars and earth veins as he neared the predicted gateway region.

Li Qingshan entered the ancient formation surrounding the true Kunlun and found a dangerous paradise filled with dense spiritual energy. After rescuing a little jade-horned snake from a Zheng, he named it Xiaobai and gained a guide to the secret realm.

• Li Qingshan used the stars and earth veins to open a brief passage through the ancient grand formation and entered the hidden Kunlun realm.
• Li Qingshan explored cautiously through the perilous landscape and noticed a small jade-horned snake watching him.
• Li Qingshan saw the snake fleeing a Zheng while carrying a purple spirit herb, and he drove the beast away with a precise strike and a punch.
• Li Qingshan offered the snake pure essence Qi; the grateful snake offered him its herb, but he told it to keep the prize and asked it to guide him.
• The snake agreed to guide Li Qingshan in exchange for daily essence Qi, accepted the name Xiaobai, and led him deeper into the secret realm along safer paths.

Li Qingshan explored the ancient Kunlun secret realm with Xiaobai, finding a damaged Saint's pill-refinement record and three weakened pills before uncovering a complete sword-control inheritance and a broken sword containing Great Luo silver essence. They continued onward, with Xiaobai guiding Li Qingshan around lethal dangers.

• Li Qingshan entered a hidden chamber behind a waterfall, paid respects to a skeleton, and found incomplete pill-refinement notes and three weakened pills that could strengthen divine sense.
• Li Qingshan gave Xiaobai one of the pills, then explored Kunlun's ruined lake, abandoned medicinal fields, and ancient stone remnants while gathering thousand-year-old herbs.
• Xiaobai led Li Qingshan to the roots of a dead tree, where he found a broken sword containing Great Luo silver essence and a complete Light-Splitting Shadow-Manifesting Sword Control Technique.
• Li Qingshan memorized and secured the sword technique and broken sword, then rewarded Xiaobai with heaven and earth essence Qi.
• Xiaobai helped Li Qingshan avoid a valley hiding a powerful winged beast and an area of multicolored crystals filled with deadly spatial rifts.

Li Qingshan found the Sun True Scripture, a complete Emperor Scripture, at an ancient altar in the Kunlun Mountains and defeated the battle puppet guarding it. He sat before the divine stele to study the inheritance.

• Li Qingshan and Xiaobai crossed an ancient maze formation and reached the ruins of the Immortal Pool, where Xiaobai sensed dangerous pressure and stopped.
• Li Qingshan discovered an incomplete fragment of the Dao Scripture in a mountain crevice, then followed the solar holy power to an ancient altar.
• Li Qingshan deciphered the divine stele and obtained the Sun True Scripture, along with fragments of several secret techniques.
• An ancient battle puppet emerged from the dark red mountain and attacked Li Qingshan for trespassing and coveting the Emperor Scripture.
• Li Qingshan used his Guoshu skills and the Sun Emperor Fist to break the puppet's arm and destroy its chest rune, defeating it.
• Li Qingshan sat before the divine stele and immersed himself in studying the Sun True Scripture.

Li Qingshan hid in a cave with Xiaobai and cultivated the Sun True Scripture, opening a vast Bitter Sea and forming a peak Life Spring in a single day. He began stabilizing his extraordinary new power while Xiaobai guarded the cave.

• Li Qingshan returned to Xiaobai and asked the snake to lead him to a safe cave for secluded cultivation.
• Xiaobai led Li Qingshan to a hidden cave, where Li Qingshan arranged protective runes and prepared to cultivate.
• Li Qingshan used the Sun True Scripture to open a vast Bitter Sea filled with extraordinary phenomena and strengthen his body.
• After consolidating his Bitter Sea for a day, Li Qingshan drew out a powerful Life Spring and reached the peak of the Life Spring Realm.
• Li Qingshan shared a tiny amount of gentle Life Spring divine power with Xiaobai, who grew stronger and returned to guard the entrance.
• Li Qingshan continued refining his divine power and stabilizing his realm instead of rushing into the Dao Palace Secret Realm.

Li Qingshan built a Divine Bridge, overcame the trials of the Other Shore, and completed nine cycles of life and death to reach the utmost Other Shore Realm. He then began refining his Dao Bell, leaving the small artifact embryo to grow in his Bitter Sea as he looked toward the Dao Palace Secret Realm.

• Li Qingshan formed a sturdy crimson-gold Divine Bridge across his Bitter Sea and stepped onto it toward the Other Shore.
• Li Qingshan rejected illusions of his past life, worldly power, death, and future dangers, keeping his Dao heart steady as he crossed the bridge.
• Li Qingshan endured the Other Shore's nine lives and nine deaths, emerging with a greatly strengthened source and completing the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm.
• Li Qingshan chose a bell as his artifact and formed its divine-pattern embryo using the Sun True Scripture.
• Li Qingshan refined the dark red metal into a three-inch bell, named it the Dao Bell, and placed it in his Bitter Sea to be nourished by divine power.

Li Qingshan completed the Dao Palace Secret Realm in Kunlun, opening and perfecting all five organ Divine Treasuries and awakening the three selves’ chanting. After testing his new power and feeding Xiaobai, he began nourishing his embryonic Dao Bell with Five Elements Divine Runes.

• Li Qingshan opened and perfected the Heart Divine Treasury, then cultivated the Lung Divine Treasury.
• Over the following days, Li Qingshan opened the Liver, Spleen, and Kidney Divine Treasuries and formed a perfect five-element cycle.
• The Departed Self, Present Self, and Dao Self began chanting within Li Qingshan, greatly deepening his comprehension.
• Li Qingshan tested his perfected Dao Palace’s power and discovered the Heart Fire Tempering and Lung Metal Sword Qi abilities.
• Li Qingshan fed Xiaobai life essence Qi, then sent five divine runes to nourish and temper his embryonic Dao Bell.