Chapter Summaries

Lu Changming used Sovereign-Grade Spirit Machinery Law Armor 3.0 to scan a cave abode and found a sealed chamber that interfered with his equipment and Divine Sense. At the same time, Ye Chenfeng entered the same ruins and became intent on opening the chamber, leaving both men poised to break through its door.

• Lu Changming activated the armor’s detection systems, which mapped the valley and recommended that he maintain spiritual Gang protection while investigating.
• Lu Changming deposited a hundred Spirit Stones into the armor, followed the map to the sealed chamber, and found that its stone door blocked his Divine Sense and caused his display to distort.
• Ye Chenfeng reached the Demon Manor heartland, noticed an unusual presence drawing him toward the cave abode, and decided to investigate before continuing to Azure Pool Blessed Land.
• Ye Chenfeng explored the ruined cave abode and found only a sealed chamber, whose door his Divine Sense could not penetrate.
• Lu Changming and Ye Chenfeng each raised a hand to blast open the sealed chamber, independently deciding to see what lay inside.

Lu Changming and Ye Chenfeng fell into the Mirage Soul Pearl’s illusions after opening the secret chamber, while its master tried to drain them. As they fought desperately to save their loved ones, Lu Changming’s Dharma Armor began an automatic takeover and an awakened presence stirred within Ye Chenfeng.

• Lu Changming and Ye Chenfeng struck the stone door, triggering an illusion that showed Lu Changming his master in danger and Ye Chenfeng Lu Li pinned beneath a great toad demon.
• The stone door opened to reveal a gray pearl beside a skeleton, and the pearl’s master gloated over trapping the two cultivators as nourishment.
• Lu Changming burned his spiritual power to protect his master, while Ye Chenfeng tried to rescue Lu Li and mobilized the sword pellet in his Dantian.
• The pearl’s master strengthened the illusions, but the Dharma Armor detected abnormal Divine Sense fluctuations and began a takeover countdown.
• A vast presence awakened within Ye Chenfeng and asked what was happening before reacting with alarm.

Elder Jian awakened to find Ye Chenfeng and Lu Changming trapped by a Soul Dao cultivator, and the Spirit Machinery Law Armor’s autonomous attack disrupted the threat. After control returned to Lu Changming, Ye Chenfeng recognized the armor as Lu Changming’s work, while Lu Changming recognized him as Martial Uncle Ye from Azure Pool.

• Elder Jian recognized the gray bead as a Soul Dao cultivator’s life-bound treasure and startled its owner with his powerful Divine Sense.
• The Spirit Machinery Law Armor detected danger and unleashed a powerful attack, blasting Ye Chenfeng and the gray bead into the cave walls.
• Ye Chenfeng and Lu Changming recovered from the illusion, and Lu Changming ordered Primordial Beginning to end default control and switch to manual control.
• Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to seize the gray bead, but Ye Chenfeng instead examined the law armor and realized it was Lu Changming’s work.
• Lu Changming recognized Ye Chenfeng and asked whether he was Martial Uncle Ye from Azure Pool.

Ye Chenfeng rescued Lu Changming and killed Huijinzi, a weakened Nascent Soul soul cultivator, learning secrets that could help them escape the Demon Manor. Lu Changming left to continue tempering himself, while Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to study Huijinzi’s soul-cultivation method and considered switching to the Soul Dao.

• Lu Changming recognized Ye Chenfeng as his martial uncle and explained that Huijinzi was the villain who had attacked them.
• Ye Chenfeng used his sword techniques to shatter Huijinzi’s Mirage Soul Pearl, capture his Divine Soul, and search and refine it for information.
• Ye Chenfeng learned Huijinzi had faked his death, cultivated the Soul Dao, and only recently become a Nascent Soul cultivator before meeting them while depleted.
• Lu Changming gave Ye Chenfeng the pearl and departed to continue his training, wary of staying near him.
• Ye Chenfeng remembered Lu Li and felt that meeting Lu Changming meant he might soon see his old friend again.
• Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to inspect the pearl’s contents, then considered cultivating the Soul Dao himself.

Ye Chenfeng set out to rescue Junior Brother Lu after acquiring a soul treasure, while Lu Li felt an unexplained sense of foreboding and left seclusion to inspect the Battle Hall. The chapter ended with Lu Li arriving as its disciples studied the strategy of prolonged warfare.

• Elder Jian asked Ye Chenfeng to share the Soul Dao art and resources, and Ye Chenfeng gave them to him.
• Ye Chenfeng kept the soul bead to give to Junior Brother Lu and continued toward the blessed land, hoping to help him escape the Demon Manor.
• Lu Li sneezed during his cultivation, grew uneasy, and considered whether the Prefecture-Breaking War or the Dao Academy's weak combat forces were behind his warning.
• Lu Li ended his seclusion and flew to inspect the inner academy's Battle Hall.
• Lu Li heard eight Battle Hall disciples studying a lesson titled "On protracted war: the strategic essentials of high-intensity cultivation warfare!"

Lu Li observed the Battle Hall disciples studying Great Xia’s military courses and undertaking a campaign simulation to seize the Three Tiger Blessed Lands. As they developed plans to defeat the three Nascent Soul demon progenitors, Lu Li wondered whether the diligent Dong Qing had an unusual identity.

• Lu Li reflected on the Battle Hall’s five courses, which trained disciples in combat, Spirit Machinery, joint operations, and strategic planning.
• A Jade Slip projection presented an assessment requiring the disciples to seize the Three Tiger Blessed Lands within 72 two-hour periods while limiting casualties and defeating at least two Nascent Soul demon progenitors.
• The eight Battle Hall disciples began drafting plans, discussing ways to divide the three demon progenitors, use Spirit Machinery, and manage their limited supplies.
• Lu Li watched without interrupting and felt reassured by the disciples’ diligence and loyalty.
• Lu Li noticed Dong Qing, a promising short-haired female cultivator, and wondered whether she was no ordinary person.

Lu Li inspected the Artifact Hall and found that its four long-term disciples used the Heart of Primordial Beginning to improve their artifact refinement, though one had also used it to read storybooks. He confronted them and singled out Li Nanci, leaving the disciple to answer for his idling.

• Lu Li considered whether Dong Qing might be a Heavenly Mandate Bearer, then decided her ordinary behavior meant he had worried unnecessarily.
• Lu Li left the Battle Hall assessment grading to the Heart of Primordial Beginning and traveled to the Artifact Hall.
• Lu Li saw that the Artifact Hall's four disciples had access to the Heart of Primordial Beginning and heard one ask it to play storybooks.
• The disciples recognized Lu Li as the Headmaster and greeted him respectfully.
• Lu Li questioned the disciples about their artifact-refinement progress and asked Li Nanci why he had used the Heart of Primordial Beginning for storybooks again.

Li Nanci asked Lu Li about the Heart of Primordial Beginning to understand how it worked, then revealed his own first-tier auxiliary Law Artifact, the Heart of Second Primordial. Lu Li praised its craftsmanship and suggested ways to improve it, including making it expandable and using it to organize the Artifact Hall’s daily affairs.

• Li Nanci asked Lu Li how the Heart of Primordial Beginning produced sound, understood people’s needs, and offered assistance.
• Lu Li explained that artifact inscriptions, vibration components, and recorded knowledge allowed the Heart of Primordial Beginning to function.
• Li Nanci revealed that he had refined the Heart of Second Primordial and asked Lu Li how it could be optimized.
• Lu Li examined the small Law Artifact and noted its limited functions, then questioned Li Nanci about its name and size.
• Li Nanci explained that he wanted the artifact small enough to carry or place inside his spiritual platform and activate with Divine Sense.
• Lu Li suggested adding transformation inscriptions and integrating the Artifact Hall’s daily affairs into the artifact.

Lu Li visited the outer court to inspect its talent pool and prepare for next year’s inner court recruitment, while studying Great Xia’s proposed aerospace law warship. He arrived at the outer court still dreaming of building the Void Breaking-class vessel, though its most ambitious technologies remained out of reach.

• Lu Li answered Li Nanci’s questions about Artifact Refinement, then assigned him a month of clearing slag from the Artifact Hall’s furnaces as punishment for wasting computing power.
• Lu Li inspected the inner court halls, gave instructions to supervisory elders, and set off for the outer court to look for promising disciples.
• During the journey, Lu Li examined law boat models and admired Great Xia’s projected design for a Void Breaking-class aerospace law warship.
• Lu Li reviewed the warship’s specifications and concluded that its fifth-tier armor and spatial-jump technology were major obstacles to building it.
• Lu Li reached the outer court, where disciples welcomed him.

Lu Li visited the outer academy and overheard Dao Society president Jiang Wuxie preparing to seek advancement to the inner academy again. Suspecting that Jiang's repeated rejections stemmed from his character assessment, Lu Li asked Primordial Beginning to show him Jiang's past assessments.

• Lu Li arrived at the outer academy and saw disciples speculating that he would choose candidates for the inner academy.
• Lu Li entered the Dao Society hall in secret and listened as Jiang Wuxie discussed submitting candidates for advancement.
• Jiang Wuxie said he would try for the inner academy again despite having been rejected for several years.
• Lu Li suspected Jiang Wuxie's character assessment had caused the rejections and asked Primordial Beginning to retrieve his past assessment replays.

Lu Li reviewed Jiang Wuxie's past character assessments and discovered that the talented disciple repeatedly chose ruthless options that caused him to fail. After the Heart of Primordial Beginning inferred that Jiang Wuxie intended to refine souls to gain power for revenge, Lu Li decided to let Elder Yuanhao guide him.

• Lu Li watched Jiang Wuxie's previous assessment, in which Jiang Wuxie took his senior brother's Divine Soul but let a plague-stricken city perish and gathered its people's souls.
• The Heart of Primordial Beginning explained that Jiang Wuxie had chosen neither standard solution and had failed the assessment.
• The Heart of Primordial Beginning inferred that Jiang Wuxie likely planned to refine the souls to advance his cultivation and avenge his senior brother and the city's people.
• Lu Li watched Jiang Wuxie's other past assessments, saw that they had all ended in failure, and decided Elder Yuanhao should pay closer attention to him.

Lu Li approved reserving Jiang Wuxie a chance to enter the inner court and toured the Litian Grand Market, where he sensed a concealed Golden Core cultivator. When they finally met, Lu Li recognized the newcomer as Ye Chenfeng.

• Lu Li reviewed Jiang Wuxie's past assessments, judged his unusual methods correctable, and instructed the Heart of Primordial Beginning to reserve him a place next year pending another assessment.
• Lu Li visited the Litian Grand Market and observed its busy trade, law enforcement patrols, and mixture of cultivators and mortals.
• Lu Li sensed a hidden Golden Core cultivator in the market and headed toward him, while the stranger also approached after detecting Lu Li's powerful presence.
• Lu Li and the passing cultivator came face to face, recognized each other, and Ye Chenfeng greeted him as Senior Brother Lu.

Lu Li unexpectedly reunited with Ye Chenfeng, who returned to rescue him from what he believed was a demon’s den. After hearing Ye Chenfeng’s offer to help him escape, Lu Li began revealing that he was safe and that Azure Pool had become Litian Blessed Land.

• Ye Chenfeng and Elder Jian were shocked to discover that Lu Li had reached Late Golden Core.
• Lu Li recognized Ye Chenfeng, invited him to the outer court’s main hall, and shared spirit tea with him.
• Ye Chenfeng recounted fleeing Azure Pool, joining Hanging Blade Pass, and returning after it fell.
• Ye Chenfeng offered Lu Li a fourth-tier soul treasure and proposed taking him back to Jingxi Prefecture when the Prefecture-Breaking War began.
• Lu Li told Ye Chenfeng that no one was forcing him to do anything and that the place was now called Litian Blessed Land.

Elder Jian inferred that Lu Li was a reincarnated mighty cultivator who secretly controlled Azure Pool, then revealed himself to Lu Li and treated him as a fellow Daoist. Lu Li cautiously greeted him and asked Great Xia how to answer Elder Jian’s question about whether he came from the Central Continent.

• Elder Jian pieced together Lu Li’s rapid rise and suspected he was either host to an ancient existence or a reincarnated mighty cultivator.
• Elder Jian emerged from Ye Chenfeng’s Dantian and introduced himself to Lu Li as Jian Canglan.
• Lu Li was stunned by Elder Jian’s appearance and reported the situation to Great Xia through his jade pendant.
• Li Yuanchao told Lu Li to remain calm, avoid agreeing to anything, and greet Elder Jian cautiously.
• Elder Jian apologized for not greeting Lu Li sooner, concluded that Lu Li was a reincarnated mighty cultivator, and asked whether he came from the Central Continent.
• Lu Li asked Great Xia’s leader how he should answer Elder Jian.

Lu Li reassured Ye Chenfeng about his rise to headmaster of Beyond Heaven Dao Academy while concealing Great Xia’s role, and Elder Jian mistook him for a powerful reincarnated cultivator. Ye Chenfeng chose to remain at the academy and gave Lu Li a soul treasure and Soul Dao knowledge, leaving Lu Li with hope for Great Xia’s Spirit World project.

• Elder Jian questioned Lu Li about his origins, and Lu Li gave a vague answer that convinced Elder Jian he was a reincarnated great cultivator.
• Lu Li explained his recent history to Ye Chenfeng and advised him to return to Jingxi Prefecture, but Ye Chenfeng decided to stay at the Dao Academy.
• Lu Li agreed to let Ye Chenfeng remain in the outer court, provided he followed the academy’s rules.
• Ye Chenfeng gave Lu Li a fourth-tier soul treasure bead and shared the Soul Dao lore he had learned from Elder Jian.
• Lu Li recognized the bead and knowledge as valuable to Great Xia’s Soul Dao research and left Ye Chenfeng to cultivate in peace.
• Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to maintain his relationship with Lu Li, and Ye Chenfeng replied that he had never been wrong about Senior Brother Lu.

After Ye Chenfeng returned to the Beyond Heaven Dao Academy, Lu Li warned Great Xia about the danger he might bring and reported the Mirage Soul Pearl’s powers. Great Xia saw the treasure as a possible foundation for consciousness transfer, while Lu Li began refining it and wondered how Changming survived meeting Ye Chenfeng.

• Lu Li discussed Ye Chenfeng’s return with Li Yuanchao, who advised him to keep his distance and strengthen himself and the academy.
• Lu Li reported the Mirage Soul Pearl’s illusion and soul-consuming abilities to Great Xia, and Wang Zhiwen asked him to study and demonstrate it.
• Lu Li reflected on his failed attempt to transmit his Divine Soul to Great Xia and began refining the Mirage Soul Pearl.
• Lu Li wondered whether Changming’s survival after meeting Ye Chenfeng meant Changming also possessed a touch of Heavenly Mandate.

Lu Li suspected that people with unusual fates could counter Ye Chenfeng’s negative luck, and he arranged for Jiang Wuxie to work alongside Ye Chenfeng in the outer academy. Jiang Wuxie accepted his sudden promotion as a sign of the headmaster’s trust and vowed to serve him.

• Lu Li contacted Ye Chenfeng to ask whether people of destiny could have clashing or mutually supportive fortunes, and Elder Jian mistook the question for guidance meant for him.
• Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to tell Lu Li that he understood and would keep Ye Chenfeng and the capable outer academy disciple safe.
• Lu Li connected Elder Jian’s reply to Jiang Wuxie and ordered the Heart of Primordial Beginning to promote Jiang Wuxie and appoint him an outer academy Arbiter of Fate under Ye Chenfeng.
• The Heart of Primordial Beginning announced Jiang Wuxie’s promotion and Ye Chenfeng’s appointment as an Arbiter of Fate elder.
• Jiang Wuxie believed the headmaster had recognized his efforts and vowed to become a weapon in the headmaster’s service.

After Ye Chenfeng became the outer court’s Fate Elder, Elder Jian reflected on the wonders of the Dao Academy and the upheavals of the Central Continent. Meanwhile, Ao Qing learned of Suanni’s attacks in Jingxi Prefecture and ordered him to stop, preparing to begin the final Prefecture-Breaking War after emerging from seclusion.

• Ye Chenfeng accepted his appointment as Fate Elder, and Elder Jian urged him to serve the outer court faithfully.
• Elder Jian marveled at the Dao Academy’s artifacts and machines, then speculated that Ao Qing had fled Great Jin during the ancient upheaval.
• Ao Qing recalled the fall of Great Jin’s Dragon-Taming Directorate and asked his subordinates about Suanni and the Zong Household.
• Ao Qing learned that Suanni had entered the Pacify the West Blessed Land, killed a human Void Return cultivator, and drawn the Pacify the West Prince’s forces into the search.
• Ao Qing, impatient after ten thousand years and eight Prefecture-Breaking Wars, declared the next battle would decide whether he became a dragon.
• Ao Qing ordered Suanni to make no further moves and said the Prefecture-Breaking War would begin when he emerged from seclusion.

Zongzheng Lie connected Ao Qing’s vanished scale and the Dragon-Taming Bracelet’s reaction to a cultivator surnamed Lu, whom he believed could restrain the great demon. He ordered Jingfeng and Canyue to gather the prefecture’s Void Return cultivators for an expedition into the Demon Manor to find Lu and confront the demonic threat.

• Zongzheng Lie learned that the fall of Hanging Blade Pass had cost the prince’s palace one Void Return True Lord and gravely wounded another, including his wife.
• Zong Qing told Zongzheng Lie that her mother had entered seclusion to heal, and he warned Zong Qing not to wander during the turmoil.
• Zongzheng Lie recalled that a mysterious scale had drawn Zong Qing into the Demon Manor and later vanished after reacting to the Dragon-Taming Bracelet.
• Zongzheng Lie pieced together Zong Qing’s memories of Xu Xiong and a cultivator surnamed Lu, concluding that Lu was connected to Ao Qing’s missing scale.
• Zongzheng Lie ordered Jingfeng and Canyue to alert the prefecture’s factions and prepare their Void Return cultivators to enter the Demon Manor with him.

After decades of cultivation and research, Lu Li helped Great Xia begin the first cross-world consciousness uploads. As fifteen people’s consciousnesses were prepared for transfer, Lu Li and Lu Dahai faced the chance to reunite with their family in another world.

• Zongzheng Lie’s plan to investigate the Demon Manor was delayed for decades after Suanni summoned a Demon Lord whose attack left him injured.
• Lu Li advanced his cultivation and research, confirmed that six inner academy disciples had unusual fate configurations, and brought Jiang Wuxie and Ye Chenfeng into the inner academy.
• Lu Li reached Great Perfection of Golden Core, and Great Xia helped create and operate the Law Artifact Spirit World.
• Thirty-eight years after Ye Chenfeng’s return, Yang Zunzheng announced that the first batch of fifteen people would undergo cross-world consciousness uploads.
• Lu Li recognized his mother, Liu Xiulan, and sister, Lu Yao, on the transmission roster, while Lu Dahai reached toward his wife’s phantom and told her not to be afraid.