Chapter Summaries

Tian Wu attacked the mountain folk’s rescue routes in eight waterways, and Qinghe recognized him and struck back before Qiwa pulled her away. Watching through the [Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land], Li Boyang concluded Tian Wu was not a pawn but a freak forcibly mashed together, signaling the god of the South Sea had finally acted.

• Qiwa asked Qinghe which batch of wounded was being transported, and she said it was the three hundred and seventy-sixth.
• Tian Wu emerged from a tributary, overturned boats, and Qinghe attacked him with her Invocation Law before Qiwa dragged her away from the seawater he unleashed.
• Xiluo saw eight versions of Tian Wu rise from waterways throughout the Hundred Lands Mountain Range on the [Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land].
• Xiluo recognized Tian Wu as a former ally of Wuzhiqi who had attacked Flood Control Village and later disappeared.
• Li Boyang returned from Li Household Village and said Tian Wu was not an expendable pawn but a freak forcibly mashed together.

Li Boyang recognized that the South Sea God had sent the monstrous Tian Wu as a distraction while Guitong and Wumian tried to reach Chiru. Their disguises let them follow the Human-Faced Fish upstream, but a warning from the Great Arbiter of Fate sent the fish fleeing before they understood what was happening.

• Li Boyang explained to Xiluo that Tian Wu was an amalgam of sea gods, stripped of his identity and used as a powerful distraction.
• Li Boyang deduced that the South Sea God wanted to draw Xiluo away and target Chiru to disrupt the Hundred Lands Mountain Range's support operations.
• Guitong and Wumian disguised themselves as Human-Faced Fish and followed one upstream toward Chiru's hiding place.
• A warning signal from the Great Arbiter of Fate spread through the water, and the Human-Faced Fish fled before Guitong and Wumian could identify its meaning.

Li Boyang used the Water Escape method to reveal himself and tested his Five Elements Escape Techniques against Guitong and Wumian. He trapped them in a mist formation, while their coordination led him to wonder whether the God of the South Sea was also a Night-Wandering God.

• Li Boyang emerged from the river using the Water Escape method and exposed Wumian’s disguise with his Heavenly Eye.
• Guitong and Wumian revealed their Half-Human God forms and attacked Li Boyang.
• Li Boyang formed a stone giant to strike Guitong and restrain Wumian with a net of trees.
• Li Boyang turned the tributary into confusing mist linked to the Earth Veins, giving the stone giant an advantage over Wumian.
• Guitong climbed onto Wumian’s shoulder and directed his movements through the mist, and Li Boyang wondered whether the God of the South Sea was a Night-Wandering God.

Li Boyang learned that Buyan Huyu had fused with the South Sea sea eye and was refining Wu Yi’s trapped Primordial Spirit. After the jade curse spread to the Night-Wandering Gods, Li Boyang used his mind-reading ability on Guitong and Wumian to search for the sea god’s precise location.

• A white jade island rose from the South Sea, and Li Boyang caused the fifteen surviving Night-Wandering Gods to begin turning into jade.
• Buyan Huyu broke out of the island as a crimson snake, but Wu Yi’s weakened seventh Witch King Primordial Spirit struck him and forced him back into jade.
• Wu Yi’s Primordial Spirit warned Li Boyang that Buyan Huyu had fused with the sea eye and was refining him with the Method of the Celestial Person.
• Li Boyang concluded that destroying the sea eye could cause a catastrophe and questioned whether Wu Yi had imprisoned Buyan Huyu to prevent that danger.
• Li Boyang used his mind-reading ability to pry into Guitong and Wumian’s memories and seek Buyan Huyu’s precise location.

Li Boyang learned that the Night-Wandering Gods were replaceable extensions of Buyan Huyu and sent his Primordial Spirit into the South Sea to confront him. As South Sea gods retreated, Xiluo used the Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land to restore Kingfisher, who was still fighting deep in their territory.

• Li Boyang learned that Buyan Huyu replaced each dead Night-Wandering God by forcibly turning another god into one.
• Li Boyang's Primordial Spirit flew toward the South Sea, while the cursed Night-Wandering Gods and Buyan Huyu watched helplessly.
• South Sea gods who recognized Li Boyang's rainbow light abandoned their attack on the Hundred Lands Mountain Range and fled.
• Xiluo watched the South Sea gods retreat and spotted Kingfisher fighting on despite her exhaustion.
• Xiluo used the Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land to send flames to Kingfisher, driving off her attackers and restoring her stamina.

Li Boyang and Xiluo used the [Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land] to restore Kingfisher, whose rampage in the South Sea revealed a hidden affinity for chaotic primordial energy and the potential to become a Heavenly Deity. Kingfisher suppressed her transformation and flew back toward the Hundred Lands Mountain Range, aware that the Undying Spring God might know the secret behind her nature.

• Li Boyang realized he could lend Xiluo his power, allowing her to use the [Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land] across ten thousand li to restore Kingfisher.
• Kingfisher's power surged to rival a Heavenly Deity, and her flames and scalding steam killed nearby South Sea gods and sea creatures.
• Li Boyang observed that Kingfisher's azure feathers were beginning to glow gold as her strength exceeded the Diagram's ability to explain.
• Kingfisher recalled how entering the disordered South Sea had freed her from restraints and fueled her increasingly violent attacks.
• Kingfisher sensed she could abandon her body and become a Heavenly Deity embodying natural disaster, but rejected that path and suspected the Undying Spring God knew her secret.
• Kingfisher suppressed her transformation and flew back toward the Hundred Lands Mountain Range.

Li Boyang parted the South Sea to expose White Jade Island and discovered the trapped Heavenly Deity Buyan Huyu, who had merged with the sea eye. He confronted Buyan Huyu about his failed escape and revealed how Wu Yi’s scheme and the deity’s own actions had exposed the truth, then began laying out further secrets he had divined.

• Li Boyang used his Yang God to part the South Sea and reveal the trench, the sea eye, and White Jade Island beneath it.
• Li Boyang found that White Jade Island was actually a thousand-zhang jade statue of Buyan Huyu, trapped by the Incantation of Jade Transformation and Sleeplessness.
• Li Boyang accused Buyan Huyu of staging a failed escape to buy time to refine Wu Yi’s Primordial Spirit.
• Li Boyang reasoned that Wu Yi would never have warned him not to kill Buyan Huyu, since destroying the sea eye could throw heaven and earth into chaos and advance Wu Yi’s long-held aim.
• Buyan Huyu demanded to know what other loose threads he had left, and Li Boyang began revealing that he had used the Night-Wandering Gods to make Big Girl and Hanging Silk Lady reveal their cultivation methods.

Li Boyang fought Buyan Huyu’s living jade statue, which used Life Talisman Incantations and Essence Qi to revive and attack him. The battle continued as Buyan Huyu tried to study the Method of the Celestial Person and refine Wu Yi’s Primordial Spirit without destroying the South Sea’s sea eye.

• Li Boyang recognized Life Talisman Incantations and Essence Qi forming inside Buyan Huyu’s jade statue, which then attacked him.
• Li Boyang evaded the statue’s blows and cut off part of its head, awakening an azure snake that attacked him with poisonous mist.
• Li Boyang sensed that killing Buyan Huyu would collapse the South Sea’s sea eye and unleash a catastrophic flood.
• Buyan Huyu revived two azure snakes and two scarlet snakes, forcing Li Boyang to fight the statue and four undying Heavenly Deity incarnations at once.
• Li Boyang used his Yang God’s transformations and varied attacks against them, while Buyan Huyu sought to learn the Method of the Celestial Person and refine Wu Yi’s Primordial Spirit.

Li Boyang used a curse to disrupt Buyan Huyu’s Essence Qi and deform his thousand-zhang jade statue, while the battle’s effects battered the South Sea coast. Buyan Huyu realized Li Boyang had developed a curse as powerful as the Incantation of Jade Transformation and Sleeplessness, and Li Boyang explained how he had created it.

• Li Boyang decided to seal the thousand-zhang jade statue and the South Sea’s sea eye separately because he could not kill Buyan Huyu for now.
• The battle made the South Sea increasingly turbulent, and Kingfisher and Xiluo helped contain the waves while the Undying Spring God raised enormous roots to hold back the sea and reclaim flooded land.
• Buyan Huyu’s Essence Qi and Life Talisman Incantations began to mutate, causing the four great snakes and his thousand-zhang jade statue to deform.
• Li Boyang told Buyan Huyu that he had used collected flesh tissue to interfere with the Yuan Qi sublimation process and trigger the curse.
• Li Boyang explained that his research into spirits, Heavenly Deities, and witches had let him understand curses as a branch of Witchcraft Incantations.

Li Boyang cursed Buyan Huyu into becoming a dormant jade monster, then used Xirang to plug the South Sea’s sea eye and discovered the Four Seas were connected. Buyan Huyu escaped in a newly formed Primordial Spirit, leaving Li Boyang to deal with the consequences of the sealed sea eye and the god’s threat to return.

• Li Boyang disrupted Buyan Huyu’s attempt to transform Life Primordial Qi into Essence Qi, causing His body to mutate and the four great snakes to become jade monstrosities.
• The Incantation of Jade Transformation and Sleeplessness turned Buyan Huyu into a misshapen jade statue, completing Li Boyang’s first objective.
• Li Boyang used a handful of Xirang to plug the South Sea’s sea eye, then realized the sea eyes of the Four Seas were interconnected and that sealing one threatened to raise ocean levels.
• Buyan Huyu’s jade statue cracked, and He escaped as a Primordial Spirit with snakes hanging from His ears and coiled around His body.
• Buyan Huyu vowed to reclaim His body and kill land creatures, while Li Boyang wondered whether He had mistakenly assumed His Primordial Spirit could survive outside the body like Wu Yi’s.

Li Boyang spent three days trying to refine a jade-transformed Night-Wandering God, hoping to understand the Witch King's curse and find a way to resolve the South Sea crisis. Exhausted, he let Xiluo take over the cauldron while he rested and asked Li Jingshu for roast meat.

• Li Boyang's forces reclaimed territory across the Hundred Lands, while he focused on refining one of the jade Night-Wandering Gods.
• Xiluo gave Li Boyang a medicinal pill and took control of the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron after noticing how exhausted he was.
• Li Jingshu showed Li Boyang his disheveled reflection and urged him to stop overworking himself.
• Li Boyang explained that understanding the curse could help resolve the South Sea crisis, then asked Li Jingshu to make roast meat.
• Xiluo asked Li Boyang to save her a portion, and he teased her about her increasingly picky palate.

After the battle with Tian Wu, Qiwa offered to teach Qinghe how to fight and help her seek revenge, while the mountain folk continued building waterways along the South Sea. Kingfisher worried that the Undying Spring God was exhausting herself to purify the seawater, then asked whether her familiarity with chaotic Yuan Qi was connected to her origins.

• Qiwa and Qinghe reached the southern coast, where mountain folk and gods channeled seawater into canals and reservoirs.
• Qinghe brooded over her poor performance against Tian Wu, and Qiwa offered to train her and help her get revenge.
• Qinghe said she could no longer have children, and Qiwa blushed as he insisted that it had nothing to do with his offer.
• The Undying Spring God continued shifting her roots and purifying seawater so Li Boyang could build Yunmeng Marsh into an inland sea.
• Kingfisher warned the Undying Spring God that purifying the rising seawater was straining her, but the deity trusted the Prophet to resolve the crisis.
• Kingfisher told the Undying Spring God that chaotic Yuan Qi felt familiar to her and asked whether the feeling related to her origins.

Li Boyang returned to the South Sea with Xiluo and used the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron to enact his plan for controlling the region’s turbulent Yuan Qi. He created the Taiji Diagram: Two Aspects Eight Trigrams Grand Formation, leaving the South Sea’s Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi under his control.

• Li Boyang traveled to the South Sea with Xiluo and the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron, locating the site of the earlier battle using ecliptic coordinates.
• Li Boyang parted the sea with his Divine Ability, revealing the malformed jade statue standing atop the [Xirang] and blocking the sea eye.
• Li Boyang cast the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron and formed a vast [Taiji Diagram] that calmed the turbulent Yuan Qi.
• Li Boyang transformed the [Taiji Diagram] into the Taiji Diagram: Two Aspects Eight Trigrams Grand Formation, bringing the region’s Yuan Qi under his control.

Li Boyang refined Buyan Huyu’s thousand-zhang jade body into a jade vase while preserving its connection to the South Sea’s sea eye. He then drew the [Xirang] into the vase and discovered the soil’s connection to the [Space-Time Talisman Incantation].

• Li Boyang used the Eight Trigrams formation and the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron to melt the thousand-zhang jade statue in five-colored alchemical fire.
• Buyan Huyu felt his body being refined, tried to return from the far west, and lost his connection to it before he could reach it.
• Li Boyang used the [Transformation Talisman Incantation] to reshape the liquid jade into a living-seeming vase while preserving the statue’s properties and its link to the sea eye.
• Li Boyang cast the [Xirang] into the cauldron, and the jade vase drew it in and fused with it.
• Li Boyang recognized that each grain of [Xirang] was a complete world and identified its power as the [Space-Time Talisman Incantation].

Li Boyang fused the [Transformation Talisman Incantation] and [Space-Time Talisman Incantation] to create a jade vase that could swallow the South Sea’s excess water and help restore the circulation of the four seas. After Xiluo realized the vase would become part of heaven and earth’s order, Li Boyang named it the Mutton-Fat Jade Purifying Vase.

• Li Boyang used [Xirang] and the two talisman incantations to reshape the jade vase in the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron.
• The completed jade vase resisted Li Boyang’s control until he suppressed it with the [Taiji Diagram].
• Li Boyang raised the vase, and it swallowed the South Sea’s excess water, calming the waves and lowering the sea level.
• Li Boyang explained that he would release the stored water into the sea eye over time to restore the four seas’ circulation.
• Xiluo called the jade vase a pillar of heaven and earth, and Li Boyang named it the Mutton-Fat Jade Purifying Vase.

Buyan Huyu fled into the underground river after losing his original body and tried to possess Tian Wu, while a village shaman fought to protect the villagers from Tian Wu’s rampage. Buyan Huyu and Tian Wu began struggling inside Tian Wu’s body, leaving the shaman in control of a transformed woman with three faces and eight arms.

• Buyan Huyu escaped into the underground river and sensed Tian Wu, deciding that possessing him was his only chance to survive.
• Tian Wu rampaged near a village, and the shaman turned herself into water to restrain one of his heads while the villagers fled.
• Tian Wu’s other seven heads attacked the first head, giving Buyan Huyu the opportunity to enter Tian Wu’s core and seize control.
• Tian Wu regained consciousness and focused on fighting Buyan Huyu, while the shaman found herself controlling Tian Wu’s shrinking body.
• Tian Wu’s body transformed into a towering woman with three faces and eight arms, and the shaman realized that she controlled it despite the two stronger wills inside her.

Li Boyang showed Xiluo a new curse-based Law Technique that could indirectly influence karma and change fate. He had used it to exchange Buyan Huyu’s fate with that of a shamaness threatened by the mad Tian Wu, but Xiluo warned him that the technique’s cost was too steep.

• Xiluo teased Li Boyang about the three-faced, eight-armed clay figurine before he explained that it was a medium for a new Law Technique.
• Li Boyang told Xiluo that he had combined curses with divination to create a technique that could alter fate.
• Li Boyang explained that he had exchanged Buyan Huyu’s fate with that of a shamaness in a village threatened by Tian Wu.
• Xiluo saw that the shamaness had taken on Buyan Huyu’s exalted fate and asked Li Boyang what price he had paid.
• Li Boyang said he would have worse luck for several years, and Xiluo urged him to use the technique sparingly.

At Spirit Gathering Island, Qiwa’s immense reserves of life primordial Qi drew the attention of Yunmeng Marsh’s gods and spirits. Yinjiao arrived with a Primordial Spirit Pill made by Li Boyang and warned Qiwa to consider carefully before taking it.

• Yinjiao told Qiwa that the gods and spirits had been passing by to observe him, while he continued practicing the Breathing Method in the spiritual spring.
• Qiwa’s cultivation filled his Dantian with an extraordinary sea of primordial Qi, surpassing even Li Jingshu’s reserves.
• Yinjiao opened her silver gourd, releasing Sword Qi that split the mist and briefly drew the nearby gods’ attention.
• Yinjiao gave Qiwa a Primordial Spirit Pill that could help him sense his Primordial Spirit early, even without talent for the Perception Method.
• Yinjiao cautioned Qiwa to think carefully before taking the pill because it was a shortcut.

Qiwa chose to swallow the Primordial Spirit Pill despite its risks, deciding that his responsibilities and limited lifespan mattered more than pursuing a difficult cultivation path. Li Boyang accepted Qiwa’s choice and reflected that many different paths could lead to the Dao.

• Yinjiao explained that the Primordial Spirit Pill could awaken a Primordial Spirit quickly but could limit Qiwa’s future cultivation options.
• Qiwa asked Yinjiao to give him the pill, saying he lacked the talent and time to master the Perception Method and its related techniques.
• Xiluo asked Li Boyang whether he was sure Qiwa would take the Primordial Spirit Pill, and Li Boyang said Qiwa could not settle down to cultivate in seclusion.
• Li Boyang told Xiluo that Qiwa could pursue a different path to Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness, since many paths could lead to realization of the Dao.

Li Boyang explained the sinister Six Desires Demon-Dividing Chapter he devised to help Lu Huaijin control her divided self and strengthen her Primordial Spirit. After Xiluo challenged its dangers and limits, Li Boyang revealed Yin Fei’s feather robe and proposed that Xiluo wear it so he could study the Guhuo Bird’s soul-splitting Divine Ability.

• Xiluo questioned why Li Boyang had Lu Huaijin cultivate the Six Desires Demon-Dividing Chapter, and Li Boyang explained how its split-off souls could be nurtured and absorbed to strengthen the main Primordial Spirit.
• Li Boyang said the method could cure Lu Huaijin’s divided nature and might also let cultivators develop Primordial Spirits that made up for their shortcomings.
• Xiluo warned that the Guhuo Bird’s soul-splitting Divine Ability created a separate self, unlike the Spirit Division Methods Li Boyang had devised.
• Li Boyang retrieved Yin Fei’s feather robe and said Xiluo should wear it while he studied its mysteries from the outside.
• Xiluo teased Li Boyang for claiming he had scruples about wearing the robe himself.