Chapter Summaries

Lü Yan confronted the Dao Ancestor in the Purple Firmament Palace and questioned whether the Dao Ancestor had shaped his life and the lives of those around him in pursuit of transcendence. The Dao Ancestor admitted to guiding the world but insisted that his path to the Dao was one he could not abandon, and Lü Yan ended by asking whether he would slaughter all living beings if they opposed him.

• Lü Yan drew the Pure Yang Sword and asked whether the Dao Ancestor had deliberately given him his sword talent and controlled his life.
• The Dao Ancestor said Lü Yan's talent was innate, though his life and the world's development had been influenced by the Dao Ancestor and the Queen Mother of the West.
• Lü Yan accused the Dao Ancestor of treating incarnations, disciples, friends, and family as attempts to explore refining emptiness and uniting with the Dao.
• Lü Yan urged the Dao Ancestor to stop pursuing transcendence and remain with his family, but the Dao Ancestor said he had seen the road and would regret not walking it.
• Lü Yan warned that others would also stand in the Dao Ancestor's way and asked whether he would kill all living beings in the Three Realms to attain the Dao.

Xiluo confronted Li Boyang about his preparations to refine emptiness and unite with the Dao by erasing his traces and distributing his karma among his incarnations. She declared that she would oppose his plan with the help of the people he considered burdens, leaving their conflict unresolved.

• Xiluo asked Li Boyang whether he had reached the threshold of refining emptiness and uniting with the Dao, and he admitted that he had.
• Xiluo connected Lü Yan’s resemblance to Li Boyang and his ability to use Li Boyang’s techniques to Li Boyang’s plan to distribute his power and karma among his incarnations.
• Xiluo explained that Li Boyang intended to erase every trace of himself, let Lü Yan inherit his karma, and then unite with the Dao and transcend.
• Li Boyang asked why Xiluo was trying to stop him, and Xiluo said she wanted others to share the burden of the truth and his painful plan.
• Li Boyang suggested Li Jingshu and Lu Huaijin might already know about his plan, and Xiluo vowed to join forces with the others to oppose him.

Lü Yan revealed that he intended to spread knowledge of the Dao Ancestor’s plan among Dao Proving Ones across the past, present, and future, making the Three Realms’ living beings an obstacle to the Dao Ancestor’s attempt to sever his karma. Xihe and Great Unity realized the confrontation might also be the Dao Ancestor’s deliberate, final transmission of the Dao.

• The Dao Ancestor recognized that Lü Yan had used Life's Three Questions to test his resolve, and Lü Yan confirmed that he meant to expose the Dao Ancestor rather than stop him by force.
• Lü Yan explained that the Dao Ancestor was trying to sever his ties to the Three Realms and warned that he would make every living being aware of the Dao Ancestor’s existence.
• Xihe and Great Unity considered whether the Dao Ancestor would destroy the Three Realms to attain the Dao, and Great Unity judged that he would not.
• Xihe suggested that Lü Yan’s actions had created another transmission of the Dao, teaching the Dao Proving Ones about seeking subtraction and emptiness.
• Great Unity concluded that the Dao Ancestor had guided events without directly initiating them and called this his final transmission of the Dao.

Li Boyang confronted Xiluo about his secret plan to undertake Refining Emptiness and Uniting with the Dao, refusing to reveal how dangerous the path was. When Xiluo realized he had already begun, she and Wangshu moved to stop him, and Li Boyang prepared to test his disciple’s power.

• Xiluo challenged Li Boyang to explain why he concealed his cultivation plans and warned that his chances of success might be disastrously low.
• Li Boyang admitted that he was risking his life and existence to explore an uncertain path for those who came after him, but said he would not let those close to him follow until it was proven feasible.
• Li Boyang distracted Xiluo by saying he should visit his parents, then revealed that the figure before her was only a higher-dimensional projection and that he had already begun Refining Emptiness and Uniting with the Dao.
• Xiluo called on Wangshu and Jinjiao, while Li Boyang explained that Wangshu had trapped Yinjiao in the Twelve Mirrors of the Jade Pool to temper her heart through dreams.
• Wangshu appeared before Li Boyang and apologized for opposing him, and he praised her mastery of the Celestial Star Gods’ Dao before the stars blazed and their Star Gods looked down at him.

On Li Boyang’s birthday, Li Jingshu confronted him outside the family gathering and explained how his deeds and memories had gradually been transferred to her as his presence faded. Li Boyang promised that she would remember him again, though his fate remained uncertain.

• Chen Yun prepared meat for Li Boyang’s birthday, and Li Yu welcomed Qiwa, Qinghe, and their children to the celebration.
• Li Jingshu waited outside the courtyard with Li Boyang’s Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspect, while Lu Huaijin entered without appearing to notice it.
• Li Jingshu said she would not go inside because she could not bear Lu Huaijin’s reaction to her.
• Li Jingshu told Li Boyang that his comprehension, talent, deeds, and memories had gradually become hers, while everyone’s impression of him faded.
• Li Jingshu cried and begged Li Boyang not to let her forget him, and he wiped her tears and promised she would remember him again.

Li Boyang visited Bronze Island to settle his karma with Hanging Silk Lady and her daughter Xiao Gui before leaving. He granted Xiao Gui a weaving talent and Hanging Silk Lady a fate-weaving divine ability, then helped the spider maidens form a secluded world-protecting net as the Three Realms approached future calamities.

• Li Boyang emerged from the mist on Bronze Island, waking Hanging Silk Lady and Lingguzi and thanking them for guarding the marsh.
• Li Boyang recognized Xiao Gui and granted her the talent to weave the Celestial Maiden’s Feather Robe, transforming her into a little girl and a weaving female immortal.
• Li Boyang bestowed the Heavenly Mandate Incantation Technique on Hanging Silk Lady, awakening her innate divine ability, Derive Heaven and Weave Dao.
• Hanging Silk Lady’s ability let the spider maidens weave an Earlier Heaven Eight Trigrams Grand Formation that separated Bronze Island from the Great Yunmeng Marsh.
• Li Boyang explained that the formation, Ensnare Heaven and Earth, could trap enemies or conceal its own realm, and said the spider maidens would need secluded cultivation to learn it.

Li Boyang repaid his karmic debt to Lingguzi by granting him extraordinary medical knowledge and a shapeshifting body, then showed him possible futures for himself and Hanging Silk Lady. As their connection faded, Lingguzi learned the name of his new power: the Formless Divine Ability.

• Li Boyang explained that many of the people Lingguzi had treated were connected to him, and Lingguzi asked to receive Li Boyang’s medical talent and cultivation.
• Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Incantation Technique to give Lingguzi medical insight and a flesh-and-blood body with a face that appeared different to every viewer.
• Li Boyang revealed timelines in which Lingguzi and Hanging Silk Lady faced tragedy, as well as one in which they survived to become the Great Immortal Coiling Silk and White Bone Medical Immortal.
• Lingguzi’s memories of Li Boyang began to fade as their karma was severed, and he asked what his new Divine Ability was called.
• Li Boyang named the power the Formless Divine Ability.

Li Boyang returned to the Land God Temple and gave Nüman and Panhu gifts that would sever their memories and karma with him. He answered Nü E’s wish by giving her his human heart and the Nine-Eared Grain Seedling, leaving her to bring an end to hunger.

• Li Boyang arrived at the Land God Temple, where Nü E and Panhu watched the great moon and the shining stars.
• Li Boyang gave Nüman his medicinal knowledge and a severed finger that became the Vermilion Whip, which let her identify any herb’s properties.
• Li Boyang bestowed his Body-Protecting Gang Qi on Panhu, healing his hidden ailments and strengthening his body.
• Li Boyang asked Nü E what she wished for, and she asked him to give her the part of his heart that belonged to the Mountain Folk.
• Li Boyang gave Nü E the Nine-Eared Grain Seedling, infused it with a drop of blood from his heart, and described how it could grow in barren land and help end hunger.

Li Boyang gave Nü E the knowledge to understand witchcraft and said farewell as he settled his karmic ties with the world. As new gods of soil and grain stirred the land, Xiluo became furious and attacked the sky while the Celestial Star Gods tried to free those trapped on Flying Peak.

• Nü E accepted Li Boyang's rice and took comfort in his farewell, even as she prepared to forget him.
• Li Boyang explained that Nü E had chosen to become a witch and passed his understanding of witchcraft to her, allowing her to hear the voices of all things.
• The gods sensed the earth stirring, and Yinglong identified the birth of new gods of soil and grain.
• Li Boyang's incarnations visited the Ghost Gods to say farewell and leave them gifts that would let them inherit his achievements and karma.
• Xiluo grew angry as the great moon drew nearer, then tore through the starry sky with her hairpin while the Celestial Star Gods tried to free those trapped on Flying Peak.

Lord Yanyao used Foreknowledge of the Future to find Li Boyang, whose existence was scattered across people and timelines. Li Boyang refused to preserve their karma and memories, explaining that he must sever every attachment to improve his chances of Dao Merging, and named the state he sought.

• Lord Yanyao foresaw Li Boyang’s presence and drew his scattered existence into the present.
• Li Boyang appeared before Lord Yanyao, who revealed that he still held Li Boyang’s heavenly eye and intended to preserve their connection.
• Li Boyang refused to let Lord Yanyao keep their memories and karma, saying he needed to eliminate anything that could pull him back from Dao Merging.
• Lord Yanyao questioned why Li Boyang abandoned his usual principle of leaving room for retreat, and Li Boyang explained that some things mattered more than survival.
• Li Boyang described his intended state as “severing external things, Fasting of the Mind and Sitting in Forgetfulness.”

Lord Yanyao accepted Li Boyang’s gift of the Heaven and Earth Bow and Heaven-Shaking Arrow after taking on karmic burdens from the past. He then used the bow to lead the seventeen Xuanyuan Stars in an attack on the Purple Tenuity Emperor.

• Lord Yanyao acknowledged Li Boyang as his teacher and chose to shoulder karmic burdens from the battles against Wuzhiqi, the Guhuo Bird, and Wu Yi.
• Li Boyang gave Lord Yanyao the Heaven and Earth Bow and Heaven-Shaking Arrow, divine weapons suited to his four arms and heavenly eye.
• Lord Yanyao heard the Purple Tenuity Emperor roar from the Purple Tenuity Star and drew the bow in response.
• The seventeen Xuanyuan Stars formed a yellow dragon and, guided by Lord Yanyao’s arrow, charged at the Purple Tenuity Star.

Guanshiyin and Sagara tried to enter the Hundred Lands Mountain Range to stop Li Boyang from leaving, but the Great Chun Tree God and Lord Lingguang defended his choice. Their disagreement turned into a battle, ending in a clash between Lord Lingguang’s Off-Ground Flame Light Flag and Sagara’s Samadhi Divine Water.

• Guanshiyin and Sagara arrived at the Mystic Garden Barrier, where the Great Chun Tree God and Lord Lingguang blocked their way.
• The Great Chun Tree God explained that Li Boyang had the right to choose his own path, and Lord Lingguang insisted they respect his wish to leave.
• Sagara raised the Mutton-Fat Jade Purifying Vase, and Guanshiyin attacked the Great Chun Tree God with her three golden bells.
• Lord Lingguang countered Guanshiyin’s flames, poisonous smoke, and hurricane with the Off-Ground Flame Light Flag and its Southern Brightness Li Fire.
• Sagara unleashed Three Flavors Divine Water from the Mutton-Fat Jade Purifying Vase, and it collided with Lord Lingguang’s flames in a powerful shock wave.

As the South Sea battle sent catastrophic waves across the world, Divine Lord Meng Zhang and Shang Yang used their Five Directional Flags to protect living beings in the East and North Seas. Shang Yang then promised to safeguard one of Li Boyang’s five organs until he returned.

• Divine Lord Meng Zhang summoned the Azure Lotus Treasure-Colored Flag and calmed the East Sea, healing the people and lands caught in the disaster.
• Meng Zhang’s Essence Blood landed on a young black beast, transforming it into a dragonlike creature and drawing the surrounding dragon vein Qi toward it.
• Giant Kun and the North Sea Dragon Race sheltered people from the storm while Shang Yang calmed the North Sea with the Mysterious Primordial Essence Water-Controlling Flag.
• Shang Yang warned that other Supreme Ones might imitate Li Boyang’s pursuit of Dao Merging and vowed to keep one of Li Boyang’s five organs safe until his return.

Li Boyang visited the Heaven-Eroding Lord in the Yellow Court Inner Landscape and explained that he was preparing to undergo Dao Merging. He said he needed to settle the karma between them so the world would not pull him back, then left the Heaven-Eroding Lord waiting to hear his second purpose.

• Li Boyang arrived at the Yellow Court Inner Landscape, where dragon veins gathered around the Nine Splendors Palace.
• The Heaven-Eroding Lord confronted Li Boyang for leaving him trapped and asked what had happened outside.
• Li Boyang revealed that he was about to undergo Dao Merging, prompting the Heaven-Eroding Lord to demand that he state his purpose.
• Li Boyang said he had come to settle the karma between them because their shared role in changing the world could otherwise prevent his Dao Merging.
• The Heaven-Eroding Lord asked about Li Boyang’s second purpose as his Taiji Diagram turned and his divine presence emerged.

Li Boyang asked the Heaven-Eroding Lord to safeguard his Primordial Spirit and body while he pursued Dao Merging and transcendence. The Heaven-Eroding Lord agreed, and Li Boyang revealed that he had already entrusted much of his body and power to others.

• Li Boyang explained that he could return his Dao Path and entrust his Law Treasures to others, but he would not trust an outsider with his Primordial Spirit and body.
• The Heaven-Eroding Lord doubted he could protect Li Boyang, but Li Boyang said he trusted Houtu’s protection behind him.
• The Heaven-Eroding Lord realized Houtu had been protecting him in the Yellow Court Inner Landscape and agreed to safeguard Li Boyang’s remains as a chance to pursue his own path.
• The Heaven-Eroding Lord asked how much of Li Boyang remained intact and compared his state to Wu Yao’s after she was divided and devoured.
• Li Boyang listed the organs, flesh, and powers he had entrusted to various Lords and beings, explaining that only his Primordial Spirit, empty shell, and the tablet governing his bodily Qi remained.

Li Boyang completed the five elemental flags and took the first step toward physical sanctification by transforming his empty shell into his true body. The flags’ power then spread through the Three Realms, where Yunxiao discovered that she could not remember how she had obtained the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors.

• Li Boyang explained how four flags could strengthen their holders by channeling the five elements through the body’s organs.
• Li Boyang drew in the Yellow Court Inner Landscape’s dragon veins and forged the Wu and Ji Apricot-Yellow Flag for the spleen.
• Li Boyang’s avatar became his true body, and he declared that he had taken the first step in refining emptiness and uniting with the Dao.
• Xiluo sensed tremors spreading across the earth and recognized that Li Boyang was responsible.
• The Plain-Colored Cloud Realm Flag appeared at Flying Peak and unleashed wind and thunder that tormented the Star Lords.
• Yunxiao saw her Golden Flood Dragon Scissors counter the flag’s murderous Qi, then realized she had forgotten how she obtained them.

Li Boyang explained why he had entrusted Cult Master Tongtian with his Sword Dao rather than his Primordial Spirit and empty shell, and urged him to focus on breaking through to the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm. As Li Boyang severed karmic ties across the realms and those connected to him began to forget him, Lü Yan grew uneasy while facing the Dao Ancestor.

• Li Boyang told Cult Master Tongtian that his attachment and slaughter-focused sword arts made inheriting the Primordial Spirit and empty shell dangerous, while the Lucid Sword Heart was a greater gift.
• Cult Master Tongtian admitted he could not unite his past, present, and future selves, and Li Boyang said this difficulty showed he was on the path to becoming a Great Luo Golden Immortal.
• Li Boyang advised Cult Master Tongtian to meet the Heaven-Eroding Lord, then vanished as Cult Master Tongtian resolved to find him; in a distant future, a jade-crowned giant wielding the Green Duckweed Sword split primordial chaos.
• Wu Yao recognized that Li Boyang had severed their karmic ties, drank Meng Po's Soup, and left without consulting the Three Lives Stone.
• Yama, Shao Pu, Ye Ming, Lu Ya, Zhenwu, Zhuang Zhou, and others began forgetting Li Boyang, while the Dao Proving Ones watched him overpower Lü Yan in the Purple Firmament Palace.
• Lü Yan became panicked by the Dao Ancestor's calmness and wondered whether he had overlooked something.

Li Boyang severed his karma from his incarnations and returned the Dao Paths he had proven to heaven and earth, transforming the Three Realms. As purple Qi spread across the eastern sky, the Dao Paths became a great opportunity and a new burden for all living beings.

• Li Boyang cut his karma with the Great Emperor of Fengdu, leaving him to awaken as a self-contained being.
• The King Father of the East and Sovereign Lord Donghua also began to awaken as Li Boyang severed their karma.
• At Tushita Palace, Supreme Lord Lao agreed to inherit Li Boyang’s ideals and thoughts as the Eight Trigrams Furnace and Taiji Diagram raised the dimensional level of the Three Realms.
• Dao Paths and concepts appeared throughout the Three Realms, and the Dao Proving Ones traced the upheaval to Tushita Palace.
• Supreme Lord Lao left Tushita Palace and declared that the Dao would return to heaven and earth.
• Supreme Lord Lao sent purple Qi thirty thousand li east, returning Li Boyang’s proven Dao Paths and their karmic consequences to the Three Realms.

Supreme Lord Lao became the Celestial Venerable of Great Purity, an independent sage bound to the Three Realms, while Li Xi, Single Horn Si, and Chi Fou confronted him in Tushita Heaven. He took them to the sky above Great Xia’s capital and revealed the Yellow Court Inner Landscape, offering them one final chance to see Li Boyang.

• Supreme Lord Lao reflected on his new independence and his inability to transcend the Three Realms unless another being accepted his karma.
• Li Xi attacked Supreme Lord Lao with the Five-Colored Stone, but he caught it in the Heaven and Earth Ring and severed her connection to it.
• Chiru trapped Supreme Lord Lao with the Luo River Book, and Single Horn Si struck him with the Vajra Ring, forcing him to defend himself.
• Supreme Lord Lao transported Li Xi, Single Horn Si, and Chiru from Tushita Heaven to the sky above Great Xia’s capital.
• Supreme Lord Lao told the three that this was their final chance to see Li Boyang and revealed the Yellow Court Inner Landscape with the Primordial Unity Qi · Great Purity Divine Talisman.

In the Yellow Court Inner Landscape, Li Boyang explained that the Heaven-Eroding Lord’s path made him unique and independent from the Three Realms’ timelines. He gave the Heaven-Eroding Lord his Primordial Spirit and empty shell, hoping he would break through his cosmic boundary and become the first true Pangu.

• Li Boyang sensed that Supreme Lord Lao had become independent and brought Li Xi to spy on him, while the Heaven-Eroding Lord questioned whether Li Boyang would leave the Three Realms after Dao Proving.
• Li Boyang admitted he could not know what transcendence would bring and said his pursuit of the Dao, rather than homesickness, had sustained him.
• Li Boyang gave his Primordial Spirit and empty shell to the Heaven-Eroding Lord, allowing him to use them as he wished, including refining them into an External Avatar.
• Li Boyang revealed that the Heaven-Eroding Lord existed only in the present and was beyond the Jade Disc of Creation’s control, absent from all possible future timelines.
• Li Boyang described the Heaven-Eroding Lord’s path as an independent cosmic membrane and said breaking through it could make him the creator of another world, the first true Pangu.