Chapter Summaries

Su Mu and the Floating Island’s crew safely rescued the passengers from an emergency landing, then transported them back to the airport. The island vanished from sight after delivering them, leaving foreign reporters impressed by Huaxia’s capabilities.

• Su Mu stayed aboard until the passengers had evacuated, then used his Divine Sense to confirm no one remained on the plane.
• The passengers explored the Floating Island before soldiers escorted them away, and a boy asked how he could serve there.
• The commander reported that the emergency landing had succeeded without casualties, prompting cheers and relief at the airport.
• Transport planes carried the passengers and airport equipment down to the ground, where they reunited with their families.
• The Floating Island concealed itself and disappeared, astonishing the crowd and deepening the foreign reporters’ envy of Huaxia.

After the Floating Island saved flight HX7001, its commander’s words moved the public, while American officials planned to exploit Huaxia’s crop destruction and Japanese executives schemed to blame a nuclear wastewater leak on a typhoon. The chapter left both plans beginning to unfold.

• Flight HX7001 landed safely after the Floating Island intervened, and passengers shared footage and interviews that drew widespread public attention.
• The captain of HX7001 recalled the Floating Island commander saying, “Flight HX7001, we've come to take you home,” and the line was named one of the year's ten most moving statements.
• American intelligence officials discussed the Floating Island, then the intelligence chief told lawmakers Huaxia had destroyed crops before harvest.
• The lawmakers backed a plan to use grain prices and the four major grain traders to seize control of Huaxia’s grain market.
• Executives at Tokyo Electric Power Company agreed to prepare to claim a typhoon caused a nuclear wastewater leak, so they could avoid treatment costs.

Su Mu planned to charge female cultivators monthly fees to remain on the Hundred Flowers Ranking while Yu Guyue and Di Xingchun decided to sell their high-yield Spirit Plants. The plants caused a sensation, and cultivators and envoys rushed to buy them.

• Su Mu heard cultivators discuss the opportunities gained by women on the Hundred Flowers Fairy Ranking and learned that people were searching for him to seize the ranking.
• Su Mu decided to charge every ranked female cultivator a monthly fee to keep her position and charge separately for anyone seeking to climb the ranking.
• After Di Xingchun worried that he and the carp spirit could not tend more crops, Yu Guyue proposed selling the Spirit Plants so others could grow them.
• Di Xingchun displayed the freshly harvested Spirit Plants in the city, where buyers confirmed their yield could exceed a thousand jin of spirit rice per mu.
• Merchant houses, Lineage disciples, and envoys from other nations eagerly asked Di Xingchun how much the Spirit Plants cost.

Su Mu learned that the improved Spirit Plants had spread widely in the Immortal Cultivation Realm, earning him a surge of merit that bloomed his Merit Lotus. He used the merit to repair half of his Dao Lotus, then began studying the Dao Scripture before the Tower of Ten Thousand Fires opened.

• Di Xingchun offered Spirit Plants at the same price as before and required buyers to swear a Heart Demon oath not to raise the resale price.
• Su Mu accepted Devil Lord Ye's invitation to enter the Tower of Ten Thousand Fires after learning it was about to open.
• Su Mu's Merit Lotus bloomed to twenty-four petals as he realized the Spirit Plants had spread widely and begun earning him merit.
• Su Mu spent all the merit to repair half of his damaged Dao Lotus.
• Su Mu rented a cave abode and studied the Dao Scripture, hoping to make the Dao Lotus bloom before the tower opened.

Su Mu arrived at the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires, where cultivators used spirit flames to temper their bodies and Spiritual Power. As the tower prepared to open, he faced doubts about entering at Early Core Formation.

• Su Mu learned that the tower contained thousands of spirit flames seized during the Haotian Realm’s invasion of another world and that cultivators could enter using Glazed Fire Jades.
• Su Mu met Devil Lord Ye, who urged him to endure as long as possible, while other cultivators warned that the flames caused unbearable pain.
• Su Mu noticed that most devil path cultivators were at Mid or Late Core Formation, while he was only at Early Core Formation.
• Rogue cultivators arrived carrying Glazed Fire Jades, which granted entry and could sell for several million Spirit Stones.
• Devil Lord Ye announced that the tower was about to open, and an Immortal Hidden Sect elder mocked the devil path for sending Han Feiyu at such a low cultivation level.

Su Mu entered the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires to temper his body, while considering whether he could use mushroom bombs to break its restriction and take the tower. He remained on the first floor to cultivate through the spirit fire’s intense pain as the elders mocked him and Devil Lord Ye watched in silence.

• Devil Lord Ye and the righteous elders opened the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires, and Su Mu briefly considered destroying its restriction with mushroom bombs before deciding to wait.
• Su Mu entered the tower with the other cultivators and saw its first floor filled with many kinds of spirit fire.
• The other cultivators moved to higher floors, while Su Mu stayed on the first floor and began drawing spirit fire into his body to temper himself.
• The spirit fire scorched Su Mu’s body and Divine Sense, causing severe pain that intensified as he continued cultivating.
• The elders mocked Su Mu for remaining on the first floor, while Devil Lord Ye frowned and watched to see whether he could improve his strength.

Su Mu endured the spirit flames on the Tower of Ten Thousand Fires’ second floor to temper his body and absorb Spiritual Power, despite his lower cultivation and the agonizing pain. After the Azure Lotus cleansed the fire poison from his Divine Sense, he finished cultivating and found himself alone on the floor.

• Su Mu exhausted the benefits of cultivating on the first floor and climbed to the second floor of the Tower of Ten Thousand Fires.
• Cultivators on the second floor mocked Su Mu for his earlier defeat against a Green Bamboo Sect disciple and doubted he could advance further.
• The second floor’s stronger spirit flames burned away Su Mu’s hair, and he sat down to cultivate as black smoke rose from his body.
• Su Mu endured the spirit flames and the fire poison that tainted his Divine Sense, driven by the memory of the Haotian Mirror targeting Earth.
• Su Mu moved his Divine Sense toward the Azure Lotus, whose light erased the fire poison, then stopped cultivating and found no other cultivators remaining on the floor.

Su Mu reached the third floor of the Tower of Ten Thousand Fires, where spiritual flames overwhelmed his senses and threatened to burn his soul. Unable to endure the tempering, he returned to Earth to recover and wondered whether his body in the tower remained safe.

• Devil Lord Ye warned Su Mu that he needed to reach the upper floors quickly before other cultivators used up the spiritual flames.
• Su Mu hurried to the third floor and found that the spiritual flames had blocked his sight, hearing, and Divine Sense.
• Nearby cultivators mocked Su Mu for attempting the third floor at Early Core Formation, while he sat down and began cultivating.
• The spiritual flames surged through Su Mu and threatened to burn his soul, leaving him unable to cry out.
• Su Mu returned to Earth, found himself unharmed, and planned to rest before checking whether the flames were still tempering his body in the tower.

Su Mu exploited his ability to travel between the Haotian Realm and Earth to endure the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires, strengthening his body and divine soul while rapidly consuming the tower’s spirit flames. After completing the third floor, he entered the fourth and continued tempering himself.

• Su Mu returned to the Haotian Realm and discovered that the spirit flames had made his body more resistant and strengthened his incomplete divine soul.
• Su Mu repeatedly traveled between Earth and the Haotian Realm to rest from the pain, using the spirit flames to grow stronger.
• Cultivators on the third floor grew angry as Su Mu absorbed an increasing share of the spirit flames, but he continued cultivating until the flames no longer affected him.
• Su Mu’s eyes regrew, and he left for the central passage while the other cultivators were relieved to see him go.
• Devil Lord Ye and the righteous cultivators watched Su Mu reach the fourth floor, where he resumed tempering himself by traveling back and forth to Earth.

Su Mu climbed to the seventh floor of the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires, endured its intense tempering, and gained the ability to command its spirit flames. After leaving, he secretly returned three days later and planted two mushroom bombs beside the tower’s restriction.

• Su Mu rapidly absorbed the spirit flames on the fourth and fifth floors, then advanced to the sixth as cultivators watched in disbelief.
• Su Mu reached the seventh floor and endured three days of tempering until the spirit flames stopped affecting him.
• Su Mu discovered that he could command every spirit flame in the tower, but kept the ability secret from the cultivators outside.
• Su Mu left the tower, returned three days later after the others had departed, and set two mushroom bombs near its restriction before fleeing.

Su Mu detonated a mushroom bomb at the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires, destroying its restriction and killing the cultivators nearby. He took the intact tower and escaped, while sect disciples and cultivators arrived to find the treasure missing and the blast site still dangerous.

• Su Mu watched the mushroom bomb explode, and cultivators across the Haotian Realm saw the enormous mushroom cloud through water mirrors as warning arrays sounded at major sects.
• Su Mu flew through the radiation to the crater, found the nearby cultivators dead, and discovered that the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires remained intact after its restriction was destroyed.
• Su Mu took the tower and fled before other cultivators could arrive.
• Cultivators who reached the crater found that the lingering force attacked their Divine Sense and realized the tower had been stolen.
• An elder of the Mara Sect arrived, saw the missing treasure, and flew into a rage as the other cultivators grew wary of being suspected.

After escaping the uproar over the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires, Su Mu hid in a cave abode and studied the Dao Scripture until his Dao Lotus bloomed eight petals. Back on Earth, he devised a way to cultivate the Ten Thousand Fires Art and planned to prepare for his fourth transfer.

• Su Mu learned that the great sects had identified him as the thief behind the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires and raised the bounty on him to a hundred and fifty million Spirit Stones.
• Su Mu rented a high-grade cave abode, examined the tower, and decided to study the Dao Scripture until his Dao Lotus bloomed eight or ten petals.
• Su Mu realized he might be able to use the tower’s spirit flames on Earth and entered seclusion to study the Dao Scripture.
• After comprehending the Dao Scripture and blooming eight Dao Lotus petals, Su Mu returned to Earth and wrote down the Ten Thousand Fires Art as a possible cultivation method.
• Su Mu decided to obtain more Spirit Stones for his fourth transfer and promised the Spirit of the Dragon Vein he would bring it a dragon pearl.

Su Mu learned that Zhou Jianhua and the higher-ups had baited America into a grain-market scheme, planning to profit with their Spirit Plant harvests and reserves. Back in the Haotian Realm, Su Mu stopped a Qinyuan Immortal Trading Company vessel and demanded cultivation resources from its elder.

• Su Mu noticed news of America's grain crisis and called Zhou Jianhua to ask about Huaxia relisting grain futures.
• Zhou Jianhua explained that Huaxia had planted high-yield Spirit Plants and was deliberately encouraging America to trigger its grain-market scheme.
• Su Mu left the Security Bureau reassured and returned to the Haotian Realm after memorizing a Dao Scripture in the Qinling Mountains.
• Su Mu intercepted a flying boat carrying goods for the Qinyuan Immortal Trading Company.
• Su Mu told the company's elder that he was a demonic-path holy son short of resources and asked for support.

Su Mu extorted eleven million Spirit Stones and a Soul-Severing Flame from Ke Qianjun’s trading-house escort, then continued robbing trading houses while avoiding unnecessary fights. A jade token he obtained granted passage to the Immortal Ascension Steps, which were about to open.

• Su Mu demanded ten million Spirit Stones and a mid-grade spirit flame from Ke Qianjun’s shipment, then raised the price by another million after she tried to appeal to his reputation.
• Ke Qianjun handed Su Mu eleven million Spirit Stones and the Soul-Severing Flame, and he left without harming the escort.
• Su Mu explained that he spared trading-house cultivators so word would spread that surrendering Spirit Stones could let them keep their lives and goods.
• Su Mu robbed three small immortal trading houses for nine million Spirit Stones and obtained a jade token from one of them.
• Su Mu learned that the jade token was a pass to the Immortal Ascension Steps, which were about to open, and decided his good fortune had brought him the opportunity.

Su Mu prepared for the Immortal Ascension Steps after his Dao Lotus grew to ten petals and arrived to find the Haotian Realm’s young geniuses gathered there. Mo Li called him over, drawing attention to Su Mu’s plain-looking equipment and prompting cultivators to question his strength.

• Su Mu heard that the Immortal Ascension Steps would draw numerous geniuses and decided to stop plundering immortal trading caravans for now.
• Su Mu contemplated the Dao Scripture for more than ten days, and another Dao Lotus petal bloomed, bringing the total to ten.
• Su Mu traveled to the Immortal Ascension Steps and observed renowned cultivators Hua Yunze, Mo Li, and Lu Ziming among the gathered geniuses.
• Mo Li spotted Su Mu and waved him over to the group of Devil Cultivators.
• Su Mu flew toward Mo Li, and nearby cultivators stared at his modest clothes and lack of visible Law Treasures.

Su Mu learned that the Immortal Ascension Steps tested physical strength and set out to climb them alongside Mo Li and the other cultivators. After stepping onto the stairs and enduring their crushing weight, he saw Mo Li rush several steps ahead and followed him.

• Mo Li explained that the Immortal Ascension Steps grew heavier with each step and that Su Mu's body, tempered in the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires, might give him an advantage.
• The steps opened, and Mo Li led the Devil Cultivators toward them while Su Mu followed.
• Su Mu encountered Ruan Wenyou, and Hua Yunze warned him to stay away from her before urging the righteous cultivators to drive weaker cultivators off the steps.
• Su Mu stepped onto the Immortal Ascension Steps, felt his Spiritual Power locked away and a crushing weight press down on him, then adjusted to it.
• Su Mu saw Mo Li rush several steps upward and followed him.

Su Mu climbed the Immortal Ascension Steps, where restrained Spiritual Power forced cultivators to rely on their bodies and fight to avoid being thrown out. After reaching the thirty-third step, he picked up his urn-shaped golden hammers as Hua Yunze and his fellow disciples approached, leaving Hua Yunze unsure whether Su Mu planned to flee.

• Cultivators erupted into a brawl on the lower steps, and Mo Li continued ahead while Hua Yunze spotted Han Feiyu climbing in front of him.
• Hua Yunze led his group up the steps to pursue Han Feiyu, while Su Mu learned that the pressure grew stronger as he climbed.
• Su Mu reached the thirty-third step and noticed Ruan Wenyou pass him with ease, while Hua Yunze watched and assumed Su Mu was near his limit.
• Su Mu lifted his urn-shaped golden hammers for the first time and waited as Hua Yunze and five fellow disciples climbed toward him.
• When Su Mu stood up on the steps, Hua Yunze taunted him for supposedly running away.

Su Mu fought Hua Yunze and five Green Bamboo Sect disciples on the Immortal Ascension Steps, using his tempered body and urn-gold hammers to overpower them. Hua Yunze escaped by crushing his jade token, and Su Mu killed two disciples before the remaining three teleported away.

• Hua Yunze goaded Su Mu, but Su Mu said Hua Yunze’s stare angered him and advanced down the steps to fight.
• Su Mu struck Hua Yunze with an urn-gold hammer, damaging his flying sword and making him spit blood, while the other five attacked Su Mu from behind without injuring him.
• Su Mu ignored the five attackers and continued hammering Hua Yunze, eventually shattering his broadsword as the Green Bamboo Sect disciples grew hesitant.
• Hua Yunze crushed his jade token and teleported away from the Immortal Ascension Steps.
• Su Mu struck two of the remaining disciples dead, and the other three teleported away in terror.

Su Mu rested after defeating a cultivator, then climbed the Immortal Ascension Steps and discovered paths involving physical strength, questioning the Dao, and Go. Ruan Wenyou advanced by winning Go games while Lu Ziming made progress questioning the Dao, and she searched the crowd for Han Feiyu.

• Su Mu put away the Urn Gold Hammer after his opponent's Spirit Artifact shattered, then rested while Mo Li and Ruan Wenyou reached the forty-ninth step.
• Ruan Wenyou chose the Go path, prompting Su Mu to log off and ask Zhou Jianhua to bring a computer and get Alpha online so he could use its help.
• Su Mu resumed climbing and found that spiritual flames within his body could briefly double his physical strength and ease the pressure.
• At the forty-ninth step, Su Mu saw Ruan Wenyou playing Go and Lu Ziming progressing on the path of questioning the Dao, while Demon Cultivators climbed by brute strength.
• Ruan Wenyou captured the white stones in the center, won her game, and moved up a step before noticing Lu Ziming had climbed farther and searching for Han Feiyu.

Su Mu climbed the Immortal Ascension Steps by copying Alpha’s Go moves while questioning the cultivators seeking the Dao. He argued that cultivation defied heaven, unsettling those around him as Ruan Wenyou continued ascending.

• Su Mu returned to the Haotian Realm and used Alpha to win consecutive Go games, which carried him up the steps.
• Su Mu threatened a Green Bamboo Sect disciple into answering him, but another disciple rebuked him and revealed that many cultivators were hunting him for his bounty.
• Su Mu kept winning with Alpha’s help and watched the other cultivators as Ruan Wenyou advanced ahead of him.
• Su Mu used the Life-Claiming Brahma Sound to tell nearby cultivators that seeking eternal life meant acting against heaven, making their Dao hearts waver.
• Lu Ziming condemned Su Mu as a Devil Cultivator, but Su Mu argued that Heavenly Tribulations came because cultivation defied heaven, and even Ruan Wenyou reacted to his words.