Chapter Summaries

Su Mu, posing as Han Feiyu, shook the cultivators’ faith by arguing that the Heavenly Dao could not tolerate them and that they should defy it. After the Heavenly Dao appeared and vanished without harming him, the doubts deepened, while Su Mu continued up the Immortal Ascension Steps and surpassed Ruan Wenyou at chess.

• Su Mu told Lu Ziming and the other cultivators that the Heavenly Dao could not tolerate them and that defying it was the path to immortality, causing cracks to form in their Dao hearts.
• The Heavenly Dao manifested as a massive eye, watched Su Mu, and disappeared without attacking him, convincing many cultivators that his words might be true.
• When a Green Bamboo Sect disciple shouted at the sky, lightning struck him, leaving the cultivators shocked by the Heavenly Dao’s unequal response.
• Lu Ziming stopped advancing as his Dao heart faltered, while Su Mu won his game with Alpha’s help and continued up the steps.
• Su Mu chose a cautious move, won the game, and passed Ruan Wenyou, drawing the crowd’s attention as the other cultivators remained unable to advance.

Su Mu reached the ninety-eighth step of the Immortal Ascension Steps, where an illusory Go master repeatedly crushed AlphaGo by predicting Su Mu’s moves. After refusing to let Su Mu pass, the figure left him facing the challenge of finding another way to win.

• Su Mu climbed the Immortal Ascension Steps, broke the previous record with twenty-eight wins, and drew the attention of Ruan Wenyou, Mo Li, and the other cultivators.
• Ruan Wenyou admitted she could not match Su Mu at Go and stopped playing, while Lu Ziming urged her to catch up.
• At the ninety-eighth step, an illusory figure appeared and told Su Mu that defeating him would allow Su Mu to reach the top.
• Su Mu used AlphaGo against the figure, but AlphaGo suffered repeated crushing losses as the figure predicted Su Mu’s moves.
• Su Mu accused the figure of cheating, but the figure said his predictive ability was his own and refused to let Su Mu pass because it was his duty.

Su Mu chose to restart the Immortal Ascension Steps through the path of questioning the Dao and climbed effortlessly with the help of his Dao Lotus. After passing the final trial without resistance, he reached the summit and discovered countless lights that appeared to contain supreme treasures.

• Su Mu rejected the phantom's offer to stop at the ninety-eighth step and chose to begin again on the path of questioning the Dao.
• Su Mu climbed the steps with ease as his Dao Lotus flickered, while the watching cultivators wondered at his progress.
• Two Rogue Cultivators suspected Su Mu was the person they sought and left after he reached the summit.
• The phantom told Su Mu he had passed the final trial, and Su Mu went on to the summit.
• Su Mu found no treasures at first, then hurried toward flickering lights that seemed to contain supreme treasures.

Su Mu discovered Breathing Soil and activated a jade recording that revealed the Immortal Ascension Steps had once belonged to the Youtian Realm. Gu Jingwen explained how Youtian Realm cultivators hid their Fortune on the Steps, leaving Su Mu as the lone Dao cultivator able to reclaim it.

• Su Mu collected a cluster of Breathing Soil and found a jade recording talisman among the treasures.
• Su Mu activated the jade and met Gu Jingwen, who identified them as cultivators from the Youtian Realm.
• Gu Jingwen told Su Mu that the Haotian Realm had seized the Immortal Ascension Steps from the Youtian Realm.
• Gu Jingwen explained that Youtian Realm cultivators had fled a manhunt, rebuilt their bodies to escape the Fortune attached to them, and sealed some Fortune on the Steps.
• Gu Jingwen revealed that he had given up his body and part of his soul to control the Steps and ensure only Dao cultivators could reach the summit.
• Su Mu realized the plan depended on a Dao cultivator arriving, even though he seemed to be the only one left in the Youtian Realm.

Su Mu discussed the sealed Youtian Realm Fortune with Gu Jingwen, who explained that descendants of past Youtian Realm cultivators might help return it. Su Mu accepted a teleportation jade pendant and selected protective treasures, a flying sword, a flying shuttle, and a Storage Bag holding about a hundred million Spirit Stones before preparing to leave.

• Su Mu told Gu Jingwen he could not return to the Youtian Realm or take its sealed Fortune with him now.
• Gu Jingwen said descendants of Youtian Realm cultivators in the Haotian Realm might help return the Fortune, though they could all have perished.
• Gu Jingwen offered Su Mu extra treasures if he later returned the Fortune, and gave him a one-use teleportation jade pendant.
• Su Mu chose two sets of Spirit Artifact clothing, a flying sword, and a flying shuttle, bringing his selections to the allowed total of ten with the Breathing Soil.
• Su Mu took a Storage Bag containing about a hundred million Spirit Stones, and Gu Jingwen told him to leave and watch for Youtian Realm cultivators seeking him.

After leaving the Immortal Ascension Steps, Su Mu escaped a challenge from Hua Yunze with Mo Li's intervention, then met Zhang Yan and Deng Zhuo to discuss the sealed Fortune and returning to the Youtian Realm. He learned they could send him back when the two realms drew close, gave them a jade talisman, and swiftly departed.

• Hua Yunze attacked Su Mu with Jade-Settling Bamboo flying swords, but Su Mu knocked them back with his Weng-Gold Hammer.
• Mo Li stopped Hua Yunze from continuing the fight, and Hua Yunze left after warning Su Mu with a glare.
• Su Mu followed a voice transmission to a secluded mountain peak and met Zhang Yan and Deng Zhuo, who identified him as a cultivator from the Youtian Realm.
• Zhang Yan told Su Mu that they could send him and the sealed Fortune back when the Haotian Realm and the Youtian Realm drew close before the Youtian Realm's Great Tribulation.
• Su Mu gave Zhang Yan and Deng Zhuo a jade talisman and fled on his flying shuttle; a Daoist then arrived and left with them.

Su Mu reunited with Wang Peng, Leizi, and Monkey, refusing to involve himself in the company’s expansion because he was no longer interested in ordinary money. Meanwhile, employees in Japan tampered with nuclear wastewater tanks during a typhoon, and one tank began to tilt.

• Su Mu arrived at the company and learned that Wang Peng and his friends had been running it as though it were his, despite his intention to let them manage it themselves.
• Wang Peng proposed expanding into new businesses, but Su Mu told the three friends to handle the company’s affairs without him.
• Su Mu’s friends discussed how their wealth had changed their lives and mentioned that his ex-girlfriend had asked about him.
• During a typhoon in Japan, employees secretly prepared to overturn nuclear wastewater tanks so the storm would take the blame for a release.
• After the employees left, one enormous tank creaked and began to tilt.

Su Mu learned from the Spirit of the Dragon Vein that something was spreading through the seawater toward Huaxia, and he rushed to tell Zhou Jianhua. Zhou Jianhua suspected Japan had discharged nuclear wastewater, leaving both men alarmed by the threat to the coast.

• At dinner, Su Mu messaged Zhou Jianhua to ask whether he had more mushroom bombs, while Wang Peng and the others discussed spirit rice and recent technological breakthroughs.
• Everyone received notice that another large-scale power outage would begin at one in the morning, signaling that a light pillar event was about to occur.
• Foreign officials grew angry when they realized Huaxia had changed the event's timing after they repositioned satellites to observe it.
• Su Mu left Wang Peng's gathering and flew to meet Zhou Jianhua, who had finished work and brought him a late-night meal.
• Su Mu told Zhou Jianhua that the Spirit of the Dragon Vein had detected seawater contamination spreading toward Huaxia and could not hold it back indefinitely.
• Zhou Jianhua suspected Japan had discharged nuclear wastewater, and Su Mu recognized the danger it posed to everyone.

Su Mu prepared for his fourth teleportation while Japan’s nuclear wastewater discharge sparked international outrage and contaminated seawater. He waited for the appointed teleportation time, carrying the Dragon Pearl and other items back to Earth.

• Su Mu told Zhou Jianhua that the Spirit of the Dragon Vein could not yet handle the nuclear wastewater, and Zhou said he would alert the higher-ups and check whether Japan had discharged it.
• Su Mu confirmed he had used the two mushroom bombs, and Zhou said three more had been prepared for him.
• Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that a typhoon had caused nuclear wastewater to flow into the sea, prompting protests, import bans, and severe damage to seafood markets.
• Radiation tests found seawater levels had gone off the charts, while Huaxia’s higher-ups hoped Su Mu could strengthen the Spirit of the Dragon Vein.
• Su Mu prepared the Teleportation Array and counted the Dragon Pearl, the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires, Spirit Artifacts, and Breathing Soil among the items he would bring back.
• The appointed time for Su Mu’s fourth teleportation arrived, and police officers remained on duty while people waited excitedly through the night.

Su Mu activated the Teleportation Array and sent two rings through before shutting it down. After receiving a Storage Ring, he summoned an enormous Dragon Pearl, leaving Zhou Jianhua stunned and the Spirit of the Dragon Vein eager to claim it.

• The Teleportation Array absorbed power and created a pillar of light that showed a faint reflection of Earth in the sky.
• Su Mu confirmed the connection, sent the two rings through separately, and had the electrical engineer shut off the power.
• Netizens searched foreign media for news about the event, while the outlets ignored their flood of questions.
• A Dragon Spirit flew to Su Mu, who produced a Dragon Pearl from his Storage Ring.
• Zhou Jianhua reacted in shock to the mountain-sized pearl as the Spirit of the Dragon Vein stared at it eagerly.

Su Mu's Spirit of the Dragon Vein became visible to Zhou Jianhua, then entered the sea and built a wall against nuclear wastewater pollution. In America, officials debated a radar photograph of the enormous dragon and decided to pretend they had not seen it.

• Su Mu discovered that Zhou Jianhua could see the Spirit of the Dragon Vein as it took the Dragon Pearl and grew across Huaxia.
• The Spirit of the Dragon Vein flew into the sea, where marine creatures froze and turned toward it as it built a wall against nuclear wastewater pollution.
• An American synthetic-aperture radar captured a photograph of the colossal dragon in Huaxia's waters.
• American officials argued over the photograph and suspected the dragon had emerged to deal with Japan's nuclear wastewater.
• The officials considered asking Huaxia to purify their own polluted seas, but decided to keep quiet in case Huaxia began raising dragons on a massive scale.

Su Mu removed the spiritual flames from the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires and gave the tower to Zhou Jianhua to test as a controlled nuclear fusion device. He returned to the Qinling Mountains to cultivate with the flames, while researchers prepared to test the tower at a secret base.

• Lawmakers decided to wait and see whether Huaxia could confirm that the mysterious object purified radioactive seawater.
• Su Mu brought out the Glazed Tower of Ten Thousand Fires and told Zhou Jianhua that its spiritual flames could help him cultivate.
• Zhou Jianhua asked Su Mu for the tower, hoping it could withstand nuclear fusion temperatures, and Su Mu agreed to give it to him after removing the flames.
• Su Mu stored the spiritual flames in his Storage Ring, and Zhou Jianhua escorted the tower to a secret base with an armored vehicle and attack helicopters.
• Su Mu returned to the Qinling Mountains and cultivated as the spiritual flames gathered around him and streamed into his body.
• Researchers at the secret base prepared to test whether the Glazed Tower could withstand controlled nuclear fusion.

Su Mu told Zhou Jianhua that the Spirit of the Dragon Vein had secured the waters and proposed testing Breathing Soil on the moon with the spirit’s help. Zhou Jianhua sent the spokesperson a photo of the sea-purifying “product,” leaving him trembling after he saw a dragon.

• Su Mu advanced to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and learned that the Spirit of the Dragon Vein had built a wall in the sea.
• Su Mu told Zhou Jianhua the waters were safe and asked him to send someone to collect Breathing Soil for a lunar planting test.
• The Spirit of the Dragon Vein agreed to help provide conditions such as wind and rain for the lunar experiment.
• Zhou Jianhua told the spokesperson to announce that a new product had purified the country's waters while keeping seafood import restrictions in place.
• After the spokesperson insisted on learning what the product was, Zhou Jianhua sent him a satellite photo, and the spokesperson saw a dragon.

After learning that a dragon had purified the country’s waters, the spokesperson concealed its existence by crediting a newly developed technology. American reporters recognized the cover story but chose to keep the dragon secret, fearing the consequences if the country openly pursued cultivation instead of technology.

• The spokesperson saw Zhou Jianhua’s photo of the enormous dragon and realized it had purified the waters, then worried about how to explain the news publicly.
• At a press conference, the spokesperson announced that the country’s territorial waters had been purified and that fishing there would reopen.
• A Japanese reporter questioned how the nuclear wastewater had been purified, and the spokesperson claimed a new, expensive technology had done it.
• The spokesperson cited water tests confirming no nuclear contamination, while the Americans in the audience silently recognized that the dragon was responsible.
• The American reporters decided not to expose the dragon, fearing the country might abandon technology and openly pursue cultivation.

Huaxia’s engineers used Breathing Soil and the Spirit of the Dragon Vein to create a moonlit pocket of air and water, then began testing whether Spirit Plants could grow there. When people and foreign observers spotted the miniature ecosystem, they realized Huaxia might have found a way to make other worlds habitable.

• Huaxia’s spokesperson agreed to let the International Atomic Energy Agency test the country’s waters.
• An engineer scattered Breathing Soil on the moon, where it transformed the ground into fertile soil.
• The Spirit of the Dragon Vein arrived and created a sheltered area of wind and rain on the lunar surface.
• The lead engineer entered the shield, confirmed the air was like Earth’s, and began testing whether Spirit Plants could grow.
• An astronaut reflected that he might live to see Huaxia plant its flag across other planets.
• People in Huaxia and officials abroad spotted greenery and water on the moon, and foreign leaders realized Huaxia might be able to transform planets into habitable worlds.

Su Mu learned that Daoist Wu and the others planned to use his Youtian Realm Qi to open a teleportation passage and return the Fortune. He weighed whether to trust them as his Golden Lotus bloomed twice.

• News spread that Huaxia had built a lunar ecosystem, and people joked that it had brought farming to the moon.
• Su Mu cultivated in the Qinling Mountains, then returned to the Haotian Realm and answered Zhang Yan's sound transmission talisman.
• Daoist Wu and the others asked Su Mu about the Youtian Realm, and he described its declining Dao, scarce high-level cultivators, and vanished great sects.
• Daoist Wu proposed returning the Fortune by opening a teleportation passage with Su Mu's Qi as a guide.
• Su Mu noticed that his Golden Lotus had bloomed twice and considered whether he could trust Daoist Wu and the others enough to meet them.

Su Mu met Daoist Wu and the other cultivators from the Youtian Realm, who used a formation disk and his Qi to search for their realm. They sensed its direction but could not open a passage yet, so Su Mu agreed to return in a month and left with a voice transmission jade talisman from Ye Weixiao.

• Su Mu spent ten days cultivating the Buddha-Slaying Art, reached Mid Core Formation, and gained an eleventh Dao Lotus petal.
• Su Mu traveled to a mountain ravine and met Daoist Wu, Ye Weixiao, and the other cultivators.
• The group used a formation disk with Su Mu's Qi to seek the Youtian Realm, but they could only sense its direction and estimated they needed another month to open a passage.
• Su Mu told them that Dao cultivators had long been extinct in the Youtian Realm and remained guarded despite their shared opposition to the Haotian Realm.
• Ye Weixiao gave Su Mu a voice transmission jade talisman, and he left, saying he would return in a month.

After advancing to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage on Earth, Su Mu agreed to help Zhou Jianhua investigate old unsolved cases and flew by sword to the Security Bureau. His flight triggered a military alert, but officials recognized the likely source and ordered the matter dropped; Wei Zhonghao greeted him as he arrived.

• Su Mu returned to Earth, advanced to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, and planted spirit medicines beside the spiritual spring.
• Zhou Jianhua asked Su Mu to help investigate old unsolved cases, and Su Mu agreed to come immediately.
• Su Mu flew toward the city on a flying sword, which military radar detected as an unidentified flying object.
• Officials tracked the object to the city, but higher-ups ordered them to stop investigating after suspecting it was Su Mu.
• Su Mu entered the Security Bureau, where Wei Zhonghao greeted him excitedly as Big Brother.

Su Mu used hair and blood samples to locate and help arrest criminals behind old unsolved cases, exhausting himself after three days of deductions. He flew away on his sword, reflecting on the growing ecosystem on the moon as a plane passed through the clouds nearby.

• Su Mu arrived at Zhou Jianhua's office and found it filled with old unsolved case files from across the country.
• Su Mu asked for victims' blood or hair so he could identify the criminals, and Wei Zhonghao arranged for the case materials to be sent in.
• After receiving hair from a victim, Su Mu deduced that one criminal had committed four related murders and used a spell to guide officers to his location.
• Su Mu rapidly solved the cases as officers arrested the suspects, and the bureau brought in extra personnel to keep up with the investigations.
• After three days of deductions, Su Mu declined Zhou Jianhua's invitation to eat and flew away from the Security Bureau on his sword.
• Su Mu flew above the clouds, saw green light on the moon, and watched a plane moving nearby.

Luan Mingjun witnessed Su Mu flying on a sword and later painted the sight, while Su Mu agreed to join Ye Weixiao in exploring True Person Fire Cloud’s cave abode for its rumored treasures. Hua Yunze also abandoned his search for Han Feiyu’s demonic path holy son and headed toward the cave abode.

• Luan Mingjun saw Su Mu standing on a flying sword near her plane, and Su Mu noticed her before flying toward the Qinling Mountains.
• Luan Mingjun questioned nearby passengers, then returned to her hotel and began painting what she had seen.
• Su Mu found that the Merit Lotus had opened a petal and received Ye Weixiao’s message about True Person Fire Cloud’s cave abode.
• Su Mu agreed to join Ye Weixiao, obtained the location, and set out after preparing for the journey.
• Hua Yunze gave up waiting to ambush the demonic path holy son and left by flying boat for True Person Fire Cloud’s cave abode.