Chapter Summaries

Qi Yun learned that the Great Tide of Time would strip away Xuanhuang’s protection and allow World-Honored One and the other Dao Kings to return. True Lord Contemplating the One revealed why the Dao Kings sought to destroy their home realm, leaving Qi Yun to grasp that they feared it producing another Dao King.

• Qi Yun met Feng Xi, who told him they could speak again once he attained the position of Dao King.
• True Lord Contemplating the One explained that the Great Tide of Time would weaken Xuanhuang’s protection and let the enemy return.
• True Lord Contemplating the One revealed that he and Feng Xi had severed part of their foundations and fallen from Dao King to Great Perfection True Lord to remain near Xuanhuang.
• True Lord Contemplating the One warned Qi Yun that World-Honored One would target him for ruining his plans, giving Qi Yun a reason to help resist the returning enemy.
• Qi Yun asked why the Dao Kings wanted to destroy Xuanhuang, and True Lord Contemplating the One asked whether he would want another Qi Yun to appear there.
• Qi Yun realized that the Dao Kings sought to destroy Xuanhuang because they believed the world needed no more Dao Kings.

True Lord Contemplating the One explained that the Dao Kings planned to destroy Xuanhuang and All Wonders Heaven to prevent new rivals from rising, then sent Qi Yun toward a chance to acquire another Imperial Weapon. After Qi Yun departed, True Lord Contemplating the One and True Lord Feng Xi revealed they had failed to probe his Dao and were plotting to use him again.

• True Lord Contemplating the One explained that destroying Xuanhuang and All Wonders Heaven would stop new Dao Kings from emerging and protect the existing ones.
• At Passing River Falls, True Lord Contemplating the One warned Qi Yun that the Great Tide of Time was approaching and gave him the Westward Journey Displacement Map to seek another Great Tang Imperial Weapon.
• True Lord Contemplating the One gave Qi Yun spiritual light to help him return, and Qi Yun left the immortal island for Xuanhuang.
• After Qi Yun departed, the waters of time closed around Long Ages Immortal Island and sealed it away.
• True Lord Feng Xi told True Lord Contemplating the One that she had found no way to probe Qi Yun because his will guarded his Dao without any flaw.
• True Lord Contemplating the One revealed a hazy Dao intent resonating with Qi Yun and said they would risk using him again to achieve their goal.

Qi Yun questioned the motives of True Lord Contemplating the One despite accepting his gifts, then followed the map into the Unseen. There he uncovered a vast forest of steles and recognized them as True Lord tombs.

• Cai Kun celebrated Qi Yun's encounter with two Dao Kings, but Qi Yun questioned whether it was good fortune or a calamity.
• Qi Yun warned that True Lord Contemplating the One's kindness was suspicious because he was a founding patriarch of the Holy Sect and might not truly want to protect Xuanhuang.
• Qi Yun used the ancient Westward Journey Displacement Map to follow its arrow through the void toward a destination in the Unseen.
• Qi Yun and Cai Kun arrived at a vast stone forest filled with colossal steles that radiated the remnants of an ancient status.
• Qi Yun swept away the steles' weathered surfaces, revealing dark red stone carved with enormous ancient characters, and Cai Kun identified them as True Lord tombs.

Qi Yun entered the forest of monuments to uncover how over a hundred True Lords had died, but an unknown force severed his attempt to trace their history. He subdued the monuments’ chaotic Dao intent with his Primordial Unity power, allowing Cai Shen to sense a familiar presence that he recognized as Fourteenth Brother.

• Qi Yun tried to deduce the origins of the True Lords’ gravestones, but a black crack severed every causal thread and blocked his investigation.
• Qi Yun followed the Westward Journey Displacement Map into the forest of monuments, while Cai Shen retreated into the bronze coin ornament.
• Cai Shen could not sense the other Imperial Weapons amid the monuments’ chaotic Dao intent, so Qi Yun rose above the forest and used his Primordial Unity power to suppress and refine it.
• With the surrounding wills subdued, Cai Shen sensed a familiar Great Tang presence beneath a monument and identified it as Fourteenth Brother.

Qi Yun found the stele containing Fourteenth Brother’s presence and broke its powerful seal by borrowing the Sacred Yuan Literary Star Dao Fruit. After an unknown demonic wind stole the seal’s scattered remains, Qi Yun turned his attention toward the void where it had vanished.

• Cai Shen told Qi Yun that Fourteenth Brother’s presence came from a dark-gold, dragon-patterned stele in the northwest of the stele forest, which held a powerful seal.
• Qi Yun devoured the residual Dao Intent and power throughout the stele forest, strengthening his Hunyuan Great Luo Dao and updating the Law Technique Panel.
• Qi Yun shattered the dark-gold stele and summoned the power of the Sacred Yuan Literary Star Dao Fruit to confront the seal’s platinum phantom.
• Qi Yun used the Confucian Dao principle that the people came first to destroy the phantom and break the seal.
• An ink-black demonic wind swept away the scattered platinum remains before Qi Yun could capture them, and Qi Yun angrily looked toward its escape route.

Qi Yun pursued the demonic wind using the Spring and Autumn Brush Technique, only to be lured into a trap by the Lord of the Ancient Coffin and a hidden Demon Race Great Sage. As Qi Yun and the Great Sage prepared to pit their peerless formations against each other, Cai Kun arrived and recognized the Great Sage as Demon Master Kunpeng.

• Qi Yun traced the demonic wind’s cause-and-effect thread and raced after it, while Cai Kun took the iron box that carried the faint presence of Fourteenth Brother and followed.
• Qi Yun sensed an ambush in the darkness, where the Lord of the Ancient Coffin and a Demon Race Great Sage had sealed the void with nine grotto-heavens.
• Qi Yun summoned the Immortal-Slaying Dao Fruit and began forming the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, frightening the Lord of the Ancient Coffin.
• The black-robed Great Sage revealed himself as a formation master and raised a vast formation of nine grotto-heavens, depicting the rise and decline of all things.
• Cai Kun arrived, recognized the formation as the Hetu Luoshu Grand Formation, and identified the black-robed Daoist as Demon Master Kunpeng.

Qi Yun faced Demon Master Kunpeng, who revealed himself as an ancient master of the Hetu Luoshu Grand Formation, and unleashed the complete Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation against him. Kunpeng was annihilated but reappeared through a mysterious escape, offering Qi Yun another life to destroy and leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Cai Shen identified the black-robed Daoist as Demon Master Kunpeng and explained the origins of the Hetu Luoshu Grand Formation.
• Kunpeng activated the formation, evolving a vast world that pressured Qi Yun's phantom Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation and gradually suppressed its destructive force.
• Qi Yun plunged the Immortal-Slaying Dao Fruit into his chest, summoned the true formation diagram, and greatly amplified the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.
• Kunpeng reversed the Hetu Luoshu Grand Formation and condensed it into an ancient Mirror Heaven connected to Heaven and Earth's Long River of Time.
• The Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation annihilated Kunpeng, but he re-formed from demonic mist and offered Qi Yun another life to take.

Demon Master Kunpeng warned Qi Yun not to trust Canyi and showed him the Xuanhuang Treasure Tree to explain the nature of Dao Kings. Qi Yun concluded that the World-Honored One and the other Dao Kings intended to destroy Xuanhuang so their Dao Fruits could break free and become new Xuanhuangs.

• Demon Master Kunpeng recreated a hall in the void and told Qi Yun not to believe anything Canyi said.
• Demon Master Kunpeng conjured an image of the Xuanhuang Treasure Tree and explained that all existence originated from it.
• Demon Master Kunpeng pointed out a Buddhist golden fruit absorbing purple qi and explained how Dao Kings formed their own realms and Dao Fruits.
• Qi Yun deduced that the World-Honored One and the other Dao Kings sought to destroy Xuanhuang and free their Dao Fruits from its branches.

Qi Yun learned that the Dao Kings sought not only to destroy Xuanhuang but also to seize the sole All Wonders Heaven and control the next era. After Demon Master Kunpeng vanished, Qi Yun killed the Lord of the Ancient Coffin and left with Cai Kun.

• Qi Yun asked why the Dao Kings did not cooperate, and Demon Master Kunpeng explained that only one All Wonders Heaven existed for them to claim.
• Qi Yun realized the Dao Kings planned to seize All Wonders Heaven amid Xuanhuang's collapse, then asked Kunpeng about his role in the coming conflict.
• Kunpeng described himself as a defeated demon driven into hiding, then collapsed the Mirror Heaven hall and sent Qi Yun back to the void.
• The Lord of the Ancient Coffin noticed Kunpeng had vanished, and Qi Yun trapped him inside a corner of the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.
• Qi Yun killed the Lord of the Ancient Coffin with one sword strike and gathered twenty-four black pearls from the remaining Dao intent.
• Qi Yun reflected on Kunpeng's revelations, then took Cai Kun and sped away.

True Lord Contemplating the One and True Lord Feng Xi discussed the need to advance their plan as another presence disturbed the Long River of Time. Qi Yun opened the ancient iron chest and revealed the Great Tang’s Mountains and Rivers Cauldron, an Imperial Weapon of defense and suppression.

• True Lord Contemplating the One and True Lord Feng Xi saw ripples in the Long River of Time and discussed the threat posed by the World-Honored One and the others.
• True Lord Contemplating the One declared that the flower would bloom only when he allowed it and that nobody else would claim its fruit.
• True Lord Contemplating the One gazed into the river and saw a figure advancing through time as its Qi approached a threshold.
• Cai Shen showed Qi Yun the iron chest, whose surface was covered in more than a hundred seals placed by different True Lords.
• Qi Yun dissolved the seals with Primordial Unity’s power and opened the chest, revealing the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron.
• Cai Shen identified the cauldron as Fourteenth Brother’s Imperial Weapon, and Qi Yun assessed its powerful defensive Dao intent.

Qi Yun awakened the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron’s spirituality and took it with him to recover, then received a cryptic message from True Lord Contemplating the One through the token. He left for the Xuanhuang Home Realm, while True Lord Contemplating the One watched the Long River of Time and said the moment was near.

• Cai Shen called to the silent Mountains and Rivers Cauldron, and Qi Yun determined that its spirituality had been suppressed by seals laid down by more than a hundred True Lords.
• Qi Yun used Primordial Unity power to untangle the cauldron’s spiritual channels until its dragons and defensive Dao patterns awakened.
• Qi Yun said the cauldron needed time to recover and took it with him, while Cai Shen thanked him and offered the brothers’ help.
• As Qi Yun prepared to return to Xuanhuang, True Lord Contemplating the One’s token relayed the words, “The flower-will bloom- The fruit-will fall- Are you-ready?”
• Qi Yun said someone could not wait any longer and departed with Cai Kun for the Xuanhuang Home Realm.
• On Long Ages Immortal Island, True Lord Contemplating the One said the moment was very near, while True Lord Feng Xi watched in silence.

Qi Yun considered True Lord Contemplating the One’s cryptic prophecy and concluded that the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron may have been sealed to conceal what it knew. As the cauldron slowly recovered, Qi Yun waited for the hidden players to make their move.

• Qi Yun tended the recovering Mountains and Rivers Cauldron and speculated that “the flower will bloom, the fruit will fall” meant a Dao Fruit was nearing maturity.
• Cai Shen judged that Demon Master Kunpeng’s account of the Dao King and the Xuanhuang Treasure Tree was likely at least partly true.
• Qi Yun asked how the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron had been sealed, and Cai Shen recalled that it vanished after the Demon-Subduing Great Tribulation until Qi Yun found it in a forest of steles.
• Qi Yun reasoned that more than a hundred True Lords had sealed not only the cauldron but also what it knew, and told Cai Shen to stay beside it as it recovered.
• Qi Yun expanded his awareness across Xuanhuang, sensed the World-Honored One, Demon Master Kunpeng, True Lord Contemplating the One, and other hidden beings, and waited for them to act.

Qi Yun detected a Dao King's residual consciousness near Xuanhuang and realized it was bait meant to draw him out. He went to investigate for a chance to strengthen his understanding of the Dao King realm, but the remnant surged toward him and called him a traitor connected to Shen.

• Qi Yun sensed a warning from True Lord Contemplating the One's token and discovered a Dao King's residual consciousness drifting near the True Lord Stele Forest ruins.
• Qi Yun concluded that someone had placed the remnant as bait to lure him out, but decided to pursue it for the chance to deepen his understanding of the Dao King realm.
• Qi Yun left Cai Kun behind to nurture the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron and traveled alone into the void.
• Qi Yun approached the remnant and found that a stronger power had erased most of its memories and existence.
• The remnant suddenly rushed toward Qi Yun and whispered that he carried the presence of Shen, calling him a traitor.

Qi Yun sealed the contaminated Dao King's remnant thought after tracing its hidden will to a distant watcher and discovering that its memories showed the ancient imperial city of Chang'an. Back at the Wuji Sacred Sect, he learned True Lord Contemplating the One had repeated his cryptic message and chose to wait for the flower to bloom, while the sealed remnant began stirring again.

• Qi Yun traced the chilling will attached to the remnant thought to a watcher in the darkness, recognized the figure behind it, and resisted the trap of refining the remnant.
• Qi Yun suppressed the remnant with a Dao pattern and saw its final memory: Chang'an, the ancient capital of Great Tang where the twenty-four Imperial Weapons were enshrined.
• Qi Yun sealed the remnant thought and returned to the Green Mountain Daoist Temple, telling Cai Shen that refining it recklessly could cause an accident.
• Cai Shen told Qi Yun that True Lord Contemplating the One had sent the message, “The flower will bloom, the fruit will fall,” and Qi Yun decided to wait and see what it brought.
• True Lord Contemplating the One anticipated that events would soon unfold as True Lord Feng Xi watched silently, and the sealed remnant’s images began flowing again as Chang'an’s gate opened slightly wider.

Qi Yun witnessed the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron fully awaken, then learned that His Majesty had not died of old age. When Qi Yun tried to refine a sealed remnant consciousness, its hidden will stopped him, while an unseen gaze surveyed him and two distant powers before withdrawing.

• On the thirty-ninth day, Qi Yun saw a pure, ancient Sword Intent behind the gates in the remnant consciousness and failed to deduce its origins.
• On the forty-fifth day, the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron fully awakened, submitted to Qi Yun, and agreed to stay by his side.
• The Mountains and Rivers Cauldron told Qi Yun and Cai Shen that His Majesty had not died of old age, but could not explain further.
• During the night, Qi Yun began refining the remnant consciousness and glimpsed a void with something sleeping inside before its will severed the connection.
• An emotionless gaze watched Qi Yun, then turned toward the World-Honored One’s Dao field and True Lord Contemplating the One’s Long Ages Immortal Island before withdrawing.

Qingyuan True Lord Wendao visited Qi Yun to propose an alliance ahead of the Great Tide of Time and asked him to refine the Immortal-Slaying Dao Fruit. After several days of consideration, Qi Yun agreed to the proposal and sent Cai Shen to deliver his answer.

• Qingyuan True Lord Wendao arrived at the Green Mountain Daoist Temple and told Qi Yun that the Great Tide of Time would weaken the barrier around the Xuanhuang Home Realm.
• Qingyuan True Lord proposed an alliance with Qi Yun, saying Dao Kings would project more power into the realm and that Qi Yun could contend with them.
• Qingyuan True Lord asked Qi Yun to refine the Immortal-Slaying Dao Fruit to benefit the Sword Dao lineage and strengthen the realm's fighting forces.
• Qi Yun noticed a faint Sword Intent in the remnant thought pulse when Qingyuan True Lord arrived, and he watched the visitor look west toward the ancient city hidden within it.
• After several days, Qi Yun told Cai Shen to inform Qingyuan True Lord that he agreed to the proposal.

Qi Yun refined the Immortal-Slaying Dao Fruit at the Sword Pavilion, awakening a new Sword Intent and freeing the sword Dao lineage from its suppression. Following the remnant thought’s guidance west, he faced a probing attack from the World-Honored One but continued toward the ancient city, where something seemed to be awakening.

• Qi Yun went to the Sword Pavilion and began refining the Immortal-Slaying Dao Fruit on Dao-Seeking Peak with Qingyuan True Lord standing guard.
• During the refining, Qi Yun glimpsed a sleeping figure surrounded by an ancient Sword Intent through the remnant thought in his sleeve.
• A gray-robed elder tried to stop Qi Yun from refining the Dao Fruit, but Qingyuan True Lord defended him and the elder withdrew.
• Qi Yun completed the refinement, merged the Immortal-Slaying Dao Fruit into Primordial Unity, and awakened Sword Intent that Qingyuan True Lord said would end the sword Dao lineage’s suppression.
• Qingyuan True Lord told Qi Yun that a mysterious Sword Intent had directed him to travel west to resolve Xuanhuang’s calamity, and Qi Yun followed the remnant thought’s guidance toward the west.
• The World-Honored One confronted Qi Yun with a golden Buddha’s hand, tested his strength, and called True Lord Contemplating the One a traitor; Qi Yun resisted and continued west toward the ancient city.

Qi Yun reached Chang'an and inherited the Great Tang Emperor’s united Sword Dao, along with the duty to protect Xuanhuang. As the ancient city faded, Qi Yun returned toward Xuanhuang, determined to choose his own path and face those threatening the realm.

• Qi Yun followed the remnant thought west to Chang'an, where the gates opened and he found the sleeping Emperor inside the Black Tortoise Gate.
• The Son of Heaven Sword revealed that the Emperor had divided his Sword Dao into four parts and left them to be brought together in Chang'an.
• Qi Yun united the four parts of the Sword Dao, deepening his connection to the Xuanhuang Home Realm as Chang'an began to disappear.
• Qi Yun told Cai Shen that he would choose his own path rather than simply follow the Emperor’s wish to protect Xuanhuang.
• Qi Yun and the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron flew east toward the Xuanhuang Home Realm, ready to confront the forces pursuing their plans.

Qi Yun returned to Xuanhuang after his journey to Chang'an and learned that news of the Great Tide of Time had spread, with factions preparing and overseas Buddhist cultivators assembling. He called a Dao Discussion Assembly for three months later, intending to force the hidden powers to reveal their plans.

• Qi Yun questioned Cai Shen about the Imperial Weapons that had rebelled, then said he had protected Xuanhuang in his own way.
• After returning to the Green Mountain Daoist Temple, Qi Yun learned from the Great Void Jade Tally that events had unfolded during his absence and went to the Great Void Hall for a report.
• Black Mountain True Person told Qi Yun that the Great Tide of Time had become public, the Sword Pavilion had allied with the Holy Sect, and overseas bodhisattvas were preparing a formation for the Tide.
• Qingyuan True Lord told Qi Yun that righteous sects were recalling their disciples while the demonic path expanded its forces, and Qi Yun said they should wait for their opponents to move—or force them to act.
• Qi Yun announced a Dao Discussion Assembly at the Wuji Sacred Sect in three months, inviting leaders from every faction to discuss how to face the Great Tide of Time.

As the Great Tide of Time approached, Qi Yun summoned the factions’ True Lords and declared that Xuanhuang faced danger but that he had a countermeasure. After the assembly, he privately explained that he had meant to establish his authority and position the True Lords as pieces on his board; Qingyuan later visited him and agreed that the Sword Pavilion would guard Xuanhuang.

• The factions’ True Lords arrived at the Wuji Sacred Sect, where Qi Yun presented an image of Xuanhuang and warned them that the Great Tide of Time could expose the realm to outside enemies.
• Qi Yun asked the True Lords to guard separate regions when the tide arrived, while withholding the full truth and saying someone would tell them what to do.
• After three days of discussion, Qi Yun told Cai Shen that the assembly had been a declaration that Xuanhuang was not without a master, and that the departing True Lords had become pieces on his board.
• Qingyuan visited Qi Yun to ask what he had shown the black-robed elder, but Qi Yun refused to explain and told him that the Sword Pavilion should guard Xuanhuang.
• Qingyuan accepted Qi Yun’s instruction and departed, while Qi Yun decided not to warn him about a hidden danger, believing that doing so would alert their enemy.