Chapter Summaries

Su Yao visited Zilin’s empty courtyard, left her a reply, and then confronted his imprisoned senior brother Guangli in the Hall of Reflection. He killed Guangli, contained the Desire Qi, and preserved his true spirit in the Prism, while Qingzhu arrived too late to see him.

• Su Yao found Zilin’s lyric in Pear Cloud Courtyard, wrote a reply, and left it for her at the entrance to her seclusion cave.
• Su Yao went to the Hall of Reflection and recalled how Guangli had been corrupted by Desire Qi, imprisoned, and left alive by Daozheng and Qingzhu.
• Su Yao restrained Guangli, turned the Spirit Concealing Pearl’s conjured woman back into a pearl, and challenged Guangli’s resentment over his fate.
• Su Yao explained that Daozheng had sought help but could not save Guangli, then killed him with Pear Blossom Return after revealing his Five Laws Perfection.
• Su Yao absorbed Guangli’s Desire Qi and drew his true spirit into the Prism, resolving to send him into reincarnation if his own quest failed.
• Qingzhu arrived at the Hall of Reflection after Su Yao had left, stood outside without entering, and walked back toward the rear mountain.

Su Yao met Cixin, a senior monk of the Buddhist School’s ancient method, and heard why he had left the White Horse Temple. Cixin asked to establish a quiet sanctuary on Cibi Lake’s eastern shore, and Su Yao had yet to answer.

• Su Yao discussed the Buddhist School’s rise in Nanzhao and explained how its new method had brought it into conflict with the Immortal Dao.
• Yunsong reported that Cixin had repeatedly protected Golden Ao Mountain and now sought a small temple on Cibi Lake’s eastern shore, so Su Yao ordered him brought in.
• Su Yao used the Prism to discover that Cixin was far more powerful than he appeared, though his golden body was trapped between himself and the Buddhist Pure Land.
• Cixin told Su Yao that the new method had taken over even the White Horse Temple, then praised Nanzhao and agreed to stay and drink tea.
• Cixin asked to settle with his disciples on Qixia Temple’s eastern shore, promising that the White Horse Temple would not preach in Nanzhao and would take only two successors.

Su Yao discussed the Dao with Cixin, exposing flaws in Cixin’s understanding of inward and outward seeking and revealing his own strength. Cixin traded the Fusang Sun-Illuminating Branch for permission to settle with his disciples on Cibi Lake’s eastern shore, leaving Su Yao with the Law Treasure and a new neighbor.

• Cixin explained that he had fled White Horse Temple with a dangerous opportunity and sought a Dharma Form to protect his lineage rather than becoming a Bodhisattva.
• Cixin offered Su Yao the Fusang Sun-Illuminating Branch in exchange for land on Cibi Lake’s eastern shore, and Su Yao agreed to discuss the Dao.
• Su Yao argued that both inward and outward cultivation could lead to the Dao when pursued without attachment, leaving Cixin unable to answer.
• Su Yao’s Rainbow Clouds Qi overcame Cixin’s Buddha light during their silent confrontation, exposing cracks and injuries in Cixin’s golden body before Su Yao withdrew his power.
• Cixin offered the Fusang Sun-Illuminating Branch to Su Yao, explaining that his lineage could no longer keep it safe, and Su Yao accepted it.
• Su Yao granted Cixin and his disciples a vacant plot on Cibi Lake’s eastern shore on the condition that they neither preach nor compete for worshippers, and Cixin led them away to settle.

Su Yao learned that the Chan School had secured Three Sages Temple and prepared to return to Qixia before meeting Chi Jie in the Great Void. After sharing wine and recalling their past, Su Yao showed Chi Jie his Sword Intent, and Chi Jie left determined to advance before they met again.

• Su Yao told Yang Nan that the Chan School had taken Three Sages Temple and reassured him that the Yang Household would be safe near Qixia Mountain.
• Su Yao instructed Yunsong to have Xu Qingluo and the other three spend three years preparing before entering seclusion, then took Yang Nan and Lu Yuan toward Qixia.
• Su Yao encountered Chi Jie, who invited him to drink wine and spoke of his Red Emperor heritage, his cultivation, and the old restrictions on his clan.
• Chi Jie asked to witness Su Yao's Sword Intent, and Su Yao defeated his sword techniques with precise moves before releasing his clear Sword Intent.
• Chi Jie accepted that his past defeat had been deserved, thanked Su Yao, and vowed that he would have more than three Divine Abilities by their next meeting.

Su Yao confronted Gu Wanniang on Shouwei Mountain and helped her let go of the Heavenly Governance vision that had bound her to an imagined life with him. After she left, he supported Su Mingcheng’s preparations to reach the Purple Mansion and returned to Qixia Mountain with his own Golden Core attempt approaching.

• Su Yao discovered that Gu Wanniang, a Heavenly Governance cultivator, was living on Shouwei Mountain and used Half Farewell to Heaven to enter the mountain.
• Su Mingcheng tried to conceal Gu Wanniang’s identity, but Su Yao recognized her name and confronted her about their shared past in the Boundless Illusion.
• Gu Wanniang explained that a Heavenly Governance projection had shown her a future in which she and Su Yao married, and Su Yao warned that they were pieces in someone else’s game.
• Gu Wanniang accepted that the children from the projection were illusions, promised to hide what she had learned, and departed into the Great Void.
• Su Yao gave Su Mingcheng a Radiant Brightness Li Fire Pearl and a Literary Radiance Flame to aid his attempt to reach the Purple Mansion.
• Su Yao told Su Mingcheng that he would seek the Golden Core within a hundred years and then returned to Qixia Mountain.

After Zilin emerged from seclusion, Su Yao returned and reassured her that he would wait for her and remain true to her as he prepared to seek Gold. Their reunion was interrupted by Zique’s proclamation that she had attained the Dao and become a True Lord, and Su Yao told Zilin he might seek Gold sooner than planned.

• Zilin left seclusion, learned that Su Yao had been away in Nanzhao, and wrote of her fear that he would outpace her and change after becoming a True Lord.
• Su Yao returned to Pear Cloud Courtyard, read Zilin’s words, and promised he would slow down for her and would not allow her to distance herself from him.
• Zilin and Su Yao reconciled, exchanged teasing poems, and promised to pick pears together when he returned.
• Zique announced that she had attained the Dao and become a True Lord, declaring Purple Qi’s place in the Immortal Dao and reassuring Zilin that Mount Lao now had her.
• Su Yao told Zilin he might seek Gold sooner than planned; she trusted him and asked him to become a True Lord and return.
• Zilin discovered Su Yao had not pruned the osmanthus trees while he was in Nanzhao, chased him with her sword, and agreed they would prune them together when he returned.

Su Yao prepared to comprehend the Qi of Mysterious Clarity, while concealing from Qingzhu that he planned to forge a new path to the Golden Core rather than follow a predecessor’s method. He began his seclusion on Qixia Mountain with the Prism’s seven talismans and forty-eight restrictions as the basis for his original Gold-seeking method.

• Qingzhu told Su Yao that Mysterious Gate cultivators would create a spiritual atmosphere in Qixia in a hundred years and advised him to experience Heavenly Venerable Caiche’s Dao resonance when seeking Gold.
• Su Yao said he wanted to travel across the mortal world before seeking Gold, and Qingzhu gave him the Qi of Mysterious Clarity for his upcoming seclusion.
• Su Yao entered his cave abode and resolved to keep secret that he would seek Gold through innovation instead of following Heavenly Venerable Caiche’s path or waiting for the planned spiritual atmosphere.
• After three months, Su Yao reviewed the seven talismans linked within the Prism and studied its forty-eight restrictions, which had inspired his self-created Gold-seeking method.
• Su Yao opened the jade bottle, released the Qi of Mysterious Clarity, and began comprehending it in seclusion.

Su Yao studied the Qi of Mysterious Clarity and used the Prism to complete a new method for seeking Gold, which he named the Cloud-Rainbow Heavenly Order Mysterious Method. He prepared to travel to Zhongnan, where he planned to seek Gold.

• Su Yao contemplated the Qi of Mysterious Clarity and glimpsed ancient traces of Yin and Yang, along with a hidden purple mystery revealed by the Prism.
• The Prism’s seven talismans helped Su Yao refine his incomplete method for seeking Gold as he studied the paths of Patriarch Yun Zhongzi and Patriarch Caiche.
• Su Yao rejected repeating the patriarchs’ paths and conceived a method that placed heavenly order above clouds and rainbows, though he recognized he could not yet reach that supremacy.
• Su Yao combined the patriarchs’ principles, True Lord Xicheng’s method, and the Prism’s secrets, completing the method for seeking Gold.
• Su Yao named the completed method the Cloud-Rainbow Heavenly Order Mysterious Method and began his final preparations to travel to Zhongnan.

After twelve years of seclusion, Su Yao emerged and prepared to leave Qixia Mountain to pursue gold. Qingzhu suspected he was hiding something but chose to trust him, and Su Yao set out toward the South Sea.

• Liu Yunhe told Su Yao that twelve years had passed, the Son of Heaven had taken up residence in Northern Zhili, and True Person Yang Xiu had visited while Su Yao was secluded.
• Lu Yuan told Su Yao that Zique had taken Zilin to the Purple Mansion Continent to contemplate the pursuit of gold.
• Qingzhu carried Su Yao to the Founders' Hall and recounted Caiche's history, the Heavenly Venerable's prophecy, and why Qingzhu and Qizhenzi had remained at Qixia.
• Zique and the Celestial Master watched Qixia Mountain from afar and discussed Su Yao's pursuit of gold, Qingzhu, and questions about ancient deities.
• Qingzhu confronted Su Yao about the missing rare creatures and his rapid cultivation; Su Yao admitted he was keeping something secret but swore he had done nothing to harm Qixia.
• Qingzhu escorted Su Yao down the mountain, told him he trusted him and would take responsibility if anything went wrong, and watched him depart toward the South Sea using Golden Light Across the Land.

Su Yao completed his three-year journey through the South Sea, suppressing Devil Cultivators to build the bearing needed for his path to seeking Gold. At the South Pole, he defeated the Balmy Wind envoy’s Five Laws Perfection split soul, completing his southward intent before setting out to travel west.

• Su Yao spent three years sweeping Devil Cultivators from the South Sea, then destroyed forbidden shrines on an archipelago and purified the lingering Evil Qi.
• True Lord Buting Huyu confronted Zique and the Celestial Master over the ruined shrines, then accepted Zique’s apology and withdrew.
• Su Yao crossed Mount Quchi and Mount Fantian, where the wind and landscape stripped away his distracting thoughts as he approached the South Pole.
• Su Yao accepted the Balmy Wind envoy’s challenge and fought through its Divine Abilities and Spirit Treasures using his swords, talismans, and Rosy Clouds Red City.
• Su Yao activated all seven talismans and pierced the envoy’s defenses with Crimson Dawn Unstained Night-Illuminating Clear Light Sword, winning the sparring match.
• Su Yao concluded that the battle had settled his southward intent and headed into the Great Void to continue west.

Su Yao traveled west to challenge True Lord Sufeng, then fought Lu Chuan, a Yuanfu disciple who had reincarnated and cultivated for two lifetimes to test his Dao before seeking gold. Su Yao defeated Lu Chuan and his double, but Yuanfu’s Heavenly Venerable reclaimed Lu Chuan’s true spirit; wounded, Su Yao continued deeper into the far west.

• Su Yao met Yang Li beneath the Seven-Colored Rock, then departed for the far west after saying he would return to Qixia in fifty years to seek gold.
• True Lord Sufeng rejected Su Yao’s challenge outside the Shouma capital and sent him fleeing more than a thousand li away.
• Lu Chuan introduced himself as Yuanfu’s manor lord’s personal disciple and challenged Su Yao to test the swordsmanship he had cultivated over two lifetimes.
• Su Yao and Lu Chuan fought in the Great Void, where Su Yao countered Lu Chuan’s Divine Abilities and Spirit Treasures and defeated his Bearing Faces Shadow double.
• Su Yao struck Lu Chuan through the chest, but a bright moon claimed Lu Chuan’s true spirit and Spirit Treasures despite Su Yao’s attempt to stop it.
• The Celestial Master confronted the moon, which dismissed him, and Su Yao left the lingering lunar anomaly to continue into the far west.

After killing the God Clan divine son in the far north, Su Yao realized powerful factions had maneuvered him into the battle but continued east to preserve the momentum he had gained. In the Great Void, the gods’ conflict with the Immortal Dao escalated, while Zique intervened to protect Su Yao from two concealed Divine Core cultivators and sent him onward.

• Su Yao watched the God Clan divine son’s image fade and concluded that someone had used him to kill the god king’s son, but he accepted the risk and flew east.
• Aosi confronted powerful Immortal Dao figures in the Great Void over the God Clan’s survival, and Heavenly Venerable Puhua and the Emperor Lord joined the dispute before the divine light withdrew.
• Zique and the Celestial Master discussed Puhua’s temper, and Zique sent the Five Fires Seven Fowl Fan after Su Yao.
• The Prism warned Su Yao of two concealed Divine Core perfected cultivators ahead, but he continued toward them rather than retreating.
• The Five Fires Seven Fowl Fan killed the two concealed cultivators, and their Greater Yin and Fu Water death phenomena appeared over the ice field.
• Su Yao thanked Zique for protecting him, and she urged him to continue his journey east.

Five years after leaving Qixia, Su Yao visited Jieshi Mountain and reunited with Ying Qi, Xuan Yan, and Yang Xiu, who discussed his deeds and the growing power of Divine Truth. Though he told them he planned to return to Qixia before seeking gold, Su Yao parted from Yang Xiu at the great river’s mouth and headed north toward Zhongnan.

• Su Yao arrived at Jieshi Mountain and recalled how the South Pole Heavenly Venerable had raised it through his comprehension of Wu Earth.
• Su Yao reunited with Ying Qi, Xuan Yan, and Yang Xiu, and the four shared wine while catching up on their travels and discussing Divine Truth’s rise.
• Xuan Yan told Su Yao that Jieshi’s elders were absent and shared High Perfected Yuandao’s divination: “One leaf foretells autumn.”
• Su Yao told his friends he would return to Qixia to prepare to seek gold, concealing his plans, and Yang Xiu accompanied him south along the East Sea.
• At the great river’s mouth, Yang Xiu quoted Zilin’s poem and left Su Yao, who watched him go and then sang before setting off north against the river toward Zhongnan.

Su Yao defied the great figures who tried to turn him back and used the Prism to reach Zhongnan, where he reunited with True Lord Xicheng and Gui Hong. True Lord Xicheng gave him the records of Qixia Temple’s past Golden Core pursuits, leaving Su Yao to study them before deciding whether to continue on his perilous path.

• Su Yao stood in Luoyi and rejected True Lord Zique, Celestial Master Ge, True Lord Xuanbin, Mianning, and the other figures who warned him not to proceed to Zhongnan.
• Su Yao transformed into rosy light and evaded the Law Treasures and presences sent to intercept him, but Spring and Autumn blocked his path with a written judgment.
• The Prism acted on its own, transformed Su Yao’s light into rainbow light, and carried him past Spring and Autumn into Zhongnan without awakening the feared sea of blood.
• Su Yao reached Qixia Temple’s former mountain gate and met True Lord Xicheng and Gui Hong at the old thatched cottage.
• True Lord Xicheng showed Su Yao his eighty-one rays of rosy light and seven rays of rainbow light, then gave him a Jade Slip containing 8,312 accounts of past Qixia masters’ Golden Core pursuits.
• Su Yao accepted the Jade Slip and sat beside the lotus pond to study the records.

Su Yao gathered the forces of the four directions and the Central Plains to attain the Rainbow Cloud Fruition, becoming True Lord Qingyan and establishing Heavenly Clouds order. The Old Devil attacked Mount Zhongnan, and although Su Yao drove back his sea of blood with Ask Amid the Clouds and the Heaven-Piercing Pillar, the Old Devil launched a renewed assault.

• True Lord Xicheng confronted the gray-robed Old Devil, who revealed that he had secretly prepared to devour Su Yao after his ascension.
• After studying the gold-seeking methods, Su Yao chose to seek the Rainbow Cloud Fruition on Mount Zhongnan, while True Lord Xicheng gave him the white lotus lamp for protection.
• Su Yao sent his five Divine Abilities to gather forces from the four directions and the Central Plains, then used them to form golden nature as heaven and earth witnessed his ascent.
• The Prism preserved Su Yao's humanity as the Rainbow Cloud Fruition claimed his golden nature, and Su Yao became True Lord Qingyan, established Heavenly Clouds order, and reached Peak Golden Core.
• The Old Devil flooded Mount Zhongnan with a sea of blood, overwhelmed True Lord Xicheng and the formation's defenses, and blocked outside cultivators from entering.
• Su Yao summoned Ask Amid the Clouds and the Heaven-Piercing Pillar, forcing the sea of blood back to the mountain's foot, but the Old Devil sang the Handan dream song and sent a vast wave crashing toward him.

Su Yao and the others battled the Old Devil’s blood sea, whose Blood Qi, Hazy Clouds, and Illusory Slumber threatened both their bodies and spirits. After Su Yao’s Prism awakened a barrier-breaking power, he helped Zhizhuo reach the ruined temple, where Zhizhuo struck the Old Devil’s hidden true body and drew a piercing cry.

• The Old Devil revealed his Illusory Slumber path and blood butterflies, forcing Su Yao, Xicheng, Qizhenzi, and Zhizhuo to fight off attacks on their bodies and true spirits.
• Xicheng sent Su Yao to the Jade Pillar Grotto-Heaven, where Su Yao used Ask Amid the Clouds and the Heaven-Piercing Pillar to strengthen the formation and draw on the thatched hut’s Dao resonance.
• The Old Devil exposed a dormant Illusory Slumber seed he had planted in Su Yao, but the Prism’s first restriction awakened and erased its power.
• Zhizhuo, Xicheng, and Qizhenzi manifested their powers and tried to advance a smoke bridge toward the ruined temple, but the Old Devil’s sea of blood overwhelmed them.
• Qizhenzi revealed Yun Zhongzi’s hidden Wu Earth Subsidiary Rank and advanced directly to the Dao Embryo Immortal Realm, yet the Old Devil still stopped their assault short of the temple.
• Su Yao used the Prism’s barrier-breaking power through Ask Amid the Clouds to clear a path, allowing Zhizhuo to reach the ruined temple and strike underground with the Heavenly Longevity Staff.

Su Yao used the Seven Evolutions Rainbow Prism to summon Patriarch Yun Zhongzi, who broke open the Blood Devil’s body and enabled the others to purify his Blood Qi. The Blood Devil was destroyed, and Dao Lord Zhizhuo attained Heavenly Venerable status, while Yun Zhongzi’s phantom departed after speaking with Wen Zhong.

• Zhizhuo, Qizhenzi, and Xicheng failed repeatedly to pierce the Blood Devil’s golden nature, so Su Yao borrowed the Five Fires Seven Fowl Fan from True Lord Zique.
• Zique used the fan to weaken the Blood Devil’s defenses, but he trapped her, Xicheng, Qizhenzi, and Zhizhuo in illusions until Su Yao destroyed the blood butterflies and freed them.
• Su Yao asked the four to hold the Blood Devil for three more days while he prepared an immortal technique using the Rainbow Cloud Fruition and the Seven Evolutions Rainbow Prism.
• Su Yao summoned Yun Zhongzi’s phantom, which took Ask Amid the Clouds and opened a fissure into the Blood Devil’s lair so Zhizhuo, Xicheng, Zique, and Qizhenzi could enter.
• Yun Zhongzi’s phantom returned a blood-red reward to Su Yao, then the Blood Devil’s presence vanished and Yun Zhongzi departed after inviting Wen Zhong to share a drink.
• Zhizhuo purified the Blood Qi and attained Heavenly Venerable status as Steward of Life through Wu Earth and Preserver of the True.

Zilin learned that Su Yao had ascended to become a Heavenly Clouds True Lord, while four of his disciples on Golden Ao Mountain reached the Purple Mansion after his rise. On Shouwei Mountain, Su Mingcheng also attained the Purple Mansion and brought the news of his uncle’s success to his family’s graves.

• Furong congratulated Zilin on her breakthrough and told her that her dao companion, Su Yao, had become a Heavenly Clouds True Lord; Zilin set off for Qixia.
• Cixin learned that Su Yao had ascended and that the Old Devil beneath Mount Zhongnan had died, then watched four columns of Blazing Fire rise from Golden Ao Mountain as four disciples broke through.
• Meng Shixi, Chaoxue, and Polu met the Sovereign, who sent them to Cang Mountain to await Xuemin’s emergence from seclusion.
• Ren Han and Zichuan traveled to Golden Ao Mountain to meet their junior disciples and reflected on how outsiders had prevented them from cultivating Rainbow Clouds.
• Lu Yuan welcomed Su Mingcheng to Shouwei Mountain after Qingzhu predicted his breakthrough, then watched as Su Mingcheng reached the Purple Mansion and wept at his family’s graves while telling them Su Yao had succeeded.