Chapter Summaries

Chu Tianshu deduced the Great Void Heavenly Silkworm General Principles, which gave him a clear path toward Triple Leakless, then returned to Mount Fuji after destroying the God of Bear Peak’s shrine. There, he helped the victorious forces deal with the remaining enemy souls and offered Jon a mind-calming formation for the American ghosts.

• Chu Tianshu combined his manuscript with the Source Energy Demon Army Imprint and deduced the Great Void Heavenly Silkworm General Principles, a technique that turned the Seven Souls into imprints and opened new dantians.
• Chu Tianshu struck the mountain with his sword as he departed, and the resulting cracks split the God of Bear Peak’s statue and damaged the shrine.
• Chu Tianshu returned to Mount Fuji, where Adams burned the enemy souls to prevent them from surviving in a banner, and Jon and Chen Taozhi showed him a damaged miniature Gomorrah and Xiade’s Rhinoceros Warrior puppet.
• Chu Tianshu praised the American ghosts for their victory and offered Jon a mind-calming formation so they could control their growing hostility and Yin Qi.
• Zhang Daqiang arrived with helpers and introduced Luo Zhan and other martial artists who had volunteered to assist.

After the battle at Mount Fuji, Chu Tianshu considered the outsiders’ offer to help manage Fusang and remove human traitors, insisting they undergo proper screening. He diagnosed Chadama’s spiritual affliction, and the chapter ended with Chu Tianshu and the others heading down the mountain to find food.

• Luo Zhan and Le Lin asked Chu Tianshu to let their group operate in Fusang and manage local cultivation resources, while Chen Taozhi recommended background checks and reorganizing them under his team’s procedures.
• Chu Tianshu warned Chadama about Yin Qi damaging his kidneys and spirit, then outlined a combined treatment involving Contemplation of Impurity and Southern Shaolin’s Oil Hammer Empowerment.
• Chen Taozhi and Zhang Daqiang reassured Luo Zhan that his past exploits would not disqualify him from helping in Fusang.
• Chu Tianshu sensed that a powerful spirit creature might be connected to Luo Zhan but chose not to investigate further.
• Chu Tianshu gathered Chen Taozhi, Zhang Daqiang, Luo Zhan, and the others and led them down the mountain to find something to eat.

Chu Tianshu arrived at the Big Dipper Soul-Returning Grotto-Heaven in Spring City to use its power to simulate creating a new Seven Souls Dantian. He planned to cultivate the first Po, discard it, and repeat the process safely with Chen Ying’s help.

• Martial artists training with the Grotto-Heaven wore Black Tortoise Qi Refining Armor and sparred while suspended from an alloy line over the clouds.
• Chu Tianshu returned from Fusang with Fang Jun and brought Yungu eel rice from Tokyo.
• Yungu asked whether Fang Jun had come to enter the Grotto-Heaven, and Fang Jun said he still needed time to consolidate his cultivation.
• Chu Tianshu said he had come to open a new dantian, not to attempt the third Leakless realm.
• Chu Tianshu explained that he would cultivate and discard the first Po of the Seven Po Cave-Heaven several times to simulate creating his Seven Souls Dantian.

Chu Tianshu cultivated in the revitalized Grotto-Heaven, where Chen Ying discussed turning tablets into Dharma artifacts and helped him through a failed attempt to strengthen his newly opened Stinking Lungs Dantian. Meanwhile, the high priestess investigated his cultivation lineage and considered a curse that could strand him in another world, then asked Wangliang Divine Lord which plan to pursue.

• Chen Ying told Chu Tianshu that tablets could meet the attachment requirement for refining Dharma artifacts and hoped to reconstruct her school’s method for refining them.
• Chu Tianshu meditated for three days and three nights and opened the Stinking Lungs Dantian.
• Chu Tianshu tried to force primordial Qi into the new dantian, causing it to collapse, and Chen Ying dispersed the backlash before he began again.
• The high priestess ordered the Yu Mountain library’s ghost servants to find records about the Penglai and Peach Capital Grotto-Heaven lineages.
• Wangliang Divine Lord proposed cursing Chu Tianshu as he returned from another world to send him astray, while the high priestess warned that keeping him away could let him grow stronger.
• The high priestess asked Wangliang Divine Lord to recommend the best course of action.

Chu Tianshu arrived at Mount Laoming Temple and found its elders forcing the last four young monks through brutal trials while killing their fellow disciples. After disabling the abbot and the gold-lacquered monks, he learned from Zuo Qiu that the temple elders’ condition was connected to the Heavenly Ranking.

• Chu Tianshu explored Laoming Temple and found four young monks chanting under threat while most of the disciples lay dead in the Eighteen Trials buildings.
• The abbot prepared to kill three exhausted monks when Chu Tianshu appeared and interrupted him.
• Chu Tianshu shattered the abbot’s attack and used vibrating strikes to immobilize the abbot and the other gold-lacquered monks.
• Zuo Qiu introduced himself, thanked Chu Tianshu for saving his life, and insisted that the elders’ condition stemmed from the Heavenly Ranking rather than a vile drug made at the temple.

Chu Tianshu learned that the Heavenly Ranking drew power from the Mist and Rosy Clouds Realm Layer and that its blessings had driven Laoming Temple’s monks mad. As he questioned the survivors, a Divine Machine Battalion commander prepared to bombard the temple, claiming the attack would swiftly contain the danger.

• Chu Tianshu entranced four surviving monks and asked them about the Heavenly Ranking and the madness at Laoming Temple.
• The monks explained that the Heavenly Ranking had formed during Prince Xuan Taizu’s reign and could grant blessings to martial artists who practiced techniques associated with its entries.
• Chu Tianshu learned that the abbot’s ascetic practice had corrupted his mind and spread madness through monks linked by their shared techniques and Qi channels.
• Chu Tianshu sensed a Divine Machine Battalion force assembling more than a hundred cannons behind Mount Laoming.
• The commander dismissed an old monk’s pleas to spare the temple’s disciples and ordered the bombardment, expecting the blast to scatter the mad monks and leave the remaining pursuit to the Six Gates.

Chu Tianshu confronted Wu Bo as the Divine Machine Battalion prepared to bombard Laoming Temple, then used his Great Void Divine Art to overpower the soldiers and their commander. He left the battalion terrified after pulling their souls from their bodies and apparently placing them in different bodies.

• Wu Bo told Chu Tianshu that he had brought the Divine Machine Battalion to deal with Laoming Temple's monks, and Chu accused him of failing to prepare an ambush deliberately.
• Wu Bo prepared to order the cannons fired, but Chu Tianshu blinded the gunners with a flash of emerald light.
• Wu Bo used Prince Xuan's saber technique to flee, but Chu Tianshu appeared in front of him and tore a pale golden soul-shadow from his body.
• Chu Tianshu pulled the soldiers' souls from their bodies, and the deputy commander discovered he was in a female body.
• Chu Tianshu called the soul-swapping a little punishment, leaving the battalion too frightened to resist.

Chu Tianshu suppressed a disturbance on the Heavenly Ranking that nearly exposed his identity as Great Immortal Zongheng, then questioned Wu Bo and the vice commander about Great Xuan’s troubled government. He decided to set Great Xuan right and accepted offerings meant for his former self as the group continued toward Mount Laoming.

• Chu Tianshu absorbed stray thoughts before the Heavenly Ranking could draw them in, causing the name Great Immortal Zongheng to stop responding.
• Chu Tianshu ordered the artillerymen to bring everything to Mount Laoming, while Wu Bo struggled to control the body he had been placed in.
• Chu Tianshu questioned Wu Bo and the vice commander, who described local officials’ neglect, village feuds, and conflict between the Six Gates and the Divine Machine Battalion.
• Chu Tianshu compared Great Xuan’s dysfunction to America and resolved to set Great Xuan right.
• An old monk offered Chu Tianshu wine and sesame flatbread meant for Great Immortal Zongheng, and Wu Bo said the immortal was coming back to life.

After Chu Tianshu and the Divine Machine Battalion reached Laoming Temple, Monk Daoben explained how the abbot’s extreme asceticism and fear of losing the Heavenly Ranking’s favor had led to demonic deviation and the deaths of many monks. Chu Tianshu learned that a dream-collecting disciple named Ailao Scholar had accepted a task to treat the abbot but never arrived, then asked to examine the temple’s cultivation texts so he could help reduce the risk of future disasters.

• Zuo Qiu and the other young monks saw Chu Tianshu arrive with the Divine Machine Battalion and reunited with Monk Daoben.
• The battalion cleared the rear courtyard of the monks killed by the abbot and the other elders during their demonic deviation.
• Monk Daoben explained that the abbot had pushed his ascetic practice to extremes because he feared losing the Heavenly Ranking’s extraordinary favor.
• Monk Daoben told Chu Tianshu that Ailao Scholar had accepted a three-month dream-treatment task but had failed to arrive as agreed.
• Chu Tianshu said the abbot and elders could not be saved and asked to study Laoming Temple’s Heavenly Ranking cultivation texts to help prevent future demonic deviation.

The Ailao Scholar arrived thirteen days late to Laoming Temple and tried to profit from the survivors’ trauma, provoking Daoben into a fight. Chu Tianshu wounded him and demanded compensation for the blood he had left on his sword.

• The Ailao Scholar arrived at Laoming Temple and brushed off Daoben’s questions about his missed appointment with an excuse.
• Zuo Qiu told the Ailao Scholar that the abbot’s demonic cultivation had killed all but four of the temple’s disciples, and the scholar offered to buy their nightmares instead of paying the rest of his fee.
• Daoben attacked the Ailao Scholar, who evaded the strike and hit him with his crystal gourd; an iron nail embedded in Daoben’s chest cracked the gourd.
• The Ailao Scholar demanded compensation for his damaged gourd, prompting Daoben to condemn his lack of humanity.
• Chu Tianshu appeared at the temple entrance, wounded the Ailao Scholar’s shoulder, and demanded compensation for the blood on his sword.

The Dream-Eating Marquis showed Taohua Scholar his new, repeatable Crystal False Dream and agreed to raise its price after Taohua suggested selling its beauties in separate portions. Taohua then presented a letter from the expert who had captured Ailao Scholar, prompting the Marquis to set out and investigate the captive’s unusual dream.

• The Dream-Eating Marquis let Taohua Scholar experience his Crystal False Dream, which featured a goddess-like beauty and seventeen other women.
• Taohua Scholar praised the dream and suggested splitting its beauties into many purchasable portions and raising the price fivefold.
• Taohua Scholar told the Dream-Eating Marquis that someone had seized Ailao Scholar and was demanding nearly all of his followers as compensation.
• The Dream-Eating Marquis read the extortion letter, grew furious, and learned from Ailao Scholar’s secret mark that the captor seemed to possess a rare dream.
• The Dream-Eating Marquis decided to go and see the nameless expert himself.

Chu Tianshu met the Dream-Eating Marquis in a peach grove and drew him into a fierce duel that ended with the marquis frozen by Grand Void Radiation. Chu Tianshu explained that he had chosen the grove to maneuver the fight onto the white-stone shoal, where he defeated him.

• The Dream-Eating Marquis and Taohua Scholar arrived at the white-stone shoal, but Chu Tianshu revealed he was waiting nearby in the peach grove.
• Chu Tianshu provoked Taohua Scholar by accusing him of training the dream-gathering disciples in their harmful schemes, then challenged the Dream-Eating Marquis.
• The Dream-Eating Marquis deflected Chu Tianshu's thrown teacup with his dreamlike True Qi, but Chu Tianshu ignited the resulting tornado with Grand Void Radiation and Taohua Scholar developed green spots.
• Chu Tianshu countered the Dream-Eating Marquis's golden-needle techniques with seven Mountain Collapse Divine Saber strikes, and their exchange carried them to the white-stone shoal.
• Chu Tianshu used the teacup to draw out part of the Dream-Eating Marquis's soul and struck him with Grand Void Radiation, leaving him frozen.
• Chu Tianshu explained that he had waited in the grove because he knew the Dream-Eating Marquis would retreat toward the shoal and be defeated there.

Chu Tianshu defeated and restrained the Dream-Eating Marquis, then ordered him to gather his disciples and identify where people suffered the most nightmares. The Taohua Scholar named Jingxiang, and the chapter ended by describing the region’s decline and the nightmares its people endured.

• Chu Tianshu questioned the Dream-Eating Marquis, who explained that the Death-Claiming Sword God's teachings had inspired him to create the Dream-Savoring Divine Art.
• The Dream-Eating Marquis revealed that he had planned to sell crystal dreams about the Sword God, while Chu Tianshu absorbed the influence from defeating him and kept Great Immortal Zongheng's name from rising on the Heavenly Ranking.
• Chu Tianshu decided to recruit the Dream-Eating Marquis's disciples and ordered him to use his relay stations to gather them.
• When the Dream-Eating Marquis could not identify where nightmares were most common, Chu Tianshu used a silver needle to force him to answer truthfully.
• The Taohua Scholar called out that Jingxiang had the most nightmares, and the chapter recounted how the region had declined from a thriving hub into a place of poverty, decay, and violent feuds.

Yan Shisansheng bought Old Geng’s nightmare and returned to the Dream-Eating Relay Station, where he learned that the Dream-Eating Marquis had urgently summoned his disciples to Jingxiang. The marquis arrived with honored guests, and Chu Tianshu immediately forbade the gathered disciples from kneeling or making anyone else kneel.

• Yan Shisansheng stopped Old Geng from drowning himself, bought his nightmare for a hundred taels, and introduced himself before leaving for the prefectural city.
• At the relay station, Cangyun warned Yan Shisansheng that the Dream-Eating Marquis was summoning all his disciples and urged him not to defy their foster father again.
• Yan Shisansheng recalled that the marquis had once tried to replicate his dream, discovered himself being praised and the marquis kowtowing in it, and angrily suppressed his thoughts.
• The disciples’ crystal gourds began to hum as the Dream-Eating Marquis approached, and Yan Shisansheng wondered whether the summons signaled a real emergency.
• The Dream-Eating Marquis arrived with Chan Master Daoben, General Wu Bo, and Chu Taixu, whom he ordered the disciples to respect like his father.
• Chu Tianshu stopped the disciples from kneeling and ordered that no one in the Dream-Eating lineage kneel or make others kneel.

Chu Tianshu’s household began organizing Jingxiang by bringing local martial powers and officials under its influence, then used silver and government oversight to recruit townships to repair roads. At Ding Wanhua’s martial contest, the neighboring communities agreed to join the project, though tensions between them remained.

• Chu Tianshu planned to secure the Divine Machine Battalion and Jianghu sects before reforming local offices, using their influence to deter obstruction and wasteful corruption.
• Ding Wanhua defeated seven challengers at her contest to choose a husband, while Yan Shisansheng recognized her Returning Wind Dancing Willow Sword technique as a genuine inheritance.
• Officials and Yan Shisansheng arrived with people from Great Willow Tree Township, provoking anger because of its feud with Second Willow Tree Township.
• Yan Shisansheng announced that the Dream-Eating Marquis’s household would fund road repairs and offered silver to townships that completed their assigned work.
• The county official promised government witnesses for the repairs, and Yan Shisansheng displayed more chests of silver to persuade the crowd.
• Ding Wanhua agreed that Second Willow Tree Township would join the undertaking, and the gathered people echoed her.

Chu Tianshu advanced his cultivation while reviewing reports on the rapid development of Jingxiang under his direction. He decided to invite Lord Xuantan to dinner, hinting that he intended to draw the wealthy Heavenly Ranking expert into his plans despite the risks.

• Chu Tianshu cultivated the Non-Poison soul and demonstrated his growing ability to perceive and predict changes in wind, rain, and the mountain paths.
• Wu Bo delivered progress reports, and Chu Tianshu praised the swift completion of road repairs in Tang County and ordered rewards for Yan Shisansheng and Ding Wanhua.
• Chu Tianshu discussed Lord Xuantan's charitable business dealings and suggested that the Heavenly Ranking's constraints had made the former martial god of wealth vulnerable.
• Wu Bo warned that inviting Lord Xuantan would attract powerful figures, and the Dream-Eating Marquis objected to the implication that Chu Tianshu should fear him.
• Chu Tianshu told Wu Bo to invite Lord Xuantan, Lan Ziya, to eat fish.

Lan Ziya left the capital for an outing to Jinmen with Master Diantou and Gao Ye, after reflecting on the Transcendent Preceptor and Chancellor's history and his own years in the old residence. At the city market, a sugar-figurine vendor recognized Lan Ziya as a marquis, prompting Gao Ye to demand why he had not notified the Six Gates.

• Lan Ziya's residence was revealed to be the former home of the Transcendent Preceptor and Chancellor, whose past included receiving the Transcendent Sword and helping Prince Xuan escape the capital.
• Lan Ziya woke with a headache, dressed with the help of an unfamiliar maid, and met Master Diantou, who invited him to visit Jinmen.
• Master Diantou said Gao Ye would accompany them, and Gao Ye arrived wearing the secondary seal of authority for the Six Gates.
• Lan Ziya, Master Diantou, and Gao Ye walked through the market outside the city, where Lan Ziya remarked on the cheap rice and its connection to capital garrison soldiers reselling grain.
• A sugar-figurine vendor recognized Lan Ziya as a marquis, and Gao Ye asked why the marquis had not notified the Six Gates.

The Dream-Eating Marquis invited Lan Ziya to Jingxiang, and Gao Ye joined them after summoning 108 Sea of Bitterness Dharma Protectors. In Jingxiang, Chu Tianshu learned that the group was coming and prepared to respond more sternly than planned.

• The Dream-Eating Marquis encountered Gao Ye while trying to arrange an outing with Lan Ziya, and both men worried about what the other might know.
• The Dream-Eating Marquis invited Lan Ziya to see a new dream-making undertaking in Jingxiang, and Gao Ye agreed to accompany them.
• Lan Ziya reminded Gao Ye of the court’s failure to restore Jingxiang and warned that he would stop donating if the people there were killed or injured.
• Gao Ye summoned 108 Sea of Bitterness Dharma Protectors and led the group toward Jingxiang, while the Dream-Eating Marquis concealed the cocoon in his soul.
• Chu Tianshu heard Gao Ye’s disparaging remarks about Jingxiang and decided to deal more sternly with the arriving visitors.

Gao Ye led the court’s party into Jingxiang, where he found signs of order before the Dream-Eating Marquis brought them to a mountain. There, Chu Tianshu exposed Gao Ye’s and Master Diantou’s crimes, and Great Immortal Zongheng’s name broke from the Ancient Heavenly Ranking into the present age.

• The party passed Mount Song and Wudang, while Jianghu onlookers followed and Lan Ziya and Master Diantou discussed the court’s martial-world tours.
• Gao Ye noticed repaired roads, working mines, and an apparent lack of large-scale fighting in Jingxiang, then considered raising taxes on the region.
• The Dream-Eating Marquis led Lan Ziya to a mountain banquet, but Gao Ye and the Sea of Bitterness Dharma Protectors followed after sensing his haste.
• A scroll unfurled down the mountain, listing Gao Ye’s crimes; a second, shorter scroll exposed crimes committed by Master Diantou.
• Chu Tianshu’s voice condemned the Heavenly Ranking’s failure to distinguish good from evil, and Great Immortal Zongheng’s name shone before leaping from the Ancient Heavenly Ranking into the present age.

Chu Tianshu fought the imperial court’s experts after they accused him of impersonating Great Immortal Zongheng. He defeated Master Diantou and killed Gao Ye, leaving the mountain witnesses stunned.

• Gao Ye accused Chu Tianshu of impersonating Great Immortal Zongheng and summoned 108 Sea of Bitterness Dharma Protectors to attack him.
• Chu Tianshu shattered the guardians’ formation with Mountain-collapse, sending them scattering in a dazed state.
• Gao Ye and Master Diantou attacked Chu Tianshu together, but his azure protective sphere crushed Master Diantou and forced him to fight Gao Ye alone.
• Gao Ye used Plum Blossom Numerology to strengthen his attacks, but Chu Tianshu overwhelmed him with a succession of powerful palm strikes.
• Chu Tianshu pinned Gao Ye beneath his palm and killed him with green flames, then flicked his sleeve and scattered the remaining bones.