Chapter Summaries

Chu Tianshu reached the Ancient Heavenly Ranking and learned from Lu Shuangyan that generations of its ranked fighters had died from the deadly struggles for fame. Meanwhile, twelve Church bishops used the Ark of the Law to burn Old Sage Qianyang, whose soul remained inside despite seven hours of holy fire.

• Chu Tianshu used a guqin to contact Lu Shuangyan through the Heavenly Ranking and asked whether anyone else remained alive there.
• Lu Shuangyan explained that ranked fighters from the past two centuries had died from accumulated injuries and the bloody competition the ranking intensified.
• Chu Tianshu reflected on the dangers of the ranking before the story shifted to a Church cathedral built beside the ruins of Pompeii.
• Bishop Roman and the other bishops agreed to target Old Sage Qianyang after failing to find his soul at his former place of seclusion.
• The twelve bishops channelled power from the Ark of the Law and burned it with holy fire for seven hours, but Qianyang's soul endured.
• The silver-masked bishop urged the others to intensify the fire, and their thrones transformed into miniature temples as the flames nearly engulfed the ark.

Ancestor Qianyang tried to take control of the Church’s artifact cabinet while plotting to curse Chu Tianshu, but Chu attacked the cabinet with the Heavenly Ranking. The two treasures cracked in their collision, weakening the Church’s experts and leaving the ranking’s fate uncertain.

• Ancestor Qianyang used the holy fire to strengthen his bond with the artifact cabinet and planned to master spirit-word curses against Chu Tianshu.
• Qianyang sensed an approaching calamity, while Bishop Silver Face and Bishop Roman both grew uneasy in the cathedral.
• Chu Tianshu rammed the Heavenly Ranking into the artifact cabinet, then returned for a second collision despite Qianyang’s warning that both treasures might be destroyed.
• The second impact cracked both supreme treasures, caused the twelve bishops and Church experts to collapse, and weakened Lan Ziya and his companions.
• Lan Ziya praised Chu Tianshu’s strength, while the Dream-Eating Marquis wondered what the shattered Heavenly Ranking would become.

Chu Tianshu shattered the Heavenly Ranking and the Ark of the Law, rescued Lu Shuangyan, and used their fragments to forge a new treasure. As he polished the materials, he sensed that someone was already testing the unfinished creation.

• Chu Tianshu used the Heavenly Eye to repel the corruption and made the Heavenly Ranking and the Ark of the Law collide until both treasures shattered.
• Chu Tianshu rescued Lu Shuangyan and the Transcendent Preceptor and Chancellor from the Heavenly Ranking fragments, then trapped Ancestor Qianyang in a fragment of the Ark of the Law.
• Chu Tianshu hammered and ground Qianyang's fragment between the Heavenly Ranking pieces until it became soft clay, then used it to polish and refine the pieces.
• Lu Shuangyan emerged from a fragment and regained his ordinary form, while Chu Tianshu said Yuhua had not yet woken up.
• Chu Tianshu explained that he was using the Great Void Treasure Refining Method to make a mirror-like treasure from the fragments.
• Chu Tianshu suddenly sensed that someone was already testing the unfinished treasure.

Liu Dading learned that the Heavenly Ranking had shattered, then discovered the Great Void Treasure Mirror and its tools for examining cultivation flaws, producing Sweet Dew, and sharing techniques. He connected to the mirror to try producing Sweet Dew, where Chu Tianshu found the influx of martial artists overwhelming and redirected the most urgent patients to examine their cultivation.

• Physicians told the masked young man that Liu Dading's cultivation deviation and the Heavenly Ranking's power left them unable to treat him.
• Liu Dading awakened and said he had seen the Heavenly Ranking shatter, while physicians found his injuries and damaged cultivation still severe.
• Liu Dading read a physician's prescription for nonexistent medicines, then concealed his pain and tried to repair his cultivation through meditation.
• Liu Dading discovered the Great Void Treasure Mirror and learned about its Heavenly Eye, Sweet Dew, and Dao Canon functions.
• Liu Dading entered the Sweet Dew layer and found it crowded with mind-threads as Chu Tianshu complained that too many people had connected.
• Chu Tianshu cleared most of the connections and directed those with signs of illness to use the Great Void Heavenly Eye to examine their cultivation flaws.

Fang Mizhi assigned Zhao Sijie to return west and help reshape opinion and learning there, while Fang Zhenyi was sent to study the Dream-Savoring Divine Art. In the Yanxia Realm, Yuhua and his companions considered the capital’s burdens and the limits of laws and institutions, ending with the question of how long the Great Void Treasure Mirror could endure.

• Fang Mizhi explained that the Great Immortal had spared the twelve bishops because the church’s influence would fade and its factions would turn against one another.
• Fang Mizhi chose Zhao Sijie to return west as a representative, promising support from foreign merchants and later recruits.
• Fang Mizhi told Fang Zhenyi that the Dream-Eating Marquis wanted him to learn the Dream-Savoring Divine Art, and Fang Zhenyi accepted the assignment.
• In the Yanxia Realm, Yuhua questioned whether the capital’s size and population burdened the realm and stirred resentment toward its residents.
• Chu Tianshu and Lu Shuangyan discussed corrupt officials, economic understanding, and how laws could not prevent future problems.
• Lu Shuangyan asked how long the Great Void Treasure Mirror could last, despite its lack of the Heavenly Ranking’s drawbacks.

While polishing Great Void Treasure Mirrors with Lu Shuangyan and Yuhua, Chu Tianshu reflected on heroism and completed his sixth corporeal soul, Sparrow Yin. He considered how the mirrors might preserve a fair supply of Great Void Sweet Dew, then worried that the Incomplete Turbid Wind could erase everything people had built and resolved to collect more Evil Spirits when he went home.

• Yuhua and Lu Shuangyan recited lines about the burdens of life, and Chu Tianshu joked that mortals need not seek happiness lasting a thousand years.
• Chu Tianshu described heroes as people who lived without shame, avoided harming others, and pushed beyond their limits; Yuhua and Lu Shuangyan listened and took up mirror polishing.
• Chu Tianshu completed his sixth corporeal soul, Sparrow Yin, which opened a new dantian and strengthened his vitality and healing.
• Chu Tianshu examined the Turbid Heart Hall Demon’s Thousand-Layer Flowing Armor trait and considered how Great Void Treasure Mirrors could produce less-contaminated sweet dew than the Heavenly Ranking.
• Chu Tianshu feared the Incomplete Turbid Wind might erase the wisdom and efforts of generations, and decided to collect more Evil Spirits when he went home.

Wangliang Divine Lord used the Ghost Mother Clan’s treasures to curse and divert Chu Tianshu as he neared his return. Chu Tianshu appeared in a snowy mountain temple, interrupting a scholar’s fight with a disguised Yaksha and leaving the three of them stunned.

• Wangliang Divine Lord consumed the clan’s treasures to keep a Chu Tianshu doll synchronized across worlds, then used it to divert Chu Tianshu into a nearby realm.
• A beauty in fox fur and her two servants sought shelter in a mountain temple where a young scholar was staying.
• The scholar exposed the beauty and her servants as Yaksha and attacked them with a sword, destroying the maid and pinning down the beauty.
• Chu Tianshu appeared outside the temple and recognized Wangliang Divine Lord’s interference.
• The scholar declared that he was a woman just as the beauty cried out for help.

Chu Tianshu arrived in an unfamiliar world and intervened when a scholar captured a fox spirit from the Hall of Longevity. As the scholar explained the prophecies behind the Qingyun Sect’s destruction, Chu Tianshu realized the fugitive had survived for three years without being found, suggesting she had help beyond her own strength.

• Chu Tianshu found a scholar holding a fox spirit captive in a snowy temple and learned that the spirit had tried to curse her with a magical hairpin.
• The fox spirit revealed that she belonged to the Hall of Longevity and warned that killing her could bring a life-lamp curse and a bounty upon the scholar.
• The fox spirit recognized Chu Tianshu’s sword and suggested he might be connected to a prophecy about restoring the Qingyun Sect.
• The scholar explained that the Hall of Longevity’s prophecy predicted a future Qingyun Sect disciple would devastate the Demonic Sect, prompting its attack on the sect.
• Chu Tianshu concluded that prophecies were calculations rather than fixed fate, and wondered how the scholar had evaded the Hall of Longevity’s calculations for three years.

Chu Tianshu killed the fox spirit, helped Fang Wuchen restore her sword, and traveled with her to the Heavenly Wolf Sect. As they rested in a town outside the sect, he listened for signs of what was happening in the mountains while seeking a way to gather enough Fortune to return home.

• Chu Tianshu ordered Fang Wuchen to kill the fox spirit, then examined her sword and used righteous Qi to fade many of its scars.
• Fang Wuchen explained that a Yaksha ghost had terrorized nearby villagers and warned that the Demonic Sect's growing aggression could lead to a clash with the Heavenly Wolf Sect.
• Chu Tianshu asked Fang Wuchen to guide him to the Heavenly Wolf Sect, and they flew together to its mountain gate.
• A cultivator from the sect directed Chu Tianshu and Fang Wuchen to rest in Heavenly Wolf Town, where they ate meat from fierce exotic beasts.
• Chu Tianshu reflected on his need to gather Fortune to return home and focused his hearing on fluctuations within the mountains.

Chu Tianshu and Fang Wuchen discussed how to use her identity as a hunted Qingyun Sect disciple to lure the Demonic Sect into a trap. Fang Wuchen agreed to enter the scheme, while Chu Tianshu revealed that he would help for his own reasons too.

• Chu Tianshu learned about the Heavenly Wolf Sect's three Yue brothers, its disciples, and the wooden buildings that gathered and regulated Qi.
• Over a meal, Chu Tianshu asked Fang Wuchen what she planned to do after joining the Heavenly Wolf Sect.
• Chu Tianshu suggested that Fang Wuchen could use her Qingyun Sect identity and a fabricated lead to a great treasure as bargaining chips against the Demonic Sect.
• Fang Wuchen realized the Heavenly Wolf Sect could help spread the rumor and set an ambush, but Chu Tianshu warned that they would need to show methods the Demonic Sect had not seen before.
• Chu Tianshu offered to take part in the plan for his own reasons, and Fang Wuchen accepted the challenge, saying she had courage to spare.

Chu Tianshu and Fang Wuchen met Heavenly Wolf Sect leaders Yue Gude and Yue Chunfeng, exchanged unusual teas, and discussed a plan to mislead the Demonic Sect. After Chu Tianshu explained why he opposed them, the Yue brothers agreed to help refine the scheme, and he asked to test Yue Gude’s cultivation.

• Yue Chunfeng detected a message from Chu Tianshu through the medicine furnace and summoned Yue Gude to the Pill Chamber.
• Yue Gude prepared rare tea and welcomed Chu Tianshu and Fang Wuchen, then recognized Fang Wuchen’s Taiji Profound Clear Dao.
• Chu Tianshu brewed a potent drink with his emerald divine fire and began explaining his plan to use his skill as a false clue to a Qingyun treasure.
• Yue Chunfeng suggested that the Demonic Sect might believe the Qingyun Dao child defeated them using Chu Tianshu’s technique, then asked why Chu Tianshu wanted to help the Heavenly Wolf Sect.
• Chu Tianshu said he wanted to stir the world’s Fortune and oppose the Demonic Sect, and the Yue brothers asked to hear the plan’s details.
• Chu Tianshu asked to test Yue Gude’s cultivation.

Chu Tianshu fought Yue Gude and demonstrated that his cultivation surpassed the Heavenly Wolf Sect leader’s, even as Yue Gude relied on the Purple-Gold Medicinal Stone. Yue Chunfeng proposed uniting four wondrous stones into a legend to strengthen the righteous path, and Yue Gude said the Heavenly Wolf Sect would need to stage a believable setback to help spread it.

• Yue Chunfeng carried Yue Gude, Chu Tianshu, and himself away from the sect to a river valley for a contest.
• Yue Gude summoned a swarm of winged purple wolves, and Chu Tianshu destroyed them with a white dragon of Sword Qi before challenging him at close range.
• Chu Tianshu and Yue Gude exchanged powerful palm strikes until Yue Chunfeng used the Stone-Transforming Great Art to turn Chu Tianshu’s palm force into a crystal mountain.
• Yue Gude revealed that his wooden staff held the Purple-Gold Medicinal Stone and acknowledged that Chu Tianshu’s cultivation exceeded his own.
• Yue Chunfeng proposed combining the Purple-Gold Medicinal Stone, the Blood-Devouring Primordial Stone, the Mountain and River Dharma Stone, and Chu Tianshu’s Heavenly Fire Divine Stone in a legend about attaining immortality.
• Yue Gude said the Heavenly Wolf Sect would have to suffer a staged lapse so the rumor could spread naturally.

A furnace explosion at the Heavenly Wolf Sect exposed a connection between its medicinal stone, a Qingyun Sect disciple’s treasure clue, and the legendary Four Wondrous Stones. As the sect dealt with the chaos, news of the stones spread among the major powers, and a Demonic Sect elder decided to involve his wider organization.

• Explosions struck the Heavenly Wolf Sect’s mountains, prompting rogue cultivators to rush inside under the pretense of helping and the sect’s brothers to stage a fight to control the crowd.
• Yue Gude, Yue Tianchi, and their brother patrolled the mountains, calmed the cultivators, and helped neutralize the poison from the furnace blast.
• Rogue cultivators pieced together that the Heavenly Wolf Sect had been refining Nutrient and Defensive Hundred Refinements Poison using Qi gathered from their meals of exotic beast flesh.
• The sect’s Purple-Gold Medicinal Stone resonated with a Qingyun Sect disciple’s treasure clue and the Mountain and River Dharma Stone, causing the explosions and revealing a link to the Four Wondrous Stones.
• News of the Four Wondrous Stones reached Tianyin Temple, Incense Valley, and the Demonic Sect, where an elder chose to report the matter to the rest of his branch.

The Hall Master of Spirit Mountain Hall visited Wu Shanjun to ask about the Heavenly Fire Divine Stone and learned that an otherworldly grotto-heaven was moving toward their world. Wu Shanjun planned to use the rumor to draw the immortal sects into a broader scheme against them.

• The Hall Master of Spirit Mountain Hall and his disciples left the marsh and traveled to the Hall of Longevity’s Wilderness Sacred Temple.
• Wu Shanjun told the Hall Master of Spirit Mountain Hall that the Heavenly Fire Divine Stone’s faint presence suggested it had only recently appeared, making the rumor likely true.
• Wu Shanjun explained that drifting grotto-heavens could enter the world when their momentum waned, and that Patriarch Qingyun had prepared concealed foundations at Mount Qingyun for one.
• The Hall Master of Spirit Mountain Hall concluded that the grotto-heaven would enter the world at Mount Qingyun in forty-seven years, but Wu Shanjun said its current route was unknown.
• Wu Shanjun explained that the grotto-heaven’s stray fragments had likely formed the spark possessed by a Qingyun disciple, allowing it to be sensed without a major divination.
• Wu Shanjun proposed using the Heavenly Fire Divine Stone’s appearance to draw in the immortal sects and make them suffer.

The Heavenly Wolf Sect used pill formulas and artifact diagrams to recruit the Rogue Cultivators who had looted its stores, while its leaders prepared to pursue a clue to the Heavenly Fire Divine Stone. Chu Tianshu learned how Qilin True Person had treated Yue Tianchi’s inherited mania and, unable to meet the absent healer, agreed that it was time to draw the Demonic Sect into a battle.

• The Heavenly Wolf Sect registered and rewarded the Rogue Cultivators who had looted it, using formulas and artifact diagrams to entice them into doing tasks for the sect.
• Yue Chunfeng and the elders discussed how the Qingyun Sect’s furnace explosion had revealed the Legend of the Four Stones, and Yue Gude admitted that he and Yue Tianchi had been secretly searching for the Heavenly Fire Divine Stone with the Qingyun Sect’s disciples.
• Chu Tianshu watched Yue Tianchi closely and noticed signs of an unusual manic constitution, but Yue Chunfeng explained that Qilin True Person had treated both his and Yue Tianchi’s illnesses after a fortune-teller predicted their fates.
• Chu Tianshu examined Yue Tianchi’s pulse and confirmed that Qilin True Person’s medicine had altered his inherited bloodline and subdued his mania.
• The Yue brothers told Chu Tianshu that Qilin True Person had left to search for a Qilin, and Chu Tianshu proposed luring the Demonic Sect into a battle.

At Heavenly Lake, Chu Tianshu’s words about identity and persistence moved Yue Chunfeng and Yue Tianchi, while the Demonic Sect’s hidden forces prepared to ambush the Heavenly Wolf Sect for a divine stone. The Poison God launched an attack, and Chu Tianshu remained behind Yue Tianchi as Yue Chunfeng prepared to fight.

• Chu Tianshu argued to Yue Chunfeng and Yue Tianchi that a person’s persistence in knowing themselves mattered more than the unchanging appearance of mountains and heaven.
• Yue Tianchi praised Chu Tianshu’s words and said they expressed what he felt about the Demonic Sect.
• The Poison God used his Seven Heavens Treasure Mirror to spy on the Heavenly Wolf Sect and guessed that Yue Gude’s group had found the divine stone.
• The Lingshan Hall Master, Poison God, Hehuan Sect, and Heavenly Lantern Pavilion forces prepared to ambush Yue Gude’s group when they emerged from Heavenly Lake.
• The Heavenly Lantern Pavilion Master sent mist underground, and Yue Tianchi flew after it as the Poison God attacked him with the Poison God Circular Light Technique.
• Yue Chunfeng readied his brush while Chu Tianshu hid behind Yue Tianchi.

The Demonic Sect attacked Heavenly Lake from the sky, the land, and underground, while the Heavenly Wolf Sect and Yue Gude’s group resisted them. When the Heavenly Lantern Pavilion master was weakened by poison, Chu Tianshu struck with a swift sword that split her body and soul, leaving the enemy leaders stunned.

• Spirit Mountain Hall sent waves of flying swords toward Heavenly Lake as the Ten Thousand Poisons Grotto unleashed poisonous beasts across the ground.
• The Heavenly Wolf Sect’s archers and poison users appeared among the peaks and slowed the Demonic Sect’s assault.
• Chu Tianshu sensed the Heavenly Lantern Pavilion members approaching through underground waterways, while Yue Gude and Fang Wuchen prepared at the lakebed.
• The Heavenly Lantern Pavilion master confronted Yue Gude underwater and threatened that he could not escape past Spirit Mountain Hall’s sword strike.
• Yue Gude released Ying-Wei Poison from his medicinal stone, weakening the Heavenly Lantern Pavilion members’ escape techniques.
• Chu Tianshu slashed through the earth and lake, splitting the Heavenly Lantern Pavilion master’s body and soul with his sword.

Chu Tianshu battled the Spirit Mountain Hall master, whose Black Dragon Heart Sword turned negative emotions into a swarm of swords and pressured fighters across the battlefield. Chu Tianshu countered the hall master's mind-shaking mantra by using silkworm silk to make the mountain resound, drowning out his next chant.

• Yue Chunfeng charged into the Hehuan Sect's red mist as Chu Tianshu broke through the Spirit Mountain Hall disciples' sword formation and met the hall master's black divine sword.
• Chu Tianshu used the Samadhi Power Hand Seal to stop the hall master's golden scriptural characters, but the hall master's mantra stirred his killing intent and forced him backward.
• Yue Gude emerged from Heavenly Lake and joined Chu Tianshu against the Spirit Mountain Hall master, who multiplied his Black Dragon Heart Sword and attacked fighters across the battlefield.
• Chu Tianshu realized the Black Dragon Heart Sword used others' negative emotions as a medium to draw fierce Sha from heaven and earth, while the hidden monk was wounded by a distant sword.
• Chu Tianshu released Sanqi to entangle the hall master's sword, anchored silkworm silk to the mountainside, and made the mountain's vibrations drown out the hall master's chant.

Chu Tianshu used his zither to calm the battlefield and stop the Lingshan Hall Master from cutting its strings, then pursued him as he retreated. After disarming and poisoning the Black Dragon Sword, Chu Tianshu shifted back to killing intent and unleashed tremendous power against the Lingshan Hall Master's black cloud.

• Chu Tianshu's zither music eased the fighters' emotions while Yue Gude intercepted the Black Dragon Heart Sword's attacks on the strings.
• The Lingshan Hall Master ordered a retreat to the Great Marsh, and Chu Tianshu snapped his zither strings and chased him through the swarm of black swords.
• Chu Tianshu caught the Lingshan Hall Master, tore out a handful of his beard, and struck the Black Dragon Heart Sword, disrupting its power.
• Chu Tianshu scratched the Lingshan Hall Master's cheek, used the resulting blood to poison the Black Dragon Sword, and seized its hilt.
• Chu Tianshu abandoned his joyous mood and restored his killing intent, causing the black cloud beneath them to swell and shake under immense force.

Chu Tianshu destroyed Hall Master Lingshan’s demonic heart, joined the Heavenly Wolf Sect’s victory over the Demonic Sect, and helped the Yue brothers capture Poison God alive. After meeting High Person Jade Toad and Shangguan Yunyan at Heavenly Lake, he learned that Tianyin Temple had been wiped out.

• Chu Tianshu burned Hall Master Lingshan’s demonic heart to ashes and used Mountain Collapse Combat Calculation to speed toward the battlefield.
• Yue Chunfeng told Chu Tianshu that the Hehuan Sect Master had sent only a Dao Companion Puppet, not her true body, to fight.
• Chu Tianshu struck Poison God’s knee, allowing the Yue brothers to overwhelm and capture him; he agreed to spare Poison God so they could study his poison techniques.
• High Person Jade Toad of Tianyin Temple and Shangguan Yunyan of Incense Valley met Chu Tianshu, and Jade Toad spoke of Tianyin Temple’s connection to the Qingyun Sect.
• A monk’s prayer beads brought an urgent message to High Person Jade Toad: Tianyin Temple had been wiped out.