Recaps

Long Yan used the Water Dao robe to lure the Earthflame fire energy out of the fire pool while Yang Yuanzhao coordinated with the other Yang Clan cultivators. Across the Five Directions Secret Realms, the Immortal Estate cultivators made rapid progress toward unlocking the Five Elements Supreme Treasure, unaware that the Yang Clan juniors were secretly helping them.

• Yang Yuanzhao gave Long Yan the Water Dao robe and explained how he could lure the Earthflame fire energy out of the pool.
• Long Yan put on the robe, entered the fire pool, and began drawing out the fire energy as Yang Yuanzhao prepared to guide it away.
• Yang Yuanzhao received reports that Yang Yuanling, Chen Huai'an, and Lin Qiao were making progress in their respective Secret Realms.
• Lin Qiao and Ming Fang helped mediate the conflict in the Gold Dao Secret Realm, allowing its cultivators to explore the treasure's unlocking mechanisms.
• The Five Directions Immortal Mansion cultivators noticed that their progress seemed unusually easy and attributed it to the Immortal Estate regaining the Favor of the Great Dao.
• The chapter revealed that four junior Yang Clan cultivators were secretly driving the Immortal Estate cultivators' progress across the Secret Realms.

The five groups successfully triggered and refined the wonders in the Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, and Metal Dao Secret Realms, causing the Five Elements Great Formation to begin forming. A sky-covering hand appeared above the Secret Realms, and five giant peaks rose as cultivators converged on the emerging treasure.

• Yang Yuanling and the cultivators in the Wood Dao Secret Realm triggered and refined its wonder, followed by Chen Huai'an and the cultivators in the Water Dao Secret Realm.
• Yang Yuanzhao and Long Yan brought the earthflame fire essence to the surface, and Wu Xingqiu's group refined it into the Fire Dao Secret Realm; afterward, Long Yan apologized and became sworn brothers with Wu Xingqiu.
• Lin Qiao and Ming Fang led the effort to trigger and refine the Earth Dao Secret Realm's wonder despite friction among the cultivators.
• Five days later, the Lin Jin Immortal Mansion cultivators and other groups triggered and refined the Metal Dao Secret Realm's wonder.
• After all five wonders returned to their places, a gigantic hand appeared in the sky, and Wu Xingqiu explained that the formation would create five Immortal Mountains that could later merge into the Five Elements Immortal Peak.
• Cultivators from across the Secret Realms rushed toward the five wonders as towering peaks and a five-colored formation emerged.

The cultivators connected the Five Elements Great Formation’s nodes and began challenging the five mountain-suppressing barriers, which placed them in deadly illusions. Chen Yang discovered that failing a challenge cost cultivators an increasingly large amount of lifespan, and realized repeated failures could kill them outright.

• The four Yang Clan members entered the Five Elements Great Formation first, gained spirit seals, and helped locate its scattered nodes before the cultivators completed the task three days later.
• The cultivators entered the five mountain-suppressing objects to challenge their barriers, but many were expelled after experiencing what felt like death in an illusion.
• Chen Yang recognized a familiar power of time inside the illusory space and suspected the Secret Realm contained a time-related treasure.
• Yang Yuanling and Yang Yuanzhao failed their first challenges and each lost one year of lifespan; Chen Yang investigated other failures and found the lifespan penalty doubled with each attempt.
• Chen Yang deduced that repeated failures could exhaust a cultivator’s lifespan and kill them inside the trial.

Chen Yang and the Yang Clan discovered that failed attempts in the illusion trial consumed real lifespan, and Wu Xingqiu confirmed the hidden penalty by noticing signs of aging on a cultivator. The cultivators were warned to stop entering the illusion, while Lin Qiao and Chen Huai'an passed the trial and helped spread the warning.

• Chen Yang told the four Yang Clan members that each failed illusion challenge cost real lifespan, and they decided to warn others indirectly.
• Yang Yuanzhao hinted to Wu Xingqiu that the unusually easy trial seemed suspicious, prompting Wu to reconsider the barrier's apparent lack of difficulty.
• Wu Xingqiu noticed wrinkles on a twenty-six-year-old cultivator and realized that repeated failures had aged the challengers and reduced their lifespans.
• Wu Xingqiu and Yang Yuanling warned cultivators in their Secret Realms, and the gathered challengers confirmed the abnormal signs of aging.
• Lin Qiao and Chen Huai'an passed the illusion trial without losing lifespan, then used the warning from their Immortal Venerable to inform other cultivators.

Cultivators in the Secret Realms organized further attempts to break the Five Elements Barriers despite escalating lifespan penalties, while the Metal and Earth Dao realms succeeded. With only the Fire Dao Barrier remaining, Wu Xingqiu resolved to risk another attempt, believing it might be his only chance to pursue true meaning.

• The Wood, Water, Earth, and Fire Dao cultivators chose candidates for further trials, and Wu Xingqiu volunteered to keep challenging the Fire Dao Barrier.
• The Metal Dao finger lit up after the Meishan sword cultivators and Lin Jin Immortal Mansion's forces overcame their barrier, prompting cultivators in the other realms to pool what they had learned.
• Over the next ten days, the Water and Wood Dao Secret Realms completed their ninth trials, while Earth and Fire each needed one more success.
• Wu Xingqiu failed his fifth attempt after half a month, losing thirty-one years of lifespan, and younger fire cultivators also failed their fifth attempts.
• The Earth Dao finger lit up, leaving only Fire; Wu Xingqiu rejected Yang Yuanzhao and Long Yan's pleas to stop, saying he had to take responsibility and would risk his remaining lifespan for a chance to pursue true meaning.

Wu Xingqiu chose to keep risking his lifespan to pursue a breakthrough, and the cultivators honored his resolve as he returned to the blazing fire. After seven failed attempts, he began to gain an insight, and Yang Yuanzhao sensed that the Immortal Venerable had secretly helped him.

• Yang Yuanzhao, Long Yan, Xuan Youli, and the other cultivators saluted Wu Xingqiu and wished him success on his Dao Path.
• Wu Xingqiu returned to the blazing fire atop the mountain to continue his attempts at breaking through.
• Half a month passed as the cultivators in the other Secret Realms worried that the fifth finger would remain unlit before the realm closed.
• Yang Yuanzhao told Chen Huai'an that Wu Xingqiu had failed seven attempts but reached the final stage in his latest one.
• Wu Xingqiu's fire aura formed a phantom of blazing white flame, and the Xi Yan Immortal Mansion disciples and other fire cultivators helped strengthen his insight.
• Yang Yuanzhao sensed a familiar rhythm in Wu Xingqiu's aura and realized the Immortal Venerable had lent him a hand.

Chen Yang secretly bestowed enlightenment on Wu Xingqiu, enabling him to break through the Fire Dao barrier and complete the Five Elements formation. The Five Elements Immortal Peak emerged, the five Secret Realms connected at its base, and the cultivators began climbing toward the treasure, with access limited by their spiritual seals and trials.

• Chen Yang gave Wu Xingqiu a Spiritual Connection Perfection enlightenment bestowal after deciding to help him and his four children reach the Five Elements Supreme Treasure opportunity.
• After three days of enlightenment, Wu Xingqiu entered the flames again and broke through the Fire Dao barrier two days later, drawing cheers from cultivators across the Secret Realms.
• The five immortal mountains merged into a giant hand, which descended and transformed into the Five Elements Immortal Peak.
• Cultivators gathered at the mountain’s base, where the five formerly separate Secret Realm spaces had connected, and Yang Yuanzhao reunited with Yang Yuanling, Lin Qiao, and Huai'an.
• The cultivators began climbing the peak, but only those with spiritual seals could reach the mountainside, and only the forty-five cultivators who passed the trials could reach the summit.

The four Yang Clan members reached the summit region, where they met Kudhan Temple monks and then a group from Penglai Palace. Yu Shuang revealed a rare living-spring salt that could produce a powerful nourishing meal, and Chen Huai'an prepared to try gathering it without damaging its quality.

• The long-eared golden-light monk thanked Lin Qiao for helping Ming Fang, then exchanged brief greetings with Lin Qiao and Chen Huai'an before leading the Kudhan Temple monks onward.
• Chen Yang suggested that the four Yang Clan members explore the summit region while the monks continued toward the peak.
• Long Yan recognized Yang Yuanzhao, and Yu Shuang introduced herself and greeted the four Yang Clan members.
• Yu Shuang showed them rare refined salt from the hot spring and explained that it could be made into a water-Dao nourishing meal with effects comparable to the Secret Realm's Five Elements Baptism.
• Yu Shuang explained that disturbing the spring's natural currents would ruin the salt, so Chen Huai'an offered to use his dragon body and water-Dao affinity to gather it carefully.

Chen Yang’s sudden desire to take the Five Elements Immortal Peak made him suspect that his greed had an unusual cause. After questioning the divine beings under his command, he learned how the Divine Court used the Investiture of the Gods Platform to uncover and correct flaws in divine ranks.

• Chen Yang considered moving the hot springs and then the entire Five Elements Immortal Peak into the space within his true body, but Yan Ming warned that removing it would damage the Secret Realm and the Five Directions Immortal Mansion.
• Chen Yang’s desire faded after Yan Ming’s warning, and he wondered why such intense greed had overcome him.
• Chen Yang summoned Blood Sun, Liuli, Ku Yun, Yu Xun, and the other divine beings to ask about the history of True Gods falling into mortality.
• Liuli and Blood Sun’s accounts revealed that the Divine Court tested True Gods and Divine Lords every five hundred years on the Investiture of the Gods Platform, sending those with flawed divine ranks to the Divine Cave for correction.
• Blood Sun recalled that he had once spent one hundred and eighty years in the Divine Cave repairing a flaw in his own divine rank, and Chen Yang considered whether this history explained his sudden greed.

After realizing his sudden greed had been provoked, Chen Yang discovered that Wu Chang had used an Ancient God Path relic to influence his thoughts. Chen Yang crushed Wu Chang’s manifested body and warned him that the Divine Lord’s authority would not tolerate such interference.

• Chen Yang suspected that someone had magnified his human desires and sensed Wu Chang’s Divine Dao breakthrough near the Divine Mausoleum.
• Chen Yang agreed to meet Wu Chang and confronted him about relics from the Ancient God Path hidden in the Divine Mausoleum.
• Wu Chang admitted that the Dao Stone of Conferment had stirred Chen Yang’s greed after Wu Chang learned to use it.
• Chen Yang invoked the True God Authority, shattered Wu Chang’s spirit-body phantom, and crushed his manifested body despite Wu Chang’s pleas.
• Chen Yang left Wu Chang alive but made clear that any future disloyalty or provocation could mean his immediate death.

Chen Yang brutally punished Wu Chang for testing his limits, then spared its life after it admitted fault. He and Blood Sun Venerable God discussed the coming struggle between the two Daos and the many Yang Clan members who might die, leaving their fate to be decided in battle.

• Chen Yang drained Wu Chang's accumulated divine power and nearly destroyed its spirit body before preserving its life with the Bright Mirror's power.
• Wu Chang kowtowed, apologized, and promised never to offend Chen Yang again.
• Chen Yang returned to the Divine Palace and told the three deities that Wu Chang was alive but had been punished for its wrongdoing.
• After the other deities left, Blood Sun Venerable God asked whether Chen Yang's intervention would delay the struggle between the two Daos.
• Chen Yang said many Yang Clan members would die in the coming battle because he could not protect them all, and said their own strength would determine the outcome.

Bai Di discovered that Wu Chang’s weakened divine power had disrupted his divine arts, but learned that Wu Chang had survived his breakthrough and would eventually be able to aid the Outrealm Battlefield. As Bai Di resumed meditation, the Myriad Corpses Demon Lord baited another great venerable into boasting, only for Azure Flame to appear.

• Bai Di noticed his Divine Light art had failed and ordered his forces to consolidate their battle lines and suspend outside missions for three months.
• Bai Di discreetly contacted Wu Chang, who said his breakthrough had succeeded but depleted his divine power and that he needed time to recover.
• Wu Chang told Bai Di that interfering in the Outrealm Battlefield with Divine Dao methods would take at least three years, and Bai Di accepted the delay.
• Bai Di returned to meditation beneath the divine light while two Demon Sect venerables discussed his sudden order and mocked Azure Flame.
• The Myriad Corpses Demon Lord tricked the Demon Sect’s number one great venerable into challenging Azure Flame, who then appeared and asked what insight he had to offer.

The Azure Flame Demon Venerable spared Lu Gui, then spoke privately with the Myriad Corpses Demon Lord about his nearing death and the need for someone to collect his corpse. After the Myriad Corpses Demon Lord failed to take the chance to kill him, the Azure Flame Demon Venerable left, and Bai Di summoned the Myriad Corpses Demon Lord to fight in the Outrealm.

• Lu Gui apologized to the Azure Flame Demon Venerable, who dismissed him without punishment.
• The Azure Flame Demon Venerable revealed his frail blue hound form and told the Myriad Corpses Demon Lord that his lifespan was nearly exhausted.
• The Azure Flame Demon Venerable said he needed someone to collect his corpse, but the Myriad Corpses Demon Lord failed to seize the chance to kill him.
• The Azure Flame Demon Venerable departed, leaving the Myriad Corpses Demon Lord regretful but composed.
• Bai Di summoned the Myriad Corpses Demon Lord to battle the righteous path's experts in the Outrealm, and he accepted.

Chen Yang's intervention weakened Wu Chang and pushed the front lines into a wary standoff, while Chen Huai'an and the others explored Five Elements Immortal Peak. There, Xuan Youli and the Yang Clan cultivators defeated a group of Meishan sword cultivators, leaving their leader humiliated.

• Wu Chang's sudden weakening disrupted Demonic Dao cultivators' spirit treasures, and Bai Di ordered a retreat that prevented further casualties.
• Chen Huai'an helped Penglai Palace and the Yang Clan harvest refined spirit salt, leaving some behind for the creatures that depended on it, and the two groups shared the yield.
• Near the summit of Five Elements Immortal Peak, the cultivators sensed a fight and found four Meishan sword cultivators battling Xuan Youli.
• Chen Huai'an, Lin Qiao, Yang Yuanling, and Yang Yuanzhao joined Xuan Youli, shifting the fight in her favor.
• Xuan Youli stopped the Meishan leader's combined sword strike with one Mystic Phoenix attack, scattering his allies and breaking his sword.
• Xuan Youli mocked the wounded Meishan leader for claiming Golden Roll potential.

Xuan Youli drove off four Meishan sword cultivators and rewarded the young Yang Clan cultivators who had rushed to help her. Yu Shuang then approached and explained her lineage’s connection to the Thunderstorm Dao Treasury Ancient Venerable.

• Xuan Youli’s reputation and strength made the four Meishan sword cultivators realize they were outmatched, and she sent them away after they retrieved their broken sword.
• Xuan Youli praised the four young Yang Clan cultivators for coming to her aid and gave each of them origin power suited to their Dao arts.
• Xuan Youli explained that she sought an opportunity for true-fire nirvana and had little use for the Five Elements treasures she had found.
• Yu Shuang greeted Xuan Youli and confirmed that her Yu Ling lineage and Qingyao Sect’s lightning arts lineage descended from the Thunderstorm Dao Treasury Ancient Venerable.
• Yu Shuang said the Thunderstorm Dao Treasury Scripture had long been lost, and its lightning and rain paths had diverged over thousands of years.

Yang Yuanzhao learned that Xuan Youli had clashed with four Meishan cultivators over a rock wall containing true flame, which she planned to transform into true fire for her phoenix nirvana. With the Yang Clan and Penglai Palace cultivators supporting her, she began the transformation, and true fire started to emerge.

• Yang Yuanzhao recognized that the rock wall contained extraordinary true-fire power and inferred that it had sparked Xuan Youli’s conflict with the four Meishan cultivators.
• Xuan Youli explained that she had offered to divide the opportunity, but the Meishan cultivators rejected her proposal and attacked when she refused to surrender it.
• Xuan Youli revealed that she intended to enter the rock wall and use the Mysterious Phoenix Reversal method to turn the true flame into true fire for her nirvanic transformation.
• The four Yang Clan members and Yu Shuang agreed to guard Xuan Youli while she underwent the transformation inside the rock wall.
• Yang Yuanzhao and Long Yan used their fire arts to restrain the true flame as the others supplied spiritual power, and strands of true fire began to emerge in less than two hours.

As Xuan Youli repeatedly burned and revived in her attempt at Nirvana Rebirth, Chen Huai'an confronted cultivators from Kudhan Temple and Lingxiao Dao Academy outside the cave. Wen Hui asked for the strange stone inside, but Chen Huai'an said its ownership had already been decided.

• Xuan Youli repeatedly crawled from the ashes as a fledgling, only to burn to ash again in the true fire.
• Chen Huai'an sensed approaching cultivators and left Lin Qiao and Senior Sister Yu to guard the cave while he went outside.
• Chen Huai'an found cultivators from Kudhan Temple and Lingxiao Dao Academy and blocked the cave entrance with his azure dragon shadow.
• The Dao Academy leader and Wen Hui sent their companions away, while Ming Fang raised his concern about the Yang Clan and was rebuked by Wen Hui.
• Wen Hui asked Chen Huai'an whether the cave held a supreme treasure of metal and stone, and Chen Huai'an confirmed it but said it already had an owner.

Wen Hui used his Way of Knowing Through Hearing to probe Chen Huai'an, but Chen Yang deceived him into believing Chen Huai'an possessed profound cultivation. Ge Xiao then invited Chen Huai'an to discuss the Dao, and Chen Huai'an expressed interest while worrying that a disturbance might disrupt Senior Sister Xuan’s nirvana inside the cave.

• Wen Hui failed to see through Chen Huai'an’s concealment with his Dharma Eye and used his hearing technique to sense him instead.
• Chen Yang planted a false sound in Chen Huai'an’s body, making Wen Hui believe Chen Huai'an had astonishing dharma power.
• Ge Xiao introduced himself as a cultivator from Lingxiao Dao Academy and said the strange stone no longer mattered to him.
• Wen Hui questioned whether Ge Xiao could decide on a discussion of the Dao without Chen Huai'an’s agreement.
• Chen Huai'an considered accepting Ge Xiao’s invitation but worried that sparring might disturb Senior Sister Xuan’s nirvana inside the cave.

Wen Hui proposed a contest between Chen Huai'an and Ge Xiao using golden Buddhist bells to judge their strength while protecting the nearby cave. Chen Huai'an realized Wen Hui also intended to probe their abilities through his hearing, and Chen Yang advised him to agree.

• Chen Huai'an and Ge Xiao sensed Wen Hui's flawless Dao heart and spiritual roots as he chanted sutras and manifested golden Buddhist light.
• Wen Hui formed two golden bells from his Buddhist Dharma and explained that their sounds would reach only his ears.
• Wen Hui offered to set a question for Chen Huai'an and Ge Xiao, using the bells to test who could break free more effectively.
• Wen Hui revealed a Dharma treasure golden bowl that could isolate their contest from the surrounding area.
• Chen Yang recognized Wen Hui's plan to learn their techniques through his special hearing and told Chen Huai'an to accept.

Chen Huai'an used his unusual blackish-purple dragon body to break Wen Hui's Golden Bell before Ge Xiao could escape his own. Ge Xiao accepted defeat and apologized, leaving open the possibility of a future rematch.

• Chen Huai'an identified the Golden Bell's weakest point and manifested a rare blackish-purple dragon body.
• Wen Hui sensed that the vibrations inside Chen Huai'an's Golden Bell did not resemble water Dao arts.
• After the incense burned out, Ge Xiao broke through his Golden Bell, but Chen Huai'an had already escaped and was standing beside Wen Hui.
• Wen Hui declared Chen Huai'an the winner of the Dao discussion, and Ge Xiao's arrogance faded.
• Chen Huai'an asked Ge Xiao to leave, and Ge Xiao accepted defeat, apologized, and proposed a future exchange.

Wen Hui and Ge Xiao speculated that Chen Huai'an was the disciple of the Divine Arrival True Person, prompting Chen Yang to sense their conversation and reflect on how names could stir a connection. Chen Yang concluded that such resonance might grow stronger with cultivation and karma, making survival in the outer realms more dangerous.

• Ge Xiao doubted Chen Huai'an could match the Dragon Lord without a pinnacle expert as his master, but Wen Hui suggested the Divine Arrival True Person might have taught him.
• Wen Hui and Ge Xiao discussed rumors that the Divine Arrival True Person might belong to the Demonic Path, then reconsidered after hearing that Demonic Path powers were also searching for him.
• Chen Yang sensed the two cultivators invoking his title and listened as they guessed that he was Chen Huai'an's master.
• Chen Yang reasoned that the pair would learn Chen Huai'an and Yang Yuanhong's real origins after leaving the Secret Realm, so their suspicion would soon fade.
• Chen Yang considered how cultivation and karmic ties might affect name-triggered resonance and concluded that surviving in the outer realms was especially difficult.

Xuan Youli completed her True Fire nirvana and emerged with a Mystical Phoenix body whose cultivation potential had increased. She thanked those who guarded her and shared wisps of True Fire with Yang Yuanzhao and Long Yan.

• Chen Huai'an returned to the cave and told Lin Qiao that he had persuaded the Dao Academy and Kudhan Temple cultivators to leave the mountain forest.
• Xuan Youli's True Fire pressure receded, and she emerged after completing her nirvana.
• The cultivators congratulated Xuan Youli, who thanked them for guarding her path.
• Xuan Youli gave Yang Yuanzhao and Long Yan a wisp of True Fire each after warning them not to refine more.

Yu Shuang and the others reached the summit and found the Five Elements Dharma Disc absorbing the power of three cultivators. Mu Yunshu explained that it was reclaiming heaven-and-earth energy and said that five chosen cultivators were needed to control it and begin the Five Elements Baptism.

• Yu Shuang stopped a Penglai Palace cultivator from approaching the Five Elements Dharma Disc and showed him the three cultivators suffering beneath it.
• Yang Yuanling used a vine to demonstrate that the disc absorbed spiritual energy from living things, and Yang Yuanzhao realized it was reclaiming power nurtured by heaven and earth.
• Mu Yunshu arrived with her Miaomu Immortal Mansion disciples and greeted Yang Yuanling and Yang Yuanzhao.
• Mu Yunshu agreed that the disc was not an evil artifact but said the group had to save the three cultivators from losing their Dao foundations.
• Mu Yunshu announced that one cultivator representing each of the Five Elements was needed to control the disc and begin the Five Elements Baptism, with the metal and wood candidates already chosen.

Long Yuan investigated the bizarre death of an ancient dragon in the Dragon Transformation Pool and learned it may have starved to death after gu insects drained its nourishment. After more than eight hundred days in the Dragon Tomb, Yang Yuanhong completed his dragon body advancement and emerged.

• Long Yuan researched records about an ancient dragon said to have eaten itself to death and sought the Sea-Bearing Ancestor’s explanation.
• Sea Bearing Venerable told Long Yuan that gu cultivators may have placed unhatched gu insects inside the dragon, leaving it endlessly hungry as the insects consumed its nourishment.
• Yang Yuanhong and Long Yuan returned to the Dragon Transformation Pool with Mystic Armor Venerable and forcibly opened the Dragon Tomb.
• Yang Yuanhong entered the tomb alone while Long Yuan and Mystic Armor Venerable waited outside, and Long Yuan later searched the surroundings for cultivation opportunities.
• After more than eight hundred days, Yang Yuanhong completed his dragon body advancement and emerged with a roar that shook the sky.

Yang Yuanhong found an empty Gu shell inside an ancient dragon and used it to refine more Breath of the Ancient Dragon, completing a second dragon body advancement. After sharing the discovery with Mystic Armor Venerable and Long Yuan, he learned that the conflict between the righteous and demonic paths had grown close to all-out war.

• Yang Yuanhong refined the ancient dragon's heart and absorbed its Breath of the Ancient Dragon, completing his first advancement in the Dragon Tomb.
• Yang Yuanhong discovered an empty Gu shell in the dragon's abdomen and realized it could condense Breath of the Ancient Dragon.
• Yang Yuanhong refined his dragon-attributed treasures in the shell for a year and absorbed the resulting Breath of the Ancient Dragon, completing his second advancement.
• Yang Yuanhong showed the shell to Mystic Armor Venerable and Long Yuan, and Mystic Armor Venerable judged that its maker may have reached beyond the Path Attainment Realm.
• Yang Yuanhong asked about the conflict between the two paths, and Mystic Armor Venerable said Luo Qianchou's slaying of a demonic sect true intent had brought the front lines close to all-out war.