Chapter Summaries

Murong Xu reached the Yang Family Sacred Land and met Shenwu, who recognized his cultivation and announced that he would face a trial of himself. Shenwu summoned a mirror double that emerged as a living person identical to Murong Xu, leaving him shocked.

• Murong Xu recognized Shenwu as the Yang family's spirit turtle cultivator and bowed to him.
• Shenwu told Murong Xu to address him by name rather than as Immortal Turtle.
• Shenwu examined Murong Xu and praised his cultivation and progress.
• Shenwu declared that Murong Xu had to pass a trial of himself and summoned a round mirror.
• A living double stepped out of the mirror, and Murong Xu realized it was identical to him.

Murong Xu battled his mirror image on the Dao Discussion Platform, while Shenwu considered his potential to master the kingly-path Life Relief art. In the valley, Yang Yuanzhen met Shi Ying, whose hidden soul fragments found her to be an ordinary mortal with an inexplicable detachment from the world.

• Murong Xu steadied himself and challenged his mirror image, then fought it using the Radiant Yang Method.
• Shenwu judged Murong Xu a promising candidate for Heaven-Clearing Academy and believed his own state of mind could break the deadlock.
• Yang Yuanzhen recognized the unusual heads connected to Shi Ying's soul and asked her about her childhood.
• The three Treading Void soul fragments sensed that Yang Yuanzhen seemed detached from the world, then confirmed she was a mortal and began to form new ideas.

Yang Yuanzhen defeated and consumed the three Treading-Void Split Souls, then gave their essence to Shi Ying to strengthen her soul. Shi Ying entered the next trial, where Shenwu showed her that she alone had to resolve the affliction caused by her fractured personalities.

• Yang Yuanzhen captured and roasted the three Treading-Void Split Souls, then ate their remains.
• Yang Yuanzhen gave Shi Ying three golden soul objects, which Shi Ying ate and absorbed to strengthen her soul.
• Shi Ying used her stronger soul to suppress the fractured personalities that disturbed her main consciousness.
• Yang Yuanzhen gave Shi Ying a pearl to aid her cultivation and explained that it would not cure her underlying affliction.
• Shi Ying entered a new world, where Shenwu used a round mirror to show her that she had to face her fractured personalities herself.

The first selection results for Heaven-Clearing Academy were announced, naming four children as Academy Master Yang Lingshu’s founding disciples and assigning the rest to other ranks. Sheng Jiaoyang searched the lists for Jiang Pu but could not find her among the inner or outer disciples.

• He Shuping became the third cultivator to clear Grotto Valley, while Feng Weiran and Zi Mo failed just short of the crossing.
• Three days later, the results named Murong Xu, Shi Ying, He Shuping, and Luo Yunheng as Yang Lingshu’s founding disciples.
• Twelve other children, including Feng Weiran and Zi Mo, received Direct Disciple status, while most remaining candidates entered the inner or outer sect.
• The children celebrated their placements, though Sheng Jiaoyang regretted failing to earn a Direct Disciple seat and resolved to seek advancement through future cultivation.
• Sheng Jiaoyang searched the admission lists for Jiang Pu but found her name in neither the inner nor the outer disciple columns.

Jiang Pu became a Direct Disciple of the Technique Academy despite having seemed to lose her cultivation, and the other candidates speculated that she had restored her Dao foundation during the trial. Sheng Jiaoyang realized that her rise had reversed their positions and faced the selfishness behind his attempt to break their engagement.

• Jiang Pu joined Yang Yuanliu on the high platform as a Direct Disciple of the Technique Academy, surprising the watching children.
• The candidates discussed Jiang Pu’s past fall in cultivation and speculated that she had repaired her Qi Meridians and Dao foundation during the Peak-Climbing Trial.
• The children envied Jiang Pu’s apparent fortune and hoped they might find similar opportunities at the Heaven-Clearing Academy.
• Sheng Jiaoyang recalled consoling Jiang Pu after assuming she had failed and proposing to break their engagement because her damaged aptitude might burden his cultivation.
• Sheng Jiaoyang lowered his head in shame as he recognized that he had disregarded Jiang Pu’s dignity and forgotten her former promise as a rising talent.

The outside children entered the Heaven-Clearing Academy selection hoping to change their destinies, and most passed the Peak-Climbing Trial, with eight earning inner-sect places. The Yang Family then invited their factions to the Academy’s Founding Ceremony, where Yang Lingshu would attain the Dao’s true intent before the guests.

• Ninety-six outside children took the Peak-Climbing Trial, and all but fourteen passed into Heaven-Clearing Academy.
• Eight outside children distinguished themselves and qualified for the Academy’s inner sect.
• The outside forces were surprised that the Yang Family had admitted children they had considered mediocre or expendable.
• The Yang Family invited the forces whose younger members had entered the Academy to attend its Founding Ceremony at Clear Sky Peak.
• The invitation announced that Yang Lingshu would attain the Dao’s true intent before the gathered guests at the ceremony.

Heaven-Clearing Academy held its Founding Ceremony, where guests interpreted the absence of Yang Lingrui and Yang Yuanhong and the strained seating of their wives as proof of a deepening Yang Clan feud. The chapter revealed that both men were absent because they were carrying out confidential missions as Heaven Controllers under the New Heaven Grand Plan.

• Yang Yuanliu and Yang Yuanwen presided over Heaven-Clearing Academy's Founding Ceremony as cultivators from across the Central Region gathered.
• The guests observed that Yun Xiwu and Dongfang Yingcai sat in separate high seats with an unusually wide gap between them.
• Cultivators at the ceremony secretly discussed the apparent conflict between Yang Lingrui and Yang Yuanhong and speculated about the Yang Clan's future.
• Yang Lingrui and Yang Yuanhong remained absent because they were secretly performing duties as Heaven Controllers under the New Heaven Grand Plan.

Yang Lingshu arrived at the Heaven-Clearing Academy Founding Ceremony and revealed an astonishing level of cultivation, shocking the assembled guests. The Central Region’s experts became convinced he would successfully prove the True Intent Dao and enter the Dao Awakening Realm.

• A dazzling burst of magical light appeared above the ceremony grounds, and five figures emerged through its spatial power.
• Yang Lingshu appeared at the center, carrying a cleansing vase and revealing his water and wood Dao auras.
• The gathered cultivators recognized that Yang Lingshu’s strength far exceeded their expectations and placed him among the top-tier prodigies.
• Dao Awakening Realm experts praised Yang Lingshu’s foundation and concluded he would become another True Intent Cultivator of the Yang Clan’s main branch.

Yang Lingshu began his True Intent tribulation, declaring an ambition that left the gathered cultivators wondering what he intended to prove. He dissolved the first strike with his willow technique, but the tribulation clouds then sent down a sharper, metal-natured bolt that threatened his wood Dao.

• Yang Lingshu challenged the heavens with words about heavenly waters, immortal wood, and opening new paths, stirring curiosity and anticipation among the watching cultivators.
• The first bolt of azure tribulation lightning struck Yang Lingshu, who answered with the Dharma manifestation of a spring willow.
• Yang Lingshu’s willow strands dispersed the thunder’s force, impressing the observing True Intent cultivators with his technique.
• Yang Lingshu turned the weakened azure thunder into glowing willow catkins as the tribulation clouds grew more turbulent.
• The clouds sent down a more powerful golden bolt of metal-natured lightning, targeting Yang Lingshu’s wood Dao.

Yang Lingshu overcame the second tribulation by destroying its golden lightning with rootless water, then faced a third tribulation formed from the world's foul aura. The beast-shaped tribulation swallowed him and raced back toward the clouds, leaving the gathered cultivators shocked and worried.

• Yang Lingshu's cultivation technique circulated on its own as onlookers praised his improved method and wondered at his new path.
• Yang Lingshu used rootless water to destroy the golden lightning of the second tribulation, and the crowd applauded his success.
• The tribulation clouds formed a beast from the world's foul aura, which Yun Xiwu shielded the junior cultivators from with the Void Nether Divine Wind.
• Yang Lingshu summoned the foul beast toward him, but its stench weakened his Dao methods and caused his rootless water to dry up.
• The beast swallowed Yang Lingshu and raced toward the tribulation clouds, horrifying the watching cultivators.

At Yang Lingshu’s Founding Ceremony, the spectators recognized that he was facing a deadly Seven Killings Tribulation, while Zi He defended his ability to endure it and reprimanded two young guards for judging the Yang Clan. The chapter left Jia Huarai and He Shenglai seated together as the tribulation continued.

• The Central Region cultivators identified Yang Lingshu’s tribulation as a Seven Killings Tribulation and feared its escalating power.
• Two young Evil Extermination Division guards asked Zi He why Yang Lingshu’s military achievements had not been revealed or used to seek rewards.
• Zi He told the guards that Yang Lingshu had fought three Demon Children alone and rebuked them for criticizing the Yang Clan.
• Zi He ordered the two guards to serve as fire-tending boys on Tiangong Peak for half a year after the Founding Ceremony.
• Jia Huarai and He Shenglai sat together at the other side of the spectator seat.

Yang Lingshu battled the Crimson Fire Lightning Tribulation as a second wave descended before the first had dissipated. He began forcing the combined tribulation power back toward the heavens, with two of the seven tribulations still to come.

• After the first tribulation had raged for three quarters of an hour, Yang Lingshu began to gain the upper hand and revealed the shadow of an azure bamboo Dharma manifestation.
• A second Crimson Fire Lightning Tribulation descended before the first had dissipated and suppressed Yang Lingshu, making the assembled cultivators fear for his survival.
• A Five Directions Immortal Mansion cultivator asked whether the Yang Clan had prepared contingency measures, and Dongfang Yingcai assured him that Yang Lingshu and her husband had planned for unforeseen changes.
• The spectators recognized the second wave as the fifth tribulation and silently prayed for Yang Lingshu to endure it.
• Yang Lingshu intensified his resistance and began forcing the tribulation power back toward the heavens.

Yang Lingshu’s Dao body was destroyed by the Seven Kill Death Tribulation, and he died before the gathered cultivators. The chapter left the Northwest and Yang Clan-aligned experts unconvinced by rumors that his death stemmed from the Yang Clan’s internal strife.

• Yang Lingshu’s body was severed and burned by the seventh killing tribulation, while spatial turbulence cut off the Rootless Water sustaining him.
• True Intent Cultivators watched cracks spread across Yang Lingshu’s neck and feared that the tribulation spirit meant to kill him.
• Yang Lingshu’s head separated from his body, and his aura dissipated as the gathered cultivators realized he had died.
• Central Region cultivators mourned Yang Lingshu and blamed the Yang Clan’s supposed factional conflict for his fate.
• Northwest and Yang Clan-aligned experts privately rejected the claim of internal strife, recalling the Yang Clan’s discipline and upright conduct.

Jia Huarai realized Yang Lingshu’s tribulation was truly being endured by the Golden Core inside him, not his wooden dharma body. After Yang’s body appeared to die and the storm dispersed, the Golden Core stirred within the ruined bamboo and gave birth to an infant-like figure, prompting the tribulation cloud to rumble again.

• Jia Huarai understood that Yang Lingshu’s Golden Core was the real target of the tribulation.
• The crimson storm ended after Yang Lingshu’s body and life force appeared to perish, and the tribulation spirit began to withdraw.
• A heartbeat and golden light emerged from the charred bamboo remnant, revealing that new life remained inside it.
• The ruined bamboo grew into a thriving ancient tree as an infant-like figure rose from its center.
• A Miaomu Immortal Mansion cultivator explained that the infant had been born from Yang Lingshu’s Golden Core, which had become a seed.
• Thunder sounded again from the Tribulation Cloud as the emerald-green figure began to grow.

Yang Lingshu’s second Dharma body survived the True Intent tribulation, allowing Xu Cang to trap the rogue tribulation spirit for breaking the Azure Waves Great Law. Yang Lingshu entered the True Intent Realm, and Xu Cang turned the tables by declaring that the tribulation spirit would now face him as its tribulation.

• The tribulation clouds trapped the spirit after it tried to withdraw, while Yang Lingshu’s aura revived within the ancient tree.
• Xu Cang explained that the spirit had violated the Azure Waves Great Law and could not escape punishment.
• Chen Yang had persuaded Xu Cang to let the spirit overreach so it could be imprisoned and give Yang Lingshu another opportunity.
• The ancient tree reshaped Yang Lingshu’s body, and his second Dharma body returned to his dantian qi mansion as he entered the True Intent Realm.
• Xu Cang told the trapped spirit that Yang Lingshu would become its tribulation, and the spirit demanded that Xu Cang release it.

The five lightning guides in the Heavenly Sea Domain reported that a Calamity Spirit had been destroyed and the Heavenly Thunder Bureau’s azure lightning had been cut down. Their message reached a Lightning Bureau True Immortal in a desolate physical realm, where he was draining the realm core for nourishment.

• The five lightning guides realized the Calamity Spirit’s plea had bypassed them and that the Go-With-Nature Talisman had destroyed the Calamity Spirit and cut down the azure lightning.
• The guides blamed one another for failing to report the situation in the Void Cang Ancient Land, then agreed to submit a joint report to the Heavenly Thunder Bureau.
• The senior guide reassured the others that the bureau would likely impose only a salary penalty if they promptly explained the incident and their previous discussions with Dao King Mountain and the Wave-Chasing Sea Pavilion.
• The report passed through a special channel into a desolate physical realm under the Heavenly Thunder Bureau’s jurisdiction.
• A Lightning Bureau True Immortal with golden wings received the message while drawing life force and nourishment from the physical realm’s core.

Yang Lingshu survived the Seven Killings Tribulation, entered the True Intent Realm, and completed an unprecedented method of forging two dharma bodies. After refining the tribulation spirit and gaining lightning-dharma knowledge, he returned to Clear Sky Peak, where the gathered cultivators congratulated him.

• The Lightning Bureau remained indifferent to Yang Lingshu's new cultivation path, giving him and Chen Yang time to develop it without attracting attention from beyond the heavens.
• Yang Lingshu refined the tribulation spirit, and his second dharma body gained lightning-dharma origin power and the Heavenly Thunder True Law Essentials.
• The lightning inheritance gave Yang Lingshu a path toward cultivating water, wood, and lightning together through his second dharma body.
• Yang Lingshu's method of establishing his second dharma body before completing his first was described as unprecedented across Azure Waves, the Heavenly Sea Domain, and the Eastern Region.
• After the tribulation dharmas vanished, Yang Lingshu returned to Clear Sky Peak, where cultivators from every affiliation formally congratulated him on proving the Dao.

After Yang Lingshu established the Dao and revealed the Nascent Soul Truth-Seeking Method, cultivators discussed the four disciples he had accepted and the opportunities they now had. The chapter ended with Central Region factions regretting that their doubts about the Yang Clan had kept their own talented juniors from becoming his disciples.

• Cultivators praised the Nascent Soul Truth-Seeking Method and recognized the four founding disciples as its likeliest future students.
• They identified Murong Xu, He Shuping, and Luo Yunheng as privileged Northwest heirs whose powers had trusted the Yang Clan enough to send them to Heaven-Clearing Academy.
• A Central Region cultivator argued that the three Northwest powers had wisely seized an opportunity to join the Yang Clan.
• Witnessing the ceremony changed the visiting cultivators' view of the Yang Clan, whose talents and vitality they saw as rivaling those of established Central Region clans.
• The cultivators identified the fourth disciple as a gifted incense Dao practitioner from Scent-Seeking Pavilion beneath Ziyun Mountain.
• The Central Region cultivators regretted that their own doubts had kept their juniors from becoming Yang Lingshu's Direct Disciples, while accepting that they had no grounds to complain.

After Yang Lingshu attained the Dao at Clear Sky Academy’s founding ceremony, returning cultivators spread accounts of his tribulations and new cultivation method throughout the Central Region. The region’s factions gradually accepted that Yang Lingshu had founded a new Dao path, leaving them astonished by the Yang Clan’s latest genius.

• Cultivators departed after Clear Sky Academy’s three-day founding ceremony and banquet, praising Yang Lingshu’s attainment of the Dao.
• Returning cultivators carried news of Yang Lingshu’s achievement to the Central Region, mentioning the Yang Clan’s internal conflict only in passing.
• Central Region cultivators questioned the reports of the Seven Killings Tribulation, Yang Lingshu’s second Dharma body, and his confrontation with the Purple Firmament Lightning Tribulation.
• Central Region factions investigated and compared accounts before accepting that the reported events had truly occurred.
• Central Region cultivators realized that Yang Lingshu had founded a Dao and created a Nascent Soul Truth-Seeking Method.

After Yang Lingshu’s achievement drew attention to Heaven-Clearing Academy, Ascendant Wills sought to learn how he had created the Nascent Soul Truth-Seeking Method. Xuanyuan Jun summoned four of their controlled cultivators and confronted them about their failed operations, while his preparations for Dao Entry left them in awe.

• Cultivators across Canglan discussed Yang Lingshu and Heaven-Clearing Academy, while Ascendant Wills focused on how he had created his method.
• Six months after the Founding Ceremony, the Ascendant Wills received a summons from the Sea Pavilion True Lord.
• The four controlled cultivators met Xuanyuan Jun in a secluded cave dwelling, where they saw his extraordinary preparations for Dao Entry and a Xuanyuan Clan guardian who had pledged himself to Xuanyuan Jun.
• Xuanyuan Jun asked the four to explain why their operations at the Pill Origin Ceremony and the Tianqing Sect Founding had failed.