Chapter Summaries

Zhuang Qingdi delivered pill ingredients and six rolls of Law Treasure cloth to Zhang Xuezhou, who examined them for a possible offering to Divine Lord Zhenyuan. The final roll seemed to hold an inheritance that Zhang Xuezhou could not yet access, leaving him with a possible bargaining item for bringing Divine Lord Zhenyuan and Li Shaojun together.

• Zhuang Qingdi delivered materials for the Eight-Step Immortal Ascension Pill and six rolls of Law Treasure cloth to Zhang Xuezhou.
• Zhang Xuezhou decided to leave experimenting with the pill ingredients to Li Shaojun and studied the cloth for a way to secure Divine Lord Zhenyuan's cooperation.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding found that the final roll turned cold when rolled up and warm when spread out.
• Zhang Xuezhou concluded that the cloth was ritually refined and might be an inheritance object, but he lacked the key or conditions to obtain its inheritance.

Zhang Xuezhou headed north to recruit Li Shaojun, while Rong Tianding turned Jia Zhiyuan’s alarming face-reading into a profitable opportunity. The chapter ended with Zhang Xuezhou warning Li Shaojun that a bloody disaster was approaching.

• Zhang Xuezhou reviewed Zhuang Qingdi’s Law Treasure cloths, left them with Rong Tianding, and set off north to meet Li Shaojun.
• Rong Li scolded Rong Tianding and Jia Zhiyuan for failing to earn a living, while Jia defended his face-reading work.
• Wang Donghai arrived with Jingzhao Governor’s Office runners to confront Jia Zhiyuan, but one runner accidentally struck Wang in the nose with a club.
• After suffering a bloody nose, Wang Donghai asked Jia Zhiyuan for another face reading and offered to pay.
• Zhang Xuezhou met Li Shaojun at a Daoist temple and warned him that he faced a bloody disaster.

Li Shaojun learned that Divine Lord Zhenyuan might still be hunting him and panicked over how to survive. Zhang Xuezhou proposed using Zhuang Qingdi’s treasures to reconcile them, but the offered materials were ingredients Li Shaojun needed for the Eight-Step Immortal Ascension Pill, leaving him tempted to return to Chang'an City.

• Zhang Xuezhou warned Li Shaojun that Divine Lord Zhenyuan had said he was coming after him.
• Li Shaojun suspected Cai Ma had revealed his resurrection and lamented the repeated deaths caused by his ability.
• Zhang Xuezhou advised Li Shaojun not to flee and suggested figuring out what secret of Divine Lord Zhenyuan he might have learned.
• Zhang Xuezhou proposed offering Zhuang Qingdi’s treasures to Divine Lord Zhenyuan to reconcile them.
• Li Shaojun recognized the treasures as materials he needed for the Eight-Step Immortal Ascension Pill and considered returning to Chang'an City to refine it.

Zhang Xuezhou persuaded Li Shaojun to help Zhuang Qingdi protect the Grand Empress Dowager’s burial and keep Zhuang Qingdi alive afterward, in exchange for the Eight-Step Immortal Ascension Pill. Li Shaojun agreed to impersonate Divine Lord Zhenyuan’s representative, hoping to gain the pill and attract the Immortal Court’s attention.

• Li Shaojun suspected Zhang Xuezhou had set a trap but considered risking the arrangement for the Eight-Step Immortal Ascension Pill.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that Zhuang Qingdi wanted help ensuring the Grand Empress Dowager’s burial went smoothly and surviving the aftermath.
• Li Shaojun realized Zhang Xuezhou was recruiting him to stand in for Divine Lord Zhenyuan, whose identity Zhuang Qingdi and his allies had mistaken him for.
• Zhang Xuezhou argued that the arrangement could bring Li Shaojun the pill and recognition from the Immortal Court.
• Li Shaojun agreed to cooperate if Zhang Xuezhou could persuade Divine Lord Zhenyuan not to threaten him when they met.

Zhang Xuezhou followed Li Shaojun to Mount Tai, where they used the Spiritual Qi leaking from the sealed Yin-Yang Secret Land to restore their strength. Sensing carefully at Li Shaojun’s urging, Zhang Xuezhou detected that someone had entered the secret land.

• Zhang Xuezhou convinced Li Shaojun that his reward for their operation was only an official residence in Chang'an City.
• Li Shaojun took a stone he called the Heaven-Overturning Treasure and set off with Zhang Xuezhou for Chang'an City.
• Li Shaojun flew ahead toward a place near Mount Tai where he could restore Law Power, and Zhang Xuezhou followed him there.
• Zhang Xuezhou reached the entrance to the Yin-Yang Secret Land and found Li Shaojun in the underground passage.
• Li Shaojun pointed out that Spiritual Qi seeped through the stone sealing the secret land and urged Zhang Xuezhou to sense the treasure inside.
• Zhang Xuezhou detected that someone had already entered the Yin-Yang Secret Land and heard a faint sound.

Zhang Xuezhou explored the Yin-Yang School’s secret land, heard the trapped cultivators’ final moments, and escaped the cave by flying. He set out toward Chang'an City to contact Divine Lord Zhenyuan, but encountered Demon King Feiyu in midair, who was astonished by his progress.

• Zhang Xuezhou dismissed Li Shaojun’s proposal to recruit Divine Lord Zhenyuan to open the sealed passage, and Li Shaojun left the cave.
• Zhang Xuezhou heard trapped cultivators blame Zhu Jiuyin for linking the three secret realms, then heard Yuan Quezhong kill Fu Sima and eat his flesh.
• Zhang Xuezhou resolved to strengthen his Fleshly Body Technique as well as his cultivation, then left the cave before fully recovering his Demon Power.
• Zhang Xuezhou flew toward Chang'an City to contact Divine Lord Zhenyuan and encountered Demon King Feiyu, who praised his flying ability.

Zhang Xuezhou reunited with His Excellency, Zou Bugui, and Demon King Feiyu, who marveled at his flying skills and asked him to help fix a formation. After Zhang revealed the troubles caused by his Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation, His Excellency examined him and discovered that his acupoints were blocked.

• Zhang Xuezhou learned that Demon King Feiyu had searched for him in Chang'an City three times, and the two tested their flying skills as they talked.
• His Excellency and Zou Bugui watched Zhang Xuezhou and Demon King Feiyu land, then praised Zhang's mastery of the Technique Within the Clouds.
• His Excellency asked Zhang Xuezhou to use the Acupoint-Fixing Technique on a formation, and Zhang complained about the Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation he had received as a reward.
• His Excellency offered to study Zhang Xuezhou's Breathing Method to suppress the incarnation, then examined him and found his acupoints blocked.

Zhang Xuezhou joined His Eminence and the others at a hidden tomb attributed to Emperor Qin, where His Eminence struggled to find a way through the formations. At a sealed bronze door, Zhang Xuezhou recognized patterns like those on a door in Holy Mother Wudang's underground palace and questioned whether the tomb's identity was correct.

• His Eminence examined Zhang Xuezhou and discovered that, despite reaching the Divine Ability Realm, he could use very little of his Law Power, then asked Zou Bugui to take him to the tomb palace while he considered a remedy.
• Zhang Xuezhou entered the hidden cavern with Zou Bugui and Demon King Feiyu, passing through a cliff illusion guarded by a large piece of Dushan Jade.
• Demon King Feiyu explained that Lu Baibai had located the tomb after sensing through the trees and that His Eminence had broken and repurposed the Dushan Jade's formation.
• Demon King Feiyu and Zhang Xuezhou found Lu Baibai by a bronze door at the end of the passage, where His Eminence had been unable to locate a way through the surrounding stone walls.
• Zhang Xuezhou noticed that the bronze door resembled one in Holy Mother Wudang's underground palace and wondered whether the place was truly Emperor Qin's tomb.

Zhang Xuezhou discussed the bronze door with Lu Baibai and Demon King Feiyu, who suspected it was connected to Emperor Qin’s tomb, while he considered that it might be a decoy hiding something underground. After examining Zhang Xuezhou’s unusual spiritual strength, the Venerable One passed a Technique into his mind that could help him control the Yang Corporeal Soul.

• Lu Baibai explained that the bronze door had been cast inside the cave, leading him to conclude that the site was Emperor Qin’s tomb.
• Zhang Xuezhou questioned whether the door was a smokescreen and suspected something else was hidden underground.
• Zhang Xuezhou chatted with Lu Baibai and Demon King Feiyu while making no attempt to break the formation.
• The Venerable One examined Zhang Xuezhou and found that his thought power was extraordinarily strong despite his shallow Law Power.
• The Venerable One transmitted a Technique to Zhang Xuezhou that could let him control and transform the Yang Corporeal Soul.

His Excellency taught Zhang Xuezhou the Primal Core Technique as a way to gather his Demon Power and Yang Corporeal Soul into a core, which could also be removed if it later caused trouble. While the group remained trapped in the formation, His Excellency used Yin and Yang Twin Flames to prepare Zhang Xuezhou’s body, leaving him to complete the core formation himself.

• His Excellency explained that Zhang Xuezhou could use the Primal Core Technique to condense his Yang Corporeal Soul and potentially cut away the resulting core if it became dangerous.
• Demon King Feiyu and Lu Baibai sent out demon manifestations to hunt for food while His Excellency prepared to help Zhang Xuezhou master the technique.
• Zou Bugui questioned whether the Primal Core Technique would conflict with the Yin-Yang School’s Realm Technique, and His Excellency warned that it could still cause future trouble.
• Zhang Xuezhou struggled to learn the technique, so His Excellency used his altered eyes and Yao Qi flames to refine Zhang Xuezhou’s Yang Corporeal Soul.
• His Excellency withdrew the flames after nearly an hour and told Zhang Xuezhou to guide the final step, causing Zhang Xuezhou’s body to swell and contract in pain.

Zhang Xuezhou used the Primal Core Technique, with the exalted one's help, to remove the Yang Corporeal Soul Dharma Body that had been obstructing his cultivation. His mixed Law Power and Demon Power prevented the core from forming properly, leaving him with a strange human-shaped pill that Lu Baibai called a Human Pill.

• The exalted one smelted Zhang Xuezhou's Yang Corporeal Soul Dharma Body and instructed him to condense it with his Demon Power and Law Power.
• Zhang Xuezhou hammered and refined the Dharma Body, but the Law Power mixed into it kept the core from becoming round.
• Zhang Xuezhou forced the misshapen core into his abdomen, and the Yang Corporeal Soul Dharma Body disappeared from throughout his body.
• The exalted one said the contracted Dharma Body had become a Demon Core, and Zhang Xuezhou spat out a shriveled, stick-shaped core.
• Demon King Feiyu questioned the core's shape, Lu Baibai called it a Human Pill, and Zou Bugui worried the demons had ruined Zhang Xuezhou.

Zhang Xuezhou’s Law Power proved difficult to use after His Lordship refined his Yang Corporeal Soul Dharma Form, leaving him unable to reliably suppress the formation guarding Emperor Qin’s Tomb from afar. His Lordship decided to return in his true body and face the tomb’s dangers himself.

• Zhang Xuezhou manifested a foot-long Yang Corporeal Soul Dharma Form with Law Power, and His Lordship found that most of Zhang Xuezhou’s Law Power had become difficult to command.
• His Lordship offered to let Zhang Xuezhou search Emperor Qin’s Tomb for a way to restore his body and take any suitable treasures.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that his limited usable Law Power prevented him from suppressing the formation unless he could get close to its core.
• His Lordship’s companions warned him against entering the tomb in his true body, but he dismissed their fears and pressed against the bronze doors before sitting down.
• Lu Baibai realized His Lordship had returned to his true body, while Demon King Feiyu left the cave to patrol the area.

Zhang Xuezhou and Zou Bugui discussed the formation and Zhang Xuezhou’s unstable condition while Lu Baibai worried about the danger to Your Eminence. Your Eminence arrived in a smaller form and sent Zhang Xuezhou’s Dharma Form through the sealed door with a candle to reach the formation’s core.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Zou Bugui discussed refining an Outer Core and the Yin-Yang School, but neither could explain how to overcome the deadly formation.
• Lu Baibai worried that the delay in Emperor Qin’s Tomb could leave Your Eminence vulnerable to an ambush.
• Your Eminence arrived in a human-faced serpent form, changed into a white-haired young man, and asked Zou Bugui to confirm the formation core’s direction.
• Your Eminence gave Zhang Xuezhou a red candle and instructed his Dharma Form to carry it through the door and perform a technique at the core.
• Your Eminence lit the candle, and Zhang Xuezhou’s Dharma Form passed through the copper-and-iron door and the rock as if the obstacles were illusions.

Zhang Xuezhou's Yang Corporeal Soul Dharma Form entered Emperor Qin's Tomb, but a guardian killed it with one sword strike and the candle's flame went out. After Zhang Xuezhou recovered, he identified the attacker as likely a True Self Realm cultivator, leaving His Lordship uncertain how they could breach the tomb's formation.

• Zou Bugui watched His Lordship burn his white hair while Zhang Xuezhou directed his Yang Corporeal Soul Dharma Form through the passage.
• Lu Baibai opened the bronze door, but an icy gust extinguished the candle and the door slammed shut.
• Zhang Xuezhou returned to his body with his false Demon Core shattered, and His Lordship gave him Spirit Jade to aid his recovery.
• His Lordship asked what Zhang Xuezhou had seen, and Zhang Xuezhou reported that someone inside had killed his Dharma Form with one sword strike.
• Zhang Xuezhou described the attacker's overwhelming intimidation and icy sword strike, and His Lordship concluded that the guardian was likely a True Self Realm cultivator.

His Eminence refused to let Zhang Xuezhou postpone investigating the underground palace and prepared to go with him, promising to protect him with the Great Wilderness Creation Scripture. After they bound their power together, Zhang Xuezhou asked about the Great Thousand World, and His Eminence warned him that the Great Wilderness beyond Heaven was too dangerous to enter.

• His Eminence rejected Zhang Xuezhou's plan to return after cultivating another primal core and said he would investigate the underground palace with him in person.
• His Eminence reassured Zhang Xuezhou that the Great Wilderness Creation Scripture would protect him from the sword-wielding cultivator's suppression.
• Lu Baibai told Zou Bugui that His Eminence kept his promises, while Zou Bugui worried about Zhang Xuezhou being sent into danger.
• His Eminence helped Zhang Xuezhou cultivate the Great Wilderness Creation Scripture and bind their power together.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked His Eminence whether he had heard of the Great Thousand World, and His Eminence warned that the Great Wilderness beyond Heaven was perilous even for him.

Zhang Xuezhou and His Reverence entered the formation beneath Emperor Qin’s Tomb to reach its core, where Zhang could recover his shattered Primal Pill and disable the formation’s power. They encountered the sword-wielding expert who had killed Zhang before, and His Reverence moved to fight him.

• Zhang Xuezhou suspected that His Reverence and his cultivation techniques might have originated from Fire Meteor, but set the thought aside when His Reverence prepared to enter the tomb with him.
• His Reverence refused to take Lu Baibai and the others, telling them to guard the area and avoid interfering with the strange tomb.
• His Reverence used the fire candle to lead Zhang through the stone layers and pointed out the earth vein feeding the formation, which Zhang would need to cut off.
• His Reverence stopped near Zhang’s shattered Primal Pill, and the two prepared to leap into the formation’s core together.
• Zhang used the Acupoint-Fixing Technique as they emerged, but the sword-wielding expert attacked; His Reverence countered with his flaming white hair.

Zhang Xuezhou maintained the formation-sealing technique while the Venerable One defeated Yang Duanhe, a powerful Great Qin figurine. Left guarding the formation eye, Zhang Xuezhou discovered that the candles there seemed to be made from the Venerable One and could explain why he avoided bringing extra companions.

• Zhang Xuezhou used the Spirit Jade to keep the Acupoint-Fixing Technique suppressing the formation as the Venerable One fought Yang Duanhe.
• The Venerable One overcame Yang Duanhe’s unusual swordsmanship, took the Dragon Scale Sword, and extinguished the figurine’s phosphorescent eyes.
• The Venerable One explained that Great Qin’s figurine-making art preserved people’s strength between life and death, then went ahead to search while Zhang Xuezhou guarded the formation eye.
• Zhang Xuezhou noticed grease on his hand and found similar grease in the red candle paste on the bluestone.
• Zhang Xuezhou suspected that the candles were refined from the Venerable One and realized their use consumed him, explaining why he had not brought Lu Baibai along.

Zhang Xuezhou waited alone after fixing the grand formation, then rode a bronze carriage through a nested formation and found His Lordship trapped by the Qingzhou Cauldron. His Lordship revealed that Emperor Qin had anticipated his arrival and laid the trap.

• Zhang Xuezhou waited at the formation’s acupoint, collected his Primal Pill fragments, and suspected His Lordship had entered a second formation.
• Zhang Xuezhou lit the Golden Crow Great Emperor’s feather and found Yang Duanhe’s shattered body and a bronze carriage in the underground palace.
• Zhang Xuezhou used the Heaven and Earth Reversal Beast Control Technique to animate the horse figurine and drove the carriage into the darkness.
• Zhang Xuezhou heard His Lordship’s weak reply and found him trapped beside a massive three-legged cauldron.
• His Lordship identified the cauldron as the Qingzhou Cauldron and said Emperor Qin had set the trap knowing he would come looking for the tomb.

Zhang Xuezhou tried to interrupt the Qingzhou Cauldron's sacrifice and free Exalted One, who was being drawn into it. His first attempt intensified the cauldron's pull, but it proved Zhang Xuezhou's Law Power could affect it.

• Exalted One explained that the Qingzhou Cauldron was trapping him and would eventually swallow his body and soul.
• Zhang Xuezhou approached the cauldron safely in the bronze carriage and asked Exalted One how he could stop the sacrifice.
• Exalted One told Zhang Xuezhou to use Law Power at possible sacrificial positions around the cauldron to find its operating pattern.
• Zhang Xuezhou tested the positions between the cauldron's legs and then the center, but his purple-glowing Law Power intensified the cauldron's pull.
• Exalted One realized Zhang Xuezhou's failed attempt had affected the cauldron and might lead to his escape.

Zhang Xuezhou discovered how to control the Qingzhou Cauldron, freeing His Eminence from its pull and letting him reclaim the power it had drained. His Eminence then drew out the Great Qin Law Flag along with the mist, and the cauldron erupted again, threatening to make his body expand beyond its limits.

• Zhang Xuezhou reversed the sequence of Law Power he sent into the Qingzhou Cauldron, weakening its pull and freeing His Eminence.
• His Eminence used his vertical pupils and coiled around the terracotta generals, but found that the cauldron had permanently stripped away some of his power.
• His Eminence sent four streams of Law Power into the Qingzhou Cauldron, drawing out gray mist that restored his cultivation and enlarged his body.
• Zhang Xuezhou retreated toward the formation core while His Eminence noticed the Great Qin Law Flag emerging from the cauldron and realized its contents were making him grow dangerously.
• His Eminence closed the cauldron’s outlet, but it erupted with gray, white, and black mist that surged into his body and made him expand rapidly.