Chapter Summaries

True Person Tian explained his Reversion to the Void and revealed that he had only half a year to live, then arranged for Old Daoist Li Fire to succeed him as sect master. He warned that the Grand Pure One's coming Dao Integration would begin a great tribulation and left the Mysterious Peak Sect with instructions for the upheaval ahead.

• True Person Tian explained how Reversion to the Void differed from Return to the Void and said his lifespan was now that of an ordinary person, with only half a year remaining.
• True Person Tian named Old Daoist Li Fire as the next sect master and advised Abbess Hengyue to reconsider her Buddhist practice.
• True Person Tian reported that demonic forces were targeting four of the Seven Spring Growth Lunar Mansions and said Brother Ming had gone to meet Chunwuzi and the others with the Earth's Heart Disc.
• True Person Tian warned that the Grand Pure One's Dao Integration would signal a realm-wide tribulation as this world returned to the Numinous Emptiness Immortal Realm.
• True Person Tian told Old Daoist Li Fire to prepare the sect for the crisis, choose a successor for Li Flame Mountain, and protect the Divine Sword Sect.

Hu Mang underwent a dangerous medicinal refinement in the Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin Cauldron to forge an immortal bone and achieve Shattering the Void. He subdued the Mountain-Bearing Giant Ao in a vision and emerged with his bones transformed as his body reached the breakthrough.

• The True Person of Myriad Phenomena refined Longbo Essence Blood and the Mountain-Bearing Ao's shell, while rising gravity forced Jiang Mingshan to leave and left Hu Mang and Wu Hun able to move.
• The True Person of Myriad Phenomena told Hu Mang to enter the cauldron once the medicinal brew was ready, and Hu Mang was overwhelmed by its gravity and lost consciousness.
• Hu Mang awoke in a vision as a great python held by a Longbo giant and realized he needed to take the giant's place and capture the Mountain-Bearing Giant Ao to complete Turtle Dragon Bone.
• Hu Mang transformed into a strange dragon, used the Sea Dragon Vein and a seaquake to expose and weaken the giant ao, then watched it sink beneath a massive palm.
• The True Person of Myriad Phenomena observed the medicinal broth clearing as Hu Mang's bones thickened and darkened, and Wu Hun heard his heartbeat grow powerful while signs of Shattering the Void appeared.

Hu Mang honed his fighting methods by battling and absorbing the abilities of Demon Beasts in the southwestern mountains, while Wu Cai resumed negotiations with Chengdan Spiritual Enterprise over the Three Flowers technology. The chapter left Hu Mang preparing to sign a contract with the enterprise’s Information Nascent Soul, who planned to attend over the internet.

• Hu Mang transferred Wu Hun’s mission rewards and declined to spar until he had grown accustomed to his new body.
• Hu Mang traveled into the southwestern mountains and killed powerful Demon Beasts to develop his fighting methods and absorb their Divine Abilities.
• Hu Mang decided to save his final transformation for a simultaneous breakthrough in his martial realm and National Standard Golden Core.
• Wu Cai told Hu Mang that negotiations had resumed and that he would exchange the Three Flowers patents, technology, and clinical data for a stake in Chengdan Spiritual Enterprise.
• Wu Cai said the enterprise’s Information Nascent Soul would attend the contract signing over the internet, prompting Hu Mang to wonder whether Information Nascent Souls could use Rainbow Transformation.

Hu Mang learned about Heavenly Gate’s new virtual network features and the popular Lust Abstinence cultivation software, which he had developed. At Old Master Cheng’s Virtual Grotto-Heaven, Hu Mang explored its underlying structure and asked to experience a Nascent Soul’s light-speed connection to the internet.

• Wu Cai told Hu Mang that Heavenly Gate had launched the Virtual Grotto-Heaven, Virtual Dao Discussion Rooms, and the Lust Abstinence Software, whose cultivation features were widely used.
• Hu Mang realized the Lust Abstinence Software was his creation and checked his Spirit Pivot No. 1 messages.
• Hu Mang and Wu Cai were drawn into President Cheng’s Virtual Grotto-Heaven after their network node’s signal proved too weak for him to project his spirit safely.
• Old Master Cheng praised Hu Mang’s software and explained that its underlying architecture had helped shape the Virtual Grotto-Heaven, with patent fees paid at market rates.
• Hu Mang used his Divine Sense to reveal the Virtual Grotto-Heaven’s rune-based structure, then asked Old Master Cheng what connecting to the internet at light speed felt like.
• Old Master Cheng offered to accompany Hu Mang in trying it.

Hu Mang toured Chengdan Spiritual Enterprise’s data sect with Boss Cheng, learned how its virtual cultivation research differed from the Old Celestial People’s methods, and signed an equity contract with the company. The deal brought him Fortune, and he awaited Chengdan’s planned listing, which could help him advance in cultivation.

• Old Master Cheng guided Hu Mang through the virtual network to Chengdan Spiritual Enterprise’s data sect and explained its research facilities and virtual experiments.
• Boss Cheng admitted Chengdan cooperated with Old Celestial People, but said their cyber cultivators were too unusual to serve as a mass-production model.
• Boss Cheng showed Hu Mang Chengdan’s research departments and its work on plant and grafted meridians before they returned to the virtual grotto-heaven.
• Hu Mang and Boss Cheng signed an equity contract without further negotiation, and Hu Mang sensed Fortune descending from the pact.
• Wu Cai told Hu Mang that Chengdan planned to begin its listing process in three months and that the resulting Fortune could help them advance.
• Hu Mang considered the risks of the listing tribulation and concluded that his stake might help him reach Golden Core Late Stage or beyond.

Hu Mang went fishing with Chen Xiaosan while investigating the Underworld Bureau’s activities and the Zheng Family Garden’s experiments. He discovered that fishing helped him master the High Antiquity rod, then received an excited call from Sister Yu.

• Hu Mang took Chen Xiaosan fishing to avoid invitations and read documents while Chen Xiaosan complained about King Chujiang’s assignments.
• Chen Xiaosan told Hu Mang that the Underworld Bureau was catching Jiangtou Imps to repair the Ghost Dragon Vein, while the Hundred Mysteries Night Parade handled dangerous seabed work.
• Hu Mang suspected the Bureau’s activity was connected to the Grave Transformation Heavenly Dao and decided to wait before investigating the Old Heavenly Gate’s Sea Dragon Vein.
• Hu Mang reviewed experiments that used Flesh and Blood Golden Cores to help cultivators form Golden Cores, and learned the Zheng Family Garden was seeking more of them.
• Hu Mang caught fish repeatedly with the High Antiquity rod and realized that fishing increased his mastery of it, while Chen Xiaosan caught only a shrimp.
• Sister Yu called Hu Mang, relieved that he was alive and saying she had nearly sent people overseas to rescue him.

Hu Mang learned that the Lust Abstinence Software had become a major success and that Sister Yu needed his help with its next version. Meanwhile, Xu Zhi'an and Hong Shuwei waited in Port Surumai for a chance to meet the Zheng Family Garden's Martial Hall Master, and Xu spotted an opportunity in a limping man across the street.

• Sister Yu told Hu Mang that the Lust Abstinence Software had become a hit and explained her plan to use a performance wager to make her branch independent.
• Hu Mang agreed to consider ideas for an update, then told Chen Xiaosan about the virtual grotto-heaven and Dao discussion room, prompting Chen Xiaosan to leave and play games online.
• Xu Zhi'an explained to Hong Shuwei why they needed the Zheng Family Garden's help and why their calling cards had not secured a meeting with its Martial Hall Master.
• Xu Zhi'an noticed a limping man across the street and told Hong Shuwei that the opportunity they had been waiting for had arrived.

Xu Zhi'an and Hong Shuwei followed a cripple toward the Zheng Family Garden, where they encountered uncanny strangers seeking Lü Pure Yang. Their attempt to stop the strangers turned into a fight, and Lan Caihe unleashed blood lotuses on Hong Shuwei and Liuniang as Xu Zhi'an faced the cripple's attack.

• Xu Zhi'an explained that someone had been scouting the Zheng Family Garden and planned to catch the intruders to gain an audience with its Martial Hall Master.
• The cripple met an elderly Daoist riding a white donkey and Lan Caihe, and the three continued toward the garden while Xu Zhi'an and Hong Shuwei sensed something was wrong.
• Xu Zhi'an sent Hong Shuwei to warn the garden and attacked the cripple with Gang Current Rends the Void, but nerve filaments burst from the cripple's leg and forced Xu Zhi'an to defend himself.
• Hong Shuwei reached the garden and urged Liuniang to take her to the Heavenly Blood Python, but Lan Caihe appeared on the lotus pond and asked for Lü Pure Yang.
• Lan Caihe declared that he would wake Lü Pure Yang, and blood lotuses erupted from the pond to attack Hong Shuwei and Liuniang.