Recaps

The chapter recounts how Tantai Jing brought the Demonic Sect into the sunlight and made it more prosperous than ever, while explaining how Demonic Emperor Wu Xingyun had recognized and supported him. It leaves Wu Xingyun and Tantai Jing as mutual sources of respect despite their constant insults.

• Tantai Jing led the Demonic Sect to unprecedented wealth and influence, bringing it openly into the sunlight.
• Wu Xingyun protected the Demonic Sect by retreating when Chu Xinghe was abducted, avoiding a devastating war with Gu Mingchao and the righteous path.
• Wu Xingyun recognized Tantai Jing's talent and gradually gave him room to lead rather than killing or suppressing him.
• The Demonic Sect's elders understood that Tantai Jing still respected Wu Xingyun as Lord Demonic Emperor and that Wu Xingyun regarded Tantai Jing as the sect's finest Devil Master.

Tantai Jing used the Demonic Sect’s intelligence network to track Chu Xinghe and his companions while considering how to profit from their plans. Night Owl and Black Sha received word that Jiu Hai would lead their mission to kill Yue Ling, though Black Sha’s warnings about being scammed infuriated the Master.

• Tantai Jing ordered Demon Demon Express members to watch over his relative, and reports about Chu Xinghe’s travels quickly poured in.
• Tantai Jing studied the reports from home and tried to determine Chu Xinghe’s plans and how he could benefit.
• The Master told Night Owl and Black Sha that the Sect Master would not punish them over Soul-Returning One Blade and had found them a helper named Jiu Hai.
• The Master ordered Night Owl and Black Sha to follow Jiu Hai’s instructions and not take action themselves.
• Black Sha warned the Master not to pay Jiu Hai in advance, prompting the Master to lose his temper as the communication token closed.

Night Owl and Black Sha concluded that Yue Ling might be impossible to kill, so Night Owl welcomed Jiu Hai’s help with the assassination. Jiu Hai arrived, subdued and poisoned Black Sha with his Azure Wood Formation, then removed the vines so the group could turn to their mission.

• Night Owl reflected on his and Black Sha’s bizarre failures and decided Jiu Hai should attempt to kill Yue Ling.
• Black Sha agreed that Yue Ling might not be fated to die, but an unseen voice mocked the idea and called failed assassins trash.
• Black Sha charged toward the voice, but Jiu Hai’s Azure Wood Formation swallowed his blade light and bound him in vines.
• Night Owl asked Jiu Hai to spare Black Sha because he controlled the Tracking Spirit Orb, and Jiu Hai removed the poisonous vine fragments from his body.
• Night Owl greeted Jiu Hai respectfully and considered the Ninth Rank formation master’s terrifying power a sign that their mission could succeed.

Qiu Tian accepted the Moon Shadow Cult’s request to kill Yue Ling after obtaining a written guarantee that the job had no connection to the Vast Heaven Holy Land. When Jiu Hai saw the memory crystal showing Yue Ling’s bodyguards, he mistook them for Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe, then began to doubt that the Chu Xinghe shown was genuine.

• Qiu Tian agreed to arrange assassins for the Moon Shadow Cult but demanded a guarantee excluding any connection to the Vast Heaven Holy Land.
• Black Sha used the Tracking Spirit Orb to locate Yue Ling, and Night Owl reported that she and two bodyguards were traveling north toward the capital.
• Jiu Hai questioned Night Owl about the bodyguards and scoffed when he learned Yue Ling had paid only three hundred spirit stones for them.
• Jiu Hai watched the memory crystal and panicked when he recognized one bodyguard as Ma Liang and the other as Chu Xinghe.
• Jiu Hai steadied himself after deciding that the Chu Xinghe in the recording looked too flustered to be the real one.

Jiu Hai prepared linked killing formations in the Black Wind Forest to ambush Yue Ling and her companions, while they continued north unaware of the trap. Yue Ling wondered why her pursuers had stopped attacking, and Chu Xinghe chose not to remove the Spirit Tracking Mark because he was being paid only five spirit stones.

• Jiu Hai decided that the Black Wind Forest was the best place to ambush Yue Ling, since it lay on the only road north and an attack there was less likely to draw the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s attention.
• Jiu Hai set up several interconnected killing formations and threatened Black Sha when he questioned whether they might malfunction.
• Jiu Hai, Night Owl, and Black Sha waited in the forest for Yue Ling’s group to arrive.
• Yue Ling wondered why the killers pursuing her had disappeared, while Ma Liang joked that they might have stopped to relieve themselves.
• Chu Xinghe knew Yue Ling still had a Spirit Tracking Mark but decided not to remove it because he was being paid only five spirit stones.

Tantai Jing wondered why Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang were traveling slowly and ordered his people to keep watching them. In the Black Wind Forest, Jiu Hai activated his killing formation against Yue Ling’s trio, but it failed to respond, letting them walk through unharmed.

• Tantai Jing heard that Yue Ling’s trio were heading toward the Black Wind Forest and ordered his subordinate to monitor them.
• Black Sha mocked Jiu Hai as the formation master repeatedly checked his chain of killing formations, while Black Sha suspected he would be killed once the mission ended.
• Jiu Hai saw Yue Ling’s trio enter the forest and assumed Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang were impostors because they had not detected his formation.
• Jiu Hai waited until the trio reached the center of the formations, then tried repeatedly to activate them.
• The killing formation did not respond, and Yue Ling’s trio walked through it and disappeared into the forest.

Jiu Hai’s killing arrays finally activated just as a Demon Demon Express team passed through the Black Wind Forest, killing every courier. Tantai Jing learned that his relatives were traveling through the forest and was told they were safe, but then an elder reported the massacre.

• Jiu Hai repeatedly failed to activate his killing arrays while Night Owl and Black Sha questioned his ability.
• The arrays came to life just as Demon Demon Express couriers entered the area, killing the entire team.
• Black Sha praised Jiu Hai for causing trouble, while Night Owl urged him and Black Sha to flee.
• Tantai Jing received reports that his relatives were heading north through the Black Wind Forest and believed they were in no danger.
• A Demonic Sect elder rushed in and told Tantai Jing that a Demon Demon Express team had been ambushed and killed in the forest.

Tantai Jing investigated the deliberate killing of Demon Demon Express couriers in the Black Wind Forest and ordered the Demonic Sect to find whoever was responsible. Meanwhile, Hei Sha, Night Owl, and Jiu Hai hid in an underground cave, where Hei Sha admired Jiu Hai’s boldness.

• Tantai Jing learned that Demon Demon Express couriers had been killed in the Black Wind Forest and went to inspect the scene.
• Elder Tan determined that a chained killing formation had killed the couriers and that none of their packages had been taken.
• Tantai Jing discovered that someone had deliberately activated the formation against the couriers, not killed them by accident.
• Tantai Jing ordered the Demonic Sect to investigate, arrange proper burials, and compensate the couriers’ families.
• Hei Sha, Night Owl, and Jiu Hai hid in an underground cave, while Hei Sha privately marveled at Jiu Hai’s audacity.

After Jiu Hai killed the Demonic Sect courier, he and Night Owl kept Black Sha from learning the truth and planned to eliminate him once their mission was complete. Jiu Hai set another killing array along Yue Ling’s route while Tantai Jing searched Black Wind Forest personally rather than risk angering its two powerful residents.

• Night Owl promised Jiu Hai that the Moon Shadow Cult would keep the courier’s death secret, and Jiu Hai concluded that Black Sha would also have to be killed after their mission.
• Jiu Hai decided to remain in Black Wind Forest and use another killing array, believing a direct attack could reveal him to Tantai Jing.
• Jiu Hai asked Black Sha to use the Tracking Spirit Orb, which revealed Yue Ling’s approximate location.
• Jiu Hai and Night Owl chose a route Yue Ling’s group would have to take, and Jiu Hai set up and repeatedly checked a new killing array there.
• Tantai Jing searched Black Wind Forest himself instead of ordering a large-scale search that might provoke its two powerful residents.

Tantai Jing halted the Demonic Sect’s search inside Black Wind Forest to avoid disrupting Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang, while Yue Ling and her companions continued through the forest toward Jiu Hai’s ambush. Jiu Hai’s killing formation activated, but the Demon Demon Express couriers who rushed into it were wiped out instead, leaving Yue Ling and Jiu Hai stunned.

• Tantai Jing canceled operations inside Black Wind Forest and ordered his subordinates to continue their deliveries as usual while he searched alone.
• Yue Ling rejected Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe’s suggestion to rest, and the three continued traveling through the forest at night.
• Chu Xinghe saw that Ma Liang’s Martial God-level ghosts were keeping the forest’s demonic beasts and ghosts away from the group.
• Jiu Hai watched Yue Ling and her companions enter his killing formation and tried to activate it, but it did not respond.
• Jiu Hai waited for his passive formation to trigger, but Demon Demon Express couriers rushed into the formation and were killed when it erupted.

Yue Ling, Ma Liang, and Chu Xinghe avoided a gang of Demon Demon Express couriers, who triggered Jiu Hai’s hidden killing formations and were wiped out. Tantai Jing arrived, captured Jiu Hai, and learned that Jiu Hai had been targeting Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang, while Night Owl and Black Sha escaped.

• Yue Ling pulled Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe away from the couriers and took another road to avoid a confrontation.
• The couriers entered the center of Jiu Hai’s killing formation, triggering it and dying in the formations.
• Tantai Jing arrived too late to save the couriers, tracked the spying formation to Jiu Hai, and stopped Jiu Hai’s teleportation escape.
• Tantai Jing shattered Jiu Hai’s formations, seized him, and cut off both his arms.
• Jiu Hai claimed he had been targeting Chu Xinghe, Ma Liang, and Yue Ling rather than the couriers, but Night Owl and Black Sha had already fled using Blood Escape Art.

Jiu Hai failed to kill Yue Ling and instead struck Tantai Jing’s Demon Demon Express couriers twice, prompting Tantai Jing to seize him and demand an explanation from Qiu Tian. After receiving Tantai Jing’s message, Qiu Tian assumed he was being framed and teleported over to confront him.

• Night Owl and Black Sha fled with Blood Escape after Jiu Hai struck the Demon Demon Express couriers a second time.
• Tantai Jing grabbed Jiu Hai and accused Qiu Tian of secretly attacking his Demonic Sect’s couriers.
• Jiu Hai claimed the attacks were misunderstandings and said he had come to kill Yue Ling, Chu Xinghe, and Ma Liang, but Tantai Jing slapped him twice and ordered Qiu Tian to come explain.
• Qiu Tian received Tantai Jing’s message, learned that Jiu Hai had attacked two batches of couriers, and believed Tantai Jing was trying to frame his Demonic Sect.
• Qiu Tian activated a teleportation formation to confront Tantai Jing.

Qiu Tian arrived at the Black Wind Forest convinced that Tantai Jing was framing Jiu Hai, but Jiu Hai’s memory crystal revealed Chu Xinghe among the intended targets. Qiu Tian destroyed the evidence and admitted that Jiu Hai had been ordered to attack the Demon Demon Express couriers.

• Qiu Tian arrived and demanded that Jiu Hai explain why the Demonic Sect’s couriers had been killed.
• Jiu Hai claimed the first killing was an accident and said a memory crystal would prove the second was, too.
• Jiu Hai showed the crystal, which revealed that Yue Ling, Chu Xinghe, and Ma Liang had entered his killing array as targets.
• Qiu Tian slapped Jiu Hai, crushed the memory crystal, and admitted that he had ordered the attack on the Demon Demon Express couriers.

Qiu Tian killed Jiu Hai to conceal that the Demonic Sect had been hired to assassinate Chu Xinghe, then agreed to give Tantai Jing half the sect's proceeds to keep the matter from the Great Sage. After returning to the Spirit Beast Continent, Qiu Tian destroyed the Moon Shadow Cult, leaving its surviving assassins unsure whether to continue their mission.

• Jiu Hai tried to explain that their targets were Yue Ling's group, but Qiu Tian struck him down and insisted they had come to kill the Demon Demon Express courier.
• Tantai Jing called for Jiu Hai's protection, but Qiu Tian killed him and destroyed his soul to silence him.
• Tantai Jing threatened to tell the Great Sage what had happened, so Qiu Tian agreed to give him half the Demonic Sect's proceeds.
• Qiu Tian ordered the Demonic Sect on the Spirit Beast Continent to destroy the Moon Shadow Cult and personally killed its leader.
• Night Owl and Black Sha read the Haotian Mirror report and wondered whether they should continue their assassination mission after their cult had been wiped out.

After the Moon Shadow Cult was destroyed, Night Owl and Black Sha argued over whether to abandon their mission to assassinate Yue Ling. Night Owl's Death Spirit Curse forced him to continue, so Black Sha negotiated a Heavenly Dao Contract guaranteeing they would split the cult's hidden resources if they succeeded.

• Night Owl and Black Sha learned from the Haotian Mirror that Qiu Tian had destroyed the Moon Shadow Cult, and Night Owl admitted the cult leader had ordered him to kill Black Sha after the mission.
• Black Sha asked to part ways, but Night Owl revealed the Death Spirit Curse would eventually harm him if he failed to complete the mission.
• Night Owl threatened Black Sha, who pointed out that Night Owl needed his help and the Tracking Spirit Orb to find Yue Ling.
• Night Owl offered to split the Moon Shadow Cult's hidden resources with Black Sha, but Black Sha demanded a Heavenly Dao Contract to ensure the deal.
• Night Owl activated the contract, and Black Sha agreed to help assassinate Yue Ling in exchange for half the resources.

Black Sha and Night Owl planned to ambush Yue Ling at Water Spirit Valley with the damaged Hundred Ghosts Formation Flag, hoping to kill her and escape the Moon Shadow Cult’s pursuers. As Yue Ling, Chu Xinghe, and Ma Liang reached the valley, Yue Ling claimed the crisis in the Great Liang Kingdom was secretly connected to Vast Heaven Holy Land, leaving both men baffled.

• Night Owl revealed his damaged Hundred Ghosts Formation Flag and explained it could summon ghosts once before being destroyed.
• Night Owl persuaded Black Sha to avoid a direct attack because their Moon Shadow Cult ties and Qiu Tian’s pursuit made it too dangerous to show themselves.
• Black Sha tracked Yue Ling with the Tracking Spirit Orb, and the two assassins headed to Water Spirit Valley to ambush her.
• Yue Ling and her companions arrived at Water Spirit Valley on their way to the Canglang River and the capital of the Great Liang Kingdom.
• When Ma Liang asked why Yue Ling was traveling to the capital, she said the Great Liang Kingdom’s troubles and outside threats were connected to Vast Heaven Holy Land, astonishing Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang.

Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang followed Yue Ling toward the Great Liang Kingdom, puzzled by her claim that its troubles involved the Vast Heaven Holy Land. In Water Spirit Valley, Night Owl and Black Sha’s ambush collided with the injured master’s shadow guards, leaving Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang bewildered as the two enemy groups fought each other.

• Ma Liang secretly asked Shen Chun about the Great Liang Kingdom, and Shen Chun said its affairs had nothing to do with the Vast Heaven Holy Land.
• Yue Ling, Chu Xinghe, and Ma Liang entered Water Spirit Valley while Night Owl and Black Sha followed, planning to attack after nightfall.
• The Moon Shadow Cult’s master gathered more than a hundred shadow guards and ordered them to kill Yue Ling before she reached the capital.
• The master mistook Night Owl and Black Sha for hidden protectors of Yue Ling and sent the shadow guards to find them.
• Night Owl activated the Hundred Ghosts Formation Flag as the shadow guards attacked, trapping both sides in a chaotic battle.
• Chu Xinghe asked Ma Liang if he had caused the fight, and Ma Liang said he did not know why they had suddenly started fighting each other.

Night Owl’s Hundred Ghosts Formation Flag and the lord’s shadow guards clashed in Water Spirit Valley, while Ma Liang secretly manipulated his own specters to keep Yue Ling safe and make both sides believe they were fighting evenly. The battle continued as Ma Liang worked to control the strength and timing of the combatants.

• Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang spotted Night Owl, Black Sha, and the lord’s shadow guards as they arrived, and Ma Liang praised their persistence.
• Night Owl activated the Hundred Ghosts Formation Flag, causing his ghosts and the shadow guards to fight while both sides tried to reach Yue Ling.
• The lord and Night Owl each mistook the opposing forces for a powerful enemy’s allies and marveled at their combat strength.
• Ma Liang’s summoned specters secretly blocked shadow guards from reaching Yue Ling, while Night Owl mistook them for his own ghosts.
• Ma Liang carefully adjusted his specters’ cultivation so they could trade blows with the shadow guards and keep the battle going.

Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe helped conceal their strength while Night Owl’s Hundred Ghosts Formation destroyed the shadow guards, but the cloaked lord emerged and fought the remaining ghosts. The lord and Night Owl were left gravely wounded before Black Sha recognized the lord and accused him of surrendering, ending the battle in stunned confusion.

• Ma Liang controlled the fierce ghosts as Yue Ling led Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe away from the battle.
• Night Owl kept the Hundred Ghosts Formation active after the shadow guards fell, sensing that their leader was still hiding nearby.
• The lord burned his life force, attacked the fierce ghosts, and fought Night Owl, who also burned his life to empower them.
• After the lord killed every fierce ghost and shattered Night Owl’s formation flag, Black Sha burned his life and attacked with his ghost-head saber.
• The lord recognized Black Sha by the saber, and the wind blew back his cloak, revealing his identity to Night Owl and Black Sha.
• Black Sha accused the lord of surrendering and causing their failed missions, making the furious lord spit blood and fragments of his lungs.

Black Sha, his lord, and Night Owl argued over which of them had defected while Yue Ling escaped. They ended the chapter suspecting one another after discovering she had vanished.

• Black Sha accused his lord of betraying the Moon Shadow Cult, while his lord accused Black Sha and Night Owl of defecting.
• Black Sha and his lord turned their suspicions on Night Owl after noticing his unexpectedly powerful fighting and the unfamiliar shadow guards.
• Night Owl showed them the Death Spirit Curse on his arm, and Black Sha decided his lord was the traitor.
• Black Sha suggested the dead cult leader might have defected, but Night Owl pointed out that the cult leader had been beheaded.
• Night Owl questioned where his lord's shadow guards had come from, and his lord blamed Night Owl's Hundred Ghosts Formation for their defeat.
• Black Sha urged them to kill Yue Ling, but the three discovered she had disappeared and suspected one another of helping her escape.

The Master, Black Sha, and Night Owl discovered they had accidentally wiped out their own shadow guards while Yue Ling escaped. After the lord dismissed their excuses and threatened their prospects, the three agreed to work together to redeem themselves and survive.

• Black Sha blamed the Master for their disastrous fight, while the three white-haired men realized they had burned their life force attacking their own side.
• The lord contacted the Master and learned that the shadow guards had been wiped out and Yue Ling had escaped.
• The Master explained that the deaths had resulted from a misunderstanding, leaving the lord silent for half an hour before he mocked the three as defectors and idiots.
• The lord ended the call and assigned the mission elsewhere, prompting Black Sha and Night Owl to guard against the Master.
• The Master said the lord would punish all three unless they made up for their failure, and Black Sha and Night Owl agreed to join forces with him.

After learning that the great lord would kill them for failing, Black Sha, Night Owl, and their lord decided to pursue Yue Ling and redeem themselves. Their lord revealed a Blue-Patterned Jiao that could help them attack on the Canglang River, while Black Sha secured his safety with a Heavenly Dao Contract.

• Their lord warned Black Sha and Night Owl that the great lord had abandoned them and would soon have them killed unless they completed the mission.
• Black Sha and Night Owl agreed to pursue Yue Ling, but pointed out that all three were too weakened by burning their life force to fight.
• Their lord revealed his Blue-Patterned Jiao, and the three planned to use it to attack Yue Ling and her companions on the Canglang River.
• Night Owl and their lord gave their healing pills to Black Sha so he could recover enough to activate the Tracking Spirit Orb and locate Yue Ling.
• Black Sha questioned whether their lord planned to kill him after the mission, then made him sign a Heavenly Dao Contract promising not to do so.

Chu Xinghe, Yue Ling, and Ma Liang traveled north aboard a small Great River Merchant Association ship after Yue Ling pawned her jade pendant to pay for passage. Li Weihong and another group pursuing them set off to intercept the ship, leaving the three travelers in danger.

• Yue Ling rejected Demon Demon Water Transport’s expensive passage and pawned her jade pendant so the three companions could board a Great River Merchant Association ship.
• Li Weihong’s men identified the ship carrying Yue Ling, Chu Xinghe, and Ma Liang after the group asked around at the dock.
• Li Weihong mobilized the White Dragon Navy and ordered his men to pursue the ship and kill everyone aboard.
• Black Sha used the Tracking Spirit Orb to locate the targets, and their master sent the Blue-Patterned Jiao racing down the Canglang River after them.

Aboard a ship bound for the Great Liang Kingdom’s capital, Zhao Yue Ling revealed that she was a princess and explained the deadly struggle surrounding her return. She also claimed the Great Chang Kingdom’s invasion was backed by the Vast Heaven Holy Land, leaving Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe stunned.

• Ma Liang told Zhao Yue Ling he would go even if he believed a mission meant certain death, and Chu Xinghe insisted that no outcome was truly destined to fail.
• Zhao Yue Ling revealed that her surname was Zhao and that she was a princess of the Great Liang Kingdom, but Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe showed little surprise.
• Zhao Yue Ling explained that her father, Zhao Su, was unconscious, her brothers had died, and assassins from uncertain factions had repeatedly tried to kill her on her journey to the capital.
• Zhao Yue Ling said the Great Liang Kingdom was losing to the Great Chang Kingdom despite its greater strength because the Vast Heaven Holy Land was backing the invasion.
• Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe were dumbfounded by Zhao Yue Ling’s claim about the Vast Heaven Holy Land.

Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang realized that the attackers targeting Zhao Yue Ling were unlikely to come from the Vast Heaven Holy Land, and they chose to continue escorting her to the capital. Before the White Dragon Navy could attack their merchant ship, the Grow Old Together Trio arrived on the Blue-Patterned Jiao, which unexpectedly destroyed a warship and wiped out its crew.

• Chu Xinghe concluded that the mastermind behind the attacks could not be from the Vast Heaven Holy Land because the attackers had failed to recognize him and Ma Liang.
• Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe refused to leave Zhao Yue Ling at the dock and decided to accompany her to the capital.
• Three White Dragon Navy warships surrounded the Great River Merchant Association's ship, and Li Weihong ordered his forces to leave no one alive.
• The Grow Old Together Trio arrived on the Blue-Patterned Jiao and sent it to hold back the White Dragon Navy.
• The Blue-Patterned Jiao unleashed a wave that split one White Dragon warship in two and killed everyone aboard, stunning the lord and Night Owl.