Chapter Summaries

Zhao Qi and Wan Fang survived a second Moon Shadow Cult attack at the Huiming Sect, leaving Zhao Qi and High Person Huiming demanding answers while Zhao Qi remained baffled about the cult’s motive. As guests and disciples spread rumors about an old grudge, Chu Xinghe eagerly asked for more gossip about the Moon Shadow Cult leader and Wan Fang.

• Zhao Qi and Wan Fang destroyed Night Owl’s ghost envoy, and Night Owl escaped using the Blood Escape Art.
• High Person Huiming grew furious that Moon Shadow Cult attackers had entered his sect, punished the guards and patrol elders, and arranged protection for Zhao Qi and Wan Fang.
• Zhao Qi told High Person Huiming that he did not know why the Moon Shadow Cult kept targeting him, and High Person Huiming promised to demand an explanation.
• Yue Ling told guests about the earlier attack in Gathering Fire City, leading them to speculate that the Moon Shadow Cult and Gathering Fire Sect had an old grudge.
• Chu Xinghe listened to the gossip while claiming he was only protecting Yue Ling, then asked to hear more when someone mentioned the Moon Shadow Cult leader had known Wan Fang when he was young.

Ma Liang, Yue Ling, and Chu Xinghe left the Huiming Sect as news spread that the Moon Shadow Cult had twice ambushed Zhao Qi and his wife by mistake. Their lord confronted the battered Black Sha and Night Owl, then revealed that the cult leader had hired Soul-Returning One Blade to kill the target.

• Ma Liang, Yue Ling, and Chu Xinghe ate breakfast at the Huiming Sect and continued north toward the Great Liang Kingdom’s capital.
• Word spread that the Moon Shadow Cult had ambushed Zhao Qi and his wife twice, leaving the cult’s members baffled about Night Owl’s apparent fixation on them.
• Black Sha and Night Owl argued over their failed attacks, and Night Owl’s lord accused him of defecting after hearing what had happened.
• Their lord ordered Night Owl to explain himself to the furious cult leader, then said the leader had hired Soul-Returning One Blade to take the target’s life.

The cult leader hired Soul-Returning One Blade to kill Yue Ling, committing all the Moon Shadow Cult’s resources in the Number One Treasury as payment. Night Owl and Black Sha retrieved the treasure and encountered the assassin outside, where his lightning-fast strike left Night Owl convinced Yue Ling could not survive.

• Night Owl learned that Soul-Returning One Blade had accepted the contract to kill Yue Ling because she could not be allowed to return to the capital.
• His lord ordered Night Owl to retrieve the Number One Treasury’s resources and give them to Soul-Returning One Blade, warning him not to fail.
• Night Owl and Black Sha traveled to the treasury’s hidden location in the Great Liang Kingdom and opened it.
• Black Sha suggested splitting the treasure, but Night Owl stopped him, and they packed away all the resources for the assassin.
• Soul-Returning One Blade appeared outside the treasury and demanded the resources, then unleashed a blade strike that Night Owl could not resist before it vanished.

Night Owl and Black Sha brought Soul-Returning One Blade to Luofeng City to kill Yue Ling, confident that his skill would overcome any hidden protection. Soul-Returning One Blade revealed his Eye of Divine Sense and began searching for Yue Ling, while she remained unaware of the danger at the inn.

• Night Owl recalled that the Moon Shadow Cult had hired Soul-Returning One Blade with the No. 1 treasury’s resources because Yue Ling’s recent escapes suggested someone was secretly helping her.
• Soul-Returning One Blade demonstrated his terrifying control over his blade strike, then ordered Night Owl to take him to Yue Ling.
• Black Sha used the Tracking Spirit Orb and found Yue Ling and her companions in Luofeng City; Soul-Returning One Blade insisted they strike there rather than wait for them to leave.
• Yue Ling toured Luofeng City with Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe, while Ma Liang followed Chu Xinghe’s instruction to protect her without attacking the Moon Shadow Cult proactively.
• At night, Night Owl, Black Sha, and Soul-Returning One Blade entered the city and located Yue Ling’s general area with the Tracking Spirit Orb.
• Soul-Returning One Blade used his Eye of Divine Sense to spread his powerful divine sense through the city, astonishing Night Owl as he began searching for the target.

Night Owl learned that Soul-Returning One Blade’s Eye of Divine Sense let him locate and suppress targets, and he expected to witness the assassin kill Yue Ling. Instead, Soul-Returning One Blade flew away, leaving Night Owl and Black Sha baffled and wondering whether their master had been scammed.

• Night Owl realized Soul-Returning One Blade had used his Eye of Divine Sense to locate Ma Chengkun and kill him by briefly suppressing the people guarding him.
• Soul-Returning One Blade found Yue Ling, told Night Owl to record the assassination, and flew toward her inn.
• Soul-Returning One Blade paused above the inn, then abruptly flew away while Night Owl and Black Sha waited for him to strike.
• At dawn, Night Owl and Black Sha were still waiting outside the inn when a waiter came out and startled them.
• Night Owl tried to contact Soul-Returning One Blade, but the communication token said the target was more than a thousand li away.
• Black Sha suggested their master might have been scammed, leaving Night Owl stunned.

Black Sha and Night Owl realized Soul-Returning One Blade had fled without attacking, while the assassin hid underground after sensing that his targets were the real Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe. They showed their master the memory crystal, leaving him speechless and suspecting he had been scammed.

• Black Sha and Night Owl reviewed the memory crystal and concluded Soul-Returning One Blade had flown away without making an attack.
• Soul-Returning One Blade revealed that sensing the real Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe had terrified him, so he fled and hid underground for five years.
• The master contacted Black Sha and Night Owl, assuming Soul-Returning One Blade had completed the assassination and left as usual.
• Black Sha and Night Owl played the memory crystal for their master, which showed Soul-Returning One Blade disappearing without striking.
• Black Sha told the speechless master that he had probably been scammed.

The Moon Shadow Cult declared Soul-Returning One Blade a scammer and issued a kill order after learning he had fled without attempting to assassinate Yue Ling. At an inn in Wei City, Yue Ling, Ma Liang, and Chu Xinghe encountered Tantai Jing, who had come to enforce the Demonic Sect’s claim that its couriers must not be harmed.

• Black Sha convinced the master that Soul-Returning One Blade had built a false reputation and fled the assassination attempt, then reminded him that the masked assassin’s identity was unknown.
• The master lost his temper and the Moon Shadow Cult issued a kill order for Soul-Returning One Blade.
• At an inn in Wei City, Yue Ling asked Ma Liang whether the reports about Soul-Returning One Blade being a scammer were true, and Ma Liang recalled how swiftly the assassin had escaped.
• Tantai Jing arrived in Wei City with Demonic Sect underlings after retaliating against people who had killed Demon Demon Express couriers during the war between the Great Liang Kingdom and the Great Chang Kingdom.
• When an elder reported that Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang were nearby, Tantai Jing dismissed the claim until he saw them himself.

Tantai Jing discovered Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang in a small city, only for Yue Ling to mistake him for an impersonator because he seemed too polite to be the Demonic Sect's ruler. He left the encounter baffled, while Yue Ling accepted his threat to his subordinates as a convincing display of Tantai Jing's nature.

• After hearing that Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang were nearby, Tantai Jing went to confirm their identities and found them with Yue Ling.
• Tantai Jing greeted Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang and asked who Yue Ling was after learning she was their employer.
• Yue Ling mistook Tantai Jing for an impersonator and criticized his performance as too polite to resemble the Demonic Sect's ruler.
• When Yue Ling asked for his old name, Tantai Jing feared she knew he was reborn, but Ma Liang explained that his real name was Ma Jing.
• Yue Ling advised Ma Jing to choose another impersonation, and Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang laughed at Tantai Jing's confusion.
• After Tantai Jing threatened his laughing subordinates and they fell to their knees, Yue Ling said his behavior finally resembled Tantai Jing.

Tantai Jing met Chu Xinghe, Ma Liang, and Yue Ling in Wei City and suspected their unusual escort job concealed a secret plan. He decided the Demonic Sect would track them openly by arranging Demon Demon Express deliveries along their routes.

• Chu Xinghe explained to the bewildered Tantai Jing that Yue Ling had hired him and Ma Liang to escort her to the Great Liang Kingdom's capital for three hundred spirit stones.
• Tantai Jing left Wei City with the Demonic Sect disciples, then secretly returned instead of departing for the Spirit Beast Continent.
• Tantai Jing reasoned that Chu Xinghe's fee of two hundred and ninety-five spirit stones was suspicious and persuaded the elders that Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang might be pursuing a secret opportunity.
• Tantai Jing warned the elders against secretly following Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang, since doing so could provoke them and the Vast Heaven Holy Land.
• Tantai Jing proposed using Demon Demon Express deliveries to monitor Chu Xinghe openly, and the elders praised his plan.

Tantai Jing explained how Demon Demon Express’s ordinary delivery routes could gather intelligence on Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang without exposing the Demonic Sect. He arranged for couriers to keep a casual eye on them under the pretense that Chu Xinghe was Tantai Jing’s troublesome relative, while the elders reflected on how Chu Xinghe stood in the way of Tantai Jing’s rise.

• Tantai Jing proposed using Demon Demon Express couriers’ routine routes to learn about Chu Xinghe, Ma Liang, and their companion without openly tracking them.
• Tantai Jing explained that everyday workers made better observers than spies because their familiar presence would not arouse suspicion.
• A Demonic Sect elder eagerly offered to have couriers closely watch Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang, but Tantai Jing warned that the couriers would be too nervous and draw attention.
• Tantai Jing told the elders to describe Chu Xinghe as his good-for-nothing relative who merely pretended to be Chu Xinghe, so couriers would casually check that he was safe.
• Tantai Jing sent his subordinates to carry out the plan, and the Demonic Sect elders lamented that Chu Xinghe’s presence kept the sect from enjoying an era led by Tantai Jing.

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.