Chapter Summaries

Lin Xuan successfully formed a Devil Infant, greatly increasing his power and realizing it could serve as a second Nascent Soul. When Ma Tianming delivered the Ma Family’s tribute, he offered Lin Xuan a ten-thousand-year spirit herb and asked for his help.

• Lin Xuan revealed his newly formed Devil Infant to Yue'er and explained that he could now contend with Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivators.
• Lin Xuan sensed Ma Tianming at the valley and emerged to accept the Ma Family’s tribute, instructing him to bring crystal stones instead of ginseng in the future.
• Ma Tianming presented a ten-thousand-year spirit herb, which escaped from its jade box before Lin Xuan caught and secured it.
• Lin Xuan recognized that Ma Tianming had offered the treasure in hopes of asking for help, and Ma Tianming began explaining his request.

Ma Tianming asked Lin Xuan for help with his cultivation bottleneck, and Lin Xuan gave him a high-grade Foundation Establishment Pill in exchange for the Ma Family’s spirit herb. Meanwhile, two Haoran Sect elders slaughtered the Ma Family at its main altar to conceal their identities before going after Lin Xuan.

• Ma Tianming knelt before Lin Xuan and asked for guidance on breaking through his cultivation bottleneck.
• Lin Xuan gave Ma Tianming a high-grade Foundation Establishment Pill in exchange for the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Herb, which Lin Xuan said was more precious than it appeared.
• Yue'er questioned Lin Xuan’s willingness to give away such a valuable pill, and Lin Xuan explained that the spirit herb warranted it.
• Two terrifying spiritual pressures reached the Ma Family’s main altar, where a red light killed Ma Xian before he could investigate.
• A Confucian-robed Haoran Sect elder killed Old Man Ma and explained to his junior that the Ma Family had to be exterminated to hide their plan to eliminate Lin Xuan.

Lin Xuan arrived after two Confucian cultivators killed Ma Tianming and confronted them over the Ma Family’s deaths. He revealed that he had reached the Nascent Soul Realm, leaving the two enemies terrified and powerless.

• The old scholar and his junior brother decided to kill the Demon Nether Sect elder at the canyon.
• Ma Tianming sensed danger, but the two Confucian cultivators intercepted and killed him with the Purple Sun True Fire.
• Lin Xuan arrived and told the Confucian cultivators he would avenge the innocent Ma Family members they had killed.
• The two cultivators prepared to attack Lin Xuan from both sides, believing his cultivation was only at the Late Core Condensation Realm.
• Lin Xuan unleashed his Nascent Soul Realm spiritual pressure, terrifying both cultivators until the old scholar fell to his knees.

Lin Xuan killed one Haoran Sect cultivator and tested his newly cultivated Azure Phantom Nether Fire on the fleeing provincial graduate. The graduate self-destructed, but Lin Xuan noticed a faint thread of yellow light amid the blood.

• The two Haoran Sect cultivators begged Lin Xuan for mercy, but he attacked them with dozens of azure sword lights.
• The old scholar fused his Mother-Child Flying Swords into a tiger-headed, serpent-bodied monster to cover his companion's escape, but Lin Xuan's sword light destroyed it and killed him.
• The young provincial graduate fled and realized Lin Xuan's power did not quite match that of the Nascent Soul cultivators he knew.
• Lin Xuan sent his Azure Phantom Nether Fire after the graduate, and it pierced through his life-bound scroll.
• The provincial graduate self-destructed, and Lin Xuan spotted a faint thread of yellow light and moved his divine sense toward it.

Lin Xuan captured the surviving soul of a Nascent Soul Realm attacker, then abandoned his secluded cultivation site after realizing the celestial omen would attract more enemies. As the Ma Family’s slaughter inflamed tensions between the Demon Nether Sect and Haoran Sect, the Demon Nether Master urged restraint to protect a secret plan nearing completion.

• Lin Xuan seized the young scholar’s soul in a jade box, collected the Storage Bags, and reflected on the Ma Family’s deaths.
• Lin Xuan told Yue'er that the celestial omen could draw more cultivators, then destroyed the traces of his cave abode and left.
• Cultivators investigating the omen discovered the Ma Family had been wiped out, and suspicion and accusations between the Demon Nether Sect and Haoran Sect intensified.
• At the Demon Nether Sect’s main altar, the red-haired old man urged retaliation against the Haoran Sect, but Demon Nether Master argued that war would jeopardize their plan.
• Demon Nether Master pointed out that nine eyes of the lifebound beasts had lit up and said they would deal with the Haoran Sect after their plan succeeded.

After the turmoil surrounding the Ma Family’s destruction faded without a new war between the Demon Nether Sect and Haoran Sect, Lin Xuan reached the Yin Spirit Plains. He went there to help Yue'er advance her cultivation and to refine a powerful Corpse King, and the chapter left him entering the dangerous wasteland in disguise.

• The Demon Nether Sect and Haoran Sect continued their war of words for months but did not fight, and the conflict over the Ma Family gradually settled.
• Lin Xuan arrived at the Yin Spirit Plains, a vast wasteland filled with corpse aura and frequented by ghost cultivators.
• Lin Xuan sought a powerful Yin Vein to help Yue'er overcome her Core Condensation bottleneck.
• Lin Xuan also planned to erase the Corpse Infant's divine sense and fuse it with his Demon Infant to create a Nascent Soul Realm Refined Corpse.
• Lin Xuan flew deeper into the plains concealed by Ghost Mist, intending to use the Profound Demon Great Art to avoid drawing attention.

Lin Xuan searched the Yin Spirit Plains for a top-grade Yin Vein and found a married couple fighting a flock of Three-Eyed Corpse Crows. He watched as the husband unleashed a dangerous secret art, and the battle remained unresolved as the crows attacked with demonic fire.

• Lin Xuan rejected the middling Yin Veins he had found and used his divine sense to search for someone who could guide him to a better one.
• Lin Xuan reached a gorge where a married couple fought more than thirty Three-Eyed Corpse Crows.
• The husband surged from Foundation Establishment Middle Stage to great perfection, his body bleeding under the strain of the secret art.
• The husband summoned a black-fog skull while the Corpse Crows resumed their attack and spat a combined fireball of demonic fire.
• Lin Xuan prepared to intervene, but the husband made another move before Lin Xuan could unleash his spell.

Lin Xuan rescued a couple from Corpse Crows and discovered that the husband’s secret technique had triggered a deadly backlash. He decided to treat the man so he could question him later.

• The man used his vital blood to strengthen a skeleton and drive back the Corpse Crows, but struggled to control his newly elevated power.
• Lin Xuan killed the attacking Corpse Crows with Ghost Mist after saving the man from two of them.
• The man collapsed as his cultivation fell to the Spirit Movement Stage and the backlash began to endanger his life.
• Lin Xuan told the woman to lay her husband flat and decided to save him so he could ask him questions.
• The woman begged Lin Xuan for help, and he took a medicine bottle from his Storage Bag.

Lin Xuan saved a wounded cultivator and questioned him about the Yin Spirit Plains, learning of a rumored top-grade Yin Vein beyond a swamp to the west. He flew there despite Yue'er suspecting the married couple had ill intentions.

• Lin Xuan gave the woman two pills and instructed her to infuse her husband's Ren meridian with spiritual energy, saving his life.
• The husband thanked Lin Xuan and claimed that he and Lianmei were Rogue Cultivators, then offered him a Jade Slip describing a cultivation technique he had found in an Ancient Cave.
• Lin Xuan asked about a top-grade Yin Vein, and the husband described a rumor about one beyond a poisonous swamp roughly three hundred li to the west.
• Lianmei reacted in alarm when her husband began giving directions, but he explained away her reaction and continued.
• Lin Xuan flew west toward the swamp, while the husband watched with guilt that soon turned to ruthlessness.
• Yue'er warned Lin Xuan that the couple seemed ill-intentioned, and Lin Xuan said he already knew.

Lin Xuan and Yue'er realized the couple who had directed them toward a swamp were acting suspiciously, and Lin Xuan discovered that an evil demon controlled them through strange restrictions. He chose to investigate cautiously, while the couple revealed that they had been ordered to lure cultivators to the Corpse Demon and that the husband had deliberately sent Lin Xuan there out of jealousy.

• Yue'er pointed out that the female cultivator's unexplained fear suggested the couple had ill intentions, and Lin Xuan agreed that they might be plotting against him.
• Lin Xuan sensed a restriction containing corpse qi inside the couple and suspected an evil demon controlled them, so he decided to investigate the Yin Vein instead of confronting them.
• The husband recovered from using an ancient jade tube's divine ability, though his cultivation had fallen to the Spirit Movement Stage, and his wife Lianmei asked why he had deceived Lin Xuan into going to the swamp.
• The husband admitted that a Corpse Demon had captured them and required them to deliver a cultivator every three days, while concealing that jealousy had also motivated him to target Lin Xuan.
• Lianmei fell silent after the husband reminded her that the demon's restriction could kill them, and Lin Xuan avoided capturing the couple or using Soul-Searching in case it triggered the restriction.

Lin Xuan followed a Demon Bee’s divine sense back to the Corpse Demon Swamp, where he learned that a Corpse Demon might be cultivating near a Yin Vein. There, he encountered three cultivators searching for the missing Ning Family Young Sect Master and considered joining them for information and compensation.

• Lin Xuan recovered the divine sense attached to his Demon Bee and learned of a Corpse Demon deep in the swamp.
• Lin Xuan decided to investigate the swamp in search of a Yin Vein and flew there.
• Lin Xuan disguised himself as a middle-stage Core Condensation cultivator and approached three cultivators he sensed in the swamp.
• The three cultivators mistook Lin Xuan for a helper invited by the Ning Family, then offered him compensation to join their search.
• The gray-haired cultivator explained that the Ning Family Young Sect Master had vanished while gathering herbs in the swamp and that the three needed help searching for him.

Lin Xuan agreed to help three cultivators in exchange for spirit stones and learned about the Ning Family and the dangers of the Corpse Demon Swamp. The group reached the swamp’s poisonous inner marsh, where they prepared to face its monsters.

• Lin Xuan negotiated spirit stones instead of Mystic Yang Pills and collected most of the three cultivators’ spirit stones as payment.
• Lin Xuan told the old man that he was a Rogue Cultivator, then asked about the Ning Family and the Yin Spirit Plains.
• The old man described the Ning Family’s power, while the oddly dressed cultivator hinted that Ten Thousand Ghost Lake had ties to the Yin Spirit Plains.
• The four cultivators flew deeper into the Corpse Demon Swamp, and the old man warned that the inner marsh’s corpse poison would restrict their movements.
• Lin Xuan learned that the swamp’s central island was enveloped in deadly poison that could reduce Core Condensation Realm cultivators to bones.

Lin Xuan and three cultivators entered the inner swamp after taking Pu Shen Pills, only to encounter a Corpse Cloud carrying nearly a hundred powerful Corpse Beasts. As the others feared they would be overwhelmed, Lin Xuan volunteered to handle the beasts transformed from third-rank demon beasts.

• The old man gave Lin Xuan and the other cultivators Pu Shen Pills to suppress corpse poison, and led them into the inner swamp.
• The group fought through yin beasts and zombies as they searched the swamp, while Lin Xuan noticed the old man regretted hiring him.
• Lin Xuan spotted a vast Corpse Cloud approaching, and the cultivators readied their magic treasures as they recognized the approaching creatures as Corpse Beasts.
• The group saw that the Corpse Beasts included monsters transformed from demon beasts, nearly a hundred in total, including several that had been third-rank demon beasts.
• Lin Xuan told the others not to try to flee and offered to handle the strongest Corpse Beasts while they dealt with the weaker ones.

Lin Xuan revealed his Nascent Soul Realm strength and destroyed the Corpse Demon’s three powerful Corpse Beasts with the Azure Phantom Nether Fire. The Corpse Demon learned that an unexpected expert was approaching, while the Ning Family Young Master revealed that the demon was a former ancestor of the Ning Family.

• Lin Xuan released his Nascent Soul Realm aura, and the three cultivators joined him in fighting the approaching Corpse Beasts.
• Lin Xuan used the Azure Phantom Nether Fire to defeat the Cold Horn Python, Fire Civet Beast, and Double-Headed Giant Ape, capturing the wisps of mist that escaped them.
• The Corpse Demon sensed that three of his Spirit Divisions had been destroyed and told the Ning Family Young Master that a powerful uninvited cultivator had intervened.
• The Ning Family Young Master realized the unexpected cultivator might be the dual-cultivation couple the Corpse Demon had previously spared.
• The Corpse Demon explained that the Ning Family lured cultivators into the swamp to feed him while spreading suspicion among other cultivators.
• The Ning Family Young Master learned that the Corpse Demon was once an ancestor of the Ning Family, who had transformed himself to preserve his intelligence and extend his life.

The Ning Family Young Master learned that his clan’s Heavenly Corpse Incarnation Art came from a damaged inheritance tied to the Heavenly Corpse Sect. The Corpse Demon revealed he planned to devour a Nascent Soul cultivator to advance and escape the swamp’s limits.

• The Ning Family Young Master asked why the Ning clan did not let more disciples cultivate the Heavenly Corpse Incarnation Art, and the Corpse Demon explained its rare requirements and low success rate.
• The Corpse Demon said the art was an incomplete fragment with serious flaws, then revealed that the Ning Family’s ancestor had nearly become the Heavenly Corpse Sect’s grand elder before being killed in a plot.
• The Corpse Demon explained that the Heavenly Corpse Incarnation Art and the Nine Corpses Gathering Origin Technique came from the Heavenly Corpse True Scripture, but the first half had been destroyed and only an incomplete version survived in the Ning Family.
• The Ning Family Young Master connected the clan’s ban on visiting Seven Star Island to the risk of being recognized by Heavenly Corpse Sect cultivators.
• The Corpse Demon said he had reached the peak of the Nascent Soul Early Stage and could likely advance by devouring the Nascent Soul of the enemy, freeing himself from his confinement in the swamp.
• The Ning Family Young Master congratulated the Corpse Demon and promised to assist him when the time came.

Lin Xuan rescued three cultivators from Corpse Beasts, then set out with Xin Wuhen to hunt the Corpse Demon. Two cultivators who chose to leave fled the swamp, unaware that the Corpse Demon had sent a Spirit Division after them.

• Lin Xuan destroyed the Corpse Demon's Spirit Division and used the Beast Soul Banner to turn the attacking Corpse Beasts into bones, saving the three cultivators.
• Lin Xuan revealed his true appearance and asked the cultivators to guide him to the Corpse Demon; Xin Wuhen agreed, while the old man and bald cultivator chose to leave.
• Lin Xuan let the two cultivators depart, reasoning to Yue'er that the Corpse Demon would likely attack them as prey.
• The Corpse Demon sensed that the two cultivators had separated from Lin Xuan and sent a black python Spirit Division after them.
• The old man and bald cultivator hurried toward the swamp's outskirts, worried that Lin Xuan might still pursue them.

The Corpse Demon’s avatar attacked the bald cultivator and the old man after they separated from Lin Xuan, and the two fought back with their magical treasures. The bald cultivator’s Banana Treasure Fan initially matched the Ghost Head’s attack, but his weaker cultivation left the battle turning against him.

• The old man and the bald cultivator joined forces and prepared their magical treasures after the Corpse Demon’s attack struck them.
• The Corpse Demon’s Ghost Head emerged from the bubbling marsh and attacked the two cultivators despite their pleas for mercy.
• The old man’s Wind Dragon was overwhelmed by the Ghost Head’s blood-red attack, forcing him to pour his magic power into his crutch.
• The bald cultivator recalled how he had found the Banana Treasure Fan in an ancient cave after decades of searching for treasure materials.
• The bald cultivator unleashed the fan’s Yin-Yang Strange Wind against the Ghost Head’s purple mist, but his lower cultivation soon left him struggling.

Ghost Head killed and devoured two Core Condensation cultivators while Lin Xuan and Xin reached the Yin Vein island at the swamp’s center. After Lin Xuan protected Xin from the poisonous mist, the Corpse Demon prepared to confront them and seize Lin Xuan’s flesh, blood, and soul.

• Ghost Head pierced the bald cultivator with his horn, drained his flesh and blood, and swallowed his Golden Core.
• The old man fled, but Ghost Head caught and killed him, devoured his Golden Core, and collected the cultivators’ Storage Bags and magical treasures.
• Lin Xuan and Xin arrived at the crescent-shaped island and found its poisonous mist was colorless and more toxic than the surrounding fog.
• Lin Xuan gave Xin a pill that let him withstand the Rotting Corpse Poison, and the two flew onto the island.
• The Corpse Demon sensed Lin Xuan’s unusual cultivation, ordered the Ning Family Young Master to stay behind, and went to meet the newcomers.

Lin Xuan and the cultivator surnamed Xin found the Corpse Demon on an island where a formation gathered corpse Qi, and Lin Xuan realized destroying it would also ruin the Yin Vein. The Corpse Demon saw that Lin Xuan was not truly a Nascent Soul Cultivator and threatened to devour him, but Lin Xuan countered by offering to spare the demon if it became his servant.

• Lin Xuan used his divine sense to locate the Corpse Demon, and the cultivator surnamed Xin followed him across the island.
• They found the Corpse Demon atop a pile of rocks, surrounded by holes releasing corpse Qi from a formation linked to the Yin Vein.
• Lin Xuan refused to let the cultivator surnamed Xin destroy the formation, explaining that doing so would ruin the Yin Vein and that the formation only gathered corpse Qi.
• The Corpse Demon recognized that Lin Xuan was not a Nascent Soul Cultivator, and Lin Xuan admitted his cultivation realm was lower than it seemed.
• The Corpse Demon revealed that Fellow Daoist Mo and Fellow Daoist Jin had already become its victims and offered to spare Lin Xuan's soul if he surrendered.
• Lin Xuan mocked the Corpse Demon and offered to spare its life if it accepted the Spirit Restricting Technique and became his servant.

Lin Xuan and the cultivator surnamed Xin fought the Corpse Demon, whose attacks revealed Xin’s connection to the Three Yin White Bone Shield. After the demon devoured Xin and Lin Xuan restrained his Ghost Spears, Lin Xuan suggested that the Corpse Demon’s greed had made him easier to defeat.

• The Corpse Demon transformed into countless Fire Snakes, but Lin Xuan blocked them with a flaming ice wall made by the Nine Heavens Bright Moon Ring.
• The cultivator surnamed Xin used the Three Yin White Bone Shield to withstand the Fire Snakes, prompting the Corpse Demon to identify it as White Bone Old Devil’s treasure from Ten Thousand Ghost Lake.
• The Corpse Demon summoned a Ghost Flood Dragon, which overwhelmed Xin’s sword, while a Green Bird destroyed the dragon in emerald flames.
• The Corpse Demon concealed himself and attacked Lin Xuan with Ghost Spears, while Xin tried to flee and was devoured by a horned Ghost Head.
• Lin Xuan used the Nine Heavens Bright Moon Ring to trap the Ghost Spears and told the Corpse Demon that devouring the cultivators had made him vulnerable.