Chapter Summaries

Song Changming descended tens of thousands of meters into the Abyss, fighting off increasingly powerful Abyssal Strange Beasts and resisting the Star Devouring Dragon’s influence. He reached the outer edge of the sealing formation but was forced to retreat when the Abyss’s energy and its strongest beasts overwhelmed him.

• Song Changming descended into the Abyss while the Cloud Emperor attached a golden safety thread to his waist, and Song Changming refined the flesh and blood of the attacking Abyssal Strange Beasts.
• At ten thousand meters, Song Changming encountered a Great Demon-level beast and killed it with the Heaven-Overturning Seal before continuing deeper.
• Song Changming sensed the Star Devouring Dragon’s will urging him to break the sealing formation, but he cut off his senses and used the Heavenly God Art of Lifting to resist its influence.
• As stronger beasts attacked him, Song Changming fought with his blade and the vicious beast in the God Devourer Blade, then pushed onward through the increasingly violent Abyss energy.
• Song Changming found a rune at the outer edge of the sealing formation, but powerful dinosaur-like beasts struck and engulfed him in energy torrents.
• The Cloud Emperor pulled Song Changming back with the golden thread, and Song Changming returned alive but badly injured.

Song Changming descended deep into the Abyss, resisted the Star Devouring Dragon’s influence, and reached the outer edge of its sealing formation before stronger beasts and the Abyss’s energy overwhelmed him. Cloud Emperor pulled him back to safety, leaving Song Changming gravely wounded.

• Cloud Emperor attached a golden safety thread to Song Changming as he entered the Abyss, where Song Changming refined the flesh and blood of attacking strange beasts.
• Song Changming encountered Great Demon-level Abyssal Strange Beasts and killed one with his Heaven-Overturning Seal as he continued downward.
• Song Changming sensed the Star Devouring Dragon’s will urging him to break the sealing formation, but suppressed its influence with his Witch Clan techniques.
• Song Changming fought off pursuing beasts with his blade and the ferocious beast in the God Devourer Blade while descending through increasingly violent Abyss energy.
• Song Changming reached an outer rune of the sealing formation, but powerful dinosaur-like beasts struck him and engulfed him in energy attacks.
• Cloud Emperor pulled Song Changming out by the golden thread, and Song Changming returned badly injured and thanked him for the rescue.

After returning from the Abyss, Song Changming learned that the sealing array was a provisional tenth-order talisman array and received permission to help research it. He returned to Cuibai Way, chose to remain there, and found that Qiaoqiao Bird and Little Phoenix had safely returned from the Heavenly Ruins Realm.

• The Cloud Emperor healed Song Changming, explained that the Star Seal was a provisional tenth-order array, and granted him access to talisman research institutions to study it.
• The Cloud Emperor estimated that the Abyssal Strange Beasts would need centuries or longer to threaten the seal, and Song Changming left the Abyss for Cuibai Way.
• Song Changming told King Cui and Hu Zhong about his Heavenly Ruins Realm adventures and the three demon kings he had slain, while withholding the Abyssal crisis.
• King Cui offered to support Song Changming if he wished to leave, but Song Changming chose to stay in Cuibai Way and returned to his manor.
• Song Changming learned that Qiaoqiao Bird and Little Phoenix had returned safely and entered seclusion, and he planned to begin secluding himself as well.

After returning from the Heavenly Ruins Realm, Song Changming rested, assembled the bronze treasure mirror, and went to the Marshal Pavilion. Meanwhile, Yuan San’s Yin Sha Army conquered much of the Land of Nine Nether, and Song learned that the renewed fighting in the Lei Yan Two Prefectures would require Cuibai Way to send ten thousand Innate-stage elites.

• Song Changming soaked in a medicinal bath, recovered from his exhaustion, and spent time at home with Su Qingqing and the brothers.
• Song Changming assembled all twenty-two bronze mirror fragments but could not activate the cracked mirror or learn how to repair it.
• Yuan San and the two Song Family brothers led the Yin Sha Army into the Land of Nine Nether and seized nearly half its territory from the demons.
• Song Changming assured King Cui and Hu Zhong that the zombies would not threaten humanity and would remain in the eastern Land of Nine Nether.
• King Cui told Song Changming that renewed battles in the Lei Yan Two Prefectures required each king to send at least ten thousand Innate-stage elites.

Song Changming arranged for ten thousand Xiantian warriors to reinforce the war in Lei Yan Two Prefectures, then used his annual reward to advance his Heavenly God Art of Lifting. He broke through to the first Divine Step and formed a Witch God Soul, leaving him able to withstand and strike the God Devourer Blade’s spirit beast.

• King Cui ordered Song Changming to send ten thousand Xiantian warriors to the front in Lei Yan Two Prefectures, and Song Changming agreed despite the cost to the military.
• Song Changming left Lu Yuchen, Wang Wenyu, and the military commanders to select and organize the volunteers.
• Song Changming reviewed his annual evaluation, claimed the lifespan reward, and chose to use a martial art experience reward on Heavenly God Art of Lifting.
• Song Changming broke through the first Divine Step, formed a Witch God Soul, and sent his Soul Avatar out of his body.
• The Blade Spirit Ferocious Beast tried to devour Song Changming’s Soul Avatar, but the avatar resisted its bites and punched it back into the God Devourer Blade.

Song Changming forged the Witch God Soul and gained the Born Blade King trait, greatly increasing his power. After emerging from a month and a half of seclusion, he contained the golden flames consuming Song Manor and witnessed Qiaoqiao Bird, the Great Demon, transform beneath the image of a Heavenly Phoenix.

• Song Changming forged the Witch God Soul, subdued the ferocious beast in the God Devourer Blade, and claimed the Thick Earth Dao Body and Born Blade King rewards.
• Song Changming emerged from seclusion and found intense heat spreading through Song Manor as Qiaoqiao Bird, the Great Demon, and Little Phoenix transformed in golden flames.
• Song Ping'an and Su Qingqing told Song Changming that the transformation had lasted three days, and he used thirty-six formation flags to contain the flames.
• Several days later, Song Changming entered the formation to suppress the surging golden fire as it melted the room.
• Qiaoqiao Bird, the Great Demon, emerged with flaming wings and a Heavenly Phoenix phantom, leaving Song Changming unsure whether she was Qiaoqiao Bird or the Heavenly Phoenix.

Song Changming fought to contain Qiaoqiao Bird after an Ancient Heavenly Phoenix remnant soul took control of her and unleashed golden fire over Cuibai Main City. He defeated the remnant soul and saved Qiaoqiao Bird, but the battle revealed a massive Heavenly Phoenix Skeleton hidden within her.

• King Cui and Hu Zhong noticed golden flames erupting from Song Manor, and Song Changming sealed the fire there before carrying Qiaoqiao Bird away from the city.
• Song Changming and King Cui tried to stop Qiaoqiao Bird, but she attacked them with golden flames and flaming feathers, forcing Song Changming to knock her unconscious far from the city.
• Song Changming recognized that an Ancient Heavenly Phoenix remnant soul was controlling Qiaoqiao Bird and summoned his Soul Avatar to attack it with the God Devourer Blade.
• The remnant soul summoned a massive Heavenly Phoenix Skeleton from within Qiaoqiao Bird before Song Changming's Soul Avatar destroyed it, allowing the skeleton to absorb the golden flames.
• Song Changming awakened Qiaoqiao Bird, who thanked him and promised to fulfill one request, while he stared in awe at the enormous Heavenly Phoenix Skeleton.

Song Changming and Qiaoqiao Bird confirmed that the Heavenly Phoenix remnant soul had been removed and that Little Phoenix Bird was safely transforming after receiving Heavenly Phoenix blood. Later, Song Changming traveled with Su Qingqing to the Three Thousand Spirit Mountains to study a tenth-tier sealing formation, beginning with the Heavenly Dao Academy.

• Qiaoqiao Bird explained how she and Little Phoenix Bird had found a Heavenly Phoenix corpse in the Heavenly Ruins Realm, and Song Changming learned that Nirvana Rebirth could fail if a Heavenly Phoenix's bloodline power had not recovered.
• Song Changming and Qiaoqiao Bird examined Little Phoenix Bird, confirmed that no remnant soul had possessed it, and Qiaoqiao Bird took it away to watch over it until it awakened.
• Song Changming told King Cui and Hu Zhong about the Heavenly Phoenix Skeleton and the remnant soul, and King Cui urged him to keep Qiaoqiao Bird close to humanity.
• King Cui, Song Changming, and the other leaders saw off ten thousand Xiantian commanders as they departed for the battlefield against the demons.
• Song Changming and Su Qingqing traveled on Big Yellow and Big White through the Three Thousand Spirit Mountains, where Song Changming planned to visit talisman schools and study the Abyss's tenth-tier sealing formation.
• Song Changming chose the Heavenly Dao Academy as their first destination.

Song Changming and Su Qingqing traveled through the Three Thousand Spirit Mountains toward the Heavenly Dao Academy, where they met Cang Jishi of the ancient Cang Clan and learned how to reach the sect. The three began climbing Heavenly Dao Mountain’s aptitude-testing stairway, with Song Changming feeling no pressure at the outset.

• Su Qingqing rushed ahead to defeat demons robbing travelers, and Song Changming refined the defeated demons’ blood and flesh essence.
• Cang Jishi introduced himself as a member of the ancient Cang Clan of Wind Province and offered to guide Song Changming to the Heavenly Dao Academy.
• Cang Jishi recognized Song Changming as the Grandmaster who had slain the great demon of the Eight-Eyed White Hairy Worm clan.
• Song Changming carried Cang Jishi’s carriage swiftly to Heavenly Dao Mountain, where he detected a concealed formation around the Heavenly Dao Academy’s sacred mountain.
• Cang Jishi explained that the mountain’s stairway tested aptitude and compatibility, and Song Changming, Su Qingqing, and Cang Jishi began climbing it.

Song Changming climbed to the Heavenly Dao Academy with Su Qingqing and Cang Jishi, where he reunited with his old friend Li Jinyu. Cang Jishi began the academy’s further admission tests, while Li Jinyu welcomed Song Changming to his residence and eagerly spotted the wine he had brought.

• Song Changming helped Su Qingqing withstand the mountain formation’s pressure with his formation flags as the three continued climbing.
• Li Jinyu recognized through divination that an old friend would visit and went to meet Song Changming at the mountain gate.
• Song Changming reunited with Li Jinyu, and the mountain formation’s effects ended once the group passed through the gate.
• Cang Jishi presented his family’s letter of introduction and was escorted away for the academy’s further admission tests.
• Li Jinyu brought Song Changming to his residence and eagerly inspected the wine jars Song Changming produced.

Song Changming reunited with Li Jinyu and learned that Li’s visions showed the Nine Provinces empty of life, with Song as the sole survivor. Song left to join Heavenly Dao Academy’s research into the Star Seal formation, hoping to prevent the catastrophe tied to the Star Devouring Dragon.

• Song Changming asked Li Jinyu about the Star Seal, and Li revealed that his visions showed a future in which no one but Song remained in the Nine Provinces.
• Song Changming urged Li not to surrender to that future and vowed to defy heaven rather than let humanity perish, easing Li’s despair.
• Li Jinyu led Song Changming through Heavenly Dao Academy and explained that its seventh-rank Qian Formation barred outsiders from entering by air.
• Li Jinyu stopped outside the headmaster’s hall because he had stewed the headmaster’s Dao Rhyme Brocade Chicken, so Song entered alone.
• The headmaster welcomed Song Changming and granted him permission to observe and participate in research on the Star Seal formation.

Song Changming and Su Qingqing toured the Talisman Path Academy with Li Jinyu, who warned them about the academy’s unreliable experimental talismans. After Li Jinyu predicted danger and they waited, an explosion erupted from the Second Character Courtyard where Third Life Uncle-Master was working.

• The old academy master told another elder that Song Changming’s future depended on his own achievements, not others’ expectations.
• Li Jinyu relaxed after Song Changming reported that the old academy master would not pursue the matter of the golden pheasant, then agreed to visit Yunzhou someday.
• Li Jinyu brought Song Changming and Su Qingqing to the Talisman Path Academy and explained that its experimental talismans could malfunction dangerously.
• Li Jinyu grew wary when he learned Third Life Uncle-Master was in the Second Character Courtyard, then told Song Changming to wait while he assessed the danger.
• An explosion blasted open the Second Character Courtyard gate, sending fire and smoke into the plaza as the talisman masters raised defenses and wondered whether Uncle-Master was safe.

Song Changming gained permission to study the Heavenly Dao Academy’s tenth-rank Seal Star Formation after convincing Gongshan Zhi that he wanted to help reinforce the Abyss seal. Though the formation remained far beyond his understanding, Song Changming discovered that persistent study increased its recorded completeness and resolved to keep learning.

• Li Jinyu and Song Changming entered the scorched Second Character Courtyard, where Zhao Sansheng emerged with his nearly finished talisman banner and tried to sell it to Li Jinyu.
• Song Changming revealed that he was a Martial Arts Grandmaster and a sixth-rank Talisman Master, impressing Zhao Sansheng, who brought him to the First Character Academy.
• Gongshan Zhi questioned Song Changming about the Abyss and his purpose in studying the tenth-rank formation, then allowed him to study in the First Character Academy and borrow its Star Seal materials.
• Zhao Sansheng was ordered to compensate for the Second Character Courtyard’s damage and spend half a month reflecting in the Dragon Subduing Formation.
• Song Changming studied the academy’s notes and raised the Seal Star Formation’s recorded completeness from five percent to six percent, realizing that continued study could eventually let him master it.

Song Changming returned to Cuibai Way after researching the Seal Star Grand Array and advancing his Talisman Path, only to learn that King Cui’s forces had been ordered to send three thousand Xiantian elites to the Leizhou battlefield. The troops departed to support humanity’s attempt to reclaim Leizhou, leaving Cuibai Way’s defenses strained as the war threatened to demand still greater sacrifices.

• Song Changming met Cang Jishi at Heavenly Dao Academy, where Liu Yun and Li Jinyu were assigned to guide him in the Talisman Path and divination.
• Song Changming gathered research on the Seal Star Grand Array from major sects, advanced its completion beyond ten percent, and continued developing his Talisman Path before returning home with Su Qingqing and the dogs.
• A Cloud Emperor City envoy requested three thousand more Xiantian elites from Cuibai Way, and King Cui went to learn why the Leizhou campaign had become so urgent.
• Song Changming instructed Wang Wenyu and Lu Yuchen to prepare for the loss of the troops and protect Cuibai Way’s stability and defenses.
• King Cui confirmed that the three thousand elites had to join the campaign to reclaim Leizhou, and the soldiers departed a few days later.
• Hu Zhong warned that further requisitions might leave the regional kings and grandmasters as humanity’s remaining reserves, while Song Changming remained focused on the Abyss’s greater threat.

Song Changming reunited with family and allies at Song Manor before taking charge of defending Cuibai Way as demons began probing its borders. He reached Donghua City just as the Jade-eyed Sable King arrived nearby and faced a powerful pursuer.

• Song Changming welcomed the Guan bird, Little Phoenix, Song Changping, Song Chang'an, Yuan San, and Xi Yanxue to the New Year's reunion at Song Manor.
• Xi Yanxue warned Song Changming that hidden great demons could threaten the human army in Leizhou, while Song Changming said the campaign was the three human emperors' decision.
• King Cui reported that a great demon had attacked villages and towns in Zixia Way, and he assigned Hu Zhong to Stone City and Song Changming to Donghua City to defend Cuibai Way.
• Song Changming arrived in Donghua City with Su Qingqing and ordered Hu Yang to prepare the southeastern cities for demonic attacks.
• The Jade-eyed Sable King fled King Xia using Black Radiance Illusionary Light, then encountered a lightning-wreathed figure who challenged him in Cuibai Way.

Song Changming defeated the Jade-eyed Sable King and seized the Black Radiance Illusionary Light, then returned to Donghua City as demon clans invaded the human provinces. At Ox Horn City, Yang Zhen and the remaining Nineteenth Army troops fought to hold the city until Xu Yuan arrived, while several demon generals gathered to claim Xu Yuan’s lightning.

• Song Changming shattered the Jade-eyed Sable King’s control over the Black Radiance Illusionary Light and used it to pierce the demon’s heart.
• Song Changming stopped the Jade-eyed Sable King from detonating his core, refined his flesh and blood, and took the ancient treasure.
• Demon clans invaded the three human provinces as the armies’ elites were away, and Yang Zhen ordered the Nineteenth Army to hold Ox Horn City’s gates in formation.
• The White Deer Demon used its fire ring to wound Yang Zhen and break his spear, but Xu Yuan arrived and struck the treasure with lightning.
• Several demon generals demanded Xu Yuan for his unusual lightning, and the White Deer Demon yielded to them.

As Ox Horn City faced a massive demon invasion, Xu Yuan and the arriving Marshals fought to defend it while Song Changming left Donghua City to reinforce them. Song Changming arrived in time to save Xiao Peibai, seized the White Deer Demon's Fire Ring, and killed the demon with his Black Radiance Illusionary Light.

• Xu Yuan and the Thirteenth Army joined the battle at Ox Horn City, where the White Deer Demon used his Fire Ring to suppress Xu Yuan and wound Yang Zhen and Xiao Peibai.
• Tang Leshan, Meng Kunlun, and Hu Fanyi arrived with their armies to reinforce the defenders, and the battle continued as the Marshals slew demon generals.
• In Donghua City, Su Qingqing told Song Changming about the invasion and King Cui's ongoing battle against an unknown Great Demon, so Song Changming went to Ox Horn City while Su Qingqing guarded the city.
• Song Changming arrived as the White Deer Demon attacked Xiao Peibai, knocked away the Fire Ring, and caught it with his Grandmaster power.
• The White Deer Demon tried to flee, but Song Changming struck him with the Black Radiance Illusionary Light and shattered his heart.

Song Changming crushed the demon attack on Ox Horn City, while the Bull Demon fled and Yanzhou fire beasts raised fears of further trouble. Later, a Thunder Wheel Tiger from Leizhou asked Song Changming to rescue Hya Figo, who had been imprisoned and left for dead by her father, the Tiger King.

• Song Changming used the silver fire ring and black-water spirit treasure to wipe out the demon generals and drive off the horde, while the Bull Demon escaped.
• Hu Zhong and King Cui reported fighting a powerful demon from Yanzhou, and King Cui later reached a new agreement with the aristocratic clans to help clear demons from Cuibai Way.
• A Thunder Wheel Tiger arrived at Donghua City on the Princess's orders and asked to see Song Changming.
• The Thunder Wheel Tiger told Song Changming that Hya Figo had been imprisoned and gravely wounded after moving against the Tiger King too soon.
• Song Changming decided to go see whether Hya was still alive and rescue her.

Song Changming left Song Changping and Song Chang'an with Yin fiends to guard Cuibai Way, then traveled to Leizhou with Yuan San to rescue Hya. In Thunder Marsh, he encountered the Kui Thunder Beast Clan, whose king had a grudge against him for stealing their demon lightning and killing their members, and chose to avoid a fight.

• Song Changming summoned Yuan San, Song Changping, Song Chang'an, and the Yin fiends, then left the Yin fiends under the brothers' command to protect Cuibai Way.
• Song Changming took Yuan San and the tiger demon toward Leizhou, using the Thunder Seed and Cloud Crane Shaman Seal together to speed their journey.
• Song Changming reached Leizhou and entered Thunder Marsh, where the tiger demon swallowed a lightning strike.
• A dozen Kui Thunder Beasts appeared and accused Song Changming of stealing their demon lightning and killing members of their clan years earlier.
• The Kui Thunder Beast King emerged from the storm clouds, and Yuan San offered to eliminate the clan.
• Song Changming declined to fight the Kui Thunder Beasts and decided they would avoid them.

Song Changming escaped the Thunder Strike Beasts and crossed Leizhou, avoiding the fierce war between humans and demons as he traveled toward Thunder Strike Mountain to help the tiger demon rescue his Princess. At the mountain, he learned that a newly advanced great demon had received heavenly lightning, then began considering the mixed-blood tiger demons who served the Thunder Wheel Tiger Clan.

• Song Changming fled with Yuan San and the tiger demon, and the old demon king stopped the Thunder Strike Beasts from pursuing them because he feared Yuan San’s ancient Yin aura.
• Song Changming sensed a human-demon battle ahead, judged the forces involved, and skirted around it after the tiger demon reminded him that the Princess needed help.
• Song Changming reached Northern Leizhou and learned that Thunder Strike Mountain’s lightning energy caused heavenly lightning to temper demons who advanced to great demon there.
• Song Changming examined the lightning-infused plants and asked about the mixed-blood tiger demons laboring on the mountain, learning that they gathered valuable purple flowers for merit.
• A white-furred tiger demon with purple spots left its group to search for purple flowers, unaware that Song Changming had set his sights on the mixed-blood demons.