Chapter Summaries

Lin Qi escaped the Underground Palace with Ye Jian and Tian Mang as the Giant Black Python and Sky Witherwood descended, then led them into a treasure-vault secret realm. They found a vast Spirit Medicine Valley, where Lin Qi eagerly began gathering herbs while Tian Mang explained that the rarest plants grew higher up the mountains.

• Lin Qi pulled Ye Jian and Tian Mang into the tunnel as the Giant Black Python and Sky Witherwood attacked the Underground Palace.
• Lin Qi led Ye Jian and Tian Mang toward a nearby treasure-vault secret realm, planning to hide among other cultivators and help stranded sect disciples.
• Lin Qi found the secret entrance in a hanging-flower wall and brought Ye Jian and Tian Mang into the realm.
• Lin Qi discovered the Spirit Medicine Valley’s abundant medicinal fields and urged Ye Jian to gather herbs before more people arrived.
• Tian Mang told Ye Jian that the herbs grew rarer and more valuable farther up the mountains.

Lin Qi gathered spirit herbs with Tian Mang and the Sky-Piercing Green Vine, then learned from a rescued Wutai Sword Pavilion disciple about the disaster at the Heaven and Earth Crossing Immortal Spring. She proposed uniting sect disciples against outside cultivators and asked the disciple to persuade the Wutai Sword Pavilion.

• Tian Mang gathered the medicinal field’s spirit herbs for Lin Qi, who sent the Sky-Piercing Green Vine to help harvest and protect Tian Mang.
• The Sky-Piercing Green Vine found an injured Wutai Sword Pavilion disciple, and Lin Qi’s group revived him with pills.
• The disciple told Lin Qi and Ye Jian that the Heaven and Earth Crossing Immortal Spring had collapsed, separating him from his companions, and that Azure Sea Pavilion disciples had wounded him.
• Ye Jian said Elder Ruyi of the Azure Sea Pavilion had rescued other people from the Weakwater while passing her by.
• Lin Qi warned that powerful outside cultivators had entered the Heavenly Demon Palace and proposed that sect disciples become allies to protect themselves and their treasures.
• The Wutai Sword Pavilion disciple understood Lin Qi’s plan, and she asked him to persuade his sect’s cultivators to join forces.

Lin Qi offered secret-realm maps to persuade cultivators to join forces, then set out to find others while her spirit pets harvested herbs. She encountered Ning Sangye and Ning Sangyu at Spirit Medicine Mountain, and the siblings readily agreed to cooperate.

• Lin Qi showed a Wutai Sword Pavilion cultivator two crudely copied secret-realm maps and offered to share them with anyone willing to join forces.
• Ye Jian agreed to follow Lin Qi’s lead and help unite the sect cultivators, believing Lin Qi intended to guide everyone safely out of the Heavenly Demon Palace.
• Lin Qi sent the Sky-Piercing Green Vine and Tian Mang to harvest spirit herbs while she and Ye Jian went to investigate activity at another entrance to Spirit Medicine Mountain.
• Lin Qi and Ye Jian hid under aura-concealing Magic Tools, then revealed themselves to Ning Sangye and Ning Sangyu after Ning Sangyu stumbled over a vine.
• Ning Sangye and Ning Sangyu agreed to join forces with Lin Qi and Ye Jian.

Lin Qi shared secret realm maps with the Ning siblings and learned why they had intervened when she fought Xie Hanzhi. Ning Sangyu remained attached to Xie Hanzhi despite Ye Jian’s blunt advice, while Ning Sangye privately knew Xie Hanzhi’s disfigurement could not be reversed.

• Ye Jian praised Lin Qi until Ning Sangye and Ning Sangyu agreed to trust her, and Lin Qi gave them two secret realm maps to memorize and share with allies.
• Ning Sangyu asked whether anyone had seen Xie Hanzhi, and Ye Jian urged her to stop clinging to a man who did not love her.
• Lin Qi told Ning Sangyu that she had seen Xie Hanzhi at the boundary of Heaven and Earth Crossing Immortal Spring and asked why the Ning siblings had intervened.
• Lin Qi thanked Ning Sangyu for stopping Xie Hanzhi from attacking her, then promised to avoid his face and be gentler if they fought again.
• Ning Sangye silently recalled that Xie Hanzhi’s face could not be restored, while Ning Sangyu insisted that he would someday become her brother-in-law.

Lin Qi speculated that Xie Hanzhi had been poisoned by Black-striped Cloud Bees and might have been disfigured, while misleading Ning Sangyu about Fairy Xi He’s motives. Ning Sangyu grew alarmed for Xie Hanzhi, then fell silent after Lin Qi suggested he and Fairy Xi He were plotting against her.

• Ning Sangyu asked Lin Qi whether she had harmed Xie Hanzhi, and Lin Qi said Black-striped Cloud Bees had appeared when he vanished.
• Lin Qi noticed Ning Sangye acting evasively and suspected he might have released the bees, though she did not know his aim was to disfigure Xie Hanzhi.
• Lin Qi reasoned that Xie Hanzhi might have been poisoned and disfigured, alarming Ning Sangyu, who feared the venom could kill him.
• Lin Qi persuaded Ning Sangyu that Fairy Xi He had rescued Xie Hanzhi to plot against Lin Qi, and Ning Sangyu agreed that Fairy Xi He hated her.
• Ye Jian realized Lin Qi was pretending that Fairy Xi He was alive, but chose not to expose her.
• Lin Qi claimed Xie Hanzhi was also plotting to kill her and asked Ning Sangyu whether she wanted to join him, so Ning Sangyu fled toward a spiritual herb.

Lin Qi and Ning Sangye discussed the Ning family’s intentions and the Black-striped Cloud Bees before new cultivators entered the secret realm. Lin Qi’s group prepared an ambush, but a whip-wielding female cultivator attacked Ning Sangyu, exposing their position.

• Lin Qi inferred that Ning Sangye had released the Black-striped Cloud Bees to target Xie Hanzhi and warned him she did not want the Ning family as enemies.
• Ning Sangye said the Ning family was grateful for Lin Qi’s warning, leaving Lin Qi to wonder why they had allowed Ning Sangyu to become engaged to Xie Hanzhi.
• Lin Qi led the others into an ambush as a stern female cultivator entered the secret realm dragging five bound Wutai Sword Pavilion disciples.
• The female cultivator threatened the five disciples and ordered them to gather spirit herbs, while Lin Qi and Ye Jian waited near a sixth-rank Waterwood Hibiscus.
• The female cultivator suddenly whipped Ning Sangyu across the shoulder, and Ning Sangye realized their position had been exposed.

Lin Qi waited for the Nascent Soul female cultivator to lower her guard, then helped defeat her with Ye Jian, the Ning siblings, and five rescued cultivators. After the fight, Lin Qi killed the wounded woman and had Ye Jian search her body, leaving the others too intimidated to object.

• Lin Qi stopped Ye Jian from rushing in and waited while the Ning siblings fought the female cultivator.
• Lin Qi used icy mist and concealed blades to wound the female cultivator with the God-Slaying Saber, but she was struck by the woman's whip.
• Ye Jian and five other cultivators emerged from the mist and joined Lin Qi and the Ning siblings in defeating the woman.
• Lin Qi ignored her own injuries, stabbed the wounded female cultivator through the heart, and ordered Ye Jian to search her body.
• The others stayed silent as Ye Jian collected the woman's belongings, while Ning Sangye reflected on their lack of courage.

After killing a female cultivator, Lin Qi and Ye Jian gathered survivors and set out to join forces against the outside cultivators invading the secret realms. As they learned of Azure Sea Pavilion’s ambitions and the dangers facing other disciples, Lin Qi grew uneasy about the Tianyi Sect’s absence.

• Lin Qi, Ye Jian, and the Ning siblings destroyed the evidence after killing the female cultivator, then convinced five rescued cultivators to travel with them.
• Lin Qi decided to leave the Spirit Medicine Valley secret realm and head for the neighboring Spirit Array Secret Realm to find allies.
• Ye Jian learned that many cultivators had been swept away by the Weak Water after Heaven and Earth Crossing Immortal Spring collapsed, while Azure Sea Pavilion elders had arrived unusually quickly.
• The five cultivators described Azure Sea Pavilion’s territorial aggression and explained that Fairy Xi He’s standing as successor had weakened after Lin Qi and Fairy Luo Yun surpassed her.
• The survivors recounted how the female cultivator had captured them, whipped them, and killed one of their companions when he tried to escape.
• After hearing that outside cultivators were capturing disciples and that few Tianyi Sect disciples had been seen, Lin Qi worried they might have been targeted.

Lin Qi rescued Jiang Yue from a deadly formation and discovered that someone had grievously wounded her, possibly while targeting Tianyi Sect disciples. Worried for her fellow disciples, Lin Qi planned to spread real and fake secret-realm maps to stir up the Demon God Palace and redirect danger toward her group.

• Lin Qi's group found Jiang Yue trapped in a Floating Dream Array, and Lin Qi broke the formation and gathered the Colorful Dream Sand inside.
• Ye Jian treated Jiang Yue, whose severe wounds suggested a powerful Body Cultivator had attacked her.
• Lin Qi reasoned that the attacker could become a target if other powerful cultivators were given a reason to join forces.
• Suspecting that someone was deliberately targeting Tianyi Sect disciples, Lin Qi ordered the Sky-Piercing Green Vine to make copies of maps to the other three secret realms.
• Lin Qi planned to mix fake maps among the copies and spread word that her group held maps to all five major secret realms.

Lin Qi and Ye Jian learned that two powerful Azure Sea Pavilion elders had attacked Jiang Yue and trapped two other Tianyi Sect disciples, then set out to scout the Spirit Array Secret Realm. Lin Qi continued breaking formations and discovered a Thousand Mechanism Array nearby.

• Lin Qi and Tian Mang secretly distributed copies of a map around the Demon God Palace before Jiang Yue woke.
• Jiang Yue told Lin Qi and Ye Jian that Azure Sea Pavilion elders Chi Yin and Chi Pu had attacked her and trapped two other Tianyi Sect disciples.
• Lin Qi suspected the elders had planned to kill Jiang Yue and her companions from the start, but she did not agree to abandon the trapped disciples and leave the secret realm.
• Lin Qi learned the missing disciples’ descriptions and asked Sky-Piercing Green Vine and Tian Mang to watch for them, then left Jiang Yue with the Ning family siblings and scouted ahead with Ye Jian and Liu Che.
• Lin Qi broke three fourth-grade grand formations on the way and then stopped when she sensed a Thousand Mechanism Array nearby.

Lin Qi escaped the Thousand Mechanism Array and discovered it was part of an Array within an Array. She broke the first array, then entered an Illusion Heart Array that conjured Lin Yun and Gong Shaojun as opponents, and began breaking its array points.

• Liu Che triggered the weakened Thousand Mechanism Array, and Lin Qi pulled him clear of its spider threads before treating his wound with Ye Jian.
• Lin Qi realized the Thousand Mechanism Array’s points had shifted and suspected another array was layered within it.
• Lin Qi entered the array under the protection of six Defense Talismans and killed the Thousand Machine Poison Spider at the array eye, stopping the Thousand Mechanism Array.
• Lin Qi found herself alone inside a second array, where the fog conjured Lin Yun and then Gong Shaojun to attack her.
• Lin Qi identified the second array as an Illusion Heart Array and broke three array points, causing the fog to thin and reveal its array eye.

Lin Qi and her companions freed the barely living Zhe Yuan from an array, and Ning Sangyu treated his injuries. After learning that Azure Sea Pavilion cultivators had ambushed Zhe Yuan and his fellow disciples, Lin Qi gathered everyone and insisted on trying to rescue the others.

• Lin Qi broke the array core despite being wounded by the false Gong Shaojun and found Zhe Yuan trapped in Thousand Mechanism Threads.
• Ning Sangyu froze Zhe Yuan, cut away the threads, and used a bracelet to melt them and revive him.
• Zhe Yuan told Lin Qi that Azure Sea Pavilion cultivators had ambushed his group and asked her to help rescue the surviving Xuantian Sect disciples.
• Zhe Yuan warned Lin Qi that the four missing disciples were likely dead, but Lin Qi refused to abandon the search while any hope remained.
• Lin Qi summoned Ning Sangye and the others, explained the situation, and prepared the group to act.

Lin Qi and Ye Jian followed Zhe Yuan’s Blood Guiding Compass through the Spirit Array Secret Realm, finding one Azure Sea Pavilion cultivator dead and tracing the survivors to a fifth-grade Eight Gates Golden Lock Array. Lin Qi devised a way to rescue the trapped cultivators and led Ye Jian into the array through the View Gate.

• Zhe Yuan used his Blood Guiding Compass to lead the group along the trail of the Azure Sea Pavilion elders, past arrays that had already been broken.
• Lin Qi and Ye Jian found the corpse of one of Zhe Yuan’s junior fellow disciples, and Lin Qi arranged for it to be carried along.
• Lin Qi and Ye Jian went ahead while Ning Sangye led the others after them, then reached the area where the remaining cultivators were being held.
• Lin Qi and Ye Jian heard screams and discovered Elder Wu using people to test the Eight Gates Golden Lock Array.
• Lin Qi studied a recording talisman’s projection and the array’s layout, then said she had a way to save the trapped people.
• Lin Qi ordered Ye Jian to follow her commands and led her into the array through the View Gate.

Lin Qi and Ye Jian navigated the Eight Gates Golden Lock Array, using its illusions and shifting doors to devise a trap for Fifth Elder. Lin Qi began altering the formation with costly array disks to try to save three people whose fate remained unknown.

• Lin Qi warned Ye Jian not to attack the White Bone Skeletons, and they passed safely through the illusion they would have made real by fighting.
• Lin Qi explained that the soldiers battling beyond another door were an illusion projection that could trap anyone who entered.
• Lin Qi planned to lure Fifth Elder through that door, then placed a fire-elemental array disk and explosive talismans on a different door.
• The eight golden doors shifted into new positions, and Lin Qi praised the formation creator before throwing out five array disks to alter the array.
• Ye Jian questioned whether Lin Qi's costly efforts were worthwhile when the three people she hoped to save might have nothing to do with her.

Lin Qi used array disks to trigger the Eight Gates Golden Lock Array and enter its dangerous layers with Ye Jian, hoping to rescue the trapped Xuantian Sect disciples. They pulled a bloodied woman from the battlefield illusion, and Lin Qi moved on to confront another disciple as the overlapping spaces neared collapse.

• Lin Qi told Ye Jian she expected Fellow Daoist Zhe Yuan to help reimburse the array disks she had bought on credit.
• Lin Qi and Ye Jian hid outside the array as the disks exploded and altered the eight doors, then entered through the Shock Gate.
• They fought off waves of blades and sword shadows for about a quarter of an hour before reaching the battlefield illusion again.
• Lin Qi and Ye Jian spotted three trapped people fighting among the soldiers and a bloodied figure lying at the battlefield's edge.
• Lin Qi pulled the bloodied woman out of the illusion and handed her to Ye Jian to check, then followed an array disk into another layer of space.
• Ye Jian confirmed the woman was still alive while Lin Qi faced a Xuantian Sect disciple who charged at her.

Lin Qi rescued the Xuantian Sect disciples, escaped the Eight Gates Golden Lock Array, and trapped the Fifth Elder inside it. She returned to find Liu Yuan and other Wutai Sword Pavilion cultivators trying to leave, and demanded that they stay to answer for the help she had given them.

• Lin Qi sent Ye Jian and the rescued Xuantian Sect disciples out through the Gate of View, then went to confront the Fifth Elder alone.
• The Fifth Elder detonated her treasures to escape an illusion, tracked Lin Qi through the array, and followed her into a gate filled with blades and sword shadows.
• Lin Qi left the array and waited until it settled before retrieving the Fifth Elder's corpse.
• Lin Qi returned to find Ye Jian confronting Liu Yuan and other Wutai Sword Pavilion cultivators, who complained that Lin Qi had risked their safety by rescuing others.
• Lin Qi drew the God-Slaying Saber and told Liu Yuan she would not let him leave before Wutai Sword Pavilion compensated her for saving them.

Lin Qi restrained Liu Yuan after he tried to split up the group, then discovered evidence that he was connected to Azure Sea Pavilion. A letter revealed that Azure Sea Pavilion had planned to exploit the calamity to weaken rival sects, leaving the gathered disciples furious and wary of its ambitions.

• Lin Qi threatened Liu Yuan, had Ye Jian tie him up, and ordered him searched after he admitted he would not leave.
• Ning Sangye returned with two injured Tianyi Sect disciples, who said an Azure Sea Pavilion elder had trapped them in a formation and tried to kill them.
• Lin Qi told Ning Sangye that Liu Yuan had tried to lead Wutai Sword Pavilion disciples away and suspected him of treachery.
• Liu Che found a Heavenly Dragon Pavilion jade pendant on Liu Yuan, and the group also discovered a letter linking him to Azure Sea Pavilion.
• Lin Qi, Zhe Yuan, and Ye Jian read the letter and concluded Azure Sea Pavilion intended to weaken rival sects and seize dominance in the Southern Continent.

Lin Qi led disciples from the Wutai Sword Pavilion, Xuantian Sect, and Tianyi Sect out of the Spirit Array Secret Realm as chaos spread through the Demon God Palace. After splitting up and reuniting with Zhe Yuan’s team, they reached the palace gates, where Lin Qi grew suspicious that Azure Sea Pavilion elders might be waiting to ambush them.

• Lin Qi decided the group should leave the Spirit Array Secret Realm before the Demon God Palace descended into chaos.
• Lin Qi’s group killed two Azure Sea Pavilion elders after they emerged from the secret realm, then learned the elders had killed five Tianyi Sect and Xuantian Sect disciples.
• Lin Qi divided the survivors into two teams and sent Ning Sangye and Zhe Yuan along one route while she traveled with Ye Jian and Ning Sangyu along another.
• Lin Qi’s team picked up injured disciples and a corpse, while Zhe Yuan’s team also found dead and injured Xuantian Sect and Tianyi Sect disciples.
• Lin Qi reunited with Zhe Yuan’s team near the Demon God Palace gates, then led everyone into hiding because no Tianyi Sect or Xuantian Sect elders had appeared along the way.

Lin Qi discovered that Azure Sea Pavilion had likely seized the exits, but the Weak Water suddenly surged through the Demon God Palace and swept her away. She encountered the Giant Black Python and realized it was badly injured, though it meant her no harm.

• Lin Qi volunteered to scout beyond the Weak Water, and Ye Jian agreed after warning her to be careful.
• Lin Qi spotted the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion's Pavilion Master, a Spirit Transformation cultivator, and suspected Azure Sea Pavilion controlled the exits.
• The Weak Water suddenly churned and dragged Lin Qi and the surrounding cultivators toward the Demon God Palace's main hall, destroying it and flooding the palace.
• The current swept Lin Qi to the Giant Black Python, and Tian Mang stepped in to protect her.
• The Giant Black Python carried Lin Qi and Tian Mang away, and Lin Qi recognized that it was injured; Tian Mang wept when she saw its blood.

Lin Qi and Tian Mang were carried through an underground passage by the wounded Giant Black Python, where Tian Mang recognized Sky Witherwood and translated murals about the Devil Race. As they traveled, she recounted how the Great Demon God and Shen Jun met and fell in love, leaving their story at the beginning of its happier years.

• Lin Qi saw Yuan Ye and Shen Jun's corpses beneath the entrance and noticed the dying Sky Witherwood entwined around the wounded Giant Black Python.
• Tian Mang mourned Grandpa Witherwood, and Lin Qi reassured her that she was still human.
• The Giant Black Python carried Lin Qi and Tian Mang through a dark underground passage lined with murals, and Tian Mang identified them as records of Sky Demon Tribe history.
• Tian Mang translated the murals' account of the Devil Race's division, its catastrophic civil war, and the Upper Demon Tribe's retreat behind a realm barrier.
• Tian Mang recounted how the Great Demon God traveled among humans to gather cultivation knowledge, met Shen Jun, and became her Dao Companion.