Chapter Summaries

A Yan Army Commandant led more than seventy soldiers into River City to find work, where Qiao Jin and Little Ye Zi arranged their entry and accommodations. After witnessing the city’s prosperity and the cooperation between humans and demons, the soldiers settled in and one praised the demons as good people.

• Qiao Jin directed Little Ye Zi to escort the Commandant and his men to River City, and they left their weapons at the sentry post.
• Little Ye Zi explained that the soldiers would likely find dock work, and the group traveled down the mountain toward River City.
• The Commandant’s men encountered other Yan soldiers returning from the territory and marveled at River City’s size, busy shipping, and mixed human-demon workforce.
• Little Ye Zi guided the soldiers through Customs, where they received temporary residence permits and identification documents.
• The city administration arranged dormitory accommodations and a meal for the soldiers, prompting one man to say that demons were good people.

The battalion commander settled into dock work in the Central Plains and heard another former commander explain why he and his men had left military service to earn a living. Back in the Southern Wasteland, Bai Yujun planned to expand into the southern rainforest and begin building a new fleet, while sensing trouble in the north but choosing not to intervene.

• The battalion commander and his men started hauling cargo at the docks, where a veteran foreman from the Yan Army welcomed him and offered him a cigarette.
• The veteran foreman told the battalion commander about his unit’s hardships and how work in the city provided food, shelter, and hope for their families.
• Bai Yujun returned to the Southern Wasteland, where Qing Ling woke after a year’s sleep and sulked.
• Bai Yujun studied the map and chose the Chi Mang lands in the southern rainforest as the next area for her territory to expand into.
• Bai Yujun sensed unrest in the north but decided not to interfere, then began planning new-style warships for a push toward the sea.

Bai Yujun strengthened her territory, dealt with a Yan Army provocation, and traveled into the Hundred Thousand Mountains to revisit an ancient dragon relic. Meanwhile, Chunyang Palace and the Western Teachings searched the Northern Lands for a missing flood dragon scale, while its hidden holders emerged from a swamp after a searcher passed.

• Bai Yujun ordered the academy to develop from her blueprints and sent troops and merchant caravans south to scout and establish coastal camps.
• After Qian Chaogui provoked the border forces, Bai Yujun ordered a lesson, and five thousand demon soldiers routed his army and drove him to flee.
• Bai Yujun traveled through the Hundred Thousand Mountains in search of the ancient dragon relic, avoiding disputes with the many powerful demons she encountered.
• Chunyang Palace and the Western Teachings searched the Northern Lands for a flood dragon scale linked to a sealed dragon's remains beneath the far northern ice plains.
• Several mud-covered figures crawled out of a swamp after a Chunyang disciple searching for the scale flew away.

Bai Yujun fought off male demons who challenged her in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, then continued her journey through the wilderness. She finally spotted the ruins she had been seeking and recognized them as a place she had returned to after several hundred years.

• Bai Yujun defeated a black-furred Demon Emperor who tried to make her his mate, then kicked him away after he insulted her appearance.
• Bai Yujun boiled a giant bird egg and rolled it over the bruise on her forehead before eating it.
• Bai Yujun continued through the Hundred Thousand Mountains, eating and drinking as she followed her memories toward the ruins.
• Bai Yujun crossed a towering mountain range and saw grand buildings atop a broken cliff in the distance.
• Bai Yujun said she had returned after several hundred years apart.

Bai Yujun approached a guarded ruin in the Hundred Thousand Mountains and met the Demon Emperors gathered there. She learned that they had been hired to protect the injured White Ape from his elder brother.

• Bai Yujun sensed several Demon Emperors and many detection-focused demons surrounding the ruins, then cautiously approached the main gate.
• A Striped Python Demon appeared behind Bai Yujun but took a detour toward the gate, and she watched him join the other Demon Emperors.
• Bai Yujun reached the gate and met an alluring fox demon, a Crested Crane, a pair of Giant Elephants, a gorilla, and the Striped Python Demon.
• The fox demon told Bai Yujun that outsiders had tried to steal from the ruins and that the injured White Ape had hired them with five-hundred-year spiritual herbs.
• The fox demon revealed that White Ape's elder brother was the opponent they were guarding against.

Bai Yujun reunited with a fox demon she had known centuries earlier and listened to the story of the human scholar she had loved and lost. After three days of waiting in the rain, a white ape emerged from the relic, just as a violent aura approached.

• Bai Yujun recognized the fox demon from their encounter centuries ago, when she had been a White Snake helping humans control a flood.
• The fox demon recalled meeting a foolish scholar, marrying him, and staying by his grave after he grew old and died.
• Bai Yujun declared that her only goal was to survive, and she and the fox demon waited in the rain with the other Demon Emperors for three days.
• A graceful white ape dressed as a scholar emerged from the relic and thanked the gathered demons for their help.
• A violent aura rushed toward the relic gate while the demons assessed the white ape.

Bai Yujun watched the Demon Emperors gather around the ruins as the Golden-haired Ape arrived to hunt the thief who had injured the White Ape. When a powerful Demonic Beast appeared with a mind-stirring pagoda, Bai Yujun revealed herself as the umbrella-selling flood dragon and confronted it.

• Bai Yujun hid beneath a tree as the Golden-haired Ape arrived and threatened to kill the thief who had injured the White Ape.
• The Golden-haired Ape and the other Demon Emperors grew alert when Bai Yujun sensed a Demonic Beast approaching.
• A powerful Demonic Beast appeared carrying a black pagoda-shaped magic treasure that stirred dark emotions and disrupted sanity.
• Bai Yujun used True Sight to spot another demon lurking near the ruins, then approached the Demonic Beast under an umbrella and offered to sell it one.
• The Demonic Beast recognized Bai Yujun as the flood dragon who sold umbrellas, and Bai Yujun challenged it as red light flared in her eyes.

Bai Yujun fought a demon trying to use a black pagoda artifact to distract the demon emperors and help its accomplice reach the ruins. She shattered the pagoda with her dragon spear and declared herself an Artifact Breaker.

• Bai Yujun provoked the demon into a close-range fight, wounded it with her umbrella, and poisoned the wound.
• Bai Yujun summoned lightning, exposing a second demon sneaking toward the ruins, while the fox demon held the accomplice back.
• The demon activated its black pagoda artifact to interfere with the demon emperors, but the Golden-haired Ape attacked and forced it to retreat.
• Bai Yujun transformed her ankle ring into a dragon spear and charged the pagoda with lightning-enhanced force.
• Bai Yujun shattered the black pagoda, sent the demon flying, and announced, "I am an Artifact Breaker."

Bai Yujun helped the demon emperors drive off two demonic fiends, then pursued one fleeing Demonic Beast through the clouds and captured it. She found a clue to what the fiends had sought in the ruins and burned the captive to ashes.

• Bai Yujun and the demon emperors overwhelmed the Demonic Beast, while the Golden-haired Ape and others battled the demonic fiend.
• Bai Yujun wounded the Demonic Beast until it burned its blood essence and fled, and the demonic fiend escaped separately.
• Bai Yujun pursued the weakened Demonic Beast through the clouds and tracked it to a forest stream.
• Bai Yujun crippled the Demonic Beast, searched it for clues, and confirmed what the demonic fiends had targeted.
• Bai Yujun burned the Demonic Beast to ashes with white flames.

Bai Yujun returned from killing the Demonic Beast and persuaded the White Ape to let her enter the ancient ruin to retrieve an item. She followed a route on the beast-hide paper to an empty side building and realized the Demonic Beasts had been used as free thugs.

• Bai Yujun returned carrying proof that she had slain the Demonic Beast, while the Golden-haired Ape praised her strength and then bounced away with a tree trunk.
• Bai Yujun warned off an old python and told the White Ape that she wanted to enter the ruin for one item, threatening to beat him if he refused.
• The White Ape let Bai Yujun enter the ruin, and the fox demon and White Ape followed her inside.
• Bai Yujun recalled her earlier visit to the ruin and followed the rough route marked on the beast-hide paper to a shabby side building.
• Bai Yujun found the building empty, examined the beast-hide paper, and concluded that the Demonic Beasts had been used as free thugs.

Bai Yujun discovered that humans had forged the ancient beast-hide painting used to trap the demon lords, while the surviving demon lord realized the plan had ended in disaster. In the Southern Wasteland, she entered an ancient painting and found a box of jewelry and a White Umbrella that was a weapon.

• Bai Yujun concluded that humans had added a false depiction to genuine antique beast-hide paper to lure the demon lords into a trap.
• The wounded demon lord drank a fawn's blood to recover, sensed that his companion had died, and roared in regret as he realized the plan had failed.
• Chunyang Palace disciples and Western Teachings experts searched the Northern Frontier forests while ice and snow creatures continued destroying awakened zombies.
• Bai Yujun spent nearly half a month exploring the palace complex, found an energy-field doorway behind the main hall, and stepped into an ancient painting.
• Bai Yujun opened a red Dressing Box in the painted chamber and took its jewelry.
• Bai Yujun opened a white paper umbrella bearing an ink-wash dragon and read the note beneath it, which said "gift."

Bai Yujun left the ruins after the White Ape tried to claim a share of her gains, then traveled to Dragon Gate Desert to visit Mu. Mu warned her that a major event was coming, but said the attempt to disturb the dragon bones in the north would fail.

• The White Ape demanded a share of the treasures Bai Yujun had obtained in the ruins, but the storm and his instincts warned him against attacking her.
• The White Ape offered Bai Yujun a few more days of hospitality, and she declined before flying away as the rain cleared.
• Bai Yujun traveled through the outer regions at her own pace and then went to Dragon Gate Desert to visit Mu.
• Mu warned Bai Yujun that something major was happening outside and offered her refuge if danger came.
• Bai Yujun suspected someone planned to disturb Senior's remains beneath the northern ice plains, but Mu said the attempt would fail.

Bai Yujun discovered that officials across the Northern Lands were demolishing the Dragon Girl Temples, so she caused strange phenomena when the temples fell. In Longze County, her Divine Soul appeared as the county magistrate prepared to obey the demolition order, and a storm drove him to promise the temple would be spared.

• Bai Yujun learned that court experts were provoking the Snake Demon Army, while Little Qing brought Jiuli experts to help suppress them.
• Bai Yujun realized that officials had begun destroying the remaining Dragon Girl Temples across the Northern Lands.
• In a remote village, officials toppled a small temple, and the well behind it suddenly gushed, frightening the villagers and sending the officials fleeing.
• The Longze County magistrate reluctantly led officials toward the Dragon Girl Temple, where more than a thousand residents had gathered to oppose its destruction.
• Bai Yujun's Divine Soul arrived at the Longze temple as wind and lightning rose, and the county magistrate pleaded for the Dragon God to calm down and promised not to demolish it.

While Bai Yujun lounged peacefully at home, the Silver-haired Man crossed the northern ice plains and reached the silent ice lake where the Divine Dragon rested. After attacking pursuing cultivators with a mechanical crossbow, he turned to face a massive Golden Roc.

• Bai Yujun relaxed in the rear garden and dismissed the destruction of the Northern Lands' dragon temples as none of her concern.
• The Silver-haired Man secretly crossed the ice plains, evading monsters and the Chunyang Palace cultivators and Western Teachings monks searching for the dragon remains.
• The Silver-haired Man reached the silent ice lake, where spells and spiritual power could not be used, and continued toward its center with a mechanical crossbow.
• The Silver-haired Man shot down a pursuing Chunyang cultivator and a Western Teachings disciple, then resumed walking across the lake.
• The Silver-haired Man heard familiar heavy footsteps, turned around, and saw a massive Golden Roc behind him.

The Silver-haired Man defied Huang Zhao’s warning and used explosives to break through the ice and enter the Dragon Tomb, hoping to gain the power needed to escape death. As Bai Yujun sent the dragon’s remains back to heaven and earth, the dragon bones vanished and the Silver-haired Man was pulled into a collapsing fissure.

• Huang Zhao urged the Silver-haired Man to abandon his plan, but the man insisted that entering the Dragon Tomb was his only chance to become immortal.
• Huang Zhao accepted that he could not stop his friend and left, while the Silver-haired Man assembled an ice axe and planted explosives beneath the ice.
• The explosion shattered the ice, and the Silver-haired Man leaped into the water as disciples of two sects rushed toward him too late to stop him.
• Inside the Dragon Tomb, the Silver-haired Man used a flood dragon scale to withstand the pressure and approached the enormous dragon skeleton.
• Bai Yujun formed a hand seal from afar, sending golden energy from the dragon’s forehead into the Silver-haired Man before she knelt and kowtowed to return the dragon to heaven and earth.
• Mysterious runes appeared on the dragon bones, which shattered and vanished, dragging the Silver-haired Man into a fissure as the hidden space collapsed.

The dragon bones’ final divine power erased the corpse poison across the icefield, but the awakened zombies formed a vast horde and began moving south. As the Sea of Corpses approached the northern lands, the Yan court and Central Plains sects stalled over the preparations needed to stop it.

• The dragon bones’ divine power swept across the icefield, annihilating nearby zombies and removing the corpse poison from the rest.
• The Ancient Bell rang at Shenhua Mountain, and Yu Rong recognized that the long-anticipated calamity had begun.
• Ice-and-snow creatures fought the zombies for days, but a high-ranking zombie roared and led the horde south.
• Wildlife and reindeer herders fled south as the Sea of Corpses passed out of the icefield, while barbarian tribes began migrating.
• Chunyang Palace and the Western Teachings urged the Yan Kingdom to defend the Great Wall, but the court and noble clans delayed mobilization, and Central Plains sects evaded responsibility.

Bai Yujun watched the corpse tide advance toward the Northern Lands and weighed the Snake Demon Army’s role as the Yan Kingdom delayed taking action. When the horde reached the Great Wall, beacon fires raised the alarm, but the defenses failed and several cities fell, finally frightening the kingdom’s powerful families.

• Bai Yujun decided the snake demons would eventually have to take part in the calamity, but she waited because the alliance treaty barred her army from crossing the Central Plains without the emperor’s permission.
• The corpse tide overwhelmed northern tribes and drove them south through the Great Wall’s passes while the Yan Kingdom’s Imperial Court hesitated and failed to prepare.
• A Great Wall Beacon Tower lit its signal fires, and the fortress commander ordered the Border Army to man the walls.
• The defenders saw countless red-eyed corpses outside the fortress, and messengers rode through the night to seek reinforcements.
• The corpse tide crossed the Great Wall, swept away villages, and destroyed several great cities in one night.
• The destruction of cities and the loss of their property finally frightened the powerful and noble.

After the Yan Kingdom’s forces suffered defeats against the corpse tide, the court sought help under an ancient covenant with the Snake Demon Army. The envoy reached Bai Yujun in the Southern Wasteland, where she questioned the request to send demons to fight evil spirits.

• The Yan Kingdom army collapsed in battle against the rotting corpses before eventually holding a line, while the Great Wall garrison sealed the northern passes.
• The court rediscovered the founding emperor’s covenant with the Snake Demon Army, then sent Minister Pu Keli to contact the demon emperor in the Southern Wasteland.
• A small village survived the corpse tide because its dragon temple protected the Threshing Ground, and the villagers gathered to worship it.
• Minister Pu Keli asked Bai Yujun to honor the ancient covenant and send troops against evil spirits, after she urged him to speak plainly.

A demon army arrived by canal to reinforce the besieged Yan Kingdom capital, while officials there struggled to organize its defense. Minister Zhe learned that the palace had been abandoned, but he and Dong chose to remain as the capital awaited the demon army.

• A hungry village girl met the demon army when its ships docked, and Little Ye Zi gave her an egg to calm her.
• Qiao Jin directed Snake Demon Soldiers and supply wagons north along the blocked canal route toward the capital.
• Minister Zhe learned from Dong that the palace was empty and that its ruler had fled south days earlier.
• Minister Zhe and Dong decided to stay in the capital, though Dong planned to send their families south that night.
• A carrier pigeon brought word that the demon army had arrived, and Minister Zhe accepted it as the capital’s strongest reinforcement.

Bai Yujun rode north to inspect the battle against the zombies at the Great Wall, while Yan Kingdom officials debated whether to exploit the fighting between demons and the undead. She arrived at a fortified city where cultivators were gathering to resist the zombie threat and asked to meet the Clear Void leaders.

• Minister Zhe rejected the proposal to let the demon army and zombies weaken each other, warning that the Yan Kingdom's soldiers had lost their fighting spirit through scheming and infighting.
• Bai Yujun circled the Yan Kingdom capital, saw its defenders fighting off ordinary rotting corpses, and continued north toward the Great Wall.
• After seven days of travel, Bai Yujun reached a military fortress where Chunyang Palace, Western Teachings, and other cultivators were preparing to fight powerful zombies.
• Two Chunyang disciples recognized Bai Yujun's Grand Elder Waist Token and reported that Yang Mu and Patriarch Yu were in the city.
• Bai Yujun told the disciples to take her into the fortress, and they guided her toward the command tent.