Chapter Summaries

Chen Mu discovered that Innate Qi let him control and strengthen Yin Fault Yang Deviation, while the Water Mansion searched for the vanished Dragon Pearl Spiritual Mechanism. After realizing Qiu Jinwu had lost all trace of it, Qiu Jinwu accepted that he would have to pursue his Primordial Spirit Path through Qianji Sect.

• Chen Mu used Innate Qi to regain control of Yin Fault Yang Deviation and accelerate its production of frigid White Mist.
• Qiu Jinwu searched Bixi Alley for the Dragon Pearl Spiritual Mechanism, but Jiao Shi reported that the Spirit Seeking Bead found nothing and the mechanism had likely been refined.
• Chen Mu learned that several shopkeepers had fallen into comas from a sinister curse and realized his Nightmare Victory Curse Method straw dolls had struck six of them.
• Jiao Shi explained to Qiu Jinwu that a Death-Substitution Calamity-Crossing Art could not protect him from a Pure Yang Dao Ancestor's punishment or undo his Dao Soldier Contract.
• Qiu Jinwu accepted that the Dragon Pearl Spiritual Mechanism was gone and decided to rely on Qianji Sect for his Primordial Spirit Path.

Chen Mu investigated Haizhou’s sects and weighed the routes to earning Dao Merit and obtaining a Dao Foundation Chart. He chose the Hundred Illusions Sect’s Butcher Auxiliary Soldier path over Taoshan Temple’s Combat Soldier training, while discovering that his Heavenly Demon Armor could absorb Demons’ protective Divine Abilities.

• Chen Mu sensed a powerful Meridian Opening cultivator near the Water Mansion and reflected on the strength of Haizhou’s Qi Refining forces.
• Chen Mu concluded that he would need to join the Qianji Sect as a Dao Soldier to pursue a Dao Foundation Chart and investigated the nearby Hundred Illusions Sect.
• A White-Haired Taoist from Taoshan Temple tried to recruit Chen Mu as a Combat Soldier, claiming its Cage Secret Record generated more Innate Qi than the Hundred Illusions Sect’s methods.
• Chen Mu advanced his Giant Spirit God and Heavenly Demon Armor Secret Arts, then discovered that his Heavenly Demon Armor had replicated the Hundred Mile Qi Seal Divine Ability.
• After learning more about both sects, Chen Mu chose the Hundred Illusions Sect’s Auxiliary Soldier path because he preferred logistics work to front-line combat.

Chen Mu joined the Hundred Illusions Sect, but before he could leave his courtyard for its mountain gate, Jiao Shi ambushed him with Yellow Millet Plague Toxin and tried to take the Dragon Pearl Spiritual Mechanism. Chen Mu feigned being unconscious, learned Jiao Shi had deceived Qiu Jinwu, and trapped him with Five Dragon Manifestation.

• Chen Mu registered with the Hundred Illusions Sect after telling Lu Han he preferred the butcher’s trade and distrusted Taoshan Temple’s claims about fighting Demons.
• As Chen Mu prepared to leave his courtyard for the sect, a nightmare-like drowsiness overcame him and he collapsed.
• Jiao Shi arrived twelve hours later, sealed Yellow Millet Plague Toxin in a clay pot, and used the Amber Spirit Seeking Bead to locate Chen Mu’s Dragon Pearl Spiritual Mechanism.
• Chen Mu seized Jiao Shi’s wrist, revealed he was conscious, and demanded to know where Qiu Jinwu was.
• Jiao Shi admitted he had manipulated Qiu Jinwu with an altered Dao Soldier Contract and revealed his monstrous transformation.
• Chen Mu recognized Jiao Shi was setting up a Breath-Sealing Prohibition and summoned Five Dragon Manifestation, pinning him in place with five massive black dragon heads.

Chen Mu captured Jiao Shi, concealed him in an abandoned courtyard, and weakened him with repeated attacks and a curse before preparing to leave Dingyou Tianhe Water Mansion. As the White Calamity Ship began boarding amid rumors of trouble in Bixi Alley, Chen Mu destroyed the Clay Doll linked to Jiao Shi and boarded the ship.

• Jiao Shi broke free of Chen Mu's Five Dragon Manifestation with a life-saving technique, but Chen Mu punctured his repulsive barrier and swallowed him with the Five Dragons.
• Chen Mu moved the unconscious Jiao Shi to a hidden courtyard, repeatedly destroyed and let his brain regenerate, and carved out half his liver to make a Clay Doll for the Nightmare Victory Curse Method.
• Chen Mu moved Jiao Shi to an abandoned courtyard in Bixi Alley and released plague toxin from a yellow clay pot while his Heavenly Demon Armor protected him.
• Three mornings later, Water Mansion Warriors suddenly rushed away from the White Calamity Ship, and people feared that the Yellow Millet Strange Disease had spread.
• Chen Mu activated the Clay Doll to crush Jiao Shi from afar, then followed Lu Han and boarded the White Calamity Ship.

Chen Mu fled after discarding the tracking bead and used the Taiyi Treasure Refining Art to refine Yin Fault Yang Deviation and the Dragon Pearl Spiritual Mechanism. Meanwhile, Jiao Yufei and Jiao Shi’s father tracked the artifact until Chen Mu’s progress broke their tracking pearl, leaving them without his location.

• Chen Mu crushed Jiao Shi’s Amber Spirit Seeking Bead into the Heaven-Reaching River and force-fed Innate Qi to Yin Fault Yang Deviation to hasten the Dragon Pearl Spiritual Mechanism’s fusion.
• Jiao Yufei’s warriors found the discarded Mustard Seed Jade Talisman, but he rejected their plan to search farther along the river and waited for help from Renxu Tianhe Water Mansion.
• Traveling on a Seven-Star Centipede, Chen Mu used the Taiyi Treasure Refining Art to temper Yin Fault Yang Deviation and the Dragon Pearl Spiritual Mechanism, strengthening his connection to them.
• A middle-aged man used an Amber Pearl to locate the Dragon Pearl Spiritual Mechanism, while Jiao Yufei questioned whether Chen Mu had kept it or could evade tracking.
• The Amber Pearl cracked and lost its signal as Chen Mu’s refining technique took effect, and Jiao Yufei revealed that Jiao Shi’s talisman had contained a scripture that could have helped Chen Mu counter the tracking.

Chen Mu completed the refinement of Yin Fault Yang Deviation, removing the danger of being tracked, and arrived at the Hundred Illusions Sect with the new recruits. The recruits began the sect’s Body Washing Cave initiation, while Chen Mu confirmed it was not a trap and overheard the disciples betting on how many newcomers would faint.

• Chen Mu finished merging the Dragon Pearl Spiritual Mechanism with Yin Fault Yang Deviation and concluded that he could no longer be tracked through it.
• Lu Han led the Seven-Star Centipede through the Misty Forest to the Hundred Illusions Sect, where Chen Mu and the other recruits climbed to the cliffside entrance.
• Lu Han warned the recruits to guard their minds in the Body Washing Cave, then flew ahead to wait at its exit.
• Chen Mu used the Seven Emotions Curse and True Hearing Supernatural Ability to check the cave and Lu Han, then entered with the group after deciding it was safe.
• At the cave’s far entrance, Lu Han and other sect members wagered on how many recruits would faint, while Chen Mu overheard their discussion and approved of one disciple who called him a good person.

Chen Mu explored the Hundred Illusions Sect’s Body Washing Cave, where surging Demonic Energy turned his violent past into terrifying illusions and knocked out everyone in his group. Three days later, he had joined the sect and headed to the Preaching Cliff to begin training toward joining the Qianji Sect.

• Chen Mu examined the Demonic Energy in the cave and destroyed an illusion of Jiao Shi with Five Dragons Qi.
• As more illusions appeared, Chen Mu recognized figures resembling people and monsters he had killed, then protested that the cave was unfairly blaming him for their deaths.
• The cave’s Demonic Energy surged, and Lu Han led the other disciples inside to rescue the unconscious group.
• Chen Mu feigned unconsciousness while the Hundred Illusions Sect disciples speculated that a Killer Star had caused the mass collapse.
• Three days later, Chen Mu admired the sect’s Golden Yuan Grain fields, reflected on his path toward the Qianji Sect, and set out for the Preaching Cliff.

Chen Mu learned the Demon Slaying Technique at the Hundred Illusions Sect and began practicing it to prepare for joining the Qianji Sect. After successfully cutting a Demonic Energy Stone, he and the other newcomers were sent to Prison of Essence Valley to mine stones and train against varied Demon Qi Mechanisms.

• Elder Chuan Changchuan taught the newcomers the Demon Slaying Technique and gave them Demonic Energy Stones to practice on.
• Chen Mu began cultivating the technique in his cave and condensed its first Spell Talisman within a few hours.
• Chen Mu used a Demonic Energy Stone to learn how to adjust the technique to its protective Qi Mechanism and cut the stone in half.
• Lu Han led Chen Mu and the other newcomers into Prison of Essence Valley and ordered them to mine Demonic Energy Stones to improve their mastery.

Chen Mu discovered that the Three Yin Slaying Demon Technique could cut Demonic Energy Stone and planned to use it to pass the Qianji Sect’s Demon Slaying Technique requirement. He continued training at Prison of Essence Valley and began investigating why Lu Han watched the miners so closely.

• Chen Mu learned that Demonic Energy Stone regenerated after being mined and that its resistance required him to keep adjusting the Demon Slaying Technique.
• After mining only about thirty pounds in a day, Chen Mu worried he might miss the next Dao Soldier transfer to the Qianji Sect and decided to find another way to meet the requirement.
• Chen Mu tested the Three Yin Slaying Demon Technique on a saved piece of Demonic Energy Stone and effortlessly cut through it, realizing the secret art was suited to slaying demons.
• Chen Mu rewarded the Seven Siblings of Wushan by feeding Innate Qi to their Seven Souls Gourd, making it grow larger.
• More than twenty days later, Chen Mu returned to Prison of Essence Valley, wondered why Lu Han supervised the miners so closely, and used True Hearing to listen to another group training five li away.

Chen Mu investigated the Dao Soldier Contracts at the Myriad Sutra Cave and learned that their terms were enforced by the Pure Yang Dao Ancestor, leaving him wary of being forced into a deadly order. He continued mining and studying Secret Arts while considering ways to preserve some freedom under the Contract.

• Chen Mu overheard miners discussing the Dao Soldier Contracts and their service terms and Dao Merit splits.
• Chen Mu secretly visited the Myriad Sutra Cave, bought a copied Dao Soldier Contract, and studied its requirements and penalties.
• Chen Mu realized the Pure Yang Dao Ancestor’s witness could punish either side for breaking the Contract, and worried that Qianji Sect might order him into deadly danger.
• Chen Mu left Prison of Essence Valley early again, frustrating Lu Han, while nearby youths discussed his priorities and the Demon Slaying Technique.
• Chen Mu used the Nightmare Victory Curse Method, causing the youths walking toward Lu Han to collapse to their knees.

Chen Mu searched for a way to reduce the restraints of the Dao Soldier Contract and learned that Lu Han could direct him to a Hundred Illusions Sect elder. Hu Buwei offered him a high-potential Secret Art that could create room to maneuver, and Chen Mu began choosing one to buy.

• Chen Mu studied how the Tier 7 Heavenly Demon Armor was reshaping his body and worried about the Dao Soldier Contract.
• Lu Han confronted Chen Mu about his visits to the Myriad Sutra Cave, then referred him to Hu Buwei after Chen Mu gave him a Small Cloth Bag.
• Chen Mu asked Hu Buwei for a Secret Art to help with the Dao Soldier Contract, and Hu Buwei warned it could not let him betray the Contract or desert.
• Hu Buwei offered Chen Mu a choice of Hundred Illusions Sect Secret Arts for five thousand White Jade, and Chen Mu bargained the price down to three thousand.
• After Chen Mu chose a Secret Art with a loftier concept, Hu Buwei asked him for another three hundred White Jade to select one for him.

Chen Mu cultivated the Nine Lives Tribulation Splitting Art and refined a Peach Divine Lord to divert the backlash of his Dao Soldier Contract. His efforts also helped Nine Heads draw out Origin Qi from its seal, and Nine Heads promised to help Hu Buwei reshape his body once it escaped.

• Hu Buwei admitted that he had invented the Nine Lives Tribulation Splitting Art, while Lu Han accused him of deceiving Chen Mu.
• Chen Mu studied and diligently cultivated the Nine Lives Tribulation Splitting Art, reaching its entry level after more than twenty days.
• Chen Mu searched Prison of Essence Valley for Moli Silver and found that someone had already taken the Peach Wood Core from one tree.
• Chen Mu refined a Peach Divine Lord from another Peach Wood Core and concluded that it could divert some backlash from his Dao Soldier Contract.
• Nine Heads told Hu Buwei that the Dao Soldiers' efforts to refine Peach Divine Lords had let it draw out Origin Qi from the seal, and promised to help Hu Buwei reshape his body after escaping.

Chen Mu refined more Peach Divine Lords in Prison of Essence Valley, while his Heavenly Demon Armor mysteriously surged in power and transformed his hair into a weapon. At Myriad Sutra Cave, Nine Heads's Origin Qi finally returned as a single wisp, leaving Hu Buwei suspicious that someone had intercepted the rest.

• Hu Buwei worried that Nine Heads's Origin Qi might fail to return, but Nine Heads insisted it would gather automatically and claimed no one could detect or intercept it.
• Chen Mu found that someone had recently extracted a Moli Silver tree's Peach Wood Core, preventing him from refining another Peach Divine Lord there, so he searched for more trees.
• A wisp of Origin Qi returned to Hu Buwei's eye, and Nine Heads insisted his true body had sent only a probe despite Hu Buwei's doubts.
• Chen Mu refined more Peach Divine Lords, raising his Nine Lives Tribulation Splitting Art proficiency to 4983, then discovered his Heavenly Demon Armor had gained over two thousand proficiency overnight.
• Chen Mu found that his Heavenly Demon Armor had made his hair hard enough to pierce a table and suspected Prison of Essence Valley had changed him.
• Lu Han urged Hu Buwei to stop distributing the Tribulation Splitting Art, and Hu Buwei agreed while Nine Heads brooded over the missing Origin Qi.

Chen Mu harvested Demonic Essence and Peach Wood Cores to strengthen his Heavenly Demon Armor and refine Peach Divine Lords, but ran out of suitable trees. After learning he could not stack tribulation-bearing Secret Arts, he was urged to focus on the Demon Slaying Technique before entering the Grinding Stone Room.

• Chen Mu discovered that concealed Demonic Essence gathered near Moli Silver Peach Trees and absorbed it into his Heavenly Demon Armor.
• As the Golden Yuan Grain harvest began, Chen Mu continued searching for Peach Wood Cores and found one on a Demon Suppressing Needle.
• After finding no more qualifying trees, Chen Mu's count of Peach Divine Lords remained at seventy-three, and he considered stacking other tribulation-blocking Secret Arts.
• Lu Han explained that Qi Refining cultivators could release only one Secret Art at a time, so Chen Mu's armor-stacking plan would not protect him from backlash.
• Lu Han scolded Chen Mu for neglecting the Demon Slaying Technique and grew uneasy when Chen Mu remained interested in tribulation-blocking arts.

Chen Mu decided to delay joining the Qianji Sect until he could safely handle the Contract’s backlash, and he kept searching for a way to refine more Peach Divine Lords. After detecting the Strange Force behind them, he used the Three Yin Slaying Demon Technique to bypass the barriers underground and began following its source.

• Chen Mu abandoned the idea of stealing other cultivators’ Peach Divine Lords and resolved to wait for another Moli Silver wood core to regrow.
• He continued studying the Nine Lives Tribulation Splitting Art while keeping his mining work at an unremarkable level.
• Chen Mu told Lu Han that Hu Buwei had a secret inheritance for him, provoking Lu Han to leave him alone.
• Chen Mu detected Strange Force inside a Moli Silver mutant peach tree and prepared to follow its source underground.
• When the Five Elements Evasion Technique failed against the Demonic Energy Stones and peach tree, Chen Mu used the Three Yin Slaying Demon Technique to soften the ground and descend beneath it.

Chen Mu discovered a sealed Stone Gourd containing Heavenly Demon Nine Heads and cautiously absorbed the Demonic Essence leaking from it, improving his Heavenly Demon Armor. He continued gathering Moli Silver and making Peach Divine Lords, while Nine Heads, puzzled that Chen Mu had not transformed, sent him three more strands of Origin Qi at once.

• Chen Mu found twenty-six Moli Silver Peach Trees and a half-buried Stone Gourd, then detected Demonic Essence leaking through a crack in it.
• Chen Mu hesitated before absorbing one strand of Demonic Essence, while Nine Heads recognized him as the person who had taken his earlier Origin Qi and tried to lure him into taking more.
• Chen Mu made three Peach Divine Lords overnight, bringing his total to seventy-six, and found that the Demonic Essence had greatly improved his Heavenly Demon Armor.
• Chen Mu resumed digging Demonic Energy Stones, collecting Moli Silver Peach Wood Cores, refining puppets, and absorbing any leaking Demonic Essence he found.
• Nine Heads realized Chen Mu had absorbed nine strands without showing signs of mutation and sent three more strands of Origin Qi through the crack, hoping to turn him into an avatar.

Chen Mu joined the Grinding Stone Workshop while secretly refining Peach Divine Lords, then discovered Nine Heads inside the Gourd Grotto-Heaven and learned that the Demon’s Origin Qi might erode him. Chen Mu ignored the warning and attacked Nine Heads with Emerald Green Qi Blades, leaving him enduring the assault inside the seal.

• Lu Han brought Chen Mu and two other Dao Soldier apprentices to the Grinding Stone Workshop, where Yang Fu collapsed to his knees under Chen Mu’s Nightmare Victory Curse Method.
• Chen Mu found that the Three Yin Slaying Demon Technique let him meet the workshop’s cultivation demands, but he slowed his progress after extracting the Peach Wood Cores from all twenty-six Moli Silver peach trees and reaching ninety-nine Peach Divine Lords.
• Chen Mu returned to the underground hollow and spotted Nine Heads in the Gourd Grotto-Heaven after noticing that Demonic Essence was still overflowing.
• Nine Heads warned Chen Mu that his Origin Qi contained spiritual consciousness that could erode and assimilate him, but Chen Mu discovered that the Heavenly Demon Armor could absorb Origin Qi and asked for more.
• Nine Heads refused to give Chen Mu another strand of Origin Qi, so Chen Mu struck him with Emerald Green Qi Blades raining through the crack in the ceiling.

Chen Mu discovered that the Stone Gourd contained all the Outer Realm Demons sealed by the Ninety-Nine Heaven-Bearing Magic Restriction, and he investigated how his techniques could pass through its defenses. After activating Lingbao Shuji Pian to perceive the restriction’s true form, he vanished from the Underground Cave.

• Lu Han confronted Hu Buwei over a supposed secret Demon Slaying Technique manual, and Hu Buwei later suffered intense pain through his connection to Nine Heads.
• Chen Mu attacked Nine Heads with the Three Yin Slaying Demon Technique until Nine Heads surrendered and claimed that more Demons were sealed within the Stone Gourd.
• Nine Heads explained that the Stone Gourd was the core of the Ninety-Nine Heaven-Bearing Magic Restriction and urged Chen Mu to find the other sealed Demons.
• Chen Mu tested different secret arts against the restriction and noticed an unexpected change in the Gray Wall’s experience after using Lingbao Shuji Pian.
• Chen Mu activated Lingbao Shuji Pian, saw the restriction’s chaotic Qi Mechanisms, and suddenly vanished from the Underground Cave.

Chen Mu used the Lingbao Shuji Pian to enter the second layer of the sealed cave, where he harvested Peach Wood Cores and refined more than a hundred Peach Divine Lords. After returning to the surface, he planned to explore the next layer, while Nine Heads tried to send his Origin Qi through the seal and lost it to a sudden suction force.

• Chen Mu entered the second layer of the seal through the Stone Gourd and found nineteen Moli Silver Peach Trees.
• Chen Mu spent seven days refining more than a hundred Peach Divine Lords from the Peach Wood Cores.
• Chen Mu realized the Lingbao Shuji Pian let him sense and interfere with the Heaven-Bearing Magic Restriction, then returned directly to the surface from the second layer.
• Chen Mu planned to check in at the Grinding Stone Workshop and explore the next layer of the seal that night.
• Nine Heads sent a strand of Origin Qi through the crack in the seal, but a powerful suction force dragged it back into the gourd.

After discovering that the demons sealed beneath Hundred Illusions Sect had vanished, Chen Mu found Prison of Essence Valley shrouded in unnatural fog and its people being summoned to Qingqiu Hall. A silent, black-clad figure appeared and disappeared nearby, leaving footprints in solid Demonic Energy Stone.

• Chen Mu amassed 203 Peach Divine Lords and pushed his Nine Lives Tribulation Splitting Art to 7643 proficiency while exploring the opened underground seals.
• Chen Mu entered a new sealed cave, found no demon inside, and noticed that the crack on its Stone Gourd looked larger than those in the upper layers.
• Chen Mu checked Nine Heads’s seal and discovered that Nine Heads and the other demons in nine explored layers had vanished.
• Chen Mu emerged into Prison of Essence Valley, found its fog unusually thick, and saw Dao Soldier apprentices heading toward Qingqiu Hall as Lu Han and Yang Fu summoned them.
• A silent black-clad figure appeared near Chen Mu and vanished, leaving footprints in the valley’s hard Demonic Energy Stone.