Recaps

Liu Songjing rescued Lin Bai from the fifteen Giant Gods and sent him away in a lantern before battling them. Lin Bai drifted down the Immortal Corpse River, was repeatedly robbed and thrown back into the water, and was finally taken to a ruined temple by two sisters who hoped to help him.

• Liu Songjing sent Lin Bai away in his lantern and held off Gong Jun and the fourteen other Giant Gods, whose battle raged for three months.
• Lin Bai drifted unconscious through the darkness and woke near the Immortal Corpse River, where Corpse Fishers robbed him and kicked him back into the water.
• Lin Bai drifted for seventeen days as Corpse Fishers repeatedly hauled him ashore, found him empty-handed, and threw him back into the river.
• Two sisters pulled Lin Bai from the river, and the older sister carried him toward a ruined temple because he was still alive and might otherwise be killed by river creatures.

Lin Bai remained severely crippled in the broken temple for four months, slowly healing until a demon arrived to eat him. He used the Devouring Sword Soul to kill the demon and absorb its vitality, gaining a little strength as Volume Eight ended.

• The sisters left Lin Bai in the broken temple, unable to treat his injuries, and he faintly thanked them as they departed.
• Lin Bai spent four months drawing in spiritual energy to stabilize his injuries, while his Storage Bag and demon sword were taken from him.
• A demon entered the temple, found Lin Bai, and prepared to eat him.
• Lin Bai summoned the Devouring Sword Soul, which pulled the demon back and absorbed its blood and vitality.
• Lin Bai absorbed the demon's vitality and hoped that more demon beasts would help him heal.

Lin Bai slowly healed in the ruined temple on Eternal Night Mountain, learning from demons he killed that he was likely in a powerful world rather than a minor one. After six months, he remained unable to move and estimated that recovery would take years, but a group of fleeing martial artists arrived at the temple to rest.

• Lin Bai used the Devouring Sword Soul to kill a pig demon and inferred from its cultivation that he was probably in a resource-rich world.
• Lin Bai worried about Liu Songjing and suspected Ling Tianzi had sent the Heaven Swallowing Race senior to save him.
• Lin Bai spent six months healing in the ruined temple, killing several wandering demons and estimating that restoring his body and cultivation would take at least five years.
• Lin Bai resolved to reclaim his demon sword, which had been stolen along with his Storage Bag.
• Uncle Xi led a group of exhausted martial artists into the ruined temple to rest before entering Xuanzhou territory.

Lin Bai lay gravely injured in a ruined temple while Uncle Xi’s group took shelter there. As they rested, Lin Bai learned that the war between Xuanzhou and Lianzhou had begun over rivalries and competing interests in valuable resources.

• Uncle Xi’s group found Lin Bai in the ruined temple and determined that his injuries left him barely alive and no danger to them.
• Uncle Xi and his followers rested in the temple, leaving Lin Bai alone.
• That night, Uncle Xi told the group that the war began after a dispute between the Zhao Family’s Young Master Qian and the Candle Dragon Sect’s Young Sect Master at an auction.
• Uncle Xi explained that the dispute was only a pretext, while regional power struggles and the desire for resources had fueled the war.
• Uncle Xi said Cloud Crane Town’s martial artists had attacked Nine Night Town to seize its Celestial Crystal Mine, angering the young people in his group.

Uncle Xi explained that Nine Night Town had also planned to seize Cloud Crane Town’s resources before losing the war, while Lin Bai reflected on the ruthless struggle for cultivation resources. Before dawn, Fang Yu and hundreds of Cloud Crane Town martial artists surrounded the ruined temple and trapped Uncle Xi and the surviving Zhou Lineage juniors.

• Uncle Xi told the young refugees that Nine Night Town had intended to attack Azure Town and had also coveted Cloud Crane Town’s Cloud Purity Jade Dew.
• Lin Bai listened to Uncle Xi’s explanation and reflected on how fiercely people fought over resources.
• The young men and women complained about Lin Bai’s smell, and one of them threw him from the temple into the courtyard.
• Fang Yu’s force entered Eternal Night Mountain, killed the night watchmen, and surrounded the ruined temple.
• Fang Yu revealed that Nine Night Town had been destroyed and that he had orders to kill Zhou Xi before he could reach Xuanzhou.
• Zhou Xi weighed the danger to the surviving Zhou Lineage juniors as Fang Yu demanded that he die or take his own life.

Fang Yu and the Cloud Crane Town martial artists cornered Uncle Xi and the Zhou family in a ruined temple, but a sudden darkness consumed them all. When the light returned, they had vanished without a trace, leaving Uncle Xi stunned.

• Fang Yu defeated Uncle Xi in their battle and ordered the Zhou family members killed.
• Uncle Xi urged the Zhou family juniors to flee, but Cloud Crane Town's martial artists captured the escapees and brought them back.
• Fang Yu ordered his men to search the ruined temple and kill Lin Bai, who lay crippled in a corner.
• A sudden gale plunged the temple into darkness, and Cloud Crane Town's martial artists began disappearing amid their screams.
• Fang Yu's blood and bones were drained and crushed before he could escape the darkness.
• The darkness receded, and Uncle Xi saw that Fang Yu and all the Cloud Crane Town martial artists had disappeared without a trace.

Lin Bai wiped out the Cloud Crane Town martial artists who threatened him and the Zhou family, then remained in the ruined temple as the Zhou family fled toward Xuanzhou. Seven days later, another group approached, dragging a gravely injured Uncle Xi with them.

• Darkness swallowed the ruined temple, and hundreds of Cloud Crane Town martial artists vanished after Lin Bai killed them.
• Uncle Xi led the Zhou family members out of the temple and told them that a powerful, dangerous expert had slain their pursuers.
• Cai'er realized that Lin Bai might have been the limbless man they had thrown into the temple the previous night.
• Lin Bai regretted saving the Zhou family and wondered whether his missing Giant God Avatar had been destroyed.
• Seven days later, several hundred martial artists approached the temple, bringing a badly injured Uncle Xi with them.

Fang Yunhe led Cloud Crane Town experts to the ruined temple to avenge his son Fang Yu, only to discover that an unseen force around the motionless Lin Bai killed anyone who approached. After Lin Bai's power destroyed Fang Yunhe's Violet Lightning Serpent, darkness swallowed the temple again, and Fang Yunhe ordered his men to retreat.

• Fang Yunhe brought Zhou Xi and several hundred Cloud Crane Town experts to the ruined temple where Fang Yu had died.
• Zhou Xi recognized Lin Bai lying motionless in the courtyard and pleaded with him for protection, while Fang Yunhe demanded to know if Lin Bai had killed his son.
• A Six Tribulation Dao Realm young man attacked Lin Bai, but an invisible force swallowed his sword and pulled him in, killing him.
• Fang Yunhe secretly sent his Violet Lightning Serpent underground to attack Lin Bai, but a powerful force destroyed it and made Fang Yunhe spit blood.
• Darkness enveloped Eternal Night Mountain, and Fang Yunhe shouted for his experts to retreat.

After Lin Bai’s Black Jade Sword devoured the Cloud Crane Town martial artists, Lin Bai opened his eyes for the first time in a long while. Still badly injured and unable to move, he ordered Zhou Xi to take him out of Eternal Night Mountain.

• Fang Yunhe fled the ruined temple after the Black Jade Sword’s darkness swallowed the Cloud Crane Town martial artists, while Zhou Xi regretted that Fang Yunhe escaped.
• Lin Bai’s injuries eased after he refined the vital energies of Fang Yu’s group and Fang Yunhe’s group, and he regained enough awareness to open his eyes.
• Zhou Xi bowed to Lin Bai and tried to leave, but Lin Bai stopped him and revealed that he had awakened.
• Lin Bai told Zhou Xi that his dantian, divine core, and four limbs remained damaged, and asked him to take him out of Eternal Night Mountain.
• Zhou Xi questioned how Lin Bai could kill hundreds of Dao Realm martial artists while so gravely injured, and Lin Bai answered that they were beneath his notice.

Zhou Xi carried the badly wounded Lin Bai through Eternal Night Mountain, where Lin Bai learned that he had arrived in the Demon Realm rather than the Spirit World. As Zhou Xi explained the Demon Realm’s hierarchy and tribute system, Lin Bai asked who stood above its powerful provincial sects and families.

• Zhou Xi carried Lin Bai out of the ruined temple and told him they were in a remote part of Eternal Night Mountain.
• Lin Bai discovered from Zhou Xi that he was in the Demon Realm and wondered how he had ended up there while unconscious in the void.
• At Lin Bai’s request, Zhou Xi described how villages, towns, and cities were ranked by the strength of their resident martial artists.
• Zhou Xi explained that provincial sects and families controlled local forces and took sixty percent of their cultivation resources as tribute, raising the share during wars.
• Lin Bai questioned why no one resisted the Candle Dragon Sect, and Zhou Xi began explaining the significance of the Eternal Thirteen Provinces and the Crimson Moon Eighteen Provinces.

Lin Bai learned how the Eternal Devil Sect and Crimson Moon Divine Sect used tribute and sanctioned wars to control the Demon Realm. As Lin Bai and Zhou Xi left Eternal Night Mountain, Zhou Xi named Zhan Mountain City as a possible place to find medicine that could restore severed limbs.

• Zhou Xi explained that Lianzhou and Xuanzhou paid tribute to the Candle Dragon Sect and the Zhao Family’s respective overlords, and that provincial wars required their approval.
• Lin Bai concluded that the war between Lianzhou and Xuanzhou was driven by the struggle for cultivation resources and sustained by rules letting fighters keep their spoils.
• Zhou Xi asked whether the Spirit Realm was different, and Lin Bai said he believed it was less brutal while reflecting on the Demon Realm’s harshness.
• As they neared the end of Eternal Night Mountain, Zhou Xi said he had nowhere to go and could not safely return to Nine Night Town.
• Lin Bai asked where they could find medicine to heal him and restore severed limbs, and Zhou Xi suggested Zhan Mountain City.

Zhou Xi carried Lin Bai away from Eternal Night Mountain and told him about the Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seed, a rare medicine that could restore flesh and heal severe injuries. Determined to find a way to recover, Lin Bai chose to seek the seed in Zhan Mountain City, but the war had left their usual routes cut off.

• Zhou Xi carried Lin Bai past a village under Nine Night Town and explained that Cloud Crane Town's invasion had left its people slaughtered or scattered.
• Lin Bai refused to refine the dead villagers' qi and blood, citing his principles and the resentment tainting their remains.
• Zhou Xi told Lin Bai the history of the Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seed and how the Sun family rose to power with Candle Dragon Sect's support.
• Lin Bai decided to go to Zhan Mountain City to seek a lotus seed that could help restore his body.
• Zhou Xi explained that Cloud Crane Town had destroyed the captured villages' teleportation formations, forcing them to find another route to Zhan Mountain City.

Lin Bai and Zhou Xi sought a hidden teleportation array near Nine Night Town as they tried to reach Zhan Mountain City. When a large group of powerful martial artists approached before the array could fully activate, Lin Bai used his Devouring Sword Soul to whisk them both away.

• Zhou Xi carried Lin Bai toward a secret teleportation array outside Nine Night Town, explaining that the Zhou Family had built it to contact powerful figures in Zhan Mountain City.
• Zhou Xi found the hidden array beneath the bark of a fallen old tree and began reviving it with a Command Talisman.
• Lin Bai sensed several hundred Dao Venerable-level martial artists approaching and urged Zhou Xi to hurry.
• Before the array could fully activate, Lin Bai used his Devouring Sword Soul to take Zhou Xi and himself away.
• The pursuing martial artists arrived and searched the area around the old tree.

Lin Bai and Zhou Xi secretly witnessed Lang Qing meet Dou Shu, who offered to help Wolf City breach Zhan Mountain City in exchange for riches and favors for his children. The meeting ended with Lang Qing agreeing to consult his father, while Lin Bai learned of the planned betrayal.

• Lin Bai concealed himself and Zhou Xi while Lang Qing and experts from Wolf City searched the forest.
• The Old Tree Teleportation Array activated, bringing Dou Shu and his children, Dou Hu and Dou Fengsheng, to meet Lang Qing.
• Zhou Xi revealed that the Zhou family had secretly built the array and contacted Dou Shu, who had promised to support their bid to rule Nine Night Town.
• Dou Shu offered to help Wolf City breach Zhan Mountain City, demanding Celestial Spirit Stones, a Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seed, Dao Divine Weapons, and places for his children in the Crimson Moon Divine Sect.
• Lang Qing agreed to the other terms but said he needed his father's approval for the Celestial Spirit Stones and the lotus seed; Dou Shu departed with his children.

Lin Bai and Zhou Xi traveled toward Zhan Mountain City after learning that Dou Shu planned to sell it, and Lin Bai resolved to obtain the Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seeds stored by the Sun family. They reached a guarded entrance but discovered Lin Bai had no valid Identity Token to enter.

• Zhou Xi explained that Celestial Spirit Stones were extremely valuable treasures that helped Dao God-level martial artists break through.
• Lin Bai warned Zhou Xi that Zhan Mountain City's leaders would likely distrust his accusation against Dou Shu, and noted that the city still held three Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seeds.
• Zhou Xi carried Lin Bai through the Old Tree Teleportation Array to a cavern northwest of Zhan Mountain City.
• Zhou Xi described the eighteen guard cities and their defensive formation as he led Lin Bai toward South Peak Pass.
• Lin Bai and Zhou Xi reached the guarded passage, where the formation checked every entrant's Identity Token.
• Zhou Xi revealed that Lin Bai had no Pass Token and that tokens could not easily be forged because they held their owner's soul imprint.

Lin Bai and Zhou Xi followed Sun Liang out of Zhan Mountain City and tracked the blood left by a destroyed fleet to a mountain valley. There, Zhou Xi discovered that the dying survivor was Clearwater City's Young Master Qing Luo.

• Zhou Xi explained that Lin Bai needed an Identity Token to settle in Zhan Mountain City, but Lin Bai told him to follow Sun Liang when the Sun Family's Third Young Master rode out with several thousand soldiers.
• Lin Bai reasoned that Sun Liang was not heading to battle, and Zhou Xi followed the group away from the city.
• Lin Bai and Zhou Xi found dozens of destroyed Clearwater City warships at a ferry crossing and used Lin Bai's Devouring Sword Soul to track traces of blood northeast into the mountains.
• Lin Bai guided Zhou Xi through the mountains to a valley, where Zhou Xi found a badly wounded man hiding in a beast's den.
• Zhou Xi recognized the dying man as Clearwater City's Young Master Qing Luo from his Identity Token.

Lin Bai and Zhou Xi found the dying Qing Luo, whose family and city had been destroyed after his uncle betrayed Clearwater City to Precious Pearl City. After Qing Luo died, they headed for Zhan Mountain City, where the Third Young Master of the Sun family confronted them and spotted Qing Luo’s Storage Ring.

• Zhou Xi identified the wounded stranger as Qing Luo, the prodigy of Clearwater City who had been promised to Sun Yao.
• Qing Luo told Lin Bai and Zhou Xi that Clearwater City had fallen, his family had been killed, and his uncle had helped Precious Pearl City take the city.
• Qing Luo died, and Zhou Xi burned his body; he took Qing Luo’s Storage Ring and placed it in Lin Bai’s bosom.
• Lin Bai warned Zhou Xi that soldiers were approaching, but several hundred armored soldiers surrounded them under the command of the Third Young Master of the Sun family.
• The Third Young Master demanded Lin Bai’s Identity Token, then pulled him from Zhou Xi and caused Qing Luo’s Storage Ring to fall to the ground.

Lin Bai was mistaken for Qing Luo by the Sun family's Third Young Master, who believed him to be his betrothed sister’s fiancé and offered to take him to Zhan Mountain City. Lin Bai accepted the help to get past the city’s entrance, and the chapter left him with a new Identity Token bearing Qing Luo’s name.

• The Sun family's Third Young Master found Clearwater City's bronze ring and assumed the injured Lin Bai was Qing Luo, despite Lin Bai denying it.
• The Third Young Master explained that the Sun family had sent aid to Clearwater City and invited Lin Bai to Zhan Mountain City as his sister Sun Yao’s fiancé.
• Lin Bai agreed to go with the Sun family's Third Young Master so he could enter the city and seek the Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seed, while Zhou Xi feared the deception would endanger them.
• At South Peak Pass, the City Protection Formation rejected Lin Bai because he lacked an Identity Token.
• The Third Young Master obtained a replacement Identity Token marked with Qing Luo’s name, and Lin Bai bound it to himself with his soul essence.

Lin Bai entered Zhan Mountain City by posing as Qing Luo, whose engagement to Sun Yao led the City Lord, Sun Tianqi, to accept him as family. He reached the vast city with Zhou Xi and Sun Yao, still intending to use the identity to seek the Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seed.

• The Third Young Master brought Lin Bai toward Zhan Mountain City, where Sun Tianqi and a large group of people were waiting.
• Sun Tianqi accepted Lin Bai as Qing Luo, reaffirmed his engagement to Sun Yao, and promised him a home and medical care in Zhan Mountain City.
• Sun Tianqi asked Sun Yao to look after Lin Bai while the family prepared for war.
• Lin Bai told Zhou Xi he was borrowing Qing Luo's identity to survive in the Devil Realm and pursue the Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seed.
• Sun Yao offered Zhou Xi a reward if he left, but he chose to follow Lin Bai into Zhan Mountain City.
• Lin Bai was awed by the city's scale, and Sun Yao asked how it compared with Clearwater City.

Lin Bai settled into Sun Yao’s residence in Zhan Mountain City, where she affirmed that her father would honor their engagement despite Lin Bai’s injuries. The chapter left Lin Bai asking about the Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seed, with Sun Yao promising to request one for him after the war.

• The Lord of Zhan Mountain City sent Lin Bai and Sun Yao to Ascension Courtyard, where Zhou Xi also moved in.
• Sun Yao told Lin Bai that her father would never break their engagement, even if Lin Bai remained severely injured.
• Sun Yao explained that she had once investigated Lin Bai and accepted the marriage, though he did not match the handsome reputation she had heard.
• Lin Bai asked Sun Yao about Zhan Mountain City’s Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seed, and she said it could restore his body.
• Sun Yao promised to ask her father for a seed after the war, and Lin Bai recognized her kindness and consideration.

While Zhou Xi washed Lin Bai, he explained that Sun Yao’s engagement to Qing Luo was a political alliance shaped by her poor martial-soul talent and the Sun family’s interests. Lin Bai was left reflecting on how brutally the Devil Realm treated the weak, while Sun Yao’s future remained bound to the marriage arranged for her.

• Sun Yao brought hot water and offered to wash Lin Bai, but he asked her to let Zhou Xi do it because he feared harming her reputation and questioned whether their engagement could proceed.
• Sun Yao accepted Lin Bai’s refusal and left to call Zhou Xi.
• Zhou Xi reassured Lin Bai that Sun Yao believed he was Qing Luo and had not tried to uncover his identity.
• As Zhou Xi washed Lin Bai, Lin Bai asked why Sun Yao lacked ambition, and Zhou Xi explained that the Devil Realm’s great families used marriage alliances to secure their positions.
• Zhou Xi revealed that Sun Yao’s first-grade Heaven-level martial soul had left her unable to choose her own future, while talented women could control their marriages.
• Lin Bai reflected that the Devil Realm was harsher than the Barren Ancient Continent, and Zhou Xi warned that Sun Yao might be married to someone worse if the engagement were withdrawn.

While recovering in Sun Yao’s courtyard, Lin Bai faced an attack from Sun Qiao’er, who wanted to prevent her sister from marrying him. Sun Yao stopped her sister’s sword and declared that she loved Lin Bai.

• Lin Bai recovered with healing pills and grew closer to Sun Yao while considering how to obtain the Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seed.
• Sun Qiao’er attacked Lin Bai through his window, but he blocked her strike with the Dragon Eye Flying Sword.
• Sun Qiao’er revealed that she opposed her sister’s engagement and tried to kill Lin Bai so Sun Yao would not have to marry him.
• Sun Yao arrived and stopped Sun Qiao’er from striking Lin Bai again, then argued with her about the engagement.
• Sun Qiao’er charged at Lin Bai once more, and Sun Yao shouted that she loved him.

Sun Yao stood by Lin Bai after Sun Qiao'er revealed that the Sun Lineage planned to abandon him and deny him the Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seed. As Lin Bai began recovering some strength and explored Qing Luo's Storage Ring, he found a ghostly glowing white-bone Jade Slip.

• Sun Qiao'er stopped her attack when Sun Yao declared that she loved Lin Bai and would marry him despite his condition.
• Sun Qiao'er revealed that the Lineage Elders' Council had decided to abandon Qing Luo, leaving him unlikely to receive the Myriad Qi Violet Lotus Seed.
• Sun Yao defended her engagement to Lin Bai, explained her feelings, and stayed with him as they spoke through the night.
• Lin Bai thanked Sun Yao and said he would find another way to restore his body if he could not obtain the lotus seed.
• Lin Bai regained some strength with the City Lord's healing pills, opened Qing Luo's Storage Ring, and found books, unfamiliar Demon Realm items, and a glowing white-bone Jade Slip.

Lin Bai discovered the Qing family's secret inheritance, the Azure Sea Sutra, and learned it could help him wield the Dragon Slaying Skill’s Azure Sea Torrent. He left with a new understanding that the Sword One he already knew might be incomplete and that its supporting scripture could unlock greater power.

• Lin Bai read the Azure Sea Sutra and found that it cultivated a force that could unite and strengthen martial skills and cultivation techniques.
• Lin Bai memorized the Azure Sea Sutra and decided to cultivate it because it suited his Five Elements Dao Body Chapter and could help heal his injuries.
• Lin Bai examined a white jade bone slip and discovered it contained Sword Two, Azure Sea Torrent, from the Twenty-Four Sky Sword.
• Lin Bai learned that the Qing family had created the Azure Sea Sutra to help its members unleash the full might of the Azure Sea Torrent.
• Lin Bai realized that his Sword One might be an incomplete fragment and resolved to seek its supporting scripture if he got the chance.

After recovering for two months, Lin Bai improved his mastery of the Azure Sea Sutra and Azure Sea Torrent while Zhan Mountain City came under siege. Sun Yao sought healing elixirs for her injured husband, but Sun Yue struck her and the city lord refused to help, leaving her to return to Rising Wind Courtyard wounded and heartbroken.

• Lin Bai recovered in Rising Wind Courtyard and made a breakthrough in Azure Sea Torrent, believing the Twenty-Four Sky Sword could help him fight the Giant God Race.
• Xuan Province Wolf City attacked the eight warrior towns around Zhan Mountain City, overwhelming the Sun family's Affairs Hall with requests for aid and healing elixirs.
• Sun Yao asked Sun Yue to provide the healing elixirs promised for her husband, but Sun Yue said he had suspended the supply because of the war.
• Sun Yue struck Sun Yao when she insisted that the family head's promise should be honored, and she left to seek help from her father.
• The lord of Zhan Mountain City also refused to provide elixirs, so Sun Yao returned to Rising Wind Courtyard injured and heartbroken.