Chapter Summaries

Lin Bai used the Dao Seed to subdue Dong Dian and demanded ten years of unconditional service in exchange for keeping the Seed dormant. Dong Dian agreed, but Lin Bai left a hidden Sword Qi in his mind to ensure his obedience.

• Dong Dian attacked Lin Bai, but Lin Bai sealed his spiritual power with the Dao Seed and forced him to talk.
• Lin Bai drained some of Dong Dian’s cultivation and warned that he could reduce the Quasi-Dao Realm expert to a mortal.
• Lin Bai demanded that Dong Dian obey him unconditionally for ten years, rejecting Dong Dian’s conditions.
• Dong Dian accepted the deal, and Lin Bai used Sword Qi to put the Dao Seed to sleep.
• Lin Bai revealed that he had planted destructive Sword Qi in Dong Dian’s mind and left Swordless Mountain.

Lin Bai prepared to rescue Su Jin and learned the details of the execution from Dan Xiaonan. He then visited Marquis Tianwei as Xuantong’s supposed younger brother and offered to ask Xuantong to remove the Dao Seed in exchange for the marquis’s help.

• Lin Bai gathered the Sword Alliance’s forces and asked Dan Xiaonan for information about Su Jin’s execution.
• Dan Xiaonan said Su Jin would be taken to the Dragon Slayer Platform at dawn in two days, overseen by the Crown Prince and Seventeenth Prince, with the Tianwei Army handling security.
• Lin Bai went to Marquis Tianwei’s Estate and identified himself as Xuantong, prompting Marquis Tianwei to receive him.
• Lin Bai told Marquis Tianwei that Xuantong was his elder brother and offered to ask him to remove the Dao Seed if the marquis helped him.
• Marquis Tianwei eagerly asked whether Lin Bai’s offer was genuine.

Lin Bai learned that the Sacred Emperor had ordered Marquis Tianwei not to deploy heavy forces when Su Jin was executed, then organized the Sword Alliance for a rescue operation at Dragon Slayer Platform. As the operation’s forces headed out, White Crane worried about facing the Sacred Nation, but Lin Bai insisted that everything was under control.

• Lin Bai asked Marquis Tianwei for the military deployment map for Su Jin’s execution, and Marquis Tianwei showed him that only about five hundred soldiers had been assigned to Dragon Slayer Platform.
• Marquis Tianwei revealed a Sacred Edict bearing the Central Sacred Emperor’s seal, which ordered him not to deploy heavy forces.
• Lin Bai left without promising to have his elder brother extract Marquis Tianwei’s Dao Seed, and Marquis Tianwei sent spies to follow him.
• Lin Bai returned to Badlands Prefecture and spent the night arranging the operation with the Sword Alliance’s Twelve Crows and several thousand Apex Realm martial artists.
• The next morning, Lin Bai sent the assembled forces to Dragon Slayer Platform, while White Crane warned him that rescuing a prisoner from the Sacred Nation would be perilous.
• Lin Bai told White Crane that they only needed to watch the show the following day.

Lin Bai and his companions watched the Dragon Slayer Platform as Su Jin was brought out for execution, while Lin Bai waited for the Sword Alliance to act on his signal. The chapter ended with Lin Bai holding back until another group made the first move.

• Lin Bai arrived at Fengbo Prefecture with White Crane, Cold Sword, and Ye Qingxue, then ordered the Sword Alliance to wait for his signal.
• The Crown Prince and the Seventeenth Prince arrived at the Dragon Slayer Platform with their guards, and Lin Bai saw Zhao Yue among the Seventeenth Prince’s followers.
• Dan Xiaonan arrived alone and used a token to raise Su Jin from beneath the platform, revealing him bound, wounded, and stripped of his cultivation.
• Ye Qingxue wept at Su Jin’s condition, and Lin Bai urged her to remain calm as he waited for another group to act first.

At Su Jin’s execution, Lin Bai waited for the people he expected to intervene before acting. A separate group attacked the Dragon Slayer Platform, and Lin Bai ordered the Sword Alliance to use the ensuing chaos to rescue Su Jin.

• The Crown Prince ordered Zhang He to execute Su Jin while Lin Bai held back Ye Qingxue and waited for another group to act.
• Several hundred martial artists declared themselves Sword Lake disciples and attacked the Dragon Slayer Platform, knocking Zhang He’s blade away from Su Jin.
• Ye Qingxue realized the attackers used sword techniques unlike Sword Lake’s, and Lin Bai explained that they had not come to save Su Jin.
• Another group approached the Crown Prince and the Seventeenth Prince, confirming Lin Bai’s suspicion about their intentions.
• Lin Bai ordered White Crane to signal the Sword Alliance, whose members disguised themselves and shouted that the disciples of Sword Lake had arrived.

Sword Lake disciples and other black-clad fighters threw the Dragon Slayer Platform into chaos while the Crown Prince and Seventeenth Prince fought to protect their standing and survive an assault. As Lin Bai ordered Su Jin’s rescue, an attacker drove Zhang He back, leaving the escape attempt underway.

• Sword Alliance martial artists announced the arrival of Sword Lake disciples, and hundreds of black-clad figures charged onto the Dragon Slayer Platform.
• The Crown Prince and Seventeenth Prince each refused to leave, then sent their guards to suppress the disturbance while secretly competing for credit.
• Black-clad fighters from opposing groups mistook one another for allies and fought amid the confusion.
• A group of powerful attackers targeted the Crown Prince and Seventeenth Prince, who fought them while Lin Bai watched from the Dragon Palace Restaurant.
• Lin Bai ordered White Crane to have the Sword Alliance rescue Su Jin and retreat, but attackers rushed toward Zhang He on the platform.
• A black-clad swordsman struck Zhang He's Dragon Vein Blade and forced him backward.

Liu Dao and the Sword Alliance rescued Su Jin from the Dragon Slayer Platform, while the Crown Prince and Seventeenth Prince ordered Fengbo Prefecture sealed and its armies mobilized. As Lin Bai’s group attempted to escape and the rescuers carried Su Jin toward Badlands Prefecture, Zhao Yue and two of the Crown Prince’s guards caught up with them.

• Liu Dao revealed himself as a Blade Cultivator, defeated Zhang He, and Yi Ersan carried Su Jin away on Lord Night Emperor’s orders as the Sword Alliance withdrew.
• Wang Ge and Zhao Yue intervened to protect the wounded Crown Prince and Seventeenth Prince, who ordered Fengbo Prefecture sealed and called in three marquises and their armies.
• Lin Bai left the Dragon Palace Restaurant by carriage and confirmed that the Sword Alliance warriors would hide in residences throughout Fengbo Prefecture until the lockdown ended.
• Yi Ersan carried Su Jin toward Badlands Prefecture, but Zhao Yue confronted him in a passage, followed by two personal guards sent by the Crown Prince to reclaim Su Jin.

Yi Ersan tried to escort Su Jin out of Fengbo Prefecture while Zhao Yue pursued them, but Lin Bai arrived to protect them. Lin Bai removed his Rose Mask and revealed himself to Zhao Yue, who already seemed to know his identity.

• Zhao Yue and Ku Luo confronted Yi Ersan over taking Su Jin, while Gao Xin attacked and Zhao Yue sent green mist after them.
• Ye Liang and Liu Dao blocked Gao Xin and Ku Luo, allowing Yi Ersan to flee with Su Jin as Zhao Yue continued to pursue them.
• Yi Ersan sent White Crane a distress signal, and Lin Bai redirected the carriage to Street Forty-Nine in Fengbo Prefecture.
• Yi Ersan collapsed in an alley, where Zhao Yue caught up with him, but Lin Bai's carriage arrived and forced her to stop.
• Lin Bai stepped out of the carriage, removed his Rose Mask, and greeted Zhao Yue, who appeared unsurprised to see his face.

Lin Bai confronted Zhao Yue about her plans and secured her promise not to harm Ye Suxin, then escaped Fengbo Prefecture with Su Jin. Back at the Sword Alliance, Lin Bai revealed his identity to Su Jin and arranged for his recovery.

• Lin Bai pressed Zhao Yue about her purpose and allegiance to the Seventeenth Prince, while she promised not to harm Ye Suxin.
• Lin Bai told Zhao Yue he would help her if she left Ye Suxin's body, then departed with Su Jin before Marquis Tianwei and Iron Sword Marquis could seal Fengbo Prefecture.
• Yi Ersan treated Su Jin at the Sword Alliance and reported that his injuries would heal, though his divine pill and dantian had been shattered.
• Ye Qingxue joyfully reunited with Su Jin, whom she regarded as her last family member.
• Lin Bai removed his Rose Mask, and Su Jin revealed that he had already guessed Lin Bai's identity.
• Lin Bai urged Su Jin to recover at the Sword Alliance and promised to seek a way to repair his cultivation before arranging his departure from the Divine Capital.

Lin Bai explained that the attack at the Dragon Slayer Platform was meant to test whether the Sacred Emperor was alive and able to emerge from seclusion, while arranging help for Su Jin’s damaged divine pill and dantian. As snow fell in the Divine Capital, Mo Wenshen confronted Xun Zhizang and Su Yanhua on a secluded street.

• Lin Bai promised to have White Crane search for medicines to repair Su Jin’s divine pill and dantian.
• Lin Bai explained that the attackers had used Su Jin’s execution to lure the Crown Prince and the Seventeenth Prince together and test the Sacred Emperor’s response.
• Su Jin and Lin Bai suspected one of the Four Great Princes, most likely Prince Rong or Prince Gui, of orchestrating the assassination attempt.
• Su Jin told Ye Qingxue that Lin Bai had once been the East Continent’s Holy Son and had inherited the complete Sword Scripture from Sword Lake.
• Mo Wenshen found Xun Zhizang and Su Yanhua in the Divine Capital and confronted them on a snowy street.

Mo Wenshen fought Su Yanhua and Xun Zhizang, then sent Wen Jia to approach Lin Bai and learn whether he was Lin Duo and Li Subai’s son. Lin Bai returned to Dragon Court and was delighted to find Wen Jia waiting for him, unaware of Mo Wenshen’s plan.

• Xun Zhizang challenged Mo Wenshen, but Su Yanhua intervened and helped him escape after hours of fighting.
• Mo Wenshen told Wen Jia that Lin Bai might be Lin Duo and Li Subai’s son and instructed him to earn Lin Bai’s trust and report back.
• Wen Jia remembered that Lin Bai had rescued him in Eastern Continent, but Mo Wenshen stoked his anger by blaming Lin Duo and Li Subai for his parents’ deaths.
• After rescuing Su Jin, Lin Bai arranged for White Crane to seek medicine for Su Jin’s dantian and divine pill, then returned to Dragon Court the next day.
• Shui Yunmeng told Lin Bai that a friend had been waiting for him at Little Yuan Mountain, where he found Wen Jia.

Lin Bai learned that Wen Jia had been following Mo Wenshen to uncover the truth about his parents and asked whether Lin Bai was Lin Duo and Li Subai’s son. After confirming it, Lin Bai sent Wen Jia back to confront Mo Wenshen, then went to Star Forging Estate to wait for Su Xianmei.

• Lin Bai welcomed Wen Jia to Little Yuan Mountain and learned that Wen Jia had lost track of Fang Yiyun and the others after they reached the Central Sacred Nation.
• Wen Jia explained that Mo Wenshen had told him about his parents, Jin Lu and Wen Cheng, and their ties to the Peach Mountain Eighteen Immortals.
• Wen Jia asked if Lin Bai was Lin Duo and Li Subai’s son, explaining that he wanted to avenge his parents and had followed Mo Wenshen because he wanted to kill him.
• Lin Bai confirmed his parentage and told Wen Jia to ask Mo Wenshen whether he was satisfied with the wealth and status he had gained by betraying his sworn brothers and sisters.
• After Wen Jia left at dusk, Lin Bai decided to visit Su Xianmei before going to the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau and learned she was at a banquet.
• Lin Bai went to Star Forging Estate and waited alone in a lakeside pavilion.

Lin Bai asked Su Xianmei to tell the Peach Mountain elders that Wen Jia, the son of Wen Cheng and Jin Lu, was in Mo Wenshen’s hands. After learning the truth, Su Yanhua and Xun Zhizang discussed rescuing Wen Jia from Prince Rong’s palace, wary of the Ancient Immortal Sect.

• Lin Bai met Su Xianmei at Star Forging Estate and asked her to contact the elders about Wen Jia, whom he feared Mo Wenshen would exploit.
• Su Xianmei agreed to tell her father, and Lin Bai left for Dragon Court after discussing the elders’ plans.
• The Seventh Young Master learned that Lin Bai and Su Xianmei had met, then recalled a mysterious object connected to Lin Duo and the Ancient Immortal Sect.
• Su Xianmei told Su Yanhua and Xun Zhizang that Wen Jia was the young man beside Mo Wenshen and had been hidden in Exiled Immortal City by Lan Ling.
• Su Yanhua resolved to rescue Wen Jia, while Xun Zhizang warned that entering Prince Rong’s palace could provoke the Ancient Immortal Sect.

Xun Zhizang and Su Yanhua planned to reunite the surviving Peach Mountain Eighteen Immortals as old conflicts with the Central Sacred Nation and Ancient Immortal Sect threatened to resume. At Dragon Mountain, Dragon Lord Ke Yan gave Lin Bai a token to enter the Celestial God Tomb and warned him that escaping it was nearly impossible.

• Xun Zhizang and Su Yanhua discussed gathering the Peach Mountain Eighteen Immortals, naming the surviving members in the Divine Capital and remembering those captured, dead, missing, or betrayed.
• Lan Ling sensed his old thirst for battle returning as he wondered whether Lin Bai was ready, while Li Zhengyi murmured the names of his former companions in a dark hall.
• Dragon Lord Ke Yan summoned Lin Bai to Dragon Mountain and reflected on his youthful ambition to become Dragon Lord.
• Ke Yan gave Lin Bai a Celestial God Tomb Qualification Token because Lin Bai had obtained a Dao Bone, and advised him to save it until he reached the Quasi-Dao Realm and faced a desperate bottleneck.
• Lin Bai accepted the token and learned that he could activate it with blood and spiritual power, though Ke Yan warned that few who entered the Celestial God Tomb ever returned.

Lin Bai visited the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month and entered the Scattering Star Hall, where its master revealed a vast celestial vision for him to comprehend. The chapter ended with Lin Bai standing among the stars as the master offered the hall’s mysteries as a gift.

• Lin Bai accepted the Celestial God Tomb token from the Dragon Lord, who hoped he would visit Badlands Prefecture during the festival.
• The Dragon Lord and Phoenix Lord discussed their unease with life in the divine capital and the danger of criticizing the imperial clan.
• Lin Bai spent two days cultivating at Little Yuan Mountain, then went to the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
• A young Daoist acolyte welcomed Lin Bai and led him into the bureau’s hall, where the doors shut and darkness transformed into a boundless starry sky.
• Lin Bai witnessed visions of cosmic powers shaping stars, forming a heavenly river, and spreading the Dao before the master identified the place as the Scattering Star Hall and invited him to comprehend it.

Lin Bai met the Imperial Advisor, who warned him that ambition, status, and power had trapped many gifted cultivators and urged him not to neglect his path to the Dao Realm. Through a chess game, Lin Bai revealed the answer he had come seeking, though the chapter left that answer unstated.

• The Imperial Advisor explained that many of the Barren Ancient Continent’s gifted cultivators had abandoned their pursuit of the Dao Realm for worldly power, and said Old Man Lone Boat was the last to reach it through his own efforts a thousand years earlier.
• A white deer led Lin Bai through the Scattering Star Hall to the Imperial Advisor, who invited him to sit at a chessboard.
• The Imperial Advisor gave Lin Bai a black chess piece, and Lin Bai placed it in the board’s upper-left corner instead of joining the central fight.
• The Imperial Advisor played out the game, and Lin Bai’s move ultimately helped the black pieces narrowly defeat the white pieces.
• The Imperial Advisor urged Lin Bai not to let worldly trifles delay his cultivation, then said Lin Bai’s chosen chess piece held the answer he had come to the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau to find.
• Lin Bai stared at the piece and wondered whether the Imperial Advisor knew his identity.

Lin Bai chose to learn the truth hidden in the black stone, despite the Imperial Advisor’s warning that it could bring powerful enemies beyond the Central Sacred Nation. The stone revealed how Prince Rong’s hunt for Li Subai’s treasure triggered a devastating war between the Sacred Nation and Eastern Continent Kunxu.

• The Imperial Advisor offered to help Lin Bai reach the Dao Realm if he abandoned the black stone, but Lin Bai took it and learned that its contents could only be viewed inside the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau.
• Lin Bai crushed the black stone, releasing a mist that displayed a historical record, while Old Man Lone Boat and the Imperial Advisor discussed Lin Bai’s choice outside the hall.
• The record said Prince Rong sent Long Lingxiao, Mo Wenshen, and Li Jianyue to investigate the treasure held by Li Subai, then used an ancient-ruin expedition to ambush her, Lin Duo, and their companions at Sacred Spirit Mountain.
• Lin Duo and his allies escaped the ambush, killing Li Jianyue and crippling Long Lingxiao, so the Sacred Emperor sent armies into the Eastern Continent to seize Li Subai and the treasure.
• Eastern Continent forces united to defeat the first invasion, and a later army of hundreds of millions fought Kunxu for more than three months before the Sacred Emperor personally joined the campaign.
• The record ended by stating that the battle nearly exhausted Kunxu’s foundations and consumed two-thirds of the Sacred Nation’s treasury.

Lin Bai read an unfinished account of the Central Sacred Nation’s war against the Eastern Continent’s Void World, learning how Lin Duo and Li Subai were captured and tortured over a missing treasure. As the record ended without resolving the fate of the treasure or the Peach Mountain Eighteen Immortals, a tremendous sword might erupted from within the Scattering Star Hall.

• Lin Bai understood that the Eastern Continent’s forces resisted the Central Sacred Nation for power, resources, and their ties to the Void World.
• The Sacred Nation’s army invaded the Void World, but the Li family’s Minor Cosmos God-Demon Purgatory Formation killed more than seventy million troops and forced the Sacred Emperor to retreat.
• Lin Duo attacked the Sacred Nation’s camp alone, killing dozens of Quasi-Dao Realm experts, wounding the Sacred Emperor, and defeating Prince Gui.
• The upper-realm Ancient Immortal Sect sent Yu Qiudi, who broke the formation and helped the Sacred Nation crush the Void World; Li Subai’s body was destroyed, and Lin Duo and the Peach Mountain Eighteen Immortals disappeared with the treasure’s whereabouts unknown.
• The Sacred Emperor took Li Subai’s soul to the Black Prison and later imprisoned the captured Lin Duo there, forcing each to witness the other’s torment.
• After Lin Bai reached the unfinished account’s final sentence, a heaven-shaking sword might erupted from within the Scattering Star Hall.

After learning of Lin Duo and Li Subai’s torment, Lin Bai left the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau with his grief turning into fierce resolve. He warned Su Xianmei that the divine capital might soon become ruins and continued toward Dragon Court.

• Lin Bai’s sword intent erupted in the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau, but the Dao Heart Ring suppressed the demonic flower and the Profound Eye.
• The Imperial Advisor told Lin Bai that only the Four Great Princes knew the Black Prison’s entrance, and Lin Bai left the bureau.
• Old Man Lone Boat and the Imperial Advisor discussed allowing the Central Sacred Nation to fall and whether Lin Bai might be worth helping.
• Su Xianmei met Lin Bai outside the bureau, comforted him as he cried, and followed him through the divine capital.
• Before the imperial palace, Lin Bai told Su Xianmei the city might soon be reduced to ruins, then walked toward Dragon Court.

Lin Bai planned how to rescue his parents from Black Prison while resisting the urge to rush in unprepared. Meanwhile, the Peach Mountain Eighteen Immortals seized Wen Jia from Prince Rong’s traveling palace, but Mo Wenshen confronted them and faced Fu Qingshuang.

• Lin Bai told Su Xianmei that he needed to learn Black Prison’s location from the Four Great Princes before arranging a rescue.
• Fu Qingshuang and five other members of the Peach Mountain Eighteen Immortals found Wen Jia and tried to convince him that Mo Wenshen had deceived him about his parents’ deaths.
• Wen Jia attacked Fu Qingshuang, but Xun Zhizang subdued him and carried him from the palace hall.
• Mo Wenshen confronted the group in the courtyard and demanded that they release Wen Jia.
• Xun Zhizang urged Fu Qingshuang to fight Mo Wenshen, and Fu Qingshuang advanced with his sword intent as Mo Wenshen recognized the danger he posed.