Chapter Summaries

Lin Bai and the Lian Province Alliance encountered Wu Xiangwen and Wu Yuanlin, who threatened to target him during the entrance trial. Lin Bai refused to postpone the trial and settled in a mountain dwelling, where he prepared for the three tests and worried most about the Enlightenment Trial.

• Wu Xiangwen mocked Li Yumen and the Lian Province Alliance, then told Wu Yuanlin to attack Lin Bai during the trial three days later.
• Lin Bai stopped Li Yumen from confronting Wu Xiangwen and answered Wu Yuanlin's threat with a warning of his own.
• Li Yumen and the other Lian Province martial artists urged Lin Bai to change his trial date, but he refused and said he would pass.
• Lin Bai, Zhou Xi, and Sun Yao found an empty dwelling by a stream and prepared to stay there before the trial.
• Lin Bai considered the Enlightenment, Battle, and Celestial Palace Trials and decided that the Enlightenment Trial was his greatest uncertainty.

Lin Bai prepared for the Eternal Devil Sect examination and discovered that martial artists from other provinces despised those from Lian Province. He reached Heaven's Mandate Hall and waited for the examination to begin while Wu Yuanlin and his followers mocked him.

• Pang He and several other martial artists approached Lin Bai, but withdrew or sneered after learning he was from Lian Province.
• Zhou Xi and Sun Yao warned Lin Bai to be careful before he set out for Heaven's Mandate Hall.
• Lin Bai showed his Identity Token, passed the checkpoint, and took a meditation cushion in the crowded examination square.
• Lin Bai observed the five elderly examiners and the varied martial artists gathered to take the examination.
• Wu Yuanlin and his followers recognized Lin Bai and mocked him for coming from Lian Province, but Lin Bai ignored them and waited calmly.

Lin Bai waited with the other candidates for the Eternal Devil Sect's entrance assessment, while Wu Yuanlin and his companions threatened him. The drunken Martial Uncle Yan delivered the wrong scripture, so the elders began the Enlightenment Trial using the difficult 'Four Intentions of Extinction' and allowed the candidates one hour to memorize it.

• Wu Yuanlin told his companions to target Lin Bai during the assessment, while Lin Bai ignored their provocations.
• A drunken Martial Uncle Yan arrived late and gave the elders the 'Four Intentions of Extinction' instead of the 'Six Harmonies Art.'
• The elders decided they could not replace the scripture and lowered the passing requirement to grasping some of its surface.
• The elders announced the Enlightenment Trial and gave the candidates one hour to memorize the 'Four Intentions of Extinction.'

Lin Bai and the other examinees began the Eternal Devil Sect’s examination by trying to memorize the difficult Four Intentions of Extinction. He resisted using the Devouring Sword Soul to cheat and gradually began piecing together the scripture as he studied it.

• Senior Brother Zhang announced that examinees would be tested on the Four Intentions of Extinction, provoking angry protests from Hengzhou martial artists who had expected the Six Harmonies Art.
• Senior Brother Zhang suppressed the complaints and said the examinees only needed to grasp the technique’s superficial meaning to pass.
• Senior Brother Zhang activated the scroll, revealing golden characters that the examinees struggled to memorize as the scripture’s Dao intent disrupted their minds.
• Lin Bai saw other examinees use talismans and secret arts to help themselves, but chose not to use the Devouring Sword Soul to absorb the scripture’s Dao intent.
• Lin Bai repeatedly read the scripture, gradually memorizing more characters and filling in gaps in his understanding.

Lin Bai memorized the Four Intentions of Extinction and entered a vision of the changing seasons to comprehend its meaning. After cycling through spring, summer, autumn, and winter ninety-nine times, he mastered the art’s seasonal transformations, leaving the trial’s other participants still trying to comprehend it.

• Senior Brother Zhang collected the scripture after the one-hour study period and gave the martial artists three days to comprehend it before seeking approval to enter the second trial.
• Lin Bai revealed that he had memorized the entire scripture and began studying it in a state of sudden enlightenment.
• Lin Bai experienced a vision of the world passing through spring’s growth, summer’s heat, autumn’s destruction, and winter’s snow.
• After the seasonal cycle repeated ninety-nine times, Lin Bai understood the Four Intentions of Extinction and learned to make Heaven and Earth transform with his gestures and steps.

Lin Bai comprehended the Four Intentions of Extinction quickly but chose to wait before taking the test so he would not draw unwanted attention. On the third day, Qingqiu Yun and Yang Chang awoke with enough understanding to attempt the assessment, and Lin Bai decided the time had come to act.

• Lin Bai realized he had gained insight into the Four Intentions of Extinction after only a few hours, but decided to wait rather than become a target for the Heng Province Alliance.
• The five elders discussed how no one had awakened after two days, and Senior Brother Zhang blamed the difficulty on Martial Uncle Yan's profound technique and cultivation art.
• On the third day, Qingqiu Yun and Yang Chang awoke, each having memorized several lines and believing they could pass the first assessment.
• Qingqiu Yun and Yang Chang mistook Lin Bai's bored expression for proof that he had failed to comprehend anything.
• Qingqiu Yun and Yang Chang walked toward the elders to undergo testing, drawing the other martial artists' attention, while Lin Bai smiled after waiting three days.

Lin Bai and several other martial artists passed the Eternal Devil Sect’s first trial by displaying their comprehension of the Four Intentions of Extinction. At midnight, the seventy-two successful candidates left Heaven’s Mandate Hall to begin the second trial, the Battle Trial.

• Qingqiu Yun and Yang Chang barely passed the first trial, and hundreds of other martial artists who underwent testing failed.
• Wu Yuanlin passed, followed by several more candidates who barely met the elders’ standards.
• Lin Bai deliberately restrained his Four Intentions of Extinction and passed despite Wu Yuanlin’s mockery.
• At midnight, the elders finished testing the candidates and announced that seventy-two people had passed.
• Senior Brother Zhang arranged for the successful candidates to leave Heaven’s Mandate Hall and proceed to the Battle Trial.

After passing the first trial, Lin Bai and the other examinees learned that the Battle Trial and Celestial Palace Trial required them to collect Devil Orbs and climb to the palace. As the examination began, Qingqiu Yun and Yang Chang invited Lin Bai to join their group.

• The elder led the seventy-two examinees into the mountains, where Senior Brother Li revealed that the next two trials were connected.
• Senior Brother Li explained that examinees needed Devil Orbs and had to reach the third stair before the Celestial Palace, while warning that other candidates and Eternal Devil Sect inner disciples might take their orbs.
• Lin Bai collected a Devil Orb and discovered that its formation drew in spiritual power from heaven and earth.
• The elders vanished, and the candidates scattered into the mountains as the examination began.
• Qingqiu Yun and Yang Chang approached Lin Bai and invited him to climb toward the mountaintop with them.

Lin Bai entered the trial mountains and discovered that a martial artist had trapped him in a maze formation to steal his Devil Orb. He defeated the ambusher, took the orb, and continued toward the mountaintop as battles erupted throughout the mountains.

• Qingqiu Yun invited Lin Bai to travel with him and Yang Chang, but Lin Bai declined and went into the darkness alone.
• Qingqiu Yun warned Yang Chang not to fight Lin Bai if they met in the mountains, but Yang Chang insisted he could defeat him.
• Lin Bai realized he was walking in circles, marked a tree, and identified a formation set by an unseen opponent.
• A middle-aged man demanded Lin Bai hand over his Devil Orb, but Lin Bai found his hiding place and attacked him.
• Lin Bai withstood the man’s Great Wave Washes Sand attack, subdued him, and took his Devil Orb.
• The middle-aged man dismissed his formation and fled as fierce fighting spread through the mountains.

Lin Bai collected enough Devil Orbs to pass the second round and continued toward the Heavenly Palace. He discovered that inner disciples had covered the mountainside with linked formations and were waiting to ambush the martial artists forced along the only open path.

• Lin Bai defeated several martial artists and obtained six Devil Orbs, enough to pass the second round.
• An old man with four Devil Orbs let Lin Bai pass after seeing that he had six.
• Senior Brother Wu and the Heng Province Alliance inner disciples prepared to seize Devil Orbs from arriving assessment participants, while Wu Yuanlin secured his cousin's promise of help.
• Lin Bai noticed that formations covered the mountainside and that the inner disciples had left only one path to the summit.

Lin Bai reached the summit path and found the trial participants blocked by Eternal Devil Sect inner disciples and Wu Yuanlin’s group. He joined forces with Qingqiu Yun and Yang Chang to try to break through, leaving their confrontation ahead.

• Lin Bai chose to climb the main road rather than reveal his Devouring Sword Soul by breaking through the forest formations.
• Lin Bai saw the inner disciples and Wu Yuanlin’s group blocking the summit, while Qingqiu Yun, Yang Chang, and three other trial participants were trapped below them.
• Qingqiu Yun told Lin Bai that the forest routes were sealed by dangerous formations and asked him to join their group.
• Wu Yuanlin recognized Lin Bai as the only trial participant from Lianzhou, and Senior Brother Wu declared that Lin Bai would not pass.
• Lin Bai agreed to join forces with Qingqiu Yun, Yang Chang, and the others to challenge the blockade.

The trial participants gathered beneath the mountaintop, where inner disciples waited to seize their Devil Orbs. After ten participants assembled, Qingqiu Yun organized a plan to break through the more numerous defenders, and the group prepared to attack.

• Yang Chang asked whether the group should attack or wait for more trial participants, and Lin Bai agreed to wait while introducing himself as Qing Luo from Lian Province.
• The elders discussed the Myriad Formation Banner, noting its formidable array of trapping, killing, and auxiliary formations.
• Qingqiu Yun and Yang Chang invited arriving martial artists to join them, and ten trial participants had gathered by dawn.
• Qingqiu Yun assessed the more than thirty opponents and proposed that each participant engage up to three enemies while avoiding prolonged fights and charging through when an opening appeared.
• Yang Chang and the others approved Qingqiu Yun's plan, and Lin Bai raised no objections as the group prepared to attack.

Lin Bai and the other examined martial artists tried to split the inner disciples into smaller groups, but Senior Brother Wu quickly defeated their allies and broke the plan. Surrounded and facing Senior Brother Wu, Lin Bai refused to kneel and challenged him instead.

• Qingqiu Yun led the ten examined martial artists in an attack, and Lin Bai drew Wu Yuanlin and two others away from the main fight.
• Senior Brother Wu rapidly defeated one examined martial artist, then overwhelmed Yang Chang and Qingqiu Yun as the inner disciples routed the rest.
• After the other nine examined martial artists fell, Senior Brother Wu struck Lin Bai back and the inner disciples surrounded him.
• Senior Brother Wu offered to spare Lin Bai if he knelt and begged for mercy, but Lin Bai answered with a taunt and refused to yield.

Elder Li and the other Elders decided not to interfere as the Heng Province Alliance disrupted the examination, though they planned to report the alliance afterward. Lin Bai defeated Senior Brother Wu and more than thirty attackers, leaving Qingqiu Yun and Yang Chang to suspect he had concealed his strength and comprehended part of the Four Intentions of Extinction.

• Elder Li refused to intervene in the examination and said the Elders would report the Heng Province Alliance after it ended.
• Senior Brother Wu attacked Lin Bai with Raging Wind Piercing Shadows, but Lin Bai caught his fist and struck him down with one punch.
• Senior Brother Wu ordered the inner disciples to attack Lin Bai, and Lin Bai knocked down more than thirty fighters with a punch apiece.
• Yang Chang admitted that he and Qingqiu Yun were no match for Lin Bai, while Qingqiu Yun suspected Lin Bai had hidden his strength and partly comprehended the Four Intentions of Extinction.

Lin Bai defeated the Heng Province Alliance disciples and seized the Myriad Formation Banner from Senior Brother Wu after breaking through hundreds of formations. He reached the Heavenly Palace, while Qingqiu Yun, Yang Chang, and the others passed the second trial and entered the third.

• Lin Bai defeated the Heng Province Alliance disciples with his physical strength, impressing the elders watching from the Heavenly Palace.
• Senior Brother Wu used the Myriad Formation Banner to trap Lin Bai in hundreds of formations.
• Lin Bai broke through the formations with the Devouring Sword Soul and defeated Senior Brother Wu, taking the Myriad Formation Banner.
• Lin Bai severed Senior Brother Wu's connection to the banner and stored it, refusing to return it despite Senior Brother Wu's threats.
• Lin Bai reached the elders at the mountaintop, and Qingqiu Yun, Yang Chang, and the others followed after passing the second trial.

Lin Bai reached the heavenly ladder and discovered that its first two steps healed his body and refined his Dao heart. He failed to force his way onto the third step and realized its Talisman Seals grew stronger in response to his cultivation.

• The elders congratulated Lin Bai on passing the second trial and explained that reaching the third step would make him an inner disciple; Elder Li warned him to return the Myriad Formation Banner to the Heng Province Alliance.
• Lin Bai stepped onto the first step and used its healing force to repair old injuries and hidden ailments, while Qingqiu Yun, Yang Chang, and the other assessed martial artists also recovered before moving on.
• Lin Bai reached the second step, where its force cleansed his Dao heart and made him feel his tribulation lightning might descend.
• Qingqiu Yun and Yang Chang thanked Lin Bai for helping them pass the second trial and explained that gravity had repeatedly thrown them back from the third step.
• Lin Bai tried to reach the third step, but its Talisman Seals intensified their pressure when he circulated his cultivation, splitting his skin and bones and forcing him to retreat.

Lin Bai studied the third step of the Nine-Step Heavenly Ladder and discovered that his Devouring Sword Soul could absorb and break through its power. After reaching the third step, he received a strand of the Great Dao’s origin, while an old man in the Eternal Devil Sect sensed the Heaven Swallowing Race.

• Lin Bai told Qingqiu Yun and Yang Chang that the third step’s Talisman Seals grew stronger with a martial artist’s cultivation, so brute force would not work.
• Lin Bai examined the strange seals and concluded that he needed to discover how their power responded to him.
• As Lin Bai approached the third step, his Devouring Sword Soul absorbed the step’s power and then shattered its violent response.
• The Devouring Sword Soul refined a profound force into a golden thread that entered Lin Bai’s divine core, and Lin Bai ascended onto the third step.
• An old man in a mountain ravine opened his eyes and said, “The Heaven Swallowing Race...”

Lin Bai became an inner disciple of the Eternal Devil Sect and learned that the Nine-Step Heavenly Ladder held the Dao intent of an ancient ancestor. He chose to keep climbing, while Elder Li and the other elders concluded that Lin Bai belonged to the Heaven Swallowing Race and decided to report him to the sect.

• Elder Li registered Lin Bai as an inner disciple and explained that the Heavenly Palace and its steps manifested an ancestor's Dao intent.
• Lin Bai learned that climbing farther could grant him Dao intent, while a later chance to comprehend it would cost one hundred thousand Devil Orbs.
• Lin Bai decided not to give up the opportunity and leaped onto the fourth step, where his Devouring Sword Soul absorbed its power.
• Elder Li and the other elders suspected Lin Bai was from the Heaven Swallowing Race and decided to report him to the sect's higher-ups.

The Eternal Devil Sect’s elders debated whether to keep Lin Bai after discovering he belonged to the Heaven Swallowing Race, fearing retaliation from the Giant God Race. The sect master decided Lin Bai could help the sect overcome its many internal and external crises and argued that the benefits of accepting him outweighed the risks.

• Elder Li and the other elders confirmed that Lin Bai was a member of the Heaven Swallowing Race after he absorbed the Dao intent on the third step but could not pass the fourth.
• Elder Li sent word to the sect master, who convened the Elders Council to decide whether Lin Bai should stay.
• Several elders urged the sect master to reject Lin Bai, warning that the Giant God Race had destroyed the Cloud Heaven Sect for sheltering a member of the Heaven Swallowing Race.
• The sect master described the Eternal Devil Sect’s threats from the Crimson Moon Eighteen Provinces, the Eight Great Noble Families of Heng Province, the Evil Moon Sect, and unrest within the Thirteen Provinces Alliance.
• The sect master concluded that Lin Bai could help break the sect’s deadlock and declared that the benefits of keeping him outweighed the dangers.

Eternal Devil Sect leader He Dingzhou argued that taking in a member of the Heaven Swallowing Race could bring the sect great power, citing Mirror Moon Valley and Wind and Snow Villa. With the ancestors’ support, he prepared to issue his order.

• He Dingzhou described the threats facing the Eternal Devil Sect and argued that a Heaven Swallowing Race disciple could help it rise, as one had helped Mirror Moon Valley.
• An elder asked about Wind and Snow Villa, and He Dingzhou confirmed that it had secretly accepted a member of the Heaven Swallowing Race as a disciple.
• An elder suggested consulting the secluded ancestors before deciding whether to accept such a disciple.
• The Holy Daughter delivered Ancestor Wen’s message that the ancestors would support any decision He Dingzhou made.
• The elders pledged to stand behind He Dingzhou, who called for an order to be passed down.