Chapter Summaries

Lin Bai studied the Eternal Trial and learned that it would trap entrants in a dangerous contest for half a year under cultivation-suppressing restrictions. With the trial two months away, he decided to seek progress by cultivating his Five Elements Dao Body in the Fire Domain.

• Lin Bai read sect records describing Eternal Mountain, the rumored secrets it held, and the dangers and treasures within the Eternal Trial.
• Lin Bai learned that the trial would remain sealed for half a year, divide Eternal Mountain into nine regions, and suppress entrants below the Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm to Dao Venerable strength.
• Lin Bai assessed his second-grade Dao Venerable strength and worried that it would not be enough against experienced Dao God and Dao Immortal martial artists.
• Lin Bai concluded that he could not improve his cultivation or other methods before the trial opened in two months, so he focused on advancing his Five Elements Dao Body.
• Lin Bai looked toward the Fire Domain and considered it a suitable place to cultivate.

Lin Bai cultivated the fire attribute of his middle-stage Five Elements Dao Body in the Flame Domain for two months, then emerged to prepare for the Eternal Trial. After healing his injuries and learning that Sun Yao was safe in Lianzhou, he left the Sword Hiding Hermitage for the trial’s entrance.

• Lin Bai entered the Flame Domain and endured its scorching flames to temper his Five Elements Dao Body.
• After two months, Zhou Xi called Lin Bai out because the Eternal Trial was about to begin, and Lin Bai emerged with the fire attribute at minor accomplishment.
• Lin Bai learned that Sun Yao had been seen buying pills in Lianzhou and told Zhou Xi, Liu Jiangxue, and Liu An'an to care for the hermitage while he was away.
• Lin Bai healed his injuries, then left the Sword Hiding Hermitage alone to wait for the Eternal Trial to open.

Lin Bai disguised himself and joined the Eternal Trial participants, hiding his identity as the new master of the Sword Hiding Hermitage. After traveling to Wang Province, he entered the trial and appeared alone in a forest.

• Lin Bai used his improved Ghostly Disguise Technique to conceal his appearance and joined the gathering under his real name, claiming to be from Lian Province.
• Lin Bai surveyed the assembled martial artists and spotted Murong Chuan among the arrogant Heng Province Alliance contingent, but he did not find Jiang Xuansu.
• An elder opened the teleportation array and sent the first group of participants to Wang Province.
• An elder at the mountain summit instructed each participant to hold a jade token and touch the Shigandang Stone to enter the Eternal Trial.
• Lin Bai touched the Shigandang Stone and was randomly transported into a forest.

Lin Bai entered Eternal Mountain, found a Heart of Myriad Stones, and tried to leave after a group of martial artists discovered him. The group demanded all his treasures, and Lin Bai activated his Asura Dharma Eyes to confront them.

• Lin Bai surveyed the empty forest with his Asura Dharma Eyes and flew upward for hours without seeing Eternal Mountain’s summit.
• Lin Bai spotted a Heart of Myriad Stones embedded in a cliff, pried it free, and stored it away.
• Lin Bai heard six fourth-grade Dao Sovereigns searching for the glowing treasure and tried to leave unnoticed.
• One of the martial artists blocked Lin Bai, and the group surrounded him, assuming he had taken the treasure.
• Lin Bai offered them a Dragon Bloom Flower, but they demanded more treasures and threatened to kill him.
• Lin Bai activated his Asura Dharma Eyes as the group continued to threaten him.

Lin Bai used the Asura Dharma Eyes to turn six attackers against one another, then killed another with his sword while testing his strength. The survivors continued slaughtering each other as Lin Bai watched.

• Lin Bai activated the Asura Dharma Eyes and made six men mistake their companions for him, causing them to fight and kill one another.
• Three men survived the illusion and confronted Lin Bai, but one fell under its influence again and attacked a companion.
• One attacker avoided looking at Lin Bai and charged by sensing his position, but Lin Bai defeated him with flying swords and the Nine Steps Chasing the Gods Swordplay.
• Two remaining men continued fighting until one killed the other and realized he had slain his own senior brother.

Lin Bai killed six intruders with the Asura Dharma Eyes, then refined the Heart of Myriad Stones and strengthened his Five Elements Dao Body. He resumed searching for treasures and followed several martial artists who seemed to be heading toward a possible discovery.

• Lin Bai used the Asura Dharma Eyes to confuse the last intruder and killed him with a sword strike.
• Lin Bai collected the six men's treasures and Dao Fruits, burned their remains, and left the ravine.
• Lin Bai secluded himself in a tree hollow and refined the Heart of Myriad Stones, advancing his earth element to minor mastery.
• Lin Bai stabilized his cultivation, then flew toward the Evil Ghost Stone Forest, where a sect treasure was guarded by a powerful formation.
• Lin Bai noticed several martial artists traveling in the same direction and pursued them, suspecting a treasure had appeared ahead.

Lin Bai discovered that the Evil Ghost Stone Forest contained a formation that had kept a valuable pill beyond reach for thousands of years. After learning the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill was inside, he considered investigating the forest, while the formation’s reputation remained a warning.

• Lin Bai arrived at the Evil Ghost Stone Forest, sensed its unnatural chill, and found that a formation blocked his Asura Dharma Eyes from seeing inside.
• Lin Bai waited among the gathered martial artists for two or three days as none entered the stone forest.
• A bold martial artist explained that the Eternal Devil Sect had placed treasures in the forest eight thousand years earlier, but no one had broken its formation.
• Lin Bai learned that the treasure was a Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill suited to cultivating the Five Elements Dao Body and capable of helping Dao God-realm martial artists break through.
• The bold martial artist revealed that the Hellish Fiend Formation protected the pill and described it as spine-chilling.

Lin Bai learned that the Hellish Fiend Formation imprisoned a soul-devouring fiend that had grown stronger by consuming martial artists, and he waited for others to test it before risking an attack himself. After Senior Brother Luan entered the formation, he disappeared into the mist without a sound.

• A burly man explained the Hellish Fiend Formation's history and warned that its fiend had grown too powerful for ordinary Dao Venerables to defeat.
• Lin Bai realized that breaking the formation would not be enough to reach the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill, since the fiend itself had to be overcome.
• Lin Bai waited in the Evil Ghost Stone Forest, hoping stronger martial artists would lead an attack so he could take advantage of the chaos.
• After days of debate, Senior Brother Luan flew into the formation despite his companions' warnings.
• Gray-white mist filled the stone forest, and Senior Brother Luan vanished without a trace.

Lin Bai entered the Hellish Fiend Formation after Zhao Longqing tricked martial artists into rushing inside by pretending Senior Brother Luan had found the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill. Lin Bai chose to locate the evil ghost before searching for the pill, then found fresh blood and dismembered remains that might belong to Senior Brother Luan.

• Lin Bai watched the martial artists grow fearful after Senior Brother Luan failed to return from the Evil Ghost Stone Forest.
• Zhao Longqing secretly sent a streak of light into the formation, then claimed Senior Brother Luan had found the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill and led his companions inside.
• Several other martial artists charged into the Hellish Fiend Formation, and Lin Bai entered after them.
• Lin Bai decided to locate the evil ghost first so he could identify safe areas before searching for the pill.
• Lin Bai found fresh blood and dismembered remains and wondered whether they belonged to Senior Brother Luan.

Lin Bai found evidence that the saber-wielding evil ghost had killed Dao God Realm cultivators with ease and followed its trail through the mist. He reached Zhao Longqing and the Heng Province Alliance battling the seemingly invulnerable ghost, and realized their attacks passed through it while its saber killed them.

• Lin Bai found Senior Brother Luan's severed limbs and continued through the mist, unable to find clues or the missing Storage Bag.
• Lin Bai discovered a dying Dao God Realm senior brother, who confirmed that the evil ghost wielded a saber, had resisted his strongest attacks, and had gone left before he died.
• Lin Bai took the senior brother's Storage Bag and followed the direction he indicated, concluding that the evil ghost was at least around the Dao Immortal level.
• Lin Bai found Zhao Longqing and the Heng Province Alliance fighting the eight-foot-tall, black-mist evil ghost, which wielded a saber and had already killed or wounded several of them.
• Lin Bai watched the Alliance's attacks pass through the ghost without harm as its saber cut down martial artists, and identified it as an Undying One.

Lin Bai escaped Zhao Longqing and the others’ attempt to sacrifice him to the Evil Soul, then used the sword intent he had planted on the creature to search the Evil Ghost Stone Forest safely for the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill. After two days of finding nothing, he suspected the pill might be hidden on the Evil Soul, while the Crow set off to find him and demand repayment.

• Zhao Longqing and the others tried to lure the Evil Soul toward Lin Bai so they could escape, but Lin Bai slowed them with his flying swords and fled as the creature attacked them.
• Lin Bai tracked the Evil Soul with his concealed sword intent and searched the Evil Ghost Stone Forest, using its position to avoid danger.
• After searching the forest for two days without finding the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill, Lin Bai considered whether it was concealed by a formation or carried by the Evil Soul.
• Lin Bai wished the Crow were there to help, and the Crow sneezed, blamed Lin Bai, and flew into the darkness to find him and demand repayment.

Lin Bai discovered hidden stone pillars in the Evil Ghost Stone Forest and pieced together their maps to locate the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill. As his tracking Sword Qi on the Dao Immortal fiend faded, he searched the mapped location and noticed figures approaching through the mist.

• Lin Bai avoided the Dao Immortal fiend after sensing it had changed direction and was heading toward him.
• Lin Bai uncovered a concealed stone pillar with the Devouring Heaven Dao Method and found map marks pointing toward the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill.
• Lin Bai found two more hidden pillars and assembled their maps to determine the pill's location.
• Lin Bai searched the mapped area, read strange verses carved on a stone pillar, and saw human figures emerging from the mist.

Lin Bai tricked Zhao Longqing and the two surviving Heng Province Alliance martial artists into leaving by giving them a false map to the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill. He found the pill hidden inside a stone pillar and discovered a sheepskin scroll whose contents filled him with fury.

• Zhao Longqing threatened to kill Lin Bai, but Lin Bai offered information about the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill in exchange for his life.
• Lin Bai drew a false map and asked to join the Heng Province Alliance; Zhao Longqing promised to help him join and took the map.
• Zhao Longqing and the other two martial artists left to search the false location, while Lin Bai returned to the stone pillar.
• Lin Bai broke the formation around the stone pillar and found the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill inside a treasure box.
• Lin Bai read the sheepskin scroll beneath the pill and reacted with fury.

Lin Bai obtained the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill and learned from Liu Fuyun's scroll that a curse would make fiends hunt him unless he found a way to undo it in the Black Demon Forest. He fled Zhao Longqing and two others through the Evil Ghost Stone Forest, wounded but still searching for a way to escape both pursuers and the fiend.

• Lin Bai read Liu Fuyun's scroll and discovered that taking the treasure box had placed a tracking curse on him, with a cure and a fiend-subduing treasure hidden in the Black Demon Forest.
• Zhao Longqing and two others returned and demanded to see what Lin Bai had found, so Lin Bai threw them an empty treasure box and escaped into the mist.
• Zhao Longqing and the others pursued Lin Bai, offering him wealth and honor in the Heng Province Alliance if he handed over the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill.
• Lin Bai used his fast flying sword to evade the three pursuers, but Zhao Longqing struck him in the back with spiritual light and left him badly wounded.
• Lin Bai raced through the Evil Ghost Stone Forest while wondering whether Liu Fuyun's curse would cause the fiend to pursue him forever.

Lin Bai fled the Evil Ghost Stone Forest with the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill, pursued by Zhao Longqing and an evil ghost. When Zhao Longqing knocked him from his flying sword, Lin Bai fought back, but the evil ghost arrived and gave him a chance to escape again.

• Lin Bai used Ling Tianzi’s Sword Control Art to outrun Zhao Longqing and two other Heng Province Alliance martial artists, while others followed the chase.
• After Lin Bai and his pursuers left the Evil Ghost Stone Forest, the Hellish Fiend Formation collapsed and the saber-wielding evil ghost followed Lin Bai out.
• Zhao Longqing struck Lin Bai from his flying sword and demanded that he hand over the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill.
• Lin Bai refused and attacked Zhao Longqing and the others, but Zhao Longqing easily shattered his sword qi and struck him with a punch.
• The evil ghost arrived, causing Zhao Longqing and his companions to guard against it, and Lin Bai escaped on his flying sword as the ghost pursued him.
• Zhao Longqing’s companions concluded that the evil ghost was chasing Lin Bai because he had taken the pill from the formation.

Lin Bai rested, then lured the fiend into a formation and placed a Talisman Seal on it so he could track it while searching for the Black Demon Forest. After fleeing southwest, he left the fiend far behind and continued toward his goal, knowing the curse would keep drawing it to him.

• After seven days of nonstop travel, Lin Bai stopped in a forest to recover and planned to mark the fiend so he could sense its location.
• Once he had recovered, Lin Bai set up a formation in the forest to trap the fiend and give him a chance to place a tracking seal on it.
• The fiend caught up at dusk and attacked Lin Bai, whose sword strikes failed to harm it permanently.
• Lin Bai trapped the fiend in the Taiji Two Forms Sword Formation and used runes to condense a Talisman Seal on its body.
• After the fiend broke free, Lin Bai escaped southwest and traveled more than a hundred thousand li, then reflected that Liu Fuyun might still be alive in the Eternal Devil Sect's Immortal Buddha Grotto.

Lin Bai refined the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill while searching Eternal Mountain for the Black Demon Forest, greatly strengthening his Five Elements Dao Body. After several fruitless days, he entered a strange desert and encountered eight martial artists, whom he hoped to ask for directions.

• Lin Bai swallowed the Five Elements Primordial Spirit Pill and used the Devouring Dao Fruit to refine it as he flew.
• The pill advanced his Five Elements Dao Body: its metal, wood, and water elements reached minor mastery, while its fire and earth elements reached major mastery.
• Lin Bai concluded that his physical strength could rival a seventh-grade Dao Venerable, then resumed searching for the Black Demon Forest and considered seeking help from martial artists from Lianzhou or Jiang Xuansu.
• After several days without finding the forest, Lin Bai flew into a circular desert surrounded by primeval forest and searched it for clues.
• Lin Bai sensed eight martial artists entering the desert and approached them, while they relaxed after seeing that he was only a second-grade Dao Venerable.

Lin Bai left a group of martial artists in the Gobi, but a treasure-seeking rat led them to an underground eruption that opened a vast black hole. Lin Bai descended after the others and reached a magma sea, where he found the refined young man and two of his companions badly injured.

• Lin Bai asked the refined young man and his seven companions for directions to the Black Demon Forest, but they did not know the way.
• The refined young man offered to let Lin Bai travel with them, but Lin Bai declined and flew away.
• The fair-faced man sent his Treasure Seeking Rat underground, and the group began digging where it found a treasure.
• A tremendous blast opened a bottomless hole in the Gobi, drawing nearby martial artists who descended in search of treasure.
• Lin Bai entered the hole and reached a magma sea, where he saw the refined young man slumped against the wall with only two badly wounded women beside him.

Lin Bai learned that an Imperial Heaven Dao Bone lay beneath the lava, guarded by a powerful Automaton Beast, and returned to claim it. He proposed a partnership to the ninth-grade Dao Venerable elder, offering to keep other martial artists away while the elder retrieved the treasure.

• The Confucian-robed young man explained that the lava eruption had killed five of his companions and left the survivors badly injured, so many martial artists abandoned the search.
• Lin Bai carried the three wounded Confucian-robed youths to the surface, where the young man secretly told him about the Imperial Heaven Dao Bone and its Automaton Beast guardian.
• After the three youths left to recover, Lin Bai jumped back into the black hole to pursue the treasure.
• Lin Bai told the ninth-grade Dao Venerable elder that a treasure and an Automaton Beast were beneath the lava, then proposed that they work together.
• Lin Bai offered to stop other martial artists from interfering while the elder dealt with the Automaton Beast and took the treasure.

Lin Bai helped Di Feng lure out a powerful War Automaton from the magma, then discovered the Imperial Heaven Dao Bone hidden beneath its armor. He revealed the treasure’s identity to the other martial artists, turning them against Di Feng just as the War Automaton fell.

• Lin Bai persuaded Di Feng to draw out the War Automaton while he delayed the other martial artists, and Di Feng agreed to reward him if they found a treasure.
• Di Feng attacked the magma and drew out a humanoid War Automaton that battled him while the other martial artists searched for treasure.
• Lin Bai noticed a golden light beneath the War Automaton’s chest armor and realized the treasure was likely attached to it.
• Lin Bai announced that the golden light could be the Imperial Heaven Dao Bone, stirring the martial artists’ interest and angering Di Feng.
• Di Feng unleashed his full strength and defeated the War Automaton, prompting a martial artist whose cultivation had been suppressed to rush toward him as Lin Bai charged toward the puppet.