Chapter Summaries

Li Meng met Murong Tianyu in Dragon Tail Town, where Murong Tianyu offered the Rose Squad fifty Dragon Immortal Jades each to serve the Murong Family. Lin Bai suspected the Eight Great Noble Families planned to attack the Eternal Devil Sect, and Li Meng negotiated for a deposit before agreeing to help.

• Li Meng confronted Murong Tianyu and collected five Dragon Immortal Jades, but Murong Tianyu refused to hand over his Storage Bag for inspection.
• Murong Tianyu revealed he had been waiting for Li Meng and offered the group fifty Dragon Immortal Jades each to follow the Murong Family's orders.
• Lin Bai realized Murong Tianyu had deliberately lured them to Dragon Tail Town and suspected the Eight Great Noble Families planned to strike at the Eternal Devil Sect within three months.
• Li Meng consulted Lin Bai and the others, then offered to serve the Murong Family for three months if they paid a deposit of thirty Dragon Immortal Jades.
• Murong Tianyu countered by offering ten Dragon Immortal Jades in advance and the remaining forty after the task was complete.

Li Meng and the Rose Squad agreed to work for the Murong Family for three months in exchange for Dragon Immortal Jades and protection from the Eight Great Noble Families of Heng Province. Murong Tianyu left them in Water Ripple Town with strict limits on their movements, while keeping the nature of the murder-related operation secret.

• Li Meng accepted Murong Tianyu's offer after negotiating the payment and securing a three-month guarantee against attacks from the Eight Great Noble Families of Heng Province.
• Murong Tianyu explained that the Murong Family wanted the Rose Squad partly because its hidden sword cultivator could break Combined Attack Formations, but Li Meng refused to reveal Lin Bai.
• Li Meng insisted that the squad stay outside the Murong Family's territory, and Murong Tianyu agreed to house them in Water Ripple Town while warning them not to leave without orders.
• Murong Tianyu brought Li Meng, Lin Bai, and the others to Water Ripple Town and gave them Voice Transmission Tokens that would alert him if they were damaged or taken outside the town.
• Murong Tianyu departed for the Murong Family, leaving the Rose Squad bound to remain in Water Ripple Town for the three-month agreement.

The Rose Squad hid in Water Ripple Town after accepting the Murong Family’s offer, and Lin Bai suspected the Eight Great Noble Families were preparing for war against the Eternal Devil Sect. The chapter left Lin Bai facing a mysterious old man who came to his door asking for Qing Luo, the new master of the Sword Hiding Hermitage.

• Li Meng led Lin Bai and the others into Water Ripple Town, where they changed out of their Rose Squad robes and checked into a secluded inn.
• The Rose Squad discussed why the Murong Family had recruited them despite their attacks on the Eight Great Noble Families, and Lin Bai concluded that the families faced a grave enemy.
• Gongsun Ci and Meng Po considered that the reopened Dragon Immortal Jade was drawing experts to Heng Province ahead of a coming war with the Eternal Devil Sect.
• Li Meng left the inn to gather information, but after several days he found no news beyond reports of experts competing for the Dragon Immortal Jade.
• Lin Bai spotted a white-haired old man whose gaze seemed to pierce his disguise, then heard the old man ask whether Qing Luo, the new master of the Sword Hiding Hermitage, was inside.

Liu Fuyun found Lin Bai and revealed that the Eternal Devil Sect had begun preparing to attack the Eight Great Noble Families of Heng Province. Lin Bai warned him that the families had recruited powerful allies and were preparing to strike the sect within three months.

• Liu Fuyun recognized Lin Bai as the new master of Sword Hiding Hermitage by the aura of two pills he had refined, despite Lin Bai denying that he was Qing Luo.
• Liu Fuyun acknowledged Lin Bai's position in the Eternal Devil Sect and said he would not investigate Lin Bai's identity as a member of the Heaven Swallowing Race.
• Liu Fuyun told Lin Bai that the sect's ancestors had agreed to attack the Eight Great Noble Families of Heng Province, and Li Mojun had mobilized the sect's experts.
• Lin Bai warned Liu Fuyun that the families had spent months recruiting allies, including disciples of the Evil Moon Sect and experts from the Eternal Demon Alliance.
• Lin Bai explained that he had been recruited by the Murong Family as a member of the Rose Squad and showed Liu Fuyun Murong Tianyu's Voice Transmission Token.
• Lin Bai warned that the Eight Great Noble Families intended to attack the Eternal Devil Sect within three months, and Liu Fuyun reacted with icy anger.

Lin Bai warned Liu Fuyun that the Eight Great Noble Families planned to attack the Eternal Devil Sect, and Liu Fuyun relayed the warning to Sect Master Li Mojun. The Eternal Devil Sect struck first, and the Situ and Zhao Families were destroyed in attacks disguised as raids for Dragon Immortal Jade.

• Lin Bai assured Liu Fuyun that he would not betray the Eternal Devil Sect, and Liu agreed to report the impending attack to Li Mojun while keeping Lin Bai hidden in the Murong Family.
• Liu Fuyun gave Lin Bai a Voice Transmission Token and left the inn to carry out their plan.
• After Liu Fuyun informed him of the threat, Li Mojun ordered the Eternal Devil Sect’s infiltrators in Heng Province to attack immediately.
• Seven days later, attackers raided the Situ Family under the pretext of seizing Dragon Immortal Jade, killing its core members and plundering its treasures.
• The Zhao Family suffered a similar assault and collapsed, prompting Heng Province residents to suspect that the Eternal Devil Sect had orchestrated both attacks.

The Eight Great Noble Families of Heng Province met secretly to plan for war after the Eternal Devil Sect destroyed the Situ Family and the Qian Family. The Murong Patriarch revealed that the stronger families might leave the weaker ones to fall, hoping to seize their place if the Eternal Devil Sect won.

• The Eight Great Noble Families discussed the destruction of the Situ Family and the Qian Family and concluded that the Eternal Devil Sect was directing the attacks.
• The families agreed to gather the Evil Moon Sect disciples, the Eternal Demon Alliance experts, and their recruited martial artists for a counterattack.
• The Wu Family proposed sending outstanding younger disciples out of Heng Province as a safeguard, and the families agreed to prepare them and their forces.
• After the meeting ended, the Murong Patriarch predicted that the Wang Family, the Qian Family, and the Li Family would soon be destroyed.
• The Murong Patriarch told his attendant that the Wu and Shangguan Families might refuse to rescue the weaker families and could use the Eternal Devil Sect to eliminate rivals.

After the Situ and Zhao Families were destroyed, Li Meng told Lin Bai and the others that he and his team planned to abandon the Murong Family and help the Eternal Devil Sect fight the Eight Great Noble Families. Lin Bai proposed that they remain as informants and turn against the Murong Family during a future attack, revealing that he also opposed the noble families.

• Li Meng gathered Lin Bai and the others to discuss the destruction of the Situ and Zhao Families and the Eternal Devil Sect's role in the conflict.
• Lin Bai deduced that Li Meng, Gongsun Ci, Meng Po, and Ni Zun had blood feuds with the Eight Great Noble Families because those families had destroyed their former clans and sects.
• Li Meng explained that his team had accepted the Murong Family's recruitment only to investigate its plans, and they now intended to help the Eternal Devil Sect instead.
• Lin Bai urged the team to stay with the Murong Family as informants and betray it when the Eternal Devil Sect attacked, arguing that the Murong, Shangguan, and Wu Families were its greatest obstacles.
• Lin Bai admitted that he also had grievances against the Eight Great Noble Families and would oppose their rule over the Eternal Thirteen Provinces.

Lin Bai revealed that he was Qing Luo, an Eternal Devil Sect disciple and the new master of the Sword Hiding Hermitage, and persuaded Li Meng and his companions to help the sect attack the Murong Family. After three months of waiting as the sect destroyed more noble families, they received a transfer order from the Murong Family as it prepared to counterattack.

• Lin Bai showed Li Meng and the others his identity token, proving he was Qing Luo of the Eternal Devil Sect.
• Lin Bai explained his role in the Eternal Trial and proposed that Li Meng's group remain in the Murong Family and aid the sect's attack.
• Li Meng, Meng Po, and the others agreed to help the Eternal Devil Sect and stayed in Water Ripple Town.
• Over the next three months, the Eternal Devil Sect's forces destroyed the Li Family, the Wang Family, and the Qian Family, bringing the number of fallen noble families to five.
• Lin Bai, Li Meng, and the others received a Murong Family transfer order as the family prepared to counterattack.

Lin Bai and the Rose Squad received orders to gather with other martial artists recruited by the Murong Family and travel to Zhennan Mountain. At the square, elder Murong Chouyuan led the gathering, but a long-haired martial artist challenged the Murong Family over its promised reward.

• Lin Bai and Li Meng discussed the order to go to Zhennan Mountain, while Meng Po explained that the area was a barren wilderness full of low-tier demonic beasts.
• Lin Bai and his companions reached Water Ripple Town’s central square and found several hundred Dao God Realm martial artists, many of whom recognized the Rose Squad.
• Murong Chouyuan arrived and ordered the recruited martial artists to follow him to Zhennan Mountain.
• Li Meng identified Murong Chouyuan as a powerful elder who had once suppressed an Eternal Devil Sect expert, and warned Lin Bai not to provoke him.
• A long-haired martial artist demanded the Dragon Immortal Jade promised by the Murong Family, and Murong Chouyuan said the reward would come after the mission.
• The long-haired martial artist accused the Murong Family of treating them as cannon fodder and refused to obey without payment.

Murong Chouyuan forced the recruited martial artists to choose between serving the Murong Family and surrendering their Dragon Immortal Jade, then led those who stayed toward Zhennan Mountain. On the journey, Li Meng reflected on how talent and privilege shaped their paths, leaving Lin Bai brooding over the unfairness of the world.

• A long-haired martial artist demanded advance payment from Murong Chouyuan, then tried to leave with his Dragon Immortal Jade when Murong refused.
• Murong Chouyuan killed the long-haired man from a thousand miles away and reclaimed the jade, prompting several other martial artists to surrender their jade and depart.
• Murong Chouyuan led the remaining martial artists, including Lin Bai, Li Meng, and Gongsun Ci, toward Zhennan Mountain.
• Li Meng said that Murong Chouyuan had grown stronger over the centuries and estimated he now had a thirty percent chance of killing him.
• Li Meng compared the advantages of Murong Chouyuan and Lin Bai with his own humble beginnings, and Lin Bai grew melancholy over the world's unfairness.

Lin Bai and the others settled at Zhennan Mountain under Murong Chouyuan’s command, then learned the Murong Family had placed them at its southern gate. Lin Bai suspected Murong Chouyuan’s presence signaled a larger plan, but the group had not yet uncovered what it was.

• Murong Chouyuan led the martial artists to Zhennan Mountain and ordered them to hold the area without explaining why.
• Li Meng’s group settled in a nearby valley, and Ni Zun and Gongsun Ci repeatedly scouted the surroundings.
• Ni Zun concluded that Zhennan Mountain guarded the southern entrance to the Murong Family’s territory and that they might be used as cannon fodder against the Eternal Devil Sect.
• Lin Bai argued that the Eternal Devil Sect was unlikely to attack from the south because the Murong Family’s numerous demon vassals would delay its forces.
• Lin Bai noted that Murong Chouyuan’s presence seemed unnecessary for a routine guard post, prompting Gongsun Ci to ask whether the Murong Family had another scheme.

Lin Bai warned Liu Fuyun that the Eternal Devil Sect’s pause after defeating five noble families gave the remaining three time to recover and might be a ploy to sway the sect’s elders. Liu Fuyun resolved to urge the sect to press its attack, while Lin Bai remained alert to a hidden Murong Family motive in Zhennan Mountain.

• Lin Bai told Gongsun Ci and Li Meng to stay vigilant because Murong Chouyuan’s presence suggested the Murong Family valued something in Zhennan Mountain.
• Lin Bai contacted Liu Fuyun and learned that the Eternal Devil Sect’s leaders were deadlocked over whether to attack the Wu Family, Murong Family, and Shangguan Family or make peace with them.
• Lin Bai speculated that the three families had used old ties and promised rewards to persuade the sect’s Ancestors and elders to halt the campaign.
• Lin Bai warned Liu Fuyun that making peace would let the noble families prepare and strike back, arguing that the sect should destroy them while its army had momentum.
• Liu Fuyun decided to urge the Eternal Devil Sect to press forward and defeat the Eight Great Noble Families of Heng Province.

Lin Bai argued that the Eternal Devil Sect and the Eight Great Noble Families could not make lasting peace, and Liu Fuyun decided to urge the sect to continue the war. Liu Fuyun then told Li Mojun that Qing Luo favored war, leaving the Sect Master to consider Lin Bai’s advice.

• Lin Bai told Liu Fuyun that only the destruction of one side could end the war and warned that failing to eliminate the enemy would leave lasting trouble.
• Liu Fuyun agreed to persuade the sect’s upper echelons to fight on and asked Lin Bai to investigate why the Murong Family had stationed him at Zhennan Mountain.
• Liu Fuyun contacted Li Mojun, who said reclusive ancestors were pressuring him to make peace while the Warmonger Faction urged him to exploit the sect’s victories.
• Liu Fuyun told Li Mojun that Qing Luo favored war.

Liu Fuyun relayed Lin Bai’s analysis of the war to Li Mojun, who rejected peace and rallied the Eternal Devil Sect to launch a decisive attack on the Murong, Shangguan, and Wu families. Meanwhile, Lin Bai and Li Meng investigated Zhennan Mountain until Lin Bai’s new insight led him to rise above the clouds.

• Liu Fuyun told Li Mojun that Lin Bai believed the sect’s peace advocates were compromised and that the war would end only when one side was destroyed.
• Li Mojun decided to ignore the Ancestors who favored peace and wage war against the Murong, Shangguan, and Wu families.
• Li Mojun explained Lin Bai’s analysis to the Ancestors, gained their support, and summoned the Elders to plan the campaign.
• The Eternal Devil Sect mobilized Dao God Realm martial artists, while the three clans learned they were being isolated and prepared for battle.
• Lin Bai and Li Meng searched Zhennan Mountain and its surroundings, then Lin Bai flew above the clouds after a sudden realization.

Lin Bai discovered that the mountains and rivers around Mountain River City formed a vast hidden formation protecting the Murong Family. Li Meng identified it as the Thousand Autumns Mountain River Four Gods Formation, and the group realized they had already entered its territory.

• Lin Bai and Li Meng surveyed the landscape from above Zhennan Mountain, and Lin Bai recognized an unusual pattern.
• Back in the valley, Lin Bai drew a map of the surrounding mountains and rivers, revealing their arrangement as a formation.
• Li Meng explained that the mountains served as formation flags, the rivers as spiritual veins, and Mountain River City as the formation eye.
• Li Meng recalled that a Murong ancestor had brought the Thousand Autumns Mountain River Four Gods Formation from the Devil Realm and that his sect’s patriarch had supposedly died while helping arrange it.
• Lin Bai and Li Meng concluded that the Murong Family had concealed the formation’s success and its true power from outsiders.

Lin Bai warned Liu Fuyun that the Murong Family’s Thousand Autumns Mountain River Four Gods Formation made it the strongest of the Three Great Clans and a trap for the Eternal Devil Sect. He proposed using a feint against the Murong Family to draw its allies out while secretly attacking the Shangguan Family.

• Lin Bai and Li Meng discussed the Thousand Autumns Mountain River Four Gods Formation, and Li Meng began studying Zhennan Mountain’s role in it.
• Liu Fuyun told Lin Bai that the sect planned to attack the Murong Family first because the Wu and Shangguan Families had allied with outside forces.
• Lin Bai warned Liu Fuyun that the completed formation could trap and kill the sect’s experts, making the Murong Family more dangerous than it appeared.
• Lin Bai proposed feinting against the Murong Family and secretly sending the sect’s experts to destroy the Shangguan Family while its Demon Race allies might flee.

The Three Great Clans agreed to join forces against the Eternal Devil Sect, but the sect used decoys and rumors to draw the Wu Family and Shangguan Family away from their ancestral lands. The Shangguan Family and Wu Family were destroyed, leaving the Murong Family as the last surviving one of the Eight Great Noble Families of Heng Province.

• The Murong Family Patriarch urged the Wu Family and Shangguan Family to attack the Eternal Devil Sect from the rear when it besieged the Murong Family.
• The Wu Family and Shangguan Family agreed to join forces with the Murong Family and sent experts toward Mountain River City.
• The Eternal Devil Sect tested Mountain River City with attacks, then used a force that turned away to spread rumors of treasure seekers targeting the Murong Family.
• The Wu Family and Shangguan Family sent experts to Mountain River City, where they found no great army and learned that the Shangguan Family was under attack.
• After three days of fighting, the Shangguan Family was nearly wiped out, and its allied demons fled.
• Five days later, the Wu Family was destroyed, leaving only the Murong Family among the Eight Great Noble Families of Heng Province.

After the Eternal Devil Sect destroyed the Wu and Shangguan Families, their surviving experts joined the Murong Family to resist its advance. At Zhennan Mountain, Li Meng revealed that the mountain was a crucial “nail” holding together the southern part of the Murong Family’s formation, and Lin Bai asked what would happen if it were destroyed.

• The Murong Family Head learned that the Eternal Devil Sect had destroyed the Shangguan and Wu Families and invited their surviving experts to help defend the Murong Family.
• The Wu and Shangguan experts agreed to remain with the Murong Family and help fight the Eternal Devil Sect.
• Lin Bai relayed Liu Fuyun’s reports of the sect’s victories, and Gongsun Ci reacted with relief when he heard the Wu Family had been destroyed.
• Li Meng explained that Zhennan Mountain was a “nail” that anchored and coordinated the southern formations within the Thousand Autumns Mountain River Four Gods Formation.
• Lin Bai asked whether destroying Zhennan Mountain would make the Murong Family lose control of every formation in the southern region.

Lin Bai and Li Meng uncovered how Zhennan Mountain controlled the unstable Thousand Autumns Mountain River Four Gods Formation and told Liu Fuyun that the Eternal Devil Sect must destroy its hubs before attacking Mountain River City. Liu Fuyun prepared to send experts to find the hubs, beginning with Zhennan Mountain.

• Lin Bai, Li Meng, and the others learned that Zhennan Mountain was one of several hubs controlling the formation and that the Murong Family had built the hubs to stabilize its incomplete remnant formation.
• Lin Bai and Li Meng concluded that destroying the hubs would make the formation's forces clash and collapse, opening a path into Mountain River City.
• Liu Fuyun told Lin Bai that several thousand Eternal Devil Sect Formation Daoists had found clues confirming the formation and discovered spirit-vein markers hidden throughout the region.
• Li Meng explained that the Formation Daoists could not quietly destroy the countless markers and that the sect would need to break the hubs instead.
• Lin Bai and Li Meng urged the sect to send experts to destroy Zhennan Mountain and the other hubs, and Liu Fuyun agreed to arrange an investigation and coordinate an attack.

Lin Bai and his companions prepared to destroy Zhennan Mountain during the Eternal Devil Sect's coordinated dawn assault, but Murong Chouyuan learned of the plan and assigned them to guard distant Yunhai Valley. They waited for the attack, uncertain whether they could reach Zhennan Mountain in time.

• After Liu Fuyun reported Lin Bai's information, Li Mojun's experts found seven Murong Family hubs around Mountain River City and prepared simultaneous attacks.
• Liu Fuyun told Lin Bai that five hundred experts would attack Zhennan Mountain at dawn while other groups struck the remaining hubs, and Lin Bai planned to act amid the chaos.
• Murong Chouyuan summoned the martial artists, warned them vaguely of approaching trouble, and assigned Lin Bai, Li Meng, Gongsun Ci, and their companions to guard Yunhai Valley.
• Lin Bai and the others realized Murong Chouyuan's three defensive circles placed them far from Zhennan Mountain, beyond Murong Family guards and Murong Chouyuan himself.
• Lin Bai explained that the Eternal Devil Sect would send several hundred experts rather than its full army, and Li Meng agreed to wait for dawn.