Chapter Summaries

Lin Bai reached the palace atop Demon Palace Mountain while the Three Great Sects fought the Fiend Shadows, and the Crow stole the Yellow Springs Demon Bone from inside. Lin Bai tried to leave before the two guardians realized what had happened, but they discovered the theft and pursued him.

• The Fiend Shadows ambushed the forces of Celestial Immortal Sect, Sacred Lotus Palace, and Chen Family, giving Lin Bai a chance to race for the mountaintop palace.
• A man and a woman emerged from black fog at the palace, and the man attacked Lin Bai while the woman went inside to search for treasure.
• Lin Bai fought off the man's strike and sent the Crow into the palace to retrieve the Yellow Springs Demon Bone.
• The Crow returned with the treasure, and Lin Bai turned to leave while the man mistook him for someone from Flying Sword Devil Sect.
• The woman ran out and revealed that the Crow had taken the demon bone, so she and the man flew after Lin Bai.

Lin Bai obtained the Yellow Springs Demon Bone, a treasure that could temporarily grant its wielder the strength of the Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm. After the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace siblings caught up with him, they confronted him by a river and attacked to seize it.

• The Nine Underworlds Demon Palace siblings left the palace, but Chen Yule, Yi Song, and Huang Qingyun stopped them and learned that a mysterious sword cultivator had taken the treasure.
• Huang Qingyun marked the siblings, and she, Chen Yule, and Yi Song pursued them out of the Mist Marsh.
• Lin Bai left the Mist Marsh with the Crow, who reluctantly handed him the Yellow Springs Demon Bone after he explained that he had promised to share it with Leng Xingguang.
• The Crow explained that the Yellow Springs Demon Bone was a Grand Yi Divine Weapon that could let its wielder temporarily display Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm strength.
• The siblings caught up with Lin Bai beside a river and demanded the Yellow Springs Demon Bone before charging him from both sides.

Lin Bai fought off a brother and sister from the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, revealing his Heaven Swallowing Domain and injuring them before they escaped with a damaged Grand Yi Divine Weapon. Chen Yule, Yi Song, and Huang Qingyun arrived by the river and confronted the siblings, leaving the fleeing pair’s grudge unresolved.

• The siblings attacked Lin Bai, but he countered the woman’s Thousand Lifetimes Palm with his swordsmanship.
• The man unleashed Myriad Souls Fist, and Lin Bai used Heaven Swallowing Domain, Spring Thunder, and Remnant Sun to overpower the siblings.
• The siblings joined their jade pendant halves, used the damaged Grand Yi Divine Weapon to break out of the domain, and escaped Lin Bai.
• Chen Yule, Yi Song, and Huang Qingyun arrived and confronted the siblings, who vowed to return before fleeing.

Lin Bai escaped the siblings from the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, then faced Chen Yule, Yi Song, and Huang Qingyun over the treasure from Demon Palace Mountain. He defeated Chen Yule with a single sword clash and fled, leaving the others stunned by his strength.

• The siblings used the Dragon Phoenix Jade Pendant of the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace to escape Chen Yule and the others.
• Chen Yule, Yi Song, and Huang Qingyun questioned Lin Bai about the Demon Palace Mountain treasure and his origins.
• Lin Bai called himself a nameless nobody, and Chen Yule attacked him with his sword.
• Lin Bai overwhelmed Chen Yule with his Sword Heart and sent him flying with one strike.
• Lin Bai escaped on his flying sword as Chen Yule vowed revenge and Yi Song and Huang Qingyun wondered at his power.

After defeating Chen Yule in one strike, Lin Bai became the talk of Chu and hid his identity as he traveled toward the imperial capital. The Chen Family and the Devil Palace both began searching for him, while the siblings were ordered to work with Bai Yue to recover the Yellow Springs Demon Bone.

• News spread across Chu that Lin Bai had defeated Chen Yule, Huang Qingyun, and Yi Song in battle, and Lin Bai decided to hide in the imperial capital until Leng Xingguang arrived.
• Chen Family elders learned Lin Bai had entered Chu alongside Prince Chen and ordered a search for him, treating him as a potential enemy.
• The Devil Palace elder berated the two siblings for failing to retrieve the Yellow Springs Demon Bone and exposed the palace's plan, then assigned Bai Yue to assist them.
• The siblings decided to use the Dark World to locate Lin Bai before Bai Yue arrived in Chu.
• Lin Bai traveled through several teleportation arrays to the imperial capital and registered his visit at the Affairs Hall.

Lin Bai settled in the imperial capital while waiting for Leng Xingguang, then spent days refining the Yellow Springs Demon Bone. After successfully claiming it, he resolved to find another treasure to compensate Leng Xingguang.

• A fortune-teller recognized Lin Bai as the swordsman who defeated the Chen Family's Saint Son, but Lin Bai denied being the man and walked away.
• Lin Bai avoided visiting Chen You at Prince Chen's Residence, deciding not to bring him trouble while the Chen Family hunted him.
• Lin Bai rented a courtyard on Millennium Street, named it Emerald Sword Pavilion, and settled in while waiting for Leng Xingguang.
• Lin Bai used the Devouring Dao Fruit to suppress the Yellow Springs Demon Bone's remaining spirituality and destroy its sealing marks.
• Lin Bai finished refining the Yellow Springs Demon Bone and decided to find another treasure to give Leng Xingguang.

After refining the Yellow Springs Demon Bone, Lin Bai enjoyed a quiet stretch in the Imperial Capital of Chu, cultivating and studying the Azure Lotus Swordplay while the Crow roamed the city. He heard rumors that a thief had been robbing merchant guilds, including taking the guild master's young wife's undergarments, and hurried away with a darkened expression.

• Lin Bai completed refining the Yellow Springs Demon Bone and learned he could fuse with it for up to half an hour to gain Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm strength.
• Lin Bai spent months enjoying the Imperial Capital and cultivated until he reached the peak of the Eighth-Rank Dao God Realm, but he could not find a way to break through.
• Lin Bai practiced the nine moves of the Azure Lotus Swordplay, while the Crow grew bored and began leaving the courtyard to explore the city.
• Lin Bai and the Crow spent two peaceful months in the Imperial Capital, with the Crow going out early and returning late each day.
• Lin Bai heard passersby describe a mysterious Demon Race thief who had robbed several merchant guild treasuries and stolen the young wife’s undergarments from the Jiu Tian Merchant Guild, then hurried away.

Lin Bai discovered that the Crow had secretly robbed eighteen merchant guilds and powerful families across the imperial capital, prompting the Zhao Xing Office to crack down on suspected Demon Race members. The Crow invited Lin Bai to join a raid on the imperial palace, while Lin Bai warned that the Five Great Families might hunt the Crow themselves.

• Du Nong received the Third Prince's order to solve the robberies within five days and directed the Zhao Xing Office to investigate every Demon Race member in the city.
• Lin Bai confronted the Crow about the mysterious thief, tricked it into admitting the robberies, and learned it had stolen from eighteen factions.
• The Crow offered to split the spoils with Lin Bai and said the imperial palace was the only place it had not yet robbed.
• Lin Bai realized the Crow had robbed four of Chu's Five Great Families and learned they had kept quiet out of embarrassment.
• Lin Bai warned the Crow that the Five Great Families might come after it once they discovered who had robbed them.

The Dark World profited as bounties for the imperial capital's bandit multiplied, while suspicion fell on the Demon Race. Lin Bai visited the Dark World to learn about the bandit and its informants, then left with an explanation of their limits.

• The Dark World saw hundreds of bounties for the imperial capital's bandit accumulate to thirty million purple gold, with the total expected to keep rising.
• The Zhao Xing Office and bounty hunters repeatedly harassed the Demon Race forces in the imperial capital, and Lin Bai ordered Crow to stay in the small courtyard.
• Lin Bai visited a Dark World entrance and paid one hundred thousand purple gold for two pieces of information.
• The Dark World said the bandit was a strangely elusive member of the Demon Race and claimed its informants were everywhere in Chu.
• The Dark World clarified that it avoided gathering information on the Five Great Families and Seven Sects to prevent conflict, and Lin Bai left.

After the Crow’s crimes made the Imperial Capital unsafe, Lin Bai left with him and headed to Haizhou. He planned to join the declining Tianshui Sect to evade the Dark World’s investigations and find a way to advance his cultivation.

• Lin Bai learned that the Dark World avoided provoking the Five Great Families and Seven Sects, then decided he could no longer remain in the Imperial Capital.
• Lin Bai left the Emerald Sword Pavilion with the Crow, passed an inspection at the Zhao Xing Office’s teleportation array, and departed the Imperial Capital.
• Lin Bai and the Crow argued over the Crow’s stolen treasures and their debts as they traveled to Haizhou.
• Lin Bai chose Haizhou because the Tianshui Sect would soon recruit disciples, and he hoped its protection and resources would help him escape the crisis and improve his cultivation.

Lin Bai traveled to the Tianshui Sect’s territory to attend its disciple-recruitment assembly and learned about the dangers surrounding the Water Mirror Sea. He left the chapter heading toward the boat-ticket sellers with Yi Gu, who had begun explaining the islands’ troubles.

• Lin Bai arrived in Dong'en City, heard about the Imperial City thief and the Tianshui Sect’s recruitment, then traveled to Sea Heart Island’s surrounding archipelago.
• Lin Bai met Yi Gu, a fellow recruitment candidate from the Seven Nights Divine Sect, and agreed to travel with him.
• Yi Gu offered Lin Bai sesame-oil balls and explained that travelers needed boat tickets to cross the dangerous Water Mirror Sea to Sea Heart Island.
• Yi Gu told Lin Bai that the Dragon Fish Clan, Colorful Scale Clan, and Flood Dragon Clan had grown restless after the Tianshui Sect lost many experts fighting the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace.
• Lin Bai asked about the islands in the Water Mirror Sea, and Yi Gu sighed and called them a calamity.

Lin Bai learned from Yi Gu about the Tianshui Sect’s feud with the Heaven and Earth Gate and why Yi Gu had traveled to seek its aid. As they reached the ferry, Yi Gu explained the sect’s recruitment ranks and disciple hierarchy.

• Yi Gu told Lin Bai that pirates were rumored to be agents of the Heaven and Earth Gate, which had not destroyed the declining Tianshui Sect despite their supposed ancient feud.
• Yi Gu described two rumors explaining the Heaven and Earth Gate’s restraint: the Tianshui Sect might have a hidden ancestor or possess a coveted treasure.
• Yi Gu revealed that he sought the Tianshui Soul Nurturing Art to help repair his father’s shattered soul, and that his journey from the Seven Nights Divine Sect’s territory had taken three years.
• Lin Bai told Yi Gu he had come to try his luck at recruitment, concealing that he wanted to lie low after the Imperial Capital Thief’s recent escapades.
• Yi Gu explained the Tianshui Sect’s five recruitment levels and its inner-disciple ranks, including the Three Excellences.
• Lin Bai and Yi Gu arrived at the ferry crossing, where they saw a huge multi-decked ship moored in the harbor.

Lin Bai and Yi Gu boarded a ship bound for Sea Heart Island, where they planned to enter Tianshui Sect’s discipleship ceremony. As the ship set sail, Lin Bai learned why a group of young martial artists had been mocking Yi Gu.

• Lin Bai reviewed the Three Excellences and Nine Classes ranking system used by sects in the Demon Realm and Spirit Realm.
• Yi Gu paid ten thousand purple gold for Lin Bai’s ticket, then explained that Chu’s martial artists tended to look down on outsiders.
• Lin Bai reflected on how his clash with the Giant God Race had changed his view of his former arrogance.
• Yi Gu told Lin Bai that the young martial artists mocking him had insulted him after he tried to befriend them.
• Lin Bai reasoned that the youths’ Lineages were not powerful enough to secure them special admission to Tianshui Sect.
• The ship left the harbor and headed toward Sea Heart Island.

Lin Bai and Yi Gu chatted aboard the tower ship, where Yi Gu spoke of reforming his wastrel ways and Lin Bai was teased about his romantic entanglements. When a group accompanying Miss Zhao demanded their place at the bow, Yi Gu refused to be bought off and confronted the arrogant man.

• Yi Gu told Lin Bai he planned to cultivate diligently and reach the Primal Chaos Dao Fruit after his old master's misfortune changed him.
• A veiled beauty drew the ship's passengers' attention, and Yi Gu proposed visiting the Bright Moon Pavilion with Lin Bai after they advanced in cultivation.
• The Crow named several women connected to Lin Bai, and Yi Gu joked about Lin Bai's luck with women.
• A man accompanying Miss Zhao offered Lin Bai and Yi Gu twenty thousand violet gold to give up their spot at the bow.
• Yi Gu refused the offer and rebuffed the man's threat with the same swagger he had once shown as a young scoundrel.

Lin Bai and Yi Gu clashed with Li Xiao and his companions after refusing to give up their place on the flying ship, and Lin Bai drove them back with his Sword Qi. They moved to another spot, where Yi Gu found information about the Haizhou Li and Zuo Families in an ancient text.

• Yi Gu mocked Li Xiao's demand for the spot, and a companion identified Li Xiao and Zuo Xintang as descendants of prominent Haizhou families.
• Li Xiao ordered his companions to throw Lin Bai and Yi Gu overboard, but Lin Bai struck them all down with a sweep of Sword Qi.
• Zuo Xintang apologized and urged everyone to let the matter pass, while Li Xiao angrily threatened Lin Bai and Yi Gu.
• Lin Bai and Yi Gu moved to the railing, and Yi Gu consulted a text describing the Li Family's trade in spirit medicines and Divine Weapons and the Zuo Family's trade in Mystic Shadow Lumina Divine Iron.

Lin Bai and Yi Gu learned that the ship was being attacked by the Demon Cloud Pirates, who broke through its defenses and began slaughtering the passengers. They hid amid the chaos as Lin Bai questioned why the Tianshui Sect had sent no reinforcements.

• Zuo Wu explained that Zuo Xintang had only met Li Xiao by chance and warned Yi Gu that she wished to avoid making enemies.
• Lin Bai spotted a storm of dark clouds ahead, and Sword Qi from within it struck the ship.
• The Demon Cloud Pirates surrounded the ship, shattered its defensive formation, and charged aboard.
• Zuo Wu blocked a pirate attacking Zuo Xintang while she retreated, and the passengers scattered as the pirates killed those trying to escape.
• Lin Bai pulled Yi Gu into the shadows and wondered why the Tianshui Sect had not sent reinforcements.

Lin Bai attacked the Demon Cloud Pirates after they stormed the flying ship and began abducting women. He rescued Zuo Xintang and drove the pirates back, leaving the ship’s passengers stunned by his strength.

• The Demon Cloud Pirates overwhelmed the flying ship, and Old Man Zuo Wu was beaten back while trying to rescue Zuo Xintang.
• Lin Bai told Yi Gu to wait, then charged into the sky and ordered the pirates to release the women they had seized.
• Lin Bai used three flying swords and the Heaven and Earth Three Kill Sword Formation to slaughter the pirates attacking him.
• Lin Bai killed the scar-faced pirate carrying Zuo Xintang, freeing her from his grasp.
• The passengers and family elders watched as Lin Bai forced the Demon Cloud Pirates back and marveled at his swordsmanship.

Lin Bai and the crow defeated the Demon Cloud Pirates, freeing their captives and exposing the Tianshui Sect’s failure to respond. After Lin Bai saved the passengers, he and Yi Gu criticized the sect’s lack of backbone, leaving his plans to join it shadowed by doubt.

• Lin Bai’s crow entered the Demon Cloud and made it vanish, leaving the pirates naked and enraging their bald Fifth Leader.
• The Fifth Leader attacked Lin Bai, but Lin Bai swiftly beheaded him with a sword strike, prompting the pirates to flee.
• The abducted women were freed, and Zuo Xintang thanked Lin Bai, who returned to the tower ship without responding.
• Yi Gu congratulated Lin Bai on his swordsmanship, and Lin Bai explained that he had learned a flying-sword cultivation method on his own rather than joining the Flying Sword Devil Sect.
• Lin Bai and Yi Gu condemned the Tianshui Sect for failing to send help against the Demon Cloud Pirates.

After surviving the Demon Cloud Pirates, Lin Bai and Yi Gu arrived at Sea Heart Island and registered for the Tianshui Sect’s discipleship ceremony. They learned the ceremony would begin in a month and settled in East Sea City to wait.

• Three days after the battle with the Demon Cloud Pirates, Lin Bai and Yi Gu arrived safely at Sea Heart Island aboard the damaged tower ship.
• Zuo Xintang offered Lin Bai and Yi Gu a place at the Zuo Family estate, but they declined and headed to East Sea City.
• Zuo Xintang told Zuo Wu to have someone follow Lin Bai and Yi Gu and help them if they encountered trouble.
• Lin Bai and Yi Gu found an inn in East Sea City and registered for the Tianshui Sect’s discipleship ceremony.
• Lin Bai learned from his registration materials that the ceremony and its examinations would begin in a month.

Lin Bai and Yi Gu explored East Sea City while waiting for Tianshui Sect’s Apprenticeship Assembly, and Lin Bai learned more about the Demon Cloud and continued studying Azure Lotus Swordplay. At Azure Sea Market, Yi Gu explained that immortal jade, a currency useful to powerful martial artists, could be found inside the mysterious immortal stones.

• The crow explained that the Demon Cloud was a powerful, fast top-grade Dao Divine Weapon and used its value to cancel one-fifth of Lin Bai’s debt.
• Lin Bai spent his days exploring near East Sea City with Yi Gu and his nights meditating on Azure Lotus Swordplay, gradually grasping its key.
• The innkeeper recommended Aurora Island and Azure Sea Market, and Lin Bai and Yi Gu chose to visit the market.
• Lin Bai and Yi Gu explored Azure Sea Market, where Lin Bai asked about the mysterious stones at a stall.
• Yi Gu explained that spirit stones had become inadequate for high-level martial artists, described other regional currencies, and revealed that immortal jade was hidden inside immortal stones.