Chapter Summaries

Lin Bai and Tang Wei searched Sea Beast Island for Celestial Jade Puppets and discovered that a puppet had been made recently, despite the Demon Refining Tower dating back ten thousand years. Lin Bai suspected an undying expert was still refining puppets on the island, leaving them wary of an unknown presence.

• Lin Bai and Tang Wei sensed Sea Beast Island moving and continued cautiously in search of Celestial Jade Puppets.
• Tang Wei smashed an ordinary spirit-stone puppet and collected seven supreme-grade spirit stones.
• Lin Bai noticed the puppet's divine iron and spirit stones showed no signs of age, suggesting it had been made recently.
• Lin Bai and Tang Wei considered whether someone was still refining puppets on Sea Beast Island, and Lin Bai suspected an undying martial artist might be responsible.
• Lin Bai concluded that the puppet had been refined within the past few years, though he did not know who had made it.

Lin Bai and Tang Wei discovered that the spirit-stone puppets on Sea Beast Island were sentinels guarding a vast puppet army. Surrounded by the army and its Celestial Jade Puppets, they fought back as Lin Bai unleashed the Heaven's Will Four Symbols Sword Formation.

• Lin Bai told Tang Wei that the spirit-stone puppets seemed like sentinels, and they continued deeper into Sea Beast Island.
• A huge army of Dao Fruit Puppets and Celestial Jade Puppets emerged and surrounded Lin Bai and Tang Wei.
• Lin Bai and Tang Wei fought through the charging puppets, and Lin Bai destroyed one Celestial Jade Puppet with his sword techniques.
• More Celestial Jade Puppets attacked both of them, forcing Tang Wei to join Lin Bai as they faced encirclement.
• Lin Bai formed the Heaven's Will Four Symbols Sword Formation, annihilating the charging puppets and battering the Celestial Jade Puppets.

Lin Bai and Tang Wei fought through Sea Beast Island’s puppet armies, collecting Celestial Jade as they advanced toward the island’s depths. A mysterious black shadow watched them, chose Lin Bai as a vessel, and ordered Senior Brother Wu to lure him to a designated location in exchange for his family’s freedom.

• Lin Bai destroyed sixteen Celestial Jade Puppets, shared their Celestial Jade evenly with Tang Wei, and led her out of the puppet army’s encirclement.
• Lin Bai realized the island’s mountains held organized puppet armies and agreed with Tang Wei to target only the Celestial Jade Puppets before moving on.
• Lin Bai and Tang Wei fought through successive mountain regions, gathering fifty-two and fifty-three pieces of Celestial Jade respectively as they neared Sea Beast Island’s depths.
• A black shadow observed Lin Bai and decided his exceptional sword skills and soul power made him a suitable vessel.
• The black shadow promised Senior Brother Wu that his wife and children could leave if he led Lin Bai to a specified location.

Lin Bai and Tang Wei gathered Celestial Jade on Sea Beast Island, where Lin Bai learned how many resources a breakthrough to the Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm could require. He realized the Five Elements Scripture and Heaven Swallowing Dao Fruit might demand an immense supply, and planned to ask Leng Xingguang about the Heaven Swallowing Race’s experience.

• Senior Brother Wu agonized over obeying a shadowy figure who held his family, despite fearing the figure would send Lin Bai into danger.
• Lin Bai and Tang Wei slew a Celestial Jade Puppet on Sea Beast Island and brought their total haul to seventy-eight pieces of Celestial Jade.
• Lin Bai asked Tang Wei how much Celestial Jade a Dao God Peak martial artist needed to break through to the Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm.
• Tang Wei explained that even Tianshui Sect’s Tianshui Divine Art required at least fifty thousand to over a hundred thousand pieces, while stronger cultivation arts demanded more.
• Lin Bai worried that the Five Elements Scripture and Heaven Swallowing Dao Fruit could make his own breakthrough require hundreds of thousands of pieces or more.
• Lin Bai decided to ask Leng Xingguang about the Heaven Swallowing Race’s breakthrough experiences when they reunited.

Lin Bai and Tang Wei rescued Senior Brother Wu from Celestial Jade Puppets on Sea Beast Island, but Lin Bai sensed that Wu was hiding something. After Wu led them toward his missing companions, Lin Bai confronted his strange behavior and entered a dark mountain alone.

• Lin Bai and Tang Wei found Senior Brother Wu surrounded by four Celestial Jade Puppets, and Lin Bai destroyed them with his flying swords while Tang Wei dealt with the ordinary puppets.
• Lin Bai healed Senior Brother Wu, who asked him to rescue their missing companions from a nearby mountain.
• Lin Bai and Tang Wei noticed that Senior Brother Wu’s words and behavior did not match, and he seemed reluctant to let Lin Bai follow him.
• After flying for half an hour, Lin Bai confronted Senior Brother Wu outside a pitch-black mountain and went inside alone.
• Tang Wei called after Lin Bai, and Senior Brother Wu urgently shouted for him not to go.

Lin Bai and Tang Wei entered Sea Beast Island’s mountains and discovered that a mysterious expert had lured Lin Bai there by threatening Senior Brother Wu’s family. After the expert revealed that Wu’s wife and children had been turned into puppets and Senior Brother Wu was killed, Lin Bai attacked the black shadow.

• Senior Brother Wu told Lin Bai and Tang Wei that the mysterious expert had captured him, imitated his voice, and forced him to lure Lin Bai to Sea Beast Island.
• Lin Bai, Tang Wei, and Senior Brother Wu walked into the mountains, where a black shadow appeared and revealed Wu’s wife and children as lifeless puppets.
• Senior Brother Wu charged the black shadow, but his puppet wife and a steel baby puppet killed him as he begged Lin Bai to let his family rest in peace.
• The black shadow mocked Lin Bai over Senior Brother Wu’s death, and Lin Bai unleashed his four flying swords in a killing attack.

Lin Bai and Tang Wei fought the black shadow and its army of puppets on Sea Beast Island. The black shadow revealed that he wanted Lin Bai’s body as a vessel, then launched an attempt to possess him.

• Lin Bai’s four flying swords shattered the black shadow, but it re-formed and identified itself as a survivor of the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace.
• The black shadow summoned thousands of puppets, including several hundred Celestial Jade Puppets, and Lin Bai realized he and Tang Wei had been lured into a trap.
• Lin Bai told Tang Wei to escape and alert the Tianshui Sect while he pursued the black shadow through the puppets.
• Lin Bai sealed the black shadow’s escape routes with his flying swords and confronted him with the Demon Sword.
• The black shadow explained that he needed a physical shell and had chosen Lin Bai, then attacked to possess him as Lin Bai answered with black sword radiance.

Lin Bai used the Heaven Swallowing Dao Fruit to overcome the black shadow’s attempt to possess him, but released him when the shadow tried to destroy them both. After the shadow fled and the puppet army withdrew, Lin Bai concluded that the Tianshui Sect had weakened the ancient fiend and suspected he was an Undying with a Demonic Martial Soul.

• The black shadow entered Lin Bai’s body to seize it, but Lin Bai trapped him with the Heaven Swallowing Domain and began refining him with the Heaven Swallowing Dao Fruit.
• The black shadow unleashed a forbidden art that threatened to destroy Lin Bai’s internal organs, so Lin Bai expelled him from his body and flew beyond the mountain range.
• The black shadow suppressed the forbidden art, cursed Lin Bai, and fled; the puppets scattered, ending their siege of Tang Wei.
• Lin Bai returned to Tang Wei, who was badly injured, and explained that the Tianshui Sect had likely restricted the black shadow’s power on Sea Beast Island.
• Lin Bai inferred that the black shadow was an Undying who possessed a Demonic Martial Soul and had been weakened after a hundred thousand years of refinement.

After escaping Sea Beast Island, Lin Bai returned to Demon Refining City with the badly injured Tang Wei and learned that Tianshui Sect had imprisoned the island’s undying demon for a hundred thousand years. Yi Zien confirmed that Demon Refining Tower held more than one such taboo creature.

• The black shadow drove Lin Bai and Tang Wei off Sea Beast Island, which vanished into the poisonous miasma on the Ao Turtle’s back.
• Lin Bai took the gravely wounded Tang Wei back to Demon Refining City, and they returned to Yi Zien’s residence three days later.
• Lin Bai asked Yi Zien about the mysterious person on Sea Beast Island, and Yi Zien confirmed the sect knew of the undying demon.
• Yi Zien explained that Tianshui Sect had captured the demon, imprisoned him in Demon Refining Tower, and used a formation on Sea Beast Island to refine him until the sect declined and lost control.
• Lin Bai suspected Tianshui Sect had kept the demon alive to learn where the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s legacy treasures were hidden.
• Lin Bai asked whether Demon Refining Tower contained other taboo creatures, and Yi Zien confirmed that it did.

Yi Zien told Lin Bai that Tianshui Sect guarded the Black Demon and Corpse King, two forbidden life-forms tied to the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, and that the demons’ treasure might be a mysterious fragment. When Long Lanshui reported that an expanding ice plain was filling with ice spirits and a forbidden life-form might be awakening, Yi Zien asked Lin Bai to go there with him.

• Yi Zien explained that the Five Divine Generals stayed in the Demon Refining Tower under orders to guard its forbidden life-forms, including the Corpse King in the Ten Thousand Demon Corpse Cave.
• Lin Bai described how the Black Demon on Sea Beast Island had sought a body to possess and escape its seal, and Yi Zien warned that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace was reviving.
• Lin Bai questioned why Tianshui Sect had suppressed the demons instead of killing them, and Yi Zien said old records hinted that the demons’ treasure was some kind of fragment.
• Long Lanshui received word from Li Juenian that the ice plain was expanding and ice spirits had appeared, suggesting a forbidden life-form was awakening.
• Yi Zien asked Lin Bai to accompany him to the ice plain.

Yi Zien brought Lin Bai and the Five Divine Generals to investigate why the Icefield had begun spreading across the Demon Refining Tower. They reached the sealing barrier and found rune imprints carved into a cliff, but had not yet learned what was wrong with it.

• Yi Zien invited Lin Bai to investigate the Icefield, and Lin Bai agreed after Yi Zien assured him that Tang Wei would be protected.
• Yi Zien explained that the Icefield was cursed by the Snowstorm Seal, creating powerful ice spirits from the souls of those who died there.
• After traveling for eight or nine days, Lin Bai and the others entered the Icefield and saw that it had spread at least a thousand miles beyond its previous boundary.
• Yi Zien warned that the Icefield could devour the entire Demon Refining Tower within a year and led the group to inspect its sealing barrier.
• Yi Zien cleared ice from a cliff to reveal the barrier’s densely carved runes.

Lin Bai accompanied Yi Zien and the Five Divine Generals as they inspected and reinforced the ice plain’s seals, finding no problems among the eight outer seals. They concluded that the deepest seal was likely failing and headed into the storm toward Celestial Pillar Peak, where Li Juenian was already traveling.

• Lin Bai learned that powerful protective formations shielded the sealing runes and watched Yi Zien reinforce the first seal.
• Lin Bai and the group spent more than half a month inspecting and reinforcing all eight outer seals, finding no abnormalities.
• Lin Bai asked whether Yi Zien had pocketed any of the sect’s resources, provoking Long Lanshui until Yi Zien calmed her and brushed off the remark.
• Yi Zien concluded that the seal deep within the ice plain was the only remaining possible source of the problem.
• Long Lanshui reported that Li Juenian had entered the ice plain and was heading toward Celestial Pillar Peak as the group ventured into the worsening storm.

Lin Bai, Yi Zien, and their companions encountered ice spirits on the ice plain and learned that the creatures shared a connection that drew more of them to any battle. As the party fought to escape the growing swarm, the endless ice spirits overwhelmed them.

• Lin Bai and Yi Zien sensed a life-form in the storm and found a human-shaped ice spirit that matched Yi Zien’s strength.
• Yi Zien explained that the ice spirits shared a source, so attacking one alerted the others and brought them to its aid.
• Hundreds of ice spirits pursued the party as they raced toward Celestial Pillar Peak, and Yi Zien prepared everyone to fight if they could not escape.
• An ice spirit attacked Long Lanshui, but Lin Bai killed it with his Dragon Eye Flying Sword; the remaining spirits immediately swarmed the group.
• Lin Bai, Yi Zien, and the Five Divine Generals fought off hundreds of ice spirits, but the creatures kept multiplying until the swarm swallowed the party.

Lin Bai saved Yi Zien and the Five Divine Generals from the Ice Spirits by trapping their pursuers in his Heaven Swallowing Domain, then caught up with the group as they traveled toward Celestial Pillar Peak. Three days later, they located Li Juenian, another candidate for Saint Son, waiting alone in the frozen mountains nearby.

• Lin Bai drew the Ice Spirits, Yi Zien, and the Five Divine Generals into his Heaven Swallowing Domain, then opened a passage so Yi Zien and the Five Divine Generals could escape.
• Lin Bai killed the trapped Ice Spirits with black lightning and followed the firefly Yi Zien had left behind to rejoin the group.
• Yi Zien thanked Lin Bai and said he would relinquish his candidacy for Saint Son; the group then resumed its journey toward Celestial Pillar Peak.
• After three days, Long Lanshui contacted Li Juenian and located him on a glacier-covered mountain northwest of Celestial Pillar Peak.

Lin Bai and Yi Zien met Li Juenian, who recognized Lin Bai and expressed interest in testing his swordsmanship against him. Li Juenian revealed that a forbidden creature might have awakened beneath Celestial Pillar Peak, leaving them to determine what kind of being it was.

• Li Juenian recognized Lin Bai from rumors of his deeds and said he hoped to fight him in a future martial contest.
• Yi Zien redirected the conversation to the expanding ice plain and asked Li Juenian what had caused it.
• Li Juenian said he had explored Celestial Pillar Peak and found ancient caves filled with terrifying icy power that suggested a forbidden creature had awakened.
• Yi Zien explained that powerful Nine Underworlds Demon Palace martial artists could survive for long periods using forbidden arts and life-extending techniques.
• Lin Bai asked whether the creature was an undying being, a Golden Cicada Shelling survivor, or a Great Mystic Art User.

After Li Juenian reported hearing a bird cry inside Celestial Pillar Peak, Lin Bai feared the Crow might be there and agreed to search for it with Yi Zien, Li Juenian, and the Five Divine Generals. The group reached the mountain only to find it surrounded by an enormous army of ice spirits, leaving them unsure whether to proceed or call for help.

• Li Juenian explained that a surge of power had injured him in a cave beneath Celestial Pillar Peak, and he had heard a bird-type demon beast cry as he fled.
• Lin Bai admitted that the Crow had been separated from him near the Ten Thousand Demon Corpse Cave, and Yi Zien confirmed Lin Bai’s account to Li Juenian.
• Yi Zien, Li Juenian, the Five Divine Generals, and Lin Bai agreed to enter Celestial Pillar Peak together and cautiously set out.
• Lin Bai used his Asura Dharma Eyes to discover countless ice spirits gathered around the mountain, far more than Li Juenian had seen three days earlier.
• Long Lanshui suggested reporting the situation to the sect and asking an elder in the Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm to investigate.

Yi Zien returned to the Tianshui Sect to report the disturbances at Celestial Pillar Peak, leaving Lin Bai and Li Juenian to watch the area. Nine days later, a tremor awakened the ice spirits, and Lin Bai followed Li Juenian toward a cave emitting golden light.

• Yi Zien asked Lin Bai to report the disturbances, but Lin Bai explained why he could not return, and Li Juenian refused because the sect elders would not trust him.
• Yi Zien left for the sect and ordered Lin Bai, Li Juenian, and the Five Divine Generals not to act until he returned.
• On the ninth day after Yi Zien departed, a tremendous tremor shook Celestial Pillar Peak, and the surrounding ice spirits opened their eyes.
• Li Juenian entered the snowstorm to investigate, and Lin Bai followed after telling the others to wait for Yi Zien.
• Lin Bai spotted golden light coming from a cave halfway up Celestial Pillar Peak and followed Li Juenian toward it, suspecting the Crow was involved.

Lin Bai followed Li Juenian into Celestial Pillar Peak and found him trapped in a golden lake of Immortal Sinking Water. Lin Bai rescued him with the Heaven Swallowing Dao Fruit, then asked why he had entered the lake.

• Lin Bai used the Heaven Swallowing Dao Fruit to evade the ice spirits and followed Li Juenian into the cave on Celestial Pillar Peak.
• Lin Bai found a golden lake deep inside the cave and saw no other path through the cavern.
• Li Juenian emerged from the Immortal Sinking Water and told Lin Bai that its immense gravity made escape nearly impossible.
• Lin Bai's ordinary attacks failed, but his Devouring Power cleaved the water and let him pull Li Juenian free.
• Lin Bai removed the Immortal Sinking Water from Li Juenian and asked why he had entered the lake.

Lin Bai rescued Li Juenian from the Immortal Sinking Water and gave him black beads infused with Devouring Power. After recovering, the two sword cultivators entered the water together to search for the passage beneath it.

• Li Juenian told Lin Bai that he had found an endless underground sea beneath the Immortal Sinking Water and believed a passage lay below it.
• Lin Bai explained that his black bead was a self-defense treasure and secretly condensed it from his Devouring Power.
• Li Juenian recognized the beads as containing the Heaven Swallowing Race’s Devouring Power and warned Lin Bai of their immense strength.
• Lin Bai gave Li Juenian three beads, and the two agreed to become friends.
• After Li Juenian recovered, he and Lin Bai entered the Immortal Sinking Water together.

Lin Bai and Li Juenian entered the Immortal Sinking Water and explored its vast depths, then split up to cover more ground. Lin Bai found a formation-protected cave containing an eerie black coffin, leaving him on guard.

• Li Juenian warned Lin Bai about the Immortal Sinking Water's crushing gravity, poor visibility, and the danger of exhausting their spiritual power.
• Lin Bai and Li Juenian entered the water and descended together, with Lin Bai using the Five Elements Dao Body and his flying sword to withstand the pressure and move faster.
• After realizing the Immortal Sinking Water was too vast to explore together, Lin Bai and Li Juenian separated despite having no way to contact each other.
• Lin Bai activated the Heaven Swallowing Dao Fruit, cleared a path through the water, and collected a Storage Bag and several old weapons left behind by past disciples.
• Lin Bai reached a stone wall, detected a formation, and entered a cave through a gap he made in its barrier.
• Lin Bai found a black, rune-covered coffin in the cave, and his four flying swords began revolving around him.