Chapter Summaries

Lin Bai inspected the Qin Family’s genuine formation eye and learned that the Zhao Family’s attack was part of the Heaven and Earth Gate’s assault on the Tianshui Sect. He planned to secure Storm City’s protection formation and return to the sect for reinforcements.

• The Qin Family Head led Lin Bai to the formation eye beneath the Qin Family Residence and explained that it was one of eighteen genuine cores hidden among 108 apparent formation eyes.
• Lin Bai examined the formation’s immortal-jade platform and considered its resources, but decided he could not dismantle the formation without endangering the Tianshui Sect.
• The Qin Family Head feared the Zhao Family would return and asked whether the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace had attacked the Water Mirror Sea.
• Lin Bai told the Qin Family Head that the Zhao Family had fabricated that claim and identified the Heaven and Earth Gate as the real enemy.
• Lin Bai promised to help stabilize Storm City, return to the sect for reinforcements, and seize the City Protection Formation token held by the Zhao Family Head.

Lin Bai left the Qin Family and went to confront the Zhao Family, whose Patriarch planned to use thousands of experts to destroy the Qin Family. Lin Bai faced the assembled Zhao Family and vowed to send them to their graves, while the Patriarch threatened that the Tianshui Sect might not survive until morning.

• The Qin Family Patriarch told Lin Bai that Storm City’s defensive formation contained a killing formation capable of annihilating Taiyi Dao Fruit experts and warned him to watch for the Zhao Family’s token.
• The Qin Family Patriarch explained to his elders that Lin Bai’s strength had likely reached the Dao Son level, far beyond the peak of the Dao God realm.
• The Zhao Family Patriarch rallied his members and ordered every peak Dao God expert to attack the Qin Family and destroy its formation core.
• Lin Bai descended into the Zhao Family estate, where thousands of martial artists surrounded him.
• Lin Bai said he had come to send the Zhao Family to its grave, and the Zhao Family Patriarch answered that the Tianshui Sect might not exist by the next morning.

Lin Bai fought the Zhao Family in Storm City and escaped their City Protection Formation's devastating golden thunder with the Void Tribulation Token. He emerged a hundred miles away as the formation destroyed the Zhao Family Residence, leaving many dead and wounded.

• The Zhao Family Head ordered his warriors to attack Lin Bai, but Lin Bai repelled them with four flying swords and charged at the head.
• Lin Bai clashed with the Zhao Family Head, shattering his Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm jade pearl, then killed more than thirty Zhao Family Dao God experts.
• The Zhao Family Head activated the City Protection Formation, summoning golden thunder that descended toward Lin Bai while the Qin Family Head worried for his safety.
• Lin Bai used the Void Tribulation Token to warp a hundred miles away from the thunder.
• The golden thunder pulverized the Zhao Family Residence, killing more than twenty martial artists and severely injuring several hundred.

Lin Bai survived the Storm City killing formation by using the Void Tribulation Token, then captured the Zhao Family Head and took the City Protection Token. He delivered both to the Qin Family Head, warning that the Zhao family might eventually launch a desperate attack.

• Lin Bai emerged from a spatial vortex after the killing formation blasted the Zhao family residence, shocking the Zhao family members.
• When the Zhao Family Head tried to activate the formation again, Lin Bai used the Void Tribulation Token to ambush him, wounded him, and seized the City Protection Token.
• Lin Bai knocked the Zhao Family Head unconscious and forced the Zhao family members to stand down by threatening his life.
• Lin Bai flew to the Qin Family Residence and gave the Qin Family Head the captured Zhao Family Head and City Protection Token.
• Lin Bai warned the Qin Family Head that the Zhao family would eventually fight to the death if they could not rescue their leader.

After leaving Storm City to seek reinforcements from Tianshui Sect, Lin Bai was ambushed by Heaven and Earth Gate elders Dai Xuan and Ding Mu, who attacked after confirming Xiao Cangsheng was not with him. Lin Bai wounded Dai Xuan and shattered Ding Mu’s Azure Sky Finger, but the battle against the elders and their hundreds of followers continued.

• Lin Bai left Storm City after arranging for Qin Family Head to take control of the city’s defenses and set out for Tianshui Sect to request reinforcements.
• A storm forced Lin Bai to land on an isolated island, where he confronted two Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm elders and several hundred Dao God Realm martial artists.
• Dai Xuan and Ding Mu revealed that they were Heaven and Earth Gate elders and said they had waited to attack until Xiao Cangsheng was no longer with Lin Bai.
• Lin Bai fused with the Yellow Springs Demon Bone, blocked Dai Xuan’s sound-wave attack, and charged at him.
• Lin Bai cut the left side of Dai Xuan’s face despite the elder’s punch, leaving Dai Xuan furious and injured.
• Ding Mu attacked Lin Bai with his Azure Sky Finger, but Lin Bai used his Taiji Two Forms Sword Formation and Five Elements Dao Body to smash it apart.

Lin Bai fought Dai Xuan and Ding Mu while the Yellow Springs Demon Bone’s power began to threaten him with backlash. He trapped the two elders in his Heaven Swallowing Domain and battered Dai Xuan with black lightning, then prepared another attack.

• Dai Xuan attacked Lin Bai with his half-finished Grand Yi Divine Weapon, a long halberd, while Ding Mu joined the assault.
• Ding Mu’s palm disrupted Lin Bai’s defense, allowing Dai Xuan to wound him with the halberd despite Lin Bai’s sword formation.
• Lin Bai realized the Yellow Springs Demon Bone’s power was nearing its limit and decided he had to defeat the two elders before it backlashed.
• Lin Bai expanded his Heaven Swallowing Domain, separated Dai Xuan from Ding Mu, and trapped both men inside.
• Lin Bai unleashed Spring Thunder against Dai Xuan, leaving him badly wounded, then called out Setting Sun.

Lin Bai used the Heaven Swallowing Domain and his Supreme Avatar to fight Ding Mu and Dai Xuan, killing both Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm martial artists. The chapter ended with Ding Mu crushed beneath the Supreme Avatar's sword.

• Lin Bai trapped Dai Xuan with the Heaven Swallowing Five Methods and battered him with devouring power.
• Ding Mu sent a blood thread to reach Dai Xuan and tried to protect him from Lin Bai's attacks.
• Ding Mu used a spatial token to open a way out of the Heaven Swallowing Domain, but Lin Bai summoned his Supreme Avatar and shattered the token.
• The Supreme Avatar cleaved Dai Xuan into pieces, scattering his soul and spirit.
• Lin Bai manipulated the Heaven Swallowing Domain to bring Ding Mu beneath the Supreme Avatar's sword, which smashed him into a bloody pulp.

Lin Bai killed Dai Xuan and Ding Mu inside the Heaven Swallowing Domain, then emerged badly wounded to face the Heaven and Earth Gate’s remaining martial artists. As they pressed their attack, Bai Yifei and reinforcements from the Tianshui Sect arrived to protect him.

• Lin Bai shattered Ding Mu’s soul, absorbed his Soul Power, and released the Heaven Swallowing Domain after separating himself from the Yellow Springs Demon Bone.
• The Heaven and Earth Gate martial artists saw Lin Bai emerge alone and learned that Dai Xuan and Ding Mu were gone.
• Lin Bai killed several Heaven and Earth Gate disciples with his flying swords as the others surrounded him.
• Wounded and outnumbered, Lin Bai was forced to retreat as the disciples broke through his flying swords’ defense.
• Bai Yifei appeared and struck back the attackers, then shielded Lin Bai as Qiao Mo, Qin Yao, Fang Yuanshu, and the Tianshui Sect reinforcements arrived.

Bai Yifei’s reinforcements rescued Lin Bai, who ordered the Heaven and Earth Gate disciples killed and reported that the Zhao family had rebelled in Storm City. As Lin Bai returned to the Tianshui Sect to warn it about traitors Wu Xiu and Qi Kun, Ma Qiuming learned of Lin Bai’s Heaven Swallowing Race identity and feared his warning would endanger the hidden agents.

• Bai Yifei and the Tianshui Sect disciples arrived to rescue Lin Bai, then killed the Heaven and Earth Gate fighters who had surrounded him.
• Lin Bai told Bai Yifei and the others that he had killed Dai Xuan and Ding Mu, two Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm martial artists.
• Lin Bai explained that the Zhao family had rebelled in Storm City and needed a Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm martial artist to defend it.
• Bai Yifei sent the Five Immortals of East Isle and a hundred Dao God Realm martial artists to Storm City, while he escorted Lin Bai back to the Tianshui Sect.
• Escaped Heaven and Earth Gate disciples told Ma Qiuming that Lin Bai had displayed the Heaven Swallowing Race’s Devouring Power.
• Ma Qiuming resolved to kill Lin Bai and worried that Lin Bai would expose Wu Xiu and Qi Kun as hidden agents when he reached the Tianshui Sect.

Ma Qiuming devised a two-front plan to draw Tianshui Sect forces toward the Water Mirror Sea while Wu Xiu and Qi Kun targeted the Black Tortoise Formation on Sea Heart Island. Wu Xiu and Qi Kun prepared to obtain its Formation Diagram and launch a surprise attack before Lin Bai exposed them.

• Ma Qiuming explained that the Heaven and Earth Gate vanguard could not enter the Water Mirror Sea because its World Sealing Formation remained intact.
• Ma Qiuming ordered twenty-eight elders to attack every suspected Formation Eye, using the assault to draw Tianshui Sect forces away from Sea Heart Island.
• Ma Qiuming sent word to Wu Xiu and Qi Kun that Lin Bai knew their identities and told them to enlist Li Yuanzong's help in breaking the Black Tortoise Formation.
• Wu Xiu told Qi Kun that they would have Li Yuanzong trick the Formation Diagram out of the Grand Elder's hands.
• Wu Xiu went to find Li Yuanzong while Qi Kun gathered the Hundred Victories Pavilion's martial artists for a surprise attack.

After returning to Tianshui Sect, Lin Bai joined Sect Master Chu Xi and the elders to discuss Heaven and Earth Gate’s imminent war and the sect’s defenses. The elders explained that two formations protected the sect, and Lin Bai asked what would happen if Heaven and Earth Gate broke through them.

• Li Yuanzong reassured the Grand Elder that he would serve the sect, then secretly met Wu Xiu after the Grand Elder left for Overturned Water Hall.
• Li Yuanzong revealed that he had helped Wu Xiu steal the Black Tortoise Formation Diagram from the Underground Palace beneath the Grand Elder’s island, and the two left to join Heaven and Earth Gate.
• Lin Bai returned safely to Tianshui Sect with Bai Yifei, Qiao Mo, Qin Yao, and the others, then went to Overturned Water Hall to meet the Sect Master and elders.
• Lin Bai reported his battle with two Heaven and Earth Gate fighters and asked how Tianshui Sect would respond to the coming war.
• The Grand Elder explained that the World Sealing Formation at Water Mirror Sea and the Black Tortoise Formation at Sea Heart Island were the sect’s two defenses, and Lin Bai asked what would happen if they were breached.

Lin Bai and the Tianshui Sect leaders discussed their slim chances against the Heaven and Earth Gate and learned that two elders might be enemy moles. Chu Xi then revealed that Prince Chen was under political attack and told Lin Bai she needed to explain matters to him as the sect’s Holy Son.

• The Grand Elder said the Tianshui Sect had only a thirty percent chance of winning a direct battle and explained that its experts were guarding the formations and Storm City.
• Lin Bai told Chu Xi, the Grand Elder, and Li Zai'en that Wu Xiu and Qi Kun were Heaven and Earth Gate moles, though he had no evidence.
• Li Zai'en proposed placing Wu Xiu and Qi Kun under control, and Chu Xi assigned him to handle it.
• Chu Xi ordered the elders to prepare for the decisive battle, then took Lin Bai to the Sect Master's Flower Valley.
• Chu Xi told Lin Bai that the Third Prince had revived an old case to suppress Prince Chen and said the Tianshui Sect would have to rely on itself.

Sect Master Chu Xi told Lin Bai about her past as the Nineteenth Princess of Chu and revealed the Tianshui Sect’s strength compared with the Heaven and Earth Gate. Lin Bai learned that the Heaven and Earth Gate had a far larger force, leaving the sect’s chances uncertain.

• Sect Master Chu Xi summoned Lin Bai to the Flower Valley, gave him healing pills, and helped him recover from his injuries.
• Lin Bai asked Chu Xi about her ties to the imperial clan and the Tianshui Sect’s plans and strength against the Heaven and Earth Gate.
• Chu Xi revealed that she was the Nineteenth Princess of Chu and said she had fled the imperial clan after an event a thousand years earlier.
• Chu Xi explained that her master had made her Sect Master hoping her imperial identity would protect the Tianshui Sect, but the imperial clan had ignored her.
• Chu Xi listed the Tianshui Sect’s forces: seven Grand Luo Dao Fruit experts, about a hundred Great Purity Dao Fruit experts, and roughly fifteen thousand Dao God Realm martial artists.
• Chu Xi said the Heaven and Earth Gate had over ten Grand Luo Dao Fruit experts, two or three hundred Great Purity Dao Fruit experts, and about fifty thousand Dao God Realm martial artists, and Lin Bai recognized the scale of the threat.

Chu Xi explained the Tianshui Sect’s hidden strength and the four stages of the Water Mirror Sea World Sealing Formation as the Heaven and Earth Gate invaded. She protected Lin Bai from the formation’s suppression and left him facing the scale of the coming battle and the looming importance of Emperor Chu’s ten-thousand-year birthday celebration.

• Lin Bai learned that the Tianshui Sect had seven Grand Luo Dao Fruit Realm martial artists despite publicly claiming to have only three, and he reasoned that the Heaven and Earth Gate might also conceal its true strength.
• Chu Xi added a formation to Lin Bai’s Identity Token so he would be exempt from the Water Mirror Sea formations’ effects.
• Chu Xi explained that the World Sealing Formation’s first stage blocked entry and exit, its second stopped voice-transmission artifacts, and its third suppressed martial artists by roughly one major realm for up to three hours.
• Chu Xi revealed that the fourth stage could detonate all eighteen Formation Eyes and destroy everything within a million li, then said qualifying Tianshui Sect fighters would receive protection from the third stage.
• Chu Xi joked that she could dig up the patriarchs’ graves in a crisis, making Lin Bai suspect some patriarch-level figures were not truly dead.
• Chu Xi said both sides had prepared for the battle for tens of thousands of years, while Lin Bai reflected on the significance of Emperor Chu’s upcoming ten-thousand-year birthday celebration.

Chu Xi revealed that Tianshui Sect’s founding Ancestor, Xuan Fengzi Shen Jun, had been an outer disciple of the ancient Innate Dao Sect. Lin Bai learned how the nine ancient sects and races were divided between the Devil Realm and Spirit Realm, and recognized that his master Ling Tianzi belonged to the One Word Dao Sect.

• Chu Xi summoned Lin Bai to Flower Valley and explained Tianshui Sect’s hidden Dao Tradition and its final trump card.
• Chu Xi described the nine ancient sects and races, including their locations and the Heaven Swallowing Race’s decline.
• Lin Bai recalled Ling Tianzi’s instruction to seek him at the One Word Dao Sect and realized his master belonged to an ancient power.
• Chu Xi explained that the Innate Dao Sect, Ancient Dao Sect, and One Word Dao Sect had originated from the same Dao Sect before splitting apart.
• Chu Xi revealed that Xuan Fengzi Shen Jun, Tianshui Sect’s founding Ancestor, had been an outer disciple of the Innate Dao Sect.

Chu Xi told Lin Bai about the Tianshui Sect’s hidden connection to the Innate Dao Sect and gave him a powerful Profound Yellow Talisman. Lin Bai kept the treasure as the sect prepared for a battle that could decide its survival.

• Chu Xi explained that the Nine Ancient Sects rarely interfered in the Devil Realm and that the Innate Dao Sect’s location and methods of accepting disciples were unknown to her.
• Chu Xi revealed that the Tianshui Sect’s founding patriarch, Shen Jun, had been an outer disciple of the Innate Dao Sect and that the sect had a way to seek its help in a crisis.
• Chu Xi told Lin Bai that the Tianshui Sect’s ancestral rule forbade its Sect Masters from publicly revealing that connection, and explained why she had shared it with him.
• Chu Xi gave Lin Bai a Profound Yellow Sky-Shaking Talisman that could repeatedly summon lightning strong enough to kill Superior-Grade Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm martial artists.
• Chu Xi explained that overloading the talisman could threaten Grand Luo Dao Fruit Realm martial artists but would eventually destroy it, and Lin Bai put it in his Storage Bag.

Li Zai'en discovered that Wu Xiu and Qi Kun had vanished, prompting Lin Bai to suspect they were Heaven and Earth Gate agents plotting to disable Tianshui Sect's defenses. The chapter ended with the Grand Elder discovering that the Black Tortoise Formation Diagram was missing.

• Li Zai'en found that Wu Xiu and Qi Kun were both absent from their islands and ordered their islands sealed and the sect searched.
• Li Zai'en reported their disappearance to Chu Xi and Lin Bai, who suspected the two elders were hidden agents of the Heaven and Earth Gate.
• Lin Bai questioned whether the Black Tortoise Formation Diagram was secure, and Chu Xi and Li Zai'en said it was kept by the Grand Elder.
• Lin Bai, Chu Xi, and Li Zai'en went with the Grand Elder to inspect the Formation Diagram in the Underground Palace.
• The Grand Elder discovered that the Formation Diagram was missing.

After the Black Tortoise Formation Diagram vanished, Lin Bai accused Li Yuanzong of stealing it for the Heaven and Earth Gate. The formation soon collapsed, and the Tianshui Sect prepared to hunt down the infiltrators and repair its defenses as the threat of a bloody battle grew.

• The Grand Elder discovered that the Black Tortoise Formation Diagram was missing from its protected chest, though the surrounding formations were intact.
• Lin Bai named Li Yuanzong as the thief and said he had become a hidden agent of the Heaven and Earth Gate; the Grand Elder was devastated by the accusation.
• Lin Bai urged the Grand Elder to help capture Li Yuanzong, Wu Xiu, and Qi Kun, but a tremor struck the sect before Chu Xi could issue orders.
• Lin Bai saw the Black Tortoise Formation’s barrier fading, and the Grand Elder collapsed in despair before agreeing to help the Formation Daoists repair it.
• Bai Yifei and Zhou Xinjin left to pursue Li Yuanzong, while Chu Xi ordered the sect’s Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm elders to hunt Heaven and Earth Gate martial artists across the Water Mirror Sea.

Lin Bai organized the Tianshui Sect’s response after the Black Tortoise Formation was damaged, then led a group to the Water Mirror Sea to guard a confirmed Formation Eye. Ma Qiuming’s forces continued searching unsuccessfully for the World Sealing Formation’s true Formation Eyes.

• Lin Bai assigned the Grand Elder to repair the Black Tortoise Formation and urged Chu Xi to tell the sect disciples to prepare for war; Chu Xi agreed.
• Li Zai'en reported that the Flood Dragon Clan would stay neutral, and Lin Bai set out for the Water Mirror Sea with Qiao Mo, Qin Yao, Yi Gu, and others.
• Bai Yifei and twenty-two Dao God Peak martial artists joined Lin Bai, who led them toward Storm City to guard a confirmed Formation Eye.
• Ma Qiuming crossed out more than thirty locations on his map without finding a true Formation Eye and glared at the still-intact barrier.

The Heaven and Earth Gate army arrived outside the Water Mirror Sea, but the World Sealing Formation remained intact. Ma Qiuming had three days to find its Formation Eye before the army launched a forced assault, and he led his allies to investigate Storm City.

• Xiao Cangsheng watched more than a thousand Heaven and Earth Gate warships arrive outside the Water Mirror Sea as observers gathered along the shore.
• The Heaven and Earth Gate Master confronted Ma Qiuming through an Extraterrestrial Avatar and gave him three days to break the World Sealing Formation before ordering a forced assault.
• The Heaven and Earth Gate Master ordered the fleet to prepare the Black Demon Flame and vowed to annihilate the Tianshui Sect if the formation could not be broken.
• Wu Xiu, Qi Kun, and Li Yuanzong returned after breaking the Black Tortoise Formation, and Ma Qiuming ordered them to help locate the World Sealing Formation's true Formation Eye.
• Ma Qiuming chose Storm City as a possible Formation Eye location, and Wu Xiu and Qi Kun agreed to investigate it while Li Yuanzong looked forward to becoming the Heaven and Earth Gate's Holy Son.