Chapter Summaries

The Elder of Ten Thousand Saints Mountain tried to recruit Lin Bai by offering him the Azure Lotus Sword Immortal’s and Blood Sword Immortal’s inheritances, while Lin Bai considered whether the new clues could help him break through his swordplay bottleneck. After the banquet, the Elder explained that the sect feared Chu gaining Lin Bai, and Wang Zhengyang expressed his resentment at the recruitment attempt.

• The Elder told Lin Bai that Ten Thousand Saints Mountain had found the Azure Lotus Sword Immortal’s cave dwelling and an incomplete sword dao inheritance, and invited him to consider joining the sect after the Chu Emperor’s Birthday Celebration.
• Lin Bai thanked the Elder but said he could not decide quickly, while privately weighing whether information about the Azure Lotus Sword Immortal could help him break through the third stage of the Azure Lotus Sword Intent.
• The Elder offered the Blood Sword Immortal’s inheritance as another reason for Lin Bai to join, saying his swordplay suited it, and Lin Bai accepted the offer with thanks without committing.
• After the banquet ended, the Elder and Wang Zhengyang rode away in a deer carriage, where Wang Zhengyang questioned why the sect sought Lin Bai despite knowing Chu would not let him leave.
• The Elder said recruiting Lin Bai was an attempt to keep him from Chu and used a story about four evenly matched rivals and a treasured sword to explain the danger of one gaining an overwhelming advantage.
• Wang Zhengyang said he would step down as Holy Son if Lin Bai joined, and the Elder laughed that his remarks at the banquet had only been a test.

Lin Bai reviewed the Chu Emperor’s Birthday Celebration schedule with Prince Chen and discussed the plan to present Xia Jingzhi’s confession against the Third Prince. After checking the arrangements with Chao Yushi, Lin Bai returned to the palace, still concerned that Leng Xingguang had not arrived.

• Lin Bai met Prince Chen, who gave him the schedule for the birthday celebration and asked about the offers from the fifteen Flourishing Sects.
• Prince Chen explained that presenting Xia Jingzhi’s confession at the evening banquet would destroy the Third Prince’s claim to the throne, and Lin Bai agreed that the plan was sound.
• Lin Bai reviewed the ceremonies he needed to attend: worshipping Heaven, ancestral worship, the Hunting Realm hunt, and the evening banquet.
• Lin Bai left Prince Chen’s Residence and consulted Chao Yushi at Prince Hong Estate to check their preparations for major loopholes.
• Lin Bai returned to the palace and worried that Leng Xingguang had missed their agreed arrival time.

Lin Bai received the Heavenly Water Sect’s hunting list for the Hunting Realm and agreed to bring back aberrant beasts. He also met Meng Ye, who said Old Man Wuchuan had a favor to ask of him.

• Lin Bai worried that Leng Xingguang had not arrived in Chu and decided to search for him if he still had not appeared after the Chu Emperor’s Birthday Celebration.
• Zhang Bailiu gave Lin Bai a list of several hundred aberrant beasts and explained that the Heavenly Water Sect’s twenty hunters could bring back up to sixty.
• Lin Bai memorized the beasts on the list and promised to hunt them for the sect.
• Lin Bai returned to his courtyard and greeted Meng Ye, who said Old Man Wuchuan had a favor to ask of him.
• Lin Bai told Meng Ye to speak frankly and said he would help if he could.

Lin Bai learned from Meng Ye that the Hunting Realm contained several breeds whose bodies held pure Five-Elements spiritual materials he needed for the Reverse Five Elements Sword Formation. Meng Ye also asked Lin Bai to find a Fire Phoenix for Old Man Wuchuan and revealed that the Celestial Mystery Pavilion was forging weapons for a possible war.

• Meng Ye explained that Old Man Wuchuan had many refining requests, including one from the Chu royal family, and Lin Bai agreed to help him in the Hunting Realm.
• Meng Ye told Lin Bai where to find the Myriad Blade Devil Centipede, Guiding Immortal Vine, Mountain Moving Giant, Overlord Dragon Whale, and Fire God Tree, whose bodies held pure metal, wood, earth, water, and fire materials.
• Meng Ye gave Lin Bai a drawing and clues to the Fire Phoenix, explaining that Old Man Wuchuan needed it and that Lin Bai could ask him to refine a treasure in exchange for the information.
• Lin Bai agreed to seek the Fire Phoenix, which Meng Ye said might be found in a volcanic region of red earth.
• Meng Ye revealed that the Celestial Mystery Pavilion was making large quantities of weapons for the military, likely in preparation for war, and Lin Bai was startled by the news.

Meng Ye told Lin Bai that the Celestial Mystery Pavilion had received enormous military orders for equipment tied to several of the Twelve Army Kings, which suggested the Chu Empire was preparing for a major war. Meanwhile, the defeated Third Prince drank in isolation until an unknown person’s laughter came from inside his palace.

• Meng Ye explained that the Celestial Mystery Pavilion’s military orders would take at least twenty years to complete and that its refiners did not know who had commissioned them.
• Meng Ye cited orders for Celestial Might Armor, Blood Soul Bone Scrapers, and Beast Soul Bone-Fusion Pills, identifying them as equipment for forces tied to Prince Liang’s Estate and the Sea of Blood King and Hundred Beast King.
• Lin Bai thanked Meng Ye and wondered whether the Chu Empire was preparing for war against an external enemy or facing a conflict within the imperial clan.
• The Third Prince remained drunk and despondent in his palace, refusing Old Huo and his other visitors.
• An unknown person chuckled inside the Third Prince’s sleeping palace, and the Third Prince angrily demanded to know who was there.

The Third Prince lamented that Lin Bai’s capture of Xia Jingzhi had left him unable to stop Xia from confessing before the Chu Emperor’s Birthday Celebration. As rumors of his imminent downfall spread, his agents, retainers, and allied factions began abandoning him, and he was left facing a question about Prince Chen’s evidence against him.

• The Third Prince raged at an unseen visitor and admitted he could no longer compete with Prince Chen and the Wolf Marquis after Lin Bai captured Xia Jingzhi.
• The Third Prince said his agents in purgatory had refused to kill Xia Jingzhi, despite his offers of a fortune.
• The Third Prince revealed that rumors claimed Prince Chen had evidence of his crimes and would present it at the Chu Emperor’s Birthday Celebration.
• The Third Prince described how his hidden agents, Sun Moon Pavilion retainers, and allied families and sects had withdrawn or turned against him.
• The voice asked whether Prince Chen truly had evidence of the Third Prince’s crimes and whether the crimes were serious.

The Third Prince admitted his crimes and explained why he had kept Xia Jingzhi alive, then learned that Shen Qingquan believed he could still survive Prince Chen’s coming revelations. Shen Qingquan revealed his identity but had not yet explained how he would save the Third Prince.

• The Third Prince told a hidden visitor that Xia Jingzhi had threatened to expose his collusion with the Southern Border Insect Valley and unleash poison on the imperial capital if killed.
• The Third Prince recounted how he had kept Xia Jingzhi under house arrest, then returned him to the Southern Border Insect Valley’s residence under pressure from its delegation.
• The hidden visitor argued that the Third Prince could survive the evidence Prince Chen planned to reveal at the Chu Emperor’s Birthday Celebration.
• The visitor listed the Third Prince’s crimes, including murdering the First Prince and Second Prince, framing the Twelfth Prince, and colluding with the Southern Border Insect Valley and Nine Underworlds Demon Palace.
• The Third Prince recognized the visitor as Shen Qingquan, the White-Robed Man of the Sun Moon Pavilion, who explained that his companion had been defeated by Huang Qingyun and sent to Purgatory.
• The Third Prince asked Shen Qingquan how he could survive Prince Chen’s revelations.

Third Prince asked the White-Robed Man how he could survive Prince Chen’s planned accusation at the Chu Emperor’s birthday celebration. The White-Robed Man urged him to deny everything and blame Xia Jingzhi, while Third Prince weighed the advice against his ties to Nine Underworlds Demon Palace and his lost chance at the throne.

• Third Prince, fearing the Chu Emperor would kill him when Prince Chen exposed Xia Jingzhi’s confession, asked the White-Robed Man for a way to survive.
• The White-Robed Man advised Third Prince to deny the charges at the birthday celebration, blame Xia Jingzhi, and accept only minor offenses to give the Chu Emperor a reason to spare him.
• Third Prince objected that the evidence was conclusive and that the deaths of First Prince and Second Prince, along with the framing of Twelfth Prince, tied him to serious crimes.
• The White-Robed Man argued that the Chu Emperor might suppress the matter to preserve imperial dignity and pointed to Third Prince’s preparations for war with the support of several Army Kings.
• Third Prince considered the advice but recognized that Nine Underworlds Demon Palace had drawn him into its schemes and could expose their cooperation.
• Third Prince recalled that he had spent nearly a millennium trying to free himself from Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, but after Lin Bai survived the attempt to stop him, Third Prince had been driven into a dead end.

The Third Prince agreed to follow the White-Robed Man’s plan to blame Xia Jingzhi and Southern Border Insect Valley at the Chu Emperor’s birthday celebration, hoping to survive. As the celebration approached, Zhang Bailiu briefed the Tianshui Sect members on the ceremonies and the Hunting Realm, and the chapter ended with the gathering set to begin the next day.

• The White-Robed Man pressured the Third Prince to claim Xia Jingzhi acted to provoke civil war and was controlled by Southern Border Insect Valley, in exchange for help surviving the birthday celebration.
• The Third Prince resisted the plan, fearing it would let the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace control a puppet Chu Emperor, but finally agreed to tell the truth as the White-Robed Man demanded.
• The White-Robed Man left the Third Prince to prepare his speech, while the Third Prince was left grieving and despairing.
• Zhang Bailiu and Sect Master Chu Xi gathered the Tianshui Sect martial artists and explained who would attend the ceremonies for worshiping Heaven and the ancestors, and who would go directly to the Hunting Realm.
• Zhang Bailiu distributed pills and weapons, instructed the disciples to follow the imperial family’s arrangements, and reminded them that the Chu Emperor’s birthday celebration would begin the next day.

As the Chu Emperor's Birthday Celebration began, Tianshui Sect prepared for the royal ceremonies and traveled toward the imperial city. Lin Bai learned from Chu Xi that the emperor's personal Dragon Scale Guards were powerful enough to rival the Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm.

• Grand Elder Zhang Bailiu instructed the Tianshui Sect disciples to avoid trouble and sent most of them to the Hunting Realm while Chu Xi, Zhang Bailiu, and Lin Bai awaited the royal envoy.
• An old eunuch delivered the imperial edict ordering Chu Xi, Zhang Bailiu, and Lin Bai to attend the ceremonies worshiping Heaven and the ancestors at the Ancestral Temple.
• Chu Xi accepted the edict, and the Tianshui Sect boarded royal deer carriages and departed for the imperial city.
• Lin Bai saw the Forbidden Guards lining the imperial road as invited guests' carriages proceeded toward the city.
• Chu Xi explained to Lin Bai that the Dragon Scale Guards served beside the Chu Emperor and possessed strength comparable to the Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm.

Lin Bai and the Tianshui Sect delegation arrived at the Heavenly Dao Platform for Emperor Chu’s birthday sacrificial ceremony, where the imperial city’s surveillance and the gathering’s solemn atmosphere underscored the event’s importance. Emperor Chu arrived and proceeded toward the altar to offer sacrifices to Heaven and his ancestors.

• Lin Bai sensed a surveillance formation watching him as the deer carriage entered the heavily guarded imperial city.
• The carriage brought Lin Bai, Chu Xi, and Zhang Bailiu to the Heavenly Dao Platform, where they saw the altar, its nine hundred and ninety-nine steps, and the gathered forces of the Devil Realm.
• Lin Bai greeted familiar figures, including Chen Yule, Huang Qingyun, and other Holy Sons and Holy Daughters from the regions.
• Emperor Chu arrived on foot, and the assembled guests greeted him according to their standing and relationship with the Chu Kingdom.
• Emperor Chu thanked the guests for attending his birthday, promised to drink with them in the Hunting Realm, and walked toward the sacrificial platform.

Chu Liang performed Chu’s elaborate Heaven Worship Ceremony on his birthday as purple qi spread above the imperial capital. After the qi reached eighty thousand miles, a Storyteller questioned why Chu’s national fortune seemed so strong despite Chu Liang’s troubled reign.

• The Chu Emperor, the Empress, the princes, and imperial clan relatives processed to the Heavenly Dao Platform for the ceremony.
• Eunuch Gui presented incense as Chu Liang prayed to the Heavenly Father, Earth Mother, and Heavenly Dao for Chu’s prosperity and protection.
• Purple qi gathered above the platform and spread across the sky, drawing the attention of martial artists throughout the capital.
• The purple qi reached eighty thousand miles and stopped, astonishing Lin Bai.
• A Storyteller watching from a wonton stall wondered why Chu’s imperial aura was so extraordinary when Chu Liang had not been a wise ruler.

At the Chu Emperor’s birthday ceremony, eighty thousand li of purple qi appeared, signaling Chu’s prosperous national fortune. With no Crown Prince appointed, the ceremony left Prince Chen and the Third Prince awaiting the Chu Emperor’s decision on who would inherit the throne.

• Ancestor Zhang Bailiu explained to Lin Bai how national fortune manifested and said that whoever rang the Heavenly Bell and struck the Earthly Drum would bear Chu’s fortune as its next emperor.
• After the Chu Emperor completed the worship-of-Heaven ceremony, the eighty thousand li of purple qi flowed into his body.
• Eunuch Gui announced that the martial artists would proceed to the Ancestral Temple for the ancestral worship ceremony.
• The Chu Emperor ordered neither Prince Chen nor the Third Prince to act; he rang the Heavenly Bell and struck the Earthly Drum himself.
• The martial artists wished for Chu to endure for a thousand generations, while Prince Chen and the Third Prince remained without a clear succession decision.

Lin Bai and the Tianshui Sect attended the Chu Emperor’s ancestral sacrifice, where the Emperor personally struck the bells and drums, prompting Chu Xi and Zhang Bailiu to suspect he had another purpose. After the rites, Lin Bai followed the guests through a radiant gate into the Hunting Realm, arriving at Pilgrimage Mountain.

• Eunuch Gui summoned the martial artists to the ancestral-sacrifice grounds, where the Chu Emperor entered the Ancestral Temple with the Empress, Prince Chen, and the Third Prince.
• The Chu Emperor personally performed the ancestral rites, and Chu Xi told Lin Bai and Zhang Bailiu that this unusual act likely signaled another intention.
• After the rites ended, the Chu Emperor invited the guests to a banquet in the Hunting Realm, and an old eunuch led the Tianshui Sect to its deer carriage.
• The old eunuch guided Lin Bai and the others to the radiant gate and explained that it led to Pilgrimage Mountain in the Hunting Realm.
• Lin Bai passed through the radiant gate and felt the Hunting Realm’s primitive, wild energy.

Lin Bai arrived in the Hunting Realm and saw a Fire Phoenix whose power nearly overwhelmed him with a single glance. He then followed Sect Master Chu Xi and Old Ancestor Zhang Bailiu to the Ascension Celestial Palace, where the peak forces gathered for Emperor Chu’s banquet.

• Lin Bai and the others emerged through the light gate into the Hunting Realm’s primordial wilderness and headed toward the banquet venue with an old eunuch.
• A Fire Phoenix flew north through the sky, setting the forests ablaze, and its gaze made Lin Bai feel as if he were burning alive.
• Old Ancestor Zhang Bailiu identified the bird as a powerful Primordial Wilds Breed born from the Phoenix Clan and innate flames, and warned Lin Bai to avoid it.
• Lin Bai recognized the Fire Phoenix as the creature Old Man Wuchuan had asked him to hunt, but considered whether a weaker one might be within his reach.
• Lin Bai, Sect Master Chu Xi, and Old Ancestor Zhang Bailiu reached the Ascension Celestial Palace, where Lin Bai entered as an honored guest while ordinary sects watched from outside.

Lin Bai and the Tianshui Sect martial artists took their seats in the Ascension Celestial Palace for the Chu Emperor’s birthday celebration and sampled its lavish food and wine. As they waited for the banquet to begin, Qian Hen used reforged Telepathic Bracelets to reconnect the gathered allies.

• An old eunuch led Lin Bai and the Tianshui Sect group to their seating area, where Bai Yifei and the others welcomed them.
• Lin Bai sampled the banquet’s spirit-beast meat, spirit herbs, Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Peach, and mellow wine while observing martial artists from across the Devil Realm.
• Qian Hen sent Lin Bai and the others a voice transmission through their Telepathic Bracelets, and they recognized him across the hall.
• Lu Qingjun remarked that powerful ancient monsters surrounded their seats, while Lin Bai and Meng Qinxian continued chatting over the food and wine.
• Qian Hen had a palace maid distribute reforged Telepathic Bracelets to Lin Bai, Mo Nan, Li Xuanqiu, Yi Song, Huang Qingyun, and others.

Lin Bai and the other Holy Sons and Holy Daughters discussed the Chu Emperor’s unconventional actions and the looming transfer of power, which could destabilize the Devil Realm Eastern Region. Qian Hen revealed that Northern Region martial artists had reached Horizon Pass and fought a bloody battle there, leaving the group bracing for the coming upheaval.

• Lin Bai received Qian Hen’s improved Telepathic Bracelet, and the group used it to converse privately during the gathering.
• Lu Qingjun asked whether the Chu Emperor’s actions at the Heavenly Sacrifice and the upcoming transfer of power would plunge the Devil Realm Eastern Region into chaos.
• Qian Hen said chaos was certain, though whether it became a great upheaval or a smaller disturbance depended on the four flourishing forces of the Eastern Region.
• Qian Hen revealed that Northern Region martial artists had approached Horizon Pass and fought a bloody battle there a month earlier.

Lin Bai and the others learned that Northern Region martial artists had tried to infiltrate Horizon Pass and fought Chu’s frontier army, while Chu concealed the clash during the Emperor’s birthday celebration. The group resolved to target Northern Region martial artists in the Hunting Realm.

• Qian Hen revealed that Northern Region martial artists had attempted to sneak into Horizon Pass a month earlier and clashed with its defenders after being discovered.
• Qian Hen explained that the Chu imperial family had suppressed news of the battle, while the Qian family uncovered it through reports of frontier soldiers buying healing pills in bulk.
• Lin Bai and the others connected the invasion attempt to the Northern Region’s plans to enter the Eastern Region and to Chu’s military preparations along the frontier.
• Yi Heze argued that Chu could defeat the Northern Region, while Lin Bai questioned the value of conquering its harsh, resource-poor lands.
• Meng Qinxian proposed hunting down Northern Region martial artists in the Hunting Realm and showing no mercy.

Lin Bai and the Eastern Region martial artists discussed the Northern Region’s threat and the Southern Border Insect Valley’s interference in Chu. As they agreed to hunt variant species before confronting the Northern Region in the Hunting Realm, Lin Bai suspected the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace was coordinating the Southern and Northern Regions.

• Meng Qinxian proposed hunting Northern Region martial artists in the Hunting Realm, and Qian Hen warned that they might already be targets.
• Qian Hen revealed that the Southern Border Insect Valley had interfered in Chu’s internal affairs, and Lin Bai confirmed that Xia Jingzhi had been its agent.
• Lin Bai proposed that the group spend the first half of the Hunting Realm’s month hunting variant species and address the Northern Region threat in the second half.
• Qian Hen said the Southern and Northern Regions might be cooperating through a middleman, and Lin Bai realized the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace could be involved.

Lin Bai argued that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace was the hidden force behind the Eastern Region’s growing conflicts and had spent tens of thousands of years infiltrating its major powers. He warned that its revived strength was substantial and that its agents were waiting for the right moment to emerge.

• Qian Hen suggested that a powerful middleman was stirring up conflict in the Eastern Region, and the group considered Qi Tian Sect the likeliest suspect.
• Lin Bai said the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace could also maneuver across the Eastern Region and had repeatedly fueled tensions behind the scenes.
• Lin Bai recalled that the demon palace’s agents had entered the Water Mirror Sea disguised as White Bone Sect disciples, with nearly half of that sect’s upper ranks secretly serving them.
• Lin Bai explained that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace had infiltrated forces across the Eastern Region and was waiting for an opportunity to rise again.