Chapter Summaries

Chu Emperor issued an order allowing Hunting Realm participants to admit defeat and leave, disrupting the Northern Region’s plan to annihilate the Eastern Region’s younger generation. The Southern and Western Regions’ martial artists recognized that the decree reflected how the hunt was slipping beyond Chu Kingdom’s control, while the Northern Region’s Holy Sons protested.

• Jiang Yu, Ling Wen, Tuo Baxin, and Rong Yunxin heard Eunuch Gui announce Chu Emperor’s order and concluded that the hunt had become dangerously uncontrollable.
• Luo Qiu, Shangguan Xiu, Lu Heng, and Wu Fengjun learned that Chu Emperor had intervened and inferred that he had support from powerful forces in the Ascension Celestial Palace.
• Lin Bai heard that participants could admit defeat, surrender their prey, and leave the Hunting Realm; Chu Tinghan ordered the decree relayed to the Eastern Region’s martial artists.
• Chu Tingxue explained that Chu Emperor’s order protected the Chu Kingdom, while Chu Zimo pretended to understand and went to relay it.
• Bu Junfeng faced angry Northern Region Holy Sons who complained that the decree would foil their plan and waste the Demonic Refinement of All Living Things Formation, then ordered them to be quiet.

Bu Junfeng ordered the Northern Domain martial artists to obey Emperor Chu’s decree and, fearing further delays, challenged the Eastern Domain to a decisive battle at the Great Snow Mountain. Lin Bai and the others received Bu Junfeng’s challenge, which taunted the Eastern Domain to come break the formation waiting there.

• Bu Junfeng explained that Emperor Chu’s order had to be obeyed, rallied the Northern Domain Holy Sons and Holy Daughters, and learned that the Eastern Domain had nearly seven or eight hundred martial artists approaching the Great Snow Mountain.
• After confirming that the Demonic Refinement of All Living Things Formation was ready, Bu Junfeng ordered a challenge sent to the Eastern Domain martial artists.
• Chu Zimo met the Northern Domain envoys, accepted their challenge scroll, and took it to Chu Tinghan.
• Lin Bai read Bu Junfeng’s challenge inviting the Eastern Domain martial artists to break the formation at the Great Snow Mountain, and Chu Tingxue remarked on Bu Junfeng’s calligraphy.

After Bu Junfeng issued a battle challenge, Chu Tinghan and Chu Tingxue revealed their plan to divide the Eastern Domain forces into four battle zones and attack the Northern Domain formations. They set the assault for dawn two days later and asked Lin Bai to kill the Northern Domain’s most important Holy Sons, leaving him to consider how difficult that would be.

• Lin Bai asked Chu Tinghan, Chu Tingxue, and the others for their opinions on the military treatise, and Chu Zimo urged them to fight.
• Chu Tinghan ordered Chu Zimo to summon the island’s Holy Sons and Holy Daughters for a meeting and explained that Bu Junfeng had likely acted because Emperor Chu was interfering in the Hunting Realm.
• Chu Tinghan outlined a plan to divide the battlefield around Great Snow Mountain into four zones, each led by a Flourishing Sect and its allied lineages and sects.
• Lin Bai approved of the plan and explained why Chu Tinghan was best suited to command the Eastern Domain forces.
• Chu Tinghan and Chu Tingxue set the attack for dawn two days later, and Chu Tinghan told Lin Bai to kill the Northern Domain’s heavyweight Holy Sons.
• Lin Bai agreed but realized the named Holy Sons would be difficult opponents to defeat.

Saints and representatives from the Eastern Region’s territories gathered for Chu Zimo’s council, and three of the four seats reserved for the Flourishing Sects’ leaders were claimed. When Chu Kingdom arrived, Chu Tinghan urged Lin Bai to take the last seat, forcing him to confront what that would mean for his position.

• Chu Lingyu and Wang Zhengyang took two of the four chairs and discussed who should represent Seven Nights Divine Sect and Chu Kingdom.
• Yi Jinyun arrived, took a chair as Seven Nights Divine Sect’s temporary representative, and explained that the sect had not appointed a Saint Son or Saint Daughter.
• Qi Lingyu and Wang Zhengyang warned Yi Jinyun that the Northern Region had seized on instability in Seven Nights Divine Sect’s and Chu Kingdom’s territories.
• Chu Tinghan arrived with Lin Bai and told him to sit in the last chair, but Lin Bai declined and suggested that she take it instead.

Lin Bai accepted Chu Tinghan’s plan to represent the Chu imperial family at the Eastern Region council, where Qi Lingyu, Wang Zhengyang, and Yi Jinyun welcomed him. The council began by discussing the Northern Region forces at Great Snow Mountain, and Lin Bai revealed that he had nearly defeated Shen Xinghe before the Soul Refining Sect Holy Son escaped.

• Chu Tinghan persuaded Lin Bai to take the Chu imperial family’s seat because the other leaders would recognize his prestige and accept him.
• Lin Bai sat with Qi Lingyu, Wang Zhengyang, and Yi Jinyun as the four leaders of the Eastern Region council.
• Lin Bai asked what the others knew about the Northern Region warriors gathered at Great Snow Mountain, and Qi Lingyu and Wang Zhengyang named several formidable Holy Sons.
• Lin Bai described fighting Shen Xinghe and explained the Soul Refining Sect Holy Son’s shadow-like body, Soul Refining Banner, and Nether Ferry escape technique.
• The council members were astonished that Lin Bai had driven Shen Xinghe to escape.

Lin Bai told Qi Lingyu, Wang Zhengyang, and the others what he knew about the Northern Region’s martial artists and revealed that Luan Tang, the Corpse Refinement Sect’s Holy Son, was likely a puppet controlled by a hidden Holy Daughter. After the group exchanged intelligence, they asked how to proceed, and Lin Bai directed them to hear Chu Tinghan’s plan.

• Lin Bai described his battles with the Holy Sons of the Soul Refining Sect and the Corpse Refinement Sect, including their techniques and weaknesses.
• Lin Bai said Luan Tang was likely a Corpse Puppet controlled by the Corpse Refinement Sect’s true Holy Daughter, who had remained hidden.
• Lin Bai explained that the Holy Daughter was powerful, commanded Corpse Demons, and had appeared to him wearing a black dress and veil.
• Lin Bai and the others spent more than half a day sharing what they knew about Northern Region martial artists and their cultivation techniques.
• When Wang Zhengyang and Qi Lingyu asked what they should do next, Lin Bai said Chu Tinghan had prepared a detailed plan for them to hear.

Chu Tinghan explained that the Northern Region had built the Demonic Refinement of All Living Things Formation throughout Great Snow Mountain and proposed a simultaneous four-direction assault. The Eastern Region leaders approved the plan and set the decisive battle for dawn two days later.

• Chu Tinghan revealed that the Northern Region had altered Great Snow Mountain and constructed a powerful formation that could keep functioning even if parts of it were destroyed.
• Chu Tinghan proposed that the Eastern Region attack from four directions simultaneously to break the formation and limit casualties.
• Qi Lingyu and Wang Zhengyang approved the plan, and Lin Bai invited Yi Jinyun to give the Seven Nights Divine Sect's opinion; she agreed.
• Chu Tinghan assigned Wolf Marquis to attack from the east, Wang Zhengyang from the south, Yi Jinyun from the west, and Qi Lingyu from the north.
• The Eastern Region leaders agreed to launch their decisive battle at Great Snow Mountain at dawn two days later.

Lin Bai understood that the Northern Region stood to benefit from any outcome of the coming battle, while the Eastern Region prepared its forces for a decisive clash. A hidden informant revealed Chu Tinghan’s plan to Bu Junfeng, who began arranging a response.

• Qi Lingyu explained how victory or defeat could shape the Eastern Region’s morale, and Lin Bai understood why the Northern Region had insisted on fighting in the Hunting Realm.
• After the mountaintop meeting, the leaders organized their forces, while Chu Tinghan reviewed the Chu Kingdom’s battle plan and Eastern Region martial artists prepared their weapons and supplies.
• Northern Region scouts reported the Eastern Region’s preparations to Bu Junfeng, who realized a battle was imminent.
• Bu Junfeng contacted a hidden informant, who revealed that Chu Tinghan knew about the formation and disclosed the Eastern Region’s full battle plan.
• Bu Junfeng ended the transmission and began making arrangements to counter Chu Tinghan’s plan.

Qi Lingyu, Wang Zhengyang, and Yi Jinyun prepared their forces for a coordinated attack on Great Snow Mountain at dawn. As the Seven Nights Divine Sect forces departed, Lin Bai warned Nie Shang that internal divisions could endanger him and Meng Qinxian, and urged Nie Shang to be ready to withdraw if the battle turned against them.

• Qi Lingyu, Wang Zhengyang, Yi Jinyun, Chu Tinghan, Lin Bai, and the others finalized their attack plans and reminded their forces to retreat if their lives were threatened.
• Qi Lingyu led more than two hundred martial artists to the northern side of Great Snow Mountain, and Wang Zhengyang led his forces to the southern side.
• Lin Bai worried that the Seven Nights Divine Sect territory's divided factions might refuse Yi Jinyun's orders during the battle.
• Lin Bai warned Nie Shang that Shen Haoyue and Ji Ruoci might turn against the Seven Nights Divine Sect, while Meng Qinxian offered to deal with them by force.
• Lin Bai urged Nie Shang to prepare to withdraw with Meng Qinxian if the factions turned on one another, and Nie Shang agreed to make arrangements before they rejoined Yi Jinyun's forces.

Chu’s forces gathered under Lin Bai and Chu Tinghan to begin their assault on Great Snow Mountain, agreeing to set aside internal grudges and unite against the Northern Region. They reached the mountain’s eastern side and waited for dawn after Northern Region scouts spotted them.

• After the other territories departed, Lin Bai and Chu Tinghan prepared the more than three hundred Chu warriors to attack from the east.
• Chu Tinghan urged the gathered sects and families to put aside their grudges, while Lin Bai and Chu threatened consequences for anyone who betrayed their allies during the battle.
• Chu Zimo led the Black Tortoise Battalion as Lin Bai and the Tianshui Sect disciples followed the Chu forces toward Great Snow Mountain.
• The Chu warriors assembled east of the mountain, where Chu Tinghan spotted Northern Region scouts and ordered her forces to prepare.
• As the warriors waited through the night, a green streak appeared over the sea and dawn broke.

Lin Bai led the Eastern Region warriors in an attack on Great Snow Mountain, but the Northern Region’s formation defenses had been changed in advance. He suspected a spy had leaked their plan and decided to press on through the formation despite the danger.

• Lin Bai raised his Azure Lotus Sword Intent as a signal, prompting warriors in the other regions to prepare for battle.
• Lin Bai’s sword strike activated Great Snow Mountain’s formations, which merged into a screen that withstood his attack.
• Jiang Yuan of the Purple River Clan appeared, named the formation the Frozen Hell Imprisonment Formation, and left an opening for Lin Bai’s forces.
• Lin Bai noticed the formation differed from what their intelligence predicted and suspected the Northern Region knew their attack plan.
• Lin Bai and Chu Tinghan concluded that the Eastern Region had a Northern Region spy, but Lin Bai refused to withdraw and prepared to enter the formation.

Lin Bai and Princess Tinghan led the Eastern Domain martial artists into the Demonic Refinement of All Living Things Formation, where they faced waves of seemingly weak Frozen Skulls. Zhao Xiantu and Li Mo dismissed Princess Tinghan’s warnings and led their followers into the mist to search for the Formation Eye, while Lin Bai let them go.

• Lin Bai suspected a high-ranking Eastern Domain martial artist had betrayed their plans to the Northern Domain, then entered the formation’s opening with Princess Tinghan and the others.
• Lin Bai and the Eastern Domain martial artists fought off Frozen Skulls that emerged from the gray mist and found them easy to defeat.
• Princess Tinghan warned the martial artists not to underestimate the formation, and Chu Zimo ordered the Black Tortoise Battalion to form a defensive line.
• Zhao Xiantu and Li Mo argued that the group should split up to find the Formation Eye, then led their followers away despite Princess Tinghan’s objections.
• Shangguan Tong chose not to join Zhao Xiantu and Li Mo after seeing Lin Bai’s expression, while Lin Bai told Chen Yule and Yi Song to let the departing group go.

Lin Bai let Zhao Xiantu and Li Mo scout ahead through the gray fog, using them to trigger the formation’s dangers while the main force followed. The pair discovered that the Frozen Skulls were disguised Northern Region martial artists when one nearly struck Li Mo down.

• Lin Bai warned Zhao Xiantu and Li Mo not to rush into the formation, but they mocked him and led their followers into the gray fog.
• Lin Bai explained to Chu Tinghan that Zhao Xiantu and Li Mo could scout ahead and reveal the formation’s dangers, then followed them with the main force.
• Zhao Xiantu and Li Mo disparaged Lin Bai and hoped to find the Formation Eye first to restore their reputations and their Lineages’ confidence.
• Li Mo struck a Frozen Skull, but it resisted his palm and attacked him with a saber, forcing him to retreat behind his defensive treasures.
• The skull’s gray fog dispersed to reveal a Northern Region martial artist, who laughed and vanished into the fog.

Lin Bai witnessed the Frozen Hell Imprisonment Formation let Northern Territory martial artists disguise themselves as Frozen Skulls and ambush the Chu Kingdom fighters. Li Mo and Zhao Xiantu were surrounded by powerful enemies and began losing ground as their companions were slaughtered.

• Lin Bai recognized that the formation allowed Northern Territory martial artists to hide among the Frozen Skulls and attack by surprise.
• Li Mo and Zhao Xiantu warned their companions, but Li Mo wasted a powerful strike destroying an ordinary skull.
• Thousands of skulls surged from the fog, and disguised Northern Territory martial artists killed Chu Kingdom fighters, whose bodies were drained into the formation.
• Li Mo and Zhao Xiantu’s companions begged them for help, but the two began retreating as the slaughter spread.
• Seven or eight Superior-Grade Great Purity Dao Fruit Northern Territory martial artists revealed themselves and attacked Li Mo and Zhao Xiantu, leaving the pair badly wounded and overwhelmed.

Lin Bai waited until Li Mo and Zhao Xiantu were gravely wounded before ordering Chu Tinghan and the Black Tortoise Battalion to rescue them, then pursued the Northern Region martial artists with Chen Yule, Yi Song, and Huang Qingyun. As Lin Bai executed their captives to force them to reveal the formation’s secrets, the formation began to shake under a tremendous force.

• Li Mo and Zhao Xiantu led more than twenty Chu martial artists into an ambush, where Northern Region martial artists used the formation to disguise themselves as skeletons and killed or wounded many of them.
• Chu Tinghan urged Lin Bai to act, but he held back while the Black Tortoise Battalion waited for his order and Shangguan Tong accused him of abandoning Li Mo and Zhao Xiantu.
• Lin Bai ordered Chu Tinghan to attack, and Chu Zimo led the Black Tortoise Battalion into battle, forcing the Northern Region martial artists to retreat and saving Li Mo and Zhao Xiantu.
• Lin Bai, Chen Yule, Yi Song, and Huang Qingyun blocked the retreating Northern Region martial artists, and Lin Bai demanded information about the formation before killing them one by one.
• As a frightened Northern Region martial artist began to waver, the formation shook violently and a powerful force spread through it.

Lin Bai and Northern Region pressured captured Northern Region martial artists, prompting them to crush jade pendants and transform into powerful giants. The transformed fighters revealed the Frozen Hell Imprisonment Formation’s abilities, leaving Northern Region, Chen Yule, Huang Qingyun, and Yi Song confronting a new threat.

• Lin Bai killed Northern Region martial artists and threatened the survivors, but their leader killed one who was about to reveal their secrets.
• Northern Region attacked the captives, while their leader crushed a jade pendant to prevent them from betraying the Northern Region.
• The pendant’s power transformed the leader into a four-meter-tall giant, whose punch knocked Northern Region back about a hundred meters.
• Huang Qingyun inferred that the formation was stimulating the captives’ potential, and Chen Yule noted their power approached the Primal Chaos Dao Fruit Realm.
• Other Northern Region martial artists across the formation crushed their jade pendants and transformed into giants.

Lin Bai and the Chu warriors fought formation warriors who transformed into powerful Nine-Meter Giants, while Han Bing coordinated with the other territories to find a way out of the Gao Rong Hell Prison Formation. The group suspected the transformation was connected to the Giant God Race, but the cause and the formation’s weakness remained unknown.

• A Nine-Meter Giant attacked Lin Bai, and Chen Yule cut off its arm before warning that the transformed warriors had become mindless killers.
• Han Bing contacted the other territories and learned that Chen Yule’s group faced a similar crisis, while no one knew how to break the formation.
• Huang Qingyun organized the Chu warriors into a defensive formation as the giants and hidden formation warriors attacked.
• Huang Qingyun and Yi Song suspected the giants’ power was linked to a branch of the divine race in the Spirit World, and Yi Song identified the Giant God Race as the Heaven Swallowing Race’s sworn enemy.
• Han Bing distributed the Command Talisman and directed everyone to defeat their opponents or search for the Formation Eye.

Lin Bai and the others sought ways to escape the Northern Region formations trapping their groups, and Yi Jinyun used Seven Nights Divine Sect records to identify their weaknesses. She gave Lin Bai and Qi Lingyu ways to break their formations, but the method for Wang Zhengyang's formation remained unknown.

• Wang Zhengyang reported that a thunder formation obscured his group's senses and let Northern Region martial artists launch sneak attacks.
• Yi Jinyun explained that the Frozen Hell Imprisonment Formation's giants could be stopped by finding a blood pool and piercing the living heart within it, and Lin Bai set out to search for them.
• Yi Jinyun identified Qi Lingyu's formation as the White Bone Underworld Formation and told him to leave the bones, fly east, and seek its weak point.
• Yi Jinyun identified Wang Zhengyang's formation as the Nether Profound Lightning Soul Refining Formation and said the three formations belonged to powerful Northern Region forces.

Lin Bai learned how to break the Nether Profound Lightning Soul Refining Formation and left the battlefield with allied sect martial artists to seek its Formation Eye. Chu Tinghan remained in command, holding off the Northern Region giants and creating time for Lin Bai.

• Yi Jinyun explained that Wang Zhengyang could break the Nether Profound Lightning Soul Refining Formation by finding and striking a distinctive thunderbolt, then locating the formation's boundary while the thunderbolts paused.
• Lin Bai, Wang Zhengyang, and Qi Lingyu thanked Yi Jinyun, agreed to stay in contact, and set out to break their formations.
• Lin Bai returned to Chu Tinghan and said he would search for the Formation Eye with Chen Yule, Huang Qingyun, and Yi Song.
• Lin Bai declined Chu Tinghan's offer of the Black Tortoise Battalion, then gathered martial artists from the Tianshui Sect, Chen Family, Sacred Lotus Palace, and Celestial Immortal Sect to accompany him.
• Chu Tinghan dismissed Li Mo and Zhao Xiantu's accusation that Lin Bai was deserting and ordered the Chu Kingdom martial artists to keep fighting the giants.

Lin Bai gathered Chen Yule, Yi Song, Huang Qingyun, and other Chu warriors to search for the Formation Eye of the Frozen Hell Imprisonment Formation using a clue about a blood pool and heart. After Huang Qingyun suggested sensing the cold directly, the group followed the increasingly low temperature deeper into the gray mist.

• Lin Bai told Chen Yule, Yi Song, and Huang Qingyun that a Seven Nights Divine Sect expert had escaped the formation by finding and destroying a blood pool and heart in an exceptionally cold area.
• Huang Qingyun observed that the Northern Territory warriors in the battle seemed to be expendable pawns, while the Northern Territory's strongest forces had yet to appear.
• Lin Bai led more than thirty Chu warriors away from the battlefield and around Frozen Skulls that guarded the misty space.
• Huang Qingyun explained that she had removed her spiritual energy shield to sense subtle changes in temperature, and Lin Bai, Chen Yule, and Yi Song did the same.
• The group continued past the Frozen Skull guards and sensed that the temperature was gradually dropping.