Chapter Summaries

Ning'an fought five Four Gloom Demon Palace martial artists in East City of Ning'an City while racing to avoid reinforcements. Lin Bai killed the four Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm opponents, leaving Ning'an to face the lone Grand Luo Dao Fruit Realm martial artist.

• Ning'an saw the crimson-red sword intent and attacked the five martial artists before they could surround him.
• Ning'an prioritized the four Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm martial artists and killed them in rapid succession, though their souls escaped.
• The surviving Grand Luo Dao Fruit Realm martial artist clashed with Ning'an, who broke through his defenses and pressed the attack.
• Ning'an asked the opponent's name, but he dismissed the question and continued fighting while worrying about Four Gloom Demon Palace reinforcements.

Lin Bai met Shen Yunbang, helmsman of the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s Withered Sea Branch, who revealed how the Palace’s branches were organized across the One Night Divine Sect’s territory. Shen Yunbang said the Palace was determined to emerge from hiding and make a comeback.

• Shen Yunbang used his divine sense to stop Lin Bai and recognized him as Ji Canghai.
• Lin Bai removed his bamboo hat, and Shen Yunbang introduced himself as the Withered Sea Branch’s helmsman.
• Shen Yunbang explained that the Withered Sea Branch managed the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s many branches across the One Night Divine Sect’s territory.
• Shen Yunbang said Ji Canghai would eventually learn about the branch and explained that the Demon Palace now had nine divine halls devoted to cultivating experts.
• Shen Yunbang said the Demon Palace intended to make a comeback because circumstances had changed.

Lin Bai and Ji Canghai discussed the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s prospects as the battle over Prince Qin wound down. The sides withdrew after the city’s defenses were wrecked, leaving the One Night Divine Sect unable to restore them quickly and the cause of Shen Haoyue’s death still concealed.

• Ji Canghai said the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace could rise again despite the obstacles, and Lin Bai wished it success.
• Lin Bai returned the Thunder Formation Flag, but Li Siyuan said Ji Canghai had not come for it and explained that the Devil Palace wanted to invite him for tea.
• Li Siyuan revealed that the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect had reached Prince Qin and fought on the Mutian Plains.
• The One Night Divine Sect’s forces prepared to return to Prince Qin as the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace withdrew after its surprise attack failed.
• Both sides left the battle with gains, but Prince Qin’s ruined defenses would take substantial resources and time to rebuild, and Shen Haoyue’s death remained undisclosed.

Lin Bai struggled to understand Ji Canghai’s strange movement technique as the martial artist repeatedly appeared in his path. Meanwhile, Ning An summoned his Supreme Avatar to face Yi Jinyun, leaving the nearby fighters stunned and unable to approach.

• Lin Bai watched Ji Canghai vanish completely and emerge through what seemed to be a slit in space, and wondered whether his cultivation surpassed the Primal Chaos Dao Fruit Realm.
• Ning An judged that his other weapons and techniques could not reliably stop Yi Jinyun, so he put away his three Grand Yi Divine Weapons and manifested his Supreme Avatar.
• The hundred-zhang phantom appeared over Lin Bai City, and martial artists across the city cried out in shock as its power forced them to their knees or halted their approach.
• Geng Liguang recognized Ning An’s Supreme Avatar, while Prince Qin suspected that Ji Canghai had been among the fighters who took the Thunder Formation Flag.
• Yi Jinyun faced Ning An without fear as the Supreme Avatar’s aura spread across the area, leaving the two of them alone in the region.

Ji Canghai tried to take Lin Bai to the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, but four ancient Chu Kingdom experts arrived to stop him. The Chu elders challenged Ji Canghai despite their dwindling life force, and one launched the first attack.

• A Chu elder confronted Ji Canghai over taking Lin Bai, while Ji Canghai insisted he had only invited the prince and was protecting him as they crossed the void.
• Three more Chu Kingdom experts arrived, joining the elder to make four powerful members of the imperial clan facing Ji Canghai.
• Ji Canghai recognized Chu Jiang, Chu Mo, and Chu Baiqing as old acquaintances, and one elder recalled that Ji Canghai had been a divine son of the Second Divine Hall seven thousand years earlier.
• The dragon-robed elder explained that the four had waited for reinforcements and warned Ji Canghai that they had strength in numbers.
• Ji Canghai warned the aging Chu experts that fighting would consume their life force, but one elder laughed and attacked him while keeping Lin Bai out of the blast.

Xuanqing, the Demonic Daoist, arrived in the void and helped Ji Canghai repel an attack from the four Chu powerhouses. Ji Canghai took Lin Bai away while Xuanqing held off their pursuers with his Primal Chaos Divine Weapon.

• A powerhouse from Chu attacked Ji Canghai, but Xuanqing’s azure-violet divine light neutralized the strike.
• Xuanqing introduced himself to Lin Bai as the chief helmsman of the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s branch in Chu’s territory.
• Xuanqing urged Ji Canghai to take Lin Bai away before other powerhouses arrived, and Ji Canghai agreed.
• The four Chu powerhouses attacked to stop them, so Xuanqing blocked the group and prepared to delay them with his treasured gourd.
• Ji Canghai dragged Lin Bai into the darkness of the void, where Lin Bai sensed a devastating clash erupt behind them.

Ji Canghai explained how Space Nodes allowed travelers to escape the void, then used one to take Lin Bai from the Seven Nights Divine Sect’s territory to Ten Thousand Saints Mountain. The chapter ended with Lin Bai realizing how far they had traveled.

• Ji Canghai explained that travelers trapped in the void needed to find a Space Node to return to the Demon Realm.
• Ji Canghai told Lin Bai that Space Nodes were temporary unless powerful sects used secret arts to preserve them, and that Primal Chaos Dao Fruit Realm martial artists often traveled through them.
• Lin Bai and Ji Canghai found a Space Node, which Ji Canghai opened to return them to the outside world.
• Lin Bai sensed that they had arrived in an uninhabited primeval forest, and Ji Canghai identified it as the territory of Ten Thousand Saints Mountain.

Ji Canghai took Lin Bai through a Space Node to the Ten Thousand Saints Mountain Territory and revealed that Plum Blossom Mountain Manor was the hidden headquarters of the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace. Lin Bai confronted the manor’s sect master, asking whether he should call him Manor Lord Mei or Palace Master.

• Ji Canghai explained that Space Nodes could connect distant places across the Devil Realm and brought Lin Bai to the Ten Thousand Saints Mountain Territory.
• Ji Canghai told Lin Bai that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace was certain to rise again after the Seven Nights Divine Sect’s internal conflict ended.
• Ji Canghai led Lin Bai to Plum Blossom Mountain Manor and revealed that it served as the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s headquarters.
• Ji Canghai used a passage token to bring Lin Bai through Plum Blossom Mountain Manor’s protective formation and to its palace.
• The Plum Blossom Mountain Manor sect master greeted Ji Canghai and Lin Bai, and Lin Bai asked whether to address him as Manor Lord Mei or Palace Master of the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace.

Lin Bai learned how Plum Blossom Mountain Manor had risen through the destruction of the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace and confronted its Sect Master, Hua Mei, who revealed that he only served the Devil Palace. Ji Canghai led Lin Bai into the manor’s forbidden rear mountain grounds, where Li Guxian was staying.

• Lin Bai recalled Plum Blossom Mountain Manor’s history, including how its ancestors seized treasures after the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace was destroyed.
• Lin Bai asked Hua Mei whether he was the Palace Master of the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, and Hua Mei said he merely ran errands for it.
• Hua Qianshu mocked Lin Bai for becoming a prisoner, and Lin Bai replied that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace had needed Ji Canghai to capture him.
• Ji Canghai told Lin Bai to come with him, while Hua Mei mentioned that Li Guxian was at the manor and Lin Bai could visit her.
• Ji Canghai led the group toward the forbidden rear mountain grounds, and Lin Bai noticed that Hua Mei and Hua Qianshu ranked below Ji Canghai within the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace.

Lin Bai and the others used an ancient teleportation array to reach the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s headquarters, hidden one hundred thousand zhang beneath Plum Blossom Mountain Manor. Ji Canghai and Manor Lord Mei explained how the site connected to Ten Thousand Saints Mountain and the ancient battle that had made the region a graveyard of powerful experts.

• Ji Canghai activated an ancient teleportation array in Moon Gazing Cave, sending Lin Bai and the others deep underground.
• Lin Bai learned that layers of the Devil Realm’s hardest rocks protected the underground headquarters from ordinary intruders.
• Manor Lord Mei explained that Plum Blossom Mountain Manor had discovered the site beneath its territory but had not built it.
• Manor Lord Mei described Ten Thousand Saints Mountain as a region filled with ancient experts’ cave dwellings and ruins.
• Ji Canghai explained that Ten Thousand Saints Mountain lay at the core of an ancient battle that caused the Devil Realm to break away from the Spirit Realm.

Manor Lord Mei explained that Plum Blossom Mountain Manor’s founder discovered the underground depths and founded the manor after finding opportunities there, though she withheld further secrets. Ji Canghai led Lin Bai and the others to Nine Underworlds City, the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s vast underground headquarters, and they arrived at its gloomy gates.

• Manor Lord Mei told Lin Bai that Plum Blossom Mountain Manor’s founder followed clues to the underground depths and gained opportunities that helped him establish the manor.
• Lin Bai asked how Plum Blossom Mountain Manor, founded more than ten thousand years before the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, became its branch, but Manor Lord Mei declined to explain the complicated history.
• Ji Canghai led Lin Bai, Manor Lord Mei, and the others through a narrow passage to a cliff overlooking an enormous underground city.
• Ji Canghai identified the city as Nine Underworlds City, the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s headquarters, built seventy thousand years earlier and home to tens of millions of martial artists.
• Ji Canghai used a passage token to lead Lin Bai and the others through the city’s formation, and they landed at its dark, mist-shrouded gates.

Lin Bai entered Nine Underworlds City with Ji Canghai and learned about the ranks of the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, including the Imperial Son who once united its strongest prodigies. Ji Canghai said the position was currently vacant but might soon be filled, leaving Manor Lord Mei and Hua Qianshu visibly shaken.

• Ji Canghai showed his Identity Token to the guards, who apologized and let him lead Lin Bai and the others into Nine Underworlds City.
• Hua Qianshu invited Lin Bai to sample the city’s wine, and Lin Bai asked about Hua Qianshu’s standing in the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace.
• Manor Lord Mei explained that Hua Qianshu and Yao Qian were both Daoists, and outlined the Demon Palace’s ranks of Imperial Son, Divine Sons, Daoists, Saint Sons, and young prodigies.
• Lin Bai recalled how the former Imperial Son had united the Divine Sons and led the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace into its era of power, remembered as “One Emperor, Nine Saints.”
• Lin Bai asked whether the Demon Palace had a current Imperial Son, and Ji Canghai said there was none at present but there might be one soon.
• Manor Lord Mei explained that the Imperial Son’s position would remain vacant unless someone truly worthy appeared.

Lin Bai explored Nine Underworlds City after Ji Canghai let him roam freely, while Ji and Manor Lord Mei went to meet the Palace Master to learn why the Devil Palace had summoned him. Hua Qianshu found Lin Bai examining a Violet Affinity Stone containing a Crimson Bloodworm and invited him to a tavern to explain the stone’s origins.

• Ji Canghai gave Lin Bai an Ordinary Token and let him explore Nine Underworlds City on his own.
• Manor Lord Mei asked Ji Canghai why the Devil Palace had invited Lin Bai, but Ji Canghai admitted he did not know.
• Manor Lord Mei sent Hua Qianshu to watch Lin Bai while he and Ji Canghai went to see the Palace Master.
• Lin Bai browsed the city's stalls and examined a Violet Affinity Stone containing a Crimson Bloodworm.
• Hua Qianshu explained the worm's healing properties and took Lin Bai to a tavern to tell him about the stone's origins.

Hua Qianshu explained that Violet Affinity Stone could preserve living beings by slowing time, and Lin Bai discovered that the insect sealed inside his stone was alive. After Lin Bai wondered whether the many stones he had found concealed other things, Hua Qianshu avoided answering, leaving Nine Underworlds City's secrets unresolved.

• Lin Bai learned from Hua Qianshu that Iron-Devouring Worms ate spirit stones and excreted Celestial Hardrock, revealing that spirit-stone veins existed nearby.
• Hua Qianshu explained that Violet Affinity Stone could seal people or other beings and slow the passage of time and the consumption of lifespan.
• Lin Bai injected spiritual power into his Violet Affinity Stone, melting it and reviving the insect sealed inside.
• Hua Qianshu caught the insect, placed it in a treasure box, sealed it with talismans, and gave it to Lin Bai.
• Lin Bai wondered whether the Violet Affinity Stones he had found concealed more insects or even people, but Hua Qianshu changed the subject.

Lin Bai questioned Hua Qianshu about why Nine Underworlds Demon Palace had brought him to its hidden headquarters, and Hua Qianshu explained the Council of Elders and the Nine Great Palaces. Lin Bai learned that the Council had ordered him brought back alive, but the chapter left the reason for that order unexplained.

• Lin Bai asked whether the Violet Affinity Stone contained a sealed insect or person, but Hua Qianshu revealed nothing.
• Hua Qianshu said an order from Nine Underworlds City had instructed the Demon Palace, about half a year earlier, to bring Lin Bai back alive if possible.
• Hua Qianshu explained that the Council of Elders managed Nine Underworlds Demon Palace in the Palace Master's absence and consisted of core elders, Eternal Elders, and three Saint Elders.
• Hua Qianshu identified Ji Canghai and his father as core elders, with Ji Canghai overseeing the branch in Seven Nights Divine Sect territory and his father overseeing the branch in Ten Thousand Saints Mountain territory.
• Hua Qianshu described the Nine Great Palaces as elite paths for gifted martial artists who passed the Demon Palace's assessments, and Lin Bai understood how members could join them.

Hua Qianshu explained the origins and ranks of the Nine Great Palaces to Lin Bai, while revealing that Li Guxian was behind a secret plan for the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace. Their conversation ended as night fell in Nine Underworlds City, where the city followed its own lighting schedule.

• Hua Qianshu told Lin Bai that the Nine Great Palaces preserved the legacies of the One Emperor and Nine Saints and cultivated disciples for the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace.
• Hua Qianshu explained that he had become a Dao Child but could not defeat Lu Yunzhe, the Fifth Divine Hall's God Child, and said that God Children were difficult to kill.
• Hua Qianshu said the Council of Elders had appointed Li Guxian as Goddess of the Ninth Divine Hall and that she had devised most of the Demon Palace's grand plan.
• Hua Qianshu told Lin Bai that the plan's details were known only to the Council of Elders and Li Guxian, while Lin Bai recalled that Soul Search could not uncover the memories of visitors to Nine Underworlds City.
• As night fell, Hua Qianshu explained that Nine Underworlds City marked day and night by the brightness of its lamps and luminous stones.

Hua Qianshu warned Lin Bai about the strange disappearances that occurred in Nine Underworlds City after dark, then stayed in the inn next door to watch over him. As the night mist thickened, Lin Bai saw figures moving within it and heard Hua Qianshu cry for help before falling from his window into the mist.

• Hua Qianshu told Lin Bai that people who went out alone after nightfall had vanished, and recounted how white mist had once carried off his friends.
• Hua Qianshu booked Lin Bai a room and took the room next door to keep watch over him.
• After night fell, white mist spread through the deserted streets of Nine Underworlds City, and Lin Bai saw ghostlike figures in it with his Asura Dharma Eyes.
• Lin Bai heard Hua Qianshu call for help and saw him fall from his window into the white mist.

Lin Bai saw what appeared to be Hua Qianshu fall into the white mist, but found Hua Qianshu safe in his room and suspected an illusion. Later, a voice claiming to be Hua Qianshu lured Lin Bai into opening his door, where a white-mist entity attacked him.

• Lin Bai saw a figure resembling Hua Qianshu fall into the street’s white mist, but went next door and found Hua Qianshu unharmed.
• Hua Qianshu warned Lin Bai to stay inside after nightfall, and Lin Bai used his Asura Dharma Eyes to search for signs of an illusion.
• A knock and Hua Qianshu’s voice came from outside Lin Bai’s door, so Lin Bai opened it and found only writhing white mist.
• A human-shaped figure emerged from the mist and attacked Lin Bai with white-mist tendrils, which he cut apart with his sword.
• Lin Bai’s Azure Lotus Sword Intent blasted through the mist and the inn, waking the other residents.
• Hua Qianshu called from his room and insisted he had never left, confirming that the visitor outside Lin Bai’s door was not him.

Lin Bai ignored Hua Qianshu’s warning and entered the strange white fog to investigate its secrets. He encountered a woman who led him deeper into the fog and met the Aloof Swordsman, leaving both men apparently trapped until morning.

• Hua Qianshu explained that the white fog should not enter rooms and warned Lin Bai to stay inside and ignore sounds until morning.
• Lin Bai recalled Hua Qianshu’s account of the fog and suspected the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s Council of Elders had concealed what it learned about it.
• Lin Bai chose to leave his room and plunged into the white fog, carrying the Violet Affinity Stone.
• A mysterious woman appeared and repeatedly vanished as Lin Bai followed her deeper into the fog.
• Lin Bai encountered the Aloof Swordsman, who said he had fled into the fog while escaping a difficult target and believed no one could get out before morning.

Lin Bai, the Aloof Swordsman, and Lian'er discussed how they had entered the strange white fog and heard that they might survive by waiting together until dawn. More frightened people emerged from the fog, and the group remained on guard as they tried to understand what was happening.

• The Aloof Swordsman told Lin Bai that rumors said they could leave the fog at dawn if they survived the night, and proposed that they stay together for protection.
• Lian'er emerged from the fog, identified herself as a courtesan from Red Candle Hall, and explained that she had followed a fleeting figure into the mist.
• Lin Bai and the Aloof Swordsman said they had also seen the figure, though neither knew where it had gone.
• A terrified young woman in coarse hemp clothing ran from the fog and begged the group for help.
• Lin Bai reassured the young woman that they were human for now, while warning that no one knew what they might become later.