Chapter Summaries

Lin Bai and the others encountered an eerie figure in the white fog, which vanished after the Aloof Swordsman questioned it. Lin Bai chose to stay with the group and wait through the night, but a sudden change occurred in the latter half of the night.

• The Aloof Swordsman urged the frightened young man to stay with the group until dawn.
• Lin Bai and the Aloof Swordsman spotted a fog-like figure about a hundred meters away.
• The young man and the courtesan from Red Candle Hall said they had seen the figure before, and the young man said it had lured him into the fog.
• The Aloof Swordsman questioned the figure, which turned and disappeared into the white fog.
• Lin Bai said the figure was an eerie life-form but had shown no hostility, then stayed with the others beside a wall to see what would happen.
• The group waited peacefully at first, but something changed in the latter half of the night.

Wu Lin recognized Lin Bai as a former disciple of the Seventh Divine Hall, but Fei Jing warned that Lin Bai had become a Living Corpse puppet. As Lin Bai attacked, Wu Lin and the Aloof Swordsman prepared to capture him and learned that many forbidden regions around Nine Underworlds City produced the black fog.

• Wu Lin identified Lin Bai as a former Seventh Divine Hall disciple who had vanished ten years earlier, and Fei Jing judged him to be a Living Corpse puppet.
• Wu Lin asked the Aloof Swordsman about places that produced the black fog, and he named regions including Purple Mountain, the Sea of Bones, the Dark Forest, and the Dark River.
• The Aloof Swordsman warned Wu Lin that the surrounding forbidden regions were said to be burial grounds for immortals, though he doubted that account.
• The young man warned that Lin Bai was coming, and Lin Bai charged at Wu Lin and the Aloof Swordsman with a sword.
• Wu Lin and the Aloof Swordsman scattered to avoid Lin Bai's attack, then decided they had to capture him to survive.

Wu Lin and the Aloof Swordsman subdued Lin Bai while strange figures kept appearing and disappearing in the black fog. The Aloof Swordsman revealed his past as an Eighth Divine Hall disciple, and Wu Lin decided to follow the figure rather than wait for dawn.

• Wu Lin ambushed Lin Bai during his fight with the Aloof Swordsman, and the Aloof Swordsman disarmed and restrained him.
• The Aloof Swordsman revealed that he had once been an Eighth Divine Hall disciple before ostracism forced him to become an assassin in Four Gloom City.
• A human figure repeatedly appeared in the black fog and silently left; Wu Lin saw it as a woman while the others perceived a man.
• Wu Lin argued that they should follow the figure instead of waiting for the fog to disperse, and the Aloof Swordsman asked what to do with Lin Bai.
• Wu Lin said he would follow the figure, while the Aloof Swordsman and the others had to decide whether to go with him.

Wu Lin decided to follow the mysterious silhouette through the white mist, believing it was leading them away from other Living Corpses. The Aloof Swordsman and the two women followed, leaving Lin Bai unconscious behind with the group as they lost their sense of direction in the mist.

• Wu Lin concluded that the white-mist silhouette was guiding them away from danger and warned that other, stronger Living Corpses might be nearby.
• Wu Lin followed the silhouette into the white mist without waiting for the others.
• The Aloof Swordsman decided that staying behind meant certain death and set out after Wu Lin, carrying the unconscious Lin Bai.
• The courtesan from Red Candle Hall and the young woman followed the two men, hoping to survive by staying with them.
• The group traversed the white mist together and gradually lost their sense of direction.

Lin Bai and his companions followed a strange figure through the thick white mist and discovered a ruined palace containing a headless statue. After spider puppets illuminated the temple, they saw a terrifying sight within, leaving them facing an unknown danger.

• Lin Bai and the Aloof Swordsman heard screams in the mist and concluded that something besides the monsters was nearby.
• The courtesan and the young man urged the group to hide, but Lin Bai continued following the strange figure.
• The group found a dilapidated palace, and Wu Lin suspected they had reached an unknown place beyond Four Gloom City.
• Wu Lin entered the palace despite the Aloof Swordsman's warning, and they found a damaged, headless statue in its shrine.
• The young woman sent spider puppets into the temple, where their black light revealed a terrifying scene.

Lin Bai, Wu Lin, the Aloof Swordsman, and the courtesan of Red Candle Hall were trapped by hundreds of Living Corpses near an eerie divine temple. Wu Lin chose to enter the temple, where they found the floor strewn with old bones.

• The puppets drove away the temple's darkness, revealing hundreds of skeletons scattered along its walls.
• The Aloof Swordsman and Wu Lin argued over their decision to leave Four Gloom City as footsteps approached through the white mist.
• Figures with gray-white, lifeless eyes emerged from the mist and surrounded Lin Bai and the others; Wu Lin recognized them as Living Corpses.
• Wu Lin decided the group should enter the divine temple, reasoning that the white-mist figure that led them there might not intend to kill them.
• The group entered the temple and saw the bones, while the courtesan of Red Candle Hall urged the others to stop arguing and find a way out.

Lin Bai entered the ruined temple to investigate why the Living Corpses feared it, while the Aloof Swordsman and the young man tried to fight their way out. The courtesan of Red Candle Hall followed Lin Bai, and he began searching the temple after seeing the Living Corpses retreat from its entrance.

• Lin Bai decided to enter the temple despite warnings, and the courtesan of Red Candle Hall chose to follow him.
• The Aloof Swordsman and the young man stayed outside and fought the Living Corpses as the group split apart.
• The Living Corpses followed Lin Bai and the courtesan to the temple stairs but stopped and refused to enter.
• Lin Bai observed that the Living Corpses feared the temple and sent night-light stones into its darkness to illuminate it.
• Lin Bai circled the shrine, found an unmarked statue and empty offering table, and considered the history of temples and the Path of Faith.

Lin Bai learned that the mural showed the ancient Ling Realm and that the battle was against Lihun Heaven, one of the Ling Realm’s Ten Great Devil Sects. After a Flying Sword Immortal Sect disciple urged him to flee and joined the fight, Lin Bai was left unsure how to escape the battlefield.

• Lin Bai realized that the murals depicted the ancient era, when the Devil Realm was still part of the Ling Realm, and identified the woman as one of Lihun Heaven’s Ten Great Devil Emperors.
• A young man from the Flying Sword Immortal Sect mistook Lin Bai for a fellow disciple and warned that the powerful demoness made the battle deadly.
• The young man explained that wars arose from hidden interests, including the pursuit of resources, territory, wealth, and longer life.
• The young man told Lin Bai to return to the sect and cultivate, then rode his flying sword toward the towering mountain to fight.
• Lin Bai watched the young man depart and admitted that he wanted to leave but did not know how to escape.

Lin Bai searched for a way out of the painted world but found that every direction led back to the battlefield around the towering mountain. After the Demoness of Separation's Sorrow Heaven defeated the besieging experts, she spotted Lin Bai and seized him with an invisible force.

• Lin Bai tested the Devouring Heaven Dao Method and found that it could not break the painted world's space or restrictions.
• Lin Bai flew away from the towering mountain twice, only to return to its vicinity each time.
• Lin Bai concluded that the Demoness of Separation's Sorrow Heaven might be the key to escaping, but doubted he could defeat her.
• The battle ended, and the Demoness of Separation's Sorrow Heaven revealed that she had survived and defeated the besieging experts.
• Lin Bai flew toward the Demoness, who offered him a chance to kill himself before pressing an invisible force around him.

Lin Bai was trapped in the mural’s lifelike world, where a female demon restrained his cultivation and left him facing death. He summoned his Supreme Avatar, and she revealed that he was the tenth such bearer of his era.

• Lin Bai realized the mural world could kill his physical body and suspected the temple’s other dead martial artists had suffered the same fate.
• Lin Bai found that the woman had stopped his sword intents and spiritual power, but his Supreme Avatar and Devouring Power remained usable.
• Lin Bai awakened his Supreme Avatar and prepared to fight the female demon despite her greater strength.
• The woman summoned her own Supreme Avatar and said Lin Bai was the tenth possessor of a Supreme Avatar in his era.

Lin Bai used his Devouring Power to free himself from the Demoness, then tried to explain that he had crossed through time into her era. The Demoness grew intrigued by his account of the white mist and divine temple, leaving Lin Bai alive for the moment.

• Lin Bai released his Devouring Power, broke the Demoness's restraint, and expanded the force until it tore apart the surrounding space.
• The Demoness shattered Lin Bai's Supreme Avatar and dismissed him as too weak to be her opponent, but paused when she sensed his Devouring Power.
• Lin Bai told the Demoness that he had entered the white mist, reached a divine temple, and seen murals of the Ancient Era's wars.
• Lin Bai claimed that he and the Demoness belonged to different eras and that she had lured him there, prompting her to question how he could have crossed time and space.
• The Demoness realized Lin Bai might have traveled from the future into her era and watched him with growing curiosity instead of attacking.

Lin Bai explained to the Demoness that he came from a later era, and she questioned him about the changes to Murong Butian and the Demon Realm. She accepted that he was telling the truth and revealed that she was likely dead, preserved by Mending Heaven Pavilion's Immortality Art.

• Lin Bai told the Demoness his story, and she tested his claims with questions about Lihun Heaven and the Demon Realm.
• The Demoness recognized that Lin Bai's era differed from hers and concluded that Lihun Heaven might still exist in Murong Butian but not in the Demon Realm.
• Lin Bai explained that the Demon Realm had formed when part of Murong Butian broke away during an ancient battle.
• The Demoness revealed that Murong Butian, her longtime friend and the Pavilion Master of Mending Heaven Pavilion, had pursued immortality and created undying and imperishable beings with the Immortality Art.
• The Demoness said she had suffered grave injuries in the battle and gone to Mending Heaven Pavilion for treatment, and she believed she had died and been left within the mural.

Lin Bai recognized the mountain beneath the Demoness as Violet Affinity Stone and continued searching for a way out of the strange space. He suspected only his consciousness or soul had entered the world inside the mural, while the Demoness demonstrated how she had refined the stone into a powerful weapon.

• Lin Bai recognized the mountain as an enormous mass of Violet Affinity Stone and learned that the Demoness had refined it into a magical treasure.
• The Demoness turned the stone mountain into liquid, formed it into a sharp blade, then condensed it back into a solid.
• Lin Bai reasoned that his physical body remained inside the temple and that his consciousness or soul had entered the mural’s world, where the space prevented them from dissolving.
• The Demoness admitted she did not know why the space preserved souls and consciousness, and Lin Bai continued pondering how to escape.
• When the Demoness asked whether he had found a way out, Lin Bai said he had not; she invited him to stay while he kept searching.

Lin Bai discovered that his Asura Dharma Eyes were a simplified form of the Demon Eyes, a Mystic Eye Technique linked to Lihun Heaven, and learned that the space was part of the Demoness's memories. He realized the Devil Master had created it to preserve those memories by drawing visitors to communicate with her, and the Demoness offered to teach him the Demon Eyes.

• Lin Bai activated his Asura Dharma Eyes, and the Demoness recognized them as the Demon Eyes before her gaze caused him severe pain.
• The Demoness recalled that the Demon Eyes had been created by one of the Ten Demon Emperors of Lihun Heaven and that she had once obtained the technique from the Pavilion Emperor of Heaven's Vault.
• Lin Bai concluded that the space was inside the Demoness's sea of consciousness and that visitors revived her fading memories through conversation.
• The Demoness explained that she could not remember what happened after a chaotic battle and that she had later been called the Pavilion Emperor of Heaven's Vault.
• Lin Bai realized that the Devil Master had created the space to preserve the Demoness's memories by luring martial artists there, and the Demoness offered to teach him the Demon Eyes.

Ling Jie learned that the Demoness was an incarnation of memories sustained by the divine temple and its space, then accepted her offer to teach him the Demon Eyes technique. He promised to return the art to Lihun Heaven or find it a worthy successor, and began cautiously studying its first layer, Illusory Realm.

• Lin Bai reasoned that the divine temple's stone walls were the Demoness's fleshly body, the space was her divine soul, and the Demoness was an incarnation of her memories.
• The Demoness explained that the Asura Devil Emperor had developed the Demon Eyes and made it a condition that Ling Jie preserve the technique by returning it to Lihun Heaven or finding a worthy successor.
• The Demoness transferred the Demon Eyes scriptures to Ling Jie, but stopped them from overwhelming him and warned him to study them gradually.
• The Demoness explained that the Demon Eyes had four layers and that its first layer was called Illusory Realm.
• Ling Jie promised to preserve the technique, then sat atop the Violet Affinity Stone mountain and began comprehending the memories in his sea of consciousness.

Unable to escape the mural space, Lin Bai accepted the female demon’s offer to help him temper his Azure Lotus Sword Intent. She drew out his fury and despair over the Giant God Race, leaving him locked in a fierce training battle.

• Lin Bai searched for a spatial weak point but realized the Pavilion Master of Mending Heaven Pavilion had reinforced the space and that entering the void would be too dangerous.
• The female demon suggested Lin Bai use her as a whetstone while she helped him improve his Azure Lotus Sword Intent.
• After hearing about the Crimson Lotus Sword Intent and its creator, Guo Jinwan Xian, the female demon said Lin Bai’s Azure Lotus Sword Intent was promising but still immature.
• The female demon mocked Lin Bai’s sword strikes and invoked the Giant God Race, stirring his buried fury and memories of his family’s suffering.
• Lin Bai attacked the female demon with increasingly ferocious swordsmanship as she continued to dodge and criticize his speed and accuracy.

The Demoness projected nine Giant God Race warriors with eight Divine Crystals each, startling Lin Bai and Cheng Xian as she explained their strength and the cultivation realms beyond the Dao Realm. Cheng Xian learned that the warriors represented the peak of the Dao Realm and asked whether immortals truly existed.

• The Demoness summoned nine projections of Giant God Race warriors, each bearing eight Divine Crystals, and Lin Bai reacted with wariness.
• Cheng Xian asked what eight Divine Crystals meant, and the Demoness said they were comparable to the peak of the Dao Realm.
• The Demoness explained that Giant God cultivation began with the pursuit of power and that martial artists pursued immortality after reaching the Dao Realm.
• The Demoness described higher realms leading from the Dao Realm to the Immortal Realm and confirmed that immortals existed.
• The Demoness said the projections came from Giant God Race warriors she had fought, and explained that remembered opponents had to be fought to project their strength through the Demon Eyes.
• Cheng Xian asked whether the Immortal World truly existed after learning that seventeen Divine Crystals were extraordinarily rare.

Lin Bai questioned the Demoness and the male demon about the Immortal Realm, the Giant God Shards, and their possible connection to the Spirit Realm’s ancient wars. As the Demoness began recalling a hidden cause behind the wars and the Heaven Swallowing Race’s Devouring Power, she sent nine phantoms of Lin Bai to attack him, and he prepared to fight.

• The Demoness said ancient classics recorded that the Immortal Realm existed and that ascending from their world had become difficult for unknown reasons.
• The male demon said the Giant God Shards might reveal the Spirit Realm’s greatest secret and explain the origins of the Heaven Swallowing Race and its eternal war with the Human Race.
• Lin Bai remembered that four Giant God Shards were hidden inside him, and the Demoness noted that the shards’ power made people forget they possessed them.
• The Demoness recalled that the shards might also explain why martial artists could not ascend and why the great wars between the Human Race, Demon Race, and righteous and demonic paths began.
• The Demoness summoned nine powerful memory-projection phantoms of Lin Bai and set them on him, while Lin Bai stopped retreating and unleashed his Crimson Lotus Sword Intent.

Lin Bai used the Demoness’s illusion of nine giant gods to temper his sword arts and overcome his unfamiliarity with their techniques. He created Crimson Lotus Karmic Fire Slash, advanced to the peak of the Superior-Grade Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm, and learned that forging his own method would help him reach the Great Mystic Art User realm.

• Lin Bai decided to fight the nine giant god phantoms for training instead of attacking the Demoness, and gradually learned to evade and counter their attacks.
• Lin Bai’s Crimson Lotus Sword Intent improved as the Demoness increased the phantoms’ strength and let him rest between bouts.
• Lin Bai unleashed Crimson Lotus Karmic Fire Slash, destroying the giant gods and knocking the Demoness a thousand meters away.
• Lin Bai thanked the Demoness and explained that he had perfected his Crimson Lotus Sword Intent and created a new technique by combining it with Zhu Xian Sword.
• Lin Bai sensed his cultivation advance to the peak of the Superior-Grade Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm, and the Demoness told him that creating his own method was key to reaching the Great Mystic Art User realm.

Lin Bai reached the limit of what he could learn from the Demoness, who told him to find his own path of cultivation. She used a rune to send him out of Murong Butian’s illusion, leaving him back at the temple wall and wondering whether he could one day return to free her.

• The Demoness told Lin Bai that his swordsmanship had reached a bottleneck and that he needed to explore his own path of cultivation.
• Lin Bai asked the Demoness how she would escape, and she concluded that he could serve as a key to leave the illusion.
• The Demoness inscribed a rune on Lin Bai’s chest and used her power to send him out of the illusion.
• Lin Bai awoke before the temple’s stone wall, where the Red Candle Hall courtesan checked on him.
• Lin Bai looked at the mural and murmured that it had been a fleeting dream.