Chapter Summaries

Lin Bai met the Crown Prince privately in Horizon Pass after the banquet, as former friends facing opposing sides. The Crown Prince acknowledged Lin Bai’s forced involvement with the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace and prepared to ask him a question.

• Huang Qingyun agreed to take part in the martial contest despite Wang Zhengyang and Qi Lingyu worrying that her condition was abnormal.
• The Crown Prince hosted a banquet for the visiting experts, and Lin Bai’s group stayed overnight in Horizon Pass.
• Lin Bai left his residence late at night and went to meet the Crown Prince, while Li Guxian told Old Wen not to follow because Horizon Pass concealed powerful experts.
• Prince Liang welcomed Lin Bai to the Crown Prince’s study, where the Crown Prince greeted him as an old friend.
• The Crown Prince said he knew Lin Bai had been abducted and forced to join the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, then said he had another question for him.

Lin Bai rejected the Crown Prince’s offer to return to Chu, warning that staying there would endanger the state, and discussed preparations for the coming contest between the Eastern and Northern Regions. After Lin Bai left, Li Guxian confronted Prince Liang and the Crown Prince over rumors about Prince Liang’s ambitions and the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s actions in Chu.

• The Crown Prince asked Lin Bai to return to Chu, but Lin Bai refused, saying Chu’s ancestors understood the danger his presence could bring.
• The Crown Prince promised to protect the Tianshui Sect and Bai Yifei, then asked Lin Bai about the martial contest against the Northern Region, which Lin Bai said would be decided in battle.
• After Lin Bai left, the Crown Prince questioned Prince Liang about his knowledge of Lin Bai’s secrets, and Prince Liang confirmed he knew some of them.
• Li Guxian arrived to meet the Crown Prince and challenged Prince Liang about rumors that he sought to rebel against Chu.
• Prince Liang accused Li Guxian and the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace of harming Chu, but Li Guxian argued that Chu had benefited from the abductions and that her captives were mainly from the Qi Tian Sect and Ten Thousand Saints Mountain.

Li Guxian warned the Crown Prince and Prince Liang that Chu’s ambitions to exploit the Seven Nights Divine Sect’s conflict could provoke Ten Thousand Saints Mountain and Qi Tian Sect, while revealing that she understood the Crown Prince’s political motives. She urged them to abandon their dangerous plans, but Prince Liang favored adapting to events, and the Crown Prince reflected on the burden of ruling.

• Li Guxian mocked Prince Liang and the Crown Prince for leaving Chu’s armies in the Seven Nights Divine Sect’s territory despite the internal war nearing its end and Chu facing Northern Region provocations.
• Li Guxian argued that Chu’s court and army wanted a war, and that the Crown Prince needed military achievements to secure his position against supporters of the Third Prince.
• The Crown Prince denied seeking power, and Li Guxian explained that Lin Bai pursued strength and immortality because his burdens left him no choice.
• Li Guxian warned that Chu’s plan could be disastrous and urged the Crown Prince to stop, while the Crown Prince countered that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s plans were dangerous too.
• After Li Guxian left, Prince Liang called the situation a heaven-sent opportunity and advised adapting as events changed, while the Crown Prince regretted competing for the throne.

The three ancient forces set a prodigy contest between the Eastern and Northern Regions for three months later at Heaven Sword Peak, and Li Guxian began preparations to publicize and organize it. As the contest became common knowledge across the Devil Realm, Lin Bai was summoned by Li Guxian to discuss an important matter.

• Li Guxian agreed on behalf of the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace to settle the regional dispute through a contest, requesting three months to prepare.
• Daoist Chai of Martial God Sect set the contest for three months later at Heaven Sword Peak, where each side would compete in five battles and the first to win three would prevail.
• After the three ancient forces left, Li Guxian told He Gongji to begin their plan and hurried from the conference hall.
• Several days later, Lin Bai heard that news of the contest and its expected participants had spread throughout the Devil Realm; Old Wen said Li Guxian had likely arranged the publicity.
• A Devil Palace warrior told Lin Bai that Li Guxian wanted him to come discuss an important matter.

Li Guxian and the Palace Master asked Lin Bai to travel to the Northern Region and take advantage of the Soul Refinement Sect’s weakened defenses to rescue the Eastern Region’s imprisoned Holy Daughters. Lin Bai realized the trip would also let him rescue Leng Xingguang, but worried he might not return in time for the martial contest.

• Lin Bai and Old Wen entered Li Guxian’s room and found the Palace Master’s divine sense avatar waiting with her.
• Li Guxian explained that Northern Region warriors and leaders had left for the frontier, leaving the Soul Refinement Sect unusually vulnerable.
• Li Guxian changed the rescue plan and asked Lin Bai to join the Second God Child and Third God Child in rescuing the imprisoned Eastern Region Holy Daughters.
• The Palace Master wanted Lin Bai to go because he could also rescue Leng Xingguang without revealing the man’s identity to other Devil Palace warriors.
• Lin Bai agreed the plan could work but warned that the long journey might keep him from returning before the martial contest in three months.

Lin Bai agreed to travel to the Northern Region to help rescue the Eastern Region’s Holy Son, Holy Daughter, and Leng Xingguang, despite the approaching martial competition. Li Guxian and the Palace Master equipped him with a secret route and support, and Lin Bai set out at once.

• Lin Bai worried that the Northern Region trip would make him miss the competition, but Li Guxian said he could not be replaced and promised to delay the event if needed.
• Li Guxian gave Lin Bai a map and explained that he would travel through hundreds of small-clan teleportation arrays to conceal his route to the God Burial Clan.
• Li Guxian said the Second God Child and Third God Child were waiting at the God Burial Clan, where Lin Bai could contact the Devil Palace through the Eternal Youth Pavilion.
• The Palace Master said most of the Soul Refinement Sect’s Great Mystic Art Users had gone to Nine Underworlds City and promised a Devil Palace powerhouse would distract those remaining.
• The Palace Master gave Lin Bai a crystal to contact him or summon his divine-sense avatar, and Lin Bai departed for the Northern Region.

Lin Bai and Old Wen secretly left Eternal Night Pass for the Northern Domain, where they faced fierce blizzards and avoided a huge military camp. Old Wen explained how the Northern Domain’s people navigated its endless snow and warned that a true heavy snowfall could halt their journey.

• Lin Bai agreed to travel to the Northern Domain with Old Wen as his sole companion, and they departed Eternal Night Pass under the protection of Goddess Li Guxian and the Palace Lord of the Demon Palace.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen saw the Northern Domain army gathered at the East Ice River and changed course to avoid its frontline positions.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen traveled northeast toward the Xuanjing Clan through the dark, snowbound wilderness, protected from detection by the Palace Lord’s divine sense.
• Old Wen explained that Northern Domain martial artists relied on heightened perception to navigate and usually traveled during light snowfall days.
• Old Wen told Lin Bai that a heavy snowfall could blow Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm martial artists out of the air and render the clans’ teleportation arrays unusable.

Lin Bai and Old Wen crossed the Northern Region’s harsh snowstorm in search of the Xuanjing Clan, relying on the Demon Palace Palace Lord’s guidance until they left the reach of her divine sense. After several exhausting days, they reached the Xuanjing Clan’s restrictive array and were asked about their origins and business.

• Old Wen explained that Heavy Snowfall Days disrupted teleportation arrays and could send travelers into the void.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen flew northeast through the snowstorm, then continued alone after the Demon Palace Palace Lord’s divine sense could no longer reach them.
• After days of flying and resisting the storm, Lin Bai and Old Wen spotted an orange-yellow pillar of light and followed it toward a mountain range.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen found a restrictive array and prepared to identify themselves as members of the Blazing Sun Merchant Guild, as Li Guxian had instructed.
• A martial artist from the Xuanjing Clan approached them and asked where they had come from and what business they had there.

Lin Bai and Old Wen entered the Xuanjing Clan after proving they were from the Blazing Sun Merchant Guild and asking to use its teleportation formation. As the clan’s guards guided them inside, they learned how deeply the Northern Region’s young martial artists longed to see the Eastern Region and why their leaders hoped to gain territory through the competition.

• Old Wen explained that he and Lin Bai were Blazing Sun Merchant Guild martial artists seeking shelter and access to the Xuanjing Clan’s teleportation formation.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen showed forged guild credentials, and the Xuanjing Clan’s guards opened the formation barrier and let them in.
• The guards escorted Lin Bai and Old Wen through the peaceful, snow-covered clan grounds while asking about life in the Eastern Region.
• Old Wen described the Eastern Region’s changing seasons, blue skies, and pleasant scenery, stirring the guards’ longing to visit it.
• The guard commander said the Northern Region hoped to secure Eastern Region territory through the young prodigy competition, since conquering it would be easier than holding it.

The leader of the Xuanjing Clan explained how the Northern Region’s invasions had weakened the Seven Nights Divine Sect over the centuries. Lin Bai inferred that the Chu Kingdom had avoided the same fate by retreating strategically and letting the Northern Region invade before crushing its forces, leaving the Eastern Region’s martial artists to bear the cost.

• The leader of the Xuanjing Clan recounted how the Northern Region repeatedly seized border territory before the Chu Kingdom retook it.
• The leader said the Seven Nights Divine Sect had lost many experts fighting the Northern Region, leading to internal divisions and its decline.
• Lin Bai reasoned that the Chu Kingdom had shifted its focus from direct border battles to allowing Northern Region forces into the Eastern Region before destroying them.
• Lin Bai concluded that the Chu Kingdom’s strategy let it rally its people and claim victories while the Eastern Region’s martial artists paid the price.

Lin Bai and Old Wen entered the Xuanjing Mountain Range and saw the crowded, impoverished conditions of the Xuanjing Clan. The commander took them to the clan’s teleportation formations, where Lin Bai learned that costly travel kept most lower-level warriors confined to their clan.

• Several Xuanjing Clan warriors led Lin Bai and Old Wen into the Xuanjing Mountain Range and explained that the clan was small and poor.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen passed through crowded streets, where Northern Region women openly admired Lin Bai and asked whether he was married.
• The commander said the Xuanjing Clan wanted the strangers to leave soon and led them toward the teleportation formations.
• The commander explained that the clan had nine formations, each leading to another clan, and that each transmission cost about half a piece of immortal jade.
• Lin Bai realized that the cost and deadly storms kept lower-level warriors from leaving their clans, where they served as the foundation for the clan’s survival and reproduction.

Lin Bai and Old Wen traveled through the Northern Region by repeatedly teleporting between clans to conceal their route, then stopped at the Eternal Night Clan to recover. After resting briefly in a poor inn, they sensed that someone was watching them.

• Old Wen paid the commander an immortal jade for leading them to the teleportation array.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen teleported through a succession of clans for about half a month to hide their whereabouts.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen stopped in the Eternal Night Clan to recover their mental strength and spiritual energy.
• Old Wen paid for one room at an inn, where he discovered that even spiritual flames could not withstand the cold.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen sensed that someone was watching them from outside the room.

Lin Bai and Old Wen escaped an attempted robbery in the Eternal Night Clan and continued their journey through the Northern Region. They reached the God Burial Clan, where the extreme cold and the clan’s dependence on protective formations revealed just how harsh life was near the region’s far north.

• Old Wen detected about fifteen armed Dao God realm martial artists watching Lin Bai and Lin Bai chose to leave before they could attack.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen evaded the intruders, then discussed the Northern Region’s brutal snowstorms and the failed ancient expedition to uncover their cause.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen resumed traveling by teleportation array and agreed to continue without stopping until they reached the God Burial Clan.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen arrived at the God Burial Clan, a vast settlement near the Soul Refinement Sect, and Lin Bai felt the cold slowing his blood.
• Lin Bai judged that the clan’s protective formation was essential because the cold could freeze lower-level martial artists if it failed.

Lin Bai and Old Wen arrived at the God Burial Clan, where the Second and Third God Children had arranged to meet them. The chapter left Lin Bai asking whether they had prepared for the purpose of his visit.

• A frail young man recognized Lin Bai and Old Wen as visitors from the Eastern Region and showed Old Wen a genuine Nine Underworlds Demon Palace token.
• The young man led Lin Bai and Old Wen through the God Burial Clan to a carriage, where they met the Third God Child, Shen Yunfan.
• Shen Yunfan took Lin Bai and Old Wen to the Eternal Youth Pavilion, a Nine Underworlds Demon Palace stronghold.
• Lin Bai sensed the powerful sword intent of the Second God Child, Duanmu Lin, and Old Wen introduced him.
• Lin Bai asked Duanmu Lin and Shen Yunfan whether they had made preparations for his visit.

Lin Bai reunited with the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s forces and learned that most of the Northern Region’s experts had gathered at the borderlands. Suspecting the mass movement was a military mobilization rather than an audience for the battle between the chosen, he left the group facing a possible war.

• Lin Bai urged the Second God Child, the Third God Child, and Old Wen to act quickly before the Northern Region could be sealed off.
• Duanmu Lin explained that Bu Junfeng had become the Northern Region’s celebrated savior, drawing martial artists to the borderlands for his battle with Lin Bai.
• Lin Bai grew suspicious that the Soul Refinement Sect and other major forces had left their strongholds too lightly defended for the battle to be the sole reason.
• The Second God Child reported that roughly two-thirds of the martial artists in each major force had gone to the borderlands.
• Lin Bai warned that the gathered forces seemed to be preparing for war, not merely watching the battle.

Lin Bai learned that the Northern Region's forces had sent most of their fighters to the frontier and ordered warnings to be sent to Li Guxian and the Eastern Region. He reviewed the rescue plan for the Eastern Region's Holy Sons and Holy Daughters, but the uncertainty about Soul Refinement Sect's hidden experts and the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace's limited forces left a direct attack too dangerous.

• Lin Bai and Old Wen suspected the Northern Region's fighters were preparing for war, so Old Wen contacted Li Guxian while Lin Bai sent spies to monitor the region and report the troop movements.
• The Second God Child showed Lin Bai maps of Soul Refinement Sect and explained that the captives were held in the lower level of the Abyssal Fissure, beneath an area where the sect's powerful ancestors entered seclusion.
• Lin Bai concluded that Leng Xingguang was probably being held alongside the Eastern Region's Holy Sons and Holy Daughters, since the sect had no other holding facilities.
• The Second God Child outlined a plan to contact their ally inside Soul Refinement Sect and infiltrate the sect disguised as its disciples.
• Lin Bai learned that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace had about twenty Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm fighters, eight Grand Luo Dao Fruit Realm fighters, and three Primal Chaos Dao Fruit Realm fighters or stronger in the Northern Region, too few for a direct assault.

Lin Bai halted the God Burial Clan’s plan to rush into the Soul Refinement Sect and arranged to consult a Great Mystic Art User before deciding how to rescue the captives. Meanwhile, the Second God Child privately questioned whether Lin Bai’s talent made him fit to lead the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace.

• Lin Bai warned the Second God Child and Third God Child that attacking the Soul Refinement Sect without knowing its defenses could get them killed.
• Lin Bai asked Old Wen to contact the Devil Palace’s Great Mystic Art User in the Northern Region and bring him to the God Burial Clan.
• Lin Bai ordered the hidden agents to prepare identities and called for only martial artists above the Dao God Realm to assemble for the rescue mission.
• Old Wen contacted the Great Mystic Art User while the Second God Child and Third God Child summoned the available Nine Underworlds Demon Palace martial artists.
• At the Eternal Youth Pavilion, the Second God Child told the Third God Child that Lin Bai’s talent alone did not prove he could wisely lead the Devil Palace.

Lin Bai met with the Second and Third God Children, then waited for Senior Gu Yun, a Great Mystic Art User, to arrive and help with the operation against the Soul Refinement Sect. Gu Yun agreed only to do his best and warned that he would flee if the plan went wrong, leaving Lin Bai stunned.

• The Second and Third God Children debated whether attacking the Soul Refinement Sect was worth the danger of unknown experts in the Abyssal Fissure.
• Old Wen told Lin Bai that he had contacted a Great Mystic Art User, and Lin Bai said the Second and Third God Children should prepare for the operation.
• Lin Bai spent the next few days resting and improving his cultivation and mastery of Mystic Arts and Dao Arts.
• Five days later, Old Wen brought Lin Bai to a secret chamber, where the Second and Third God Children were waiting with a drunken old man named Senior Gu Yun.
• Gu Yun acknowledged Lin Bai only after he mentioned the Palace Master, then said he would help but would flee if anything went wrong, leaving Lin Bai stunned.

Lin Bai arranged for Gu Yun to infiltrate the Abyssal Fissure in the Soul Refinement Sect, investigate its defenses, and draw away its Great Mystic Art Users if the operation proceeded. He ordered Gu Yun to wait at the God Burial Clan while the others gathered, and set the operation to begin in three days.

• Lin Bai asked Gu Yun to scout the Abyssal Fissure and lure away its Great Mystic Art Users after reporting the number of experts and the defenses.
• Gu Yun agreed to investigate but questioned whether he could handle multiple Great Mystic Art Users; Lin Bai said he would decide whether to proceed based on Gu Yun's report.
• Lin Bai told Gu Yun to wait for a signal and coordinate with Old Wen rather than enter the Soul Refinement Sect early.
• Lin Bai instructed Gu Yun to remain at the God Burial Clan until the operation was ready, to avoid alerting the Soul Refinement Sect.
• The Third God Child said the summoned forces would arrive within a day or two, and Lin Bai set the operation to begin in three days.

Lin Bai and Old Wen planned to investigate the Abyssal Fissure before deciding whether to rescue the Eastern Region’s Holy Sons and Holy Daughters. Lin Bai then focused on how they could escape the Northern Region after the operation, and asked for detailed teleportation maps to plan a route.

• Lin Bai reviewed the infiltration plan with Old Wen and decided Senior Gu Yun could help assess the Abyssal Fissure’s defenses.
• Lin Bai realized that the Northern Region might be sealed after a rescue, making escape difficult without teleportation arrays.
• Old Wen gave Lin Bai a map showing the God Burial Clan’s teleportation connections, and Lin Bai rejected the distant Ting Mountain Clan as an obvious trap.
• Lin Bai concluded that teleporting through a large or top-tier clan would offer more routes and help them evade pursuit.
• Lin Bai asked Old Wen to obtain detailed teleportation maps so he could plan a complete retreat route.