Chapter Summaries

Meng Qinxian and Nie Shang sensed trouble after Lin Bai left the wedding banquet, while Shen Haoyue and Ji Ruoci learned that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace had backed the Ma Family’s revolt against Pure Yang Sect. Lin Bai caught up with their cloudship and hinted he had come to deal with the crisis, leaving Shen Haoyue wary.

• Meng Qinxian heard that Saint Elder Duanmu Peng had left Overturning Heavens Sect soon after Lin Bai departed, and Nie Shang suspected something had gone wrong.
• Aboard their cloudship, Shen Haoyue explained to Ji Ruoci that the Ma Family had rebelled with the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s backing and attacked Pure Yang Sect’s leadership.
• Shen Haoyue asked Phoenix Valley to help Pure Yang Sect, and Ji Ruoci said she would report the crisis to her sect’s higher-ups.
• On deck, Ma Leiyu speculated that the turmoil would benefit his faction, then spotted Lin Bai’s Nine Underworlds Demon Palace cloudship pursuing them.
• Shen Haoyue challenged Lin Bai for leaving the wedding banquet early, and Lin Bai hinted that he had come to handle the crisis before the bridal-chamber festivities.

Lin Bai ambushed the Pure Yang Sect and Phoenix Valley Cloudship to capture Shen Haoyue and Ji Ruoci alive for the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace. After Lin Bai broke through the ship’s defenses, his forces surrounded the sect experts, and the Second God Child and Dao Child Yu You began fighting the two Holy Ones.

• Lin Bai told Shen Haoyue and Ji Ruoci that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace wanted them as guests, then used a hidden Devouring Power technique to melt through the Pure Yang Sect Cloudship’s defenses.
• Lin Bai ordered his forces to seize Shen Haoyue and Ji Ruoci alive while the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace fighters engaged the Pure Yang Sect and Phoenix Valley experts.
• Shen Haoyue called for the Pure Yang Sect Ancestor protecting him, but the Ancestor did not appear because an unseen Demon Palace expert had restrained him.
• Lin Bai sent the Second God Child Duanmu Lin and Dao Child Yu You to fight Shen Haoyue and Ji Ruoci, who were shocked to learn their opponents’ ranks.
• Duanmu Lin overwhelmed the weakened Shen Haoyue and beat him until he spat blood, while Yu You and Ji Ruoci fought to a standstill.

Saint Elder Duanmu Peng kept the Pure Yang Sect and Phoenix Valley ancestors occupied with a chess game while Lin Bai’s forces fought Shen Haoyue and Ji Ruoci. Lin Bai captured both sect heirs and withdrew, warning their sects that their lives depended on their ancestors’ choices.

• Saint Elder Duanmu Peng delayed the Pure Yang Sect and Phoenix Valley ancestors with chess, then warned them that their schemes would bring destruction if they persisted.
• Lin Bai watched the battle as Shen Haoyue used many treasures to resist the Second God Child and Ji Ruoci pressed Dao Child Yu You with Phoenix Valley’s secret art.
• Lin Bai attacked Ji Ruoci with five flying swords, defeated her defenses, and ordered Dao Child Yu You to capture and seal her cultivation.
• The Second God Child used a phantom to distract Shen Haoyue, then broke through his defenses and captured him.
• Lin Bai ordered his warriors to withdraw with Shen Haoyue and Ji Ruoci, and warned the Pure Yang Sect and Phoenix Valley that their captives would remain safe only if the sects stopped their schemes.

Lin Bai and the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace discussed their war against Pure Yang Sect and the other powers, while the Demon Palace’s leaders ruled out sending a Great Mystic Art User into battle. The chapter ended with Lin Bai proposing that they target Phoenix Valley instead.

• After the Pure Yang Sect and Phoenix Valley Ancestors warned their experts that a Great Mystic Art User was accompanying Lin Bai, they abandoned the pursuit and returned to their sects.
• Lin Bai and Old Wen left the Overturning Heavens Sect’s territory with the captured Shen Haoyue and Ji Ruoci, then prepared to contact the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace.
• At the sound transmission meeting, Lin Bai reported that the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect had allied and were preparing to fight for an opportunity.
• Li Guxian reported that the Ma Lineage and the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace remained locked in a stalemate against Pure Yang Sect at its fortified home ground.
• Li Guxian suggested that a Great Mystic Art User could end the war quickly, but the Palace Lord rejected the idea to avoid provoking a wider conflict among the four realms.
• Lin Bai proposed that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace shift its attention from Pure Yang Sect and make its move against Phoenix Valley.

Lin Bai and Li Guxian devised a plan to split the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s pressure between the Pure Yang Sect and Phoenix Valley, and Lin Bai agreed to travel to Phoenix Valley. He then learned that a plague unleashed by the Southern Border Insect Valley was spreading through the Qi Tian Sect’s territory, threatening to send waves of refugees into neighboring lands.

• Lin Bai proposed that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace pressure the Pure Yang Sect while intimidating Phoenix Valley to fracture their alliance.
• Li Guxian agreed to coordinate the operation and send Saint Elder Duanmu Peng and other experts near Phoenix Valley, while Lin Bai traveled there to negotiate.
• The Palace Lord of the Demon Palace told Lin Bai that the Southern Region had breached several Qi Tian Sect defenses and that the Southern Border Insect Valley’s plague was spreading among warriors.
• Lin Bai predicted that uncontrolled infection would drive refugees toward the Chu Kingdom, the Ten Thousand Saints Mountain, and especially the already chaotic Seven Nights Divine Sect’s territory.
• The Palace Lord of the Demon Palace explained that major powers, including the Demon Palace, had cooperated with the Southern Border Insect Valley and that the other territories feared the refugee influx more than the Qi Tian Sect’s defeat.

Lin Bai sent the Second God Child to escort Ji Ruoci and Shen Haoyue back to Demon Palace headquarters, then led his remaining party toward Phoenix Valley to support Goddess Li Guxian. As they rested in Yun Hai City, they heard that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace had killed Shen Tianen, a legendary Pure Yang Sect prodigy whose death could shake the sect’s leadership.

• The Palace Lord of the Demon Palace ended the discussion about Qi Tian Sect and agreed to focus on reclaiming the territory of the Seven Nights Divine Sect.
• Lin Bai ordered the Second God Child to take Ji Ruoci and Shen Haoyue to Demon Palace headquarters, while he redirected his cloud boat toward Phoenix Valley.
• After entering Phoenix Valley’s territory, Lin Bai learned from Goddess Li Guxian that he needed to arrive within seven days, then traveled onward through guarded teleportation formations.
• Lin Bai stopped his party in Yun Hai City and chose to dine in the restaurant hall so he could hear local rumors about Goddess Li Guxian’s actions.
• The diners discussed Shen Tianen’s death at the hands of the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, and Duanmu Qing recalled that Shen Tianen had once been a powerful Pure Yang Sect prodigy who defeated him in a single exchange.

Lin Bai considered how Li Guxian’s assassination campaign against the Pure Yang Sect could pressure Phoenix Valley, then traveled there as the sect’s experts continued to fall. Phoenix Valley welcomed him at its mountain gate, where he learned more about its dual-cultivation customs and its Holy Daughter’s relationships.

• Lin Bai concluded that Shen Tianen’s execution was the start of Li Guxian’s campaign to weaken the Pure Yang Sect and pressure Phoenix Valley.
• Duanmu Qing explained that Dou Xia had once killed three Nine Underworlds Demon Palace martial artists and earned fame for the Pure Yang Sect.
• After hearing that Dou Xia had also been killed, Lin Bai departed for Phoenix Valley while reports of more Pure Yang Sect casualties arrived.
• Phoenix Valley’s representatives met Lin Bai at its border and escorted his cloud boat toward the sect’s mountain gate.
• Old Wen told Lin Bai that Phoenix Valley’s cultivation techniques made its male martial artists more feminine and that its Holy Daughter had many dual-cultivation partners, including Shen Haoyue.
• Lin Bai arrived at Phoenix Valley’s mountain gate in the Spirit Nest Mountain Range and saw its elaborate, paradise-like grounds.

Lin Bai and the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace delegation arrived at Phoenix Valley and were welcomed by its Sect Master. After Lin Bai resisted Phoenix Valley’s bewitching dances, the Sect Master recalled the valley’s ties to the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace and explained that its founder had left before the palace was besieged.

• Lin Bai admired Phoenix Valley’s mountain gate and compared its beauty with the other sects and powers he had visited.
• Old Wen explained that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s old mountain gate had been built for war, with little attention paid to scenery.
• The Sect Master of Phoenix Valley welcomed Lin Bai and the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace delegation to Phoenix City and hosted them at a banquet.
• Phoenix Valley’s dancers bewitched most of the guests, but Lin Bai recognized the charm art and used the Five Elements Scripture to clear its influence.
• The Sect Master invited Lin Bai to enjoy Phoenix Valley’s scenery and said the Holy Lord had praised it a hundred thousand years earlier.
• The Sect Master said Phoenix Valley’s founder had followed the Holy Lord before leaving the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace when it was besieged, and Lin Bai privately judged that he had fled.

Lin Bai used the fear stirred by Li Guxian’s assassinations in the Pure Yang Sect to pressure Phoenix Valley into showing weakness, though its Sect Master refused to commit to returning openly to the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace. After Lin Bai and his companions settled in Phoenix Valley, Old Wen revealed the enormous force Li Guxian was sending to support him.

• Lin Bai inferred that the Phoenix Valley Sect Master had brought up Phoenix Valley’s ties to the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace to show goodwill amid the attacks on the Pure Yang Sect.
• Lin Bai urged the Phoenix Valley Sect Master to submit to the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, but the Sect Master proposed waiting in the shadows until the Palace’s position became clear.
• Lin Bai accepted the Sect Master’s explanation on the surface and arranged to stay in Phoenix Valley with the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s martial artists.
• Lin Bai asked Old Wen when reinforcements would arrive, and Old Wen explained that surveillance and travel constraints would delay them.
• Old Wen revealed that Li Guxian had dispatched seven Supreme Dao Fruit Realm martial artists, dozens of other powerful fighters, several hundred lower-realm experts, and roughly thirty thousand Nightmare Legion troops.

Lin Bai explained how the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace had spent a hundred thousand years building its strength, then ordered its army to approach Phoenix Valley's capital and reveal its presence discreetly. When Phoenix Valley learned that the army was nearing its borders, its leaders realized Lin Bai had been waiting for it and summoned him to discuss their response.

• Lin Bai reasoned that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace had cultivated experts through Nine Underworlds City and its branch halls, supported by ancient treasures.
• Lin Bai ordered Old Wen to have the approaching army reach Phoenix Valley's capital within three days, make its presence known without appearing to expose itself deliberately, and wait at the border for further orders.
• Phoenix Valley's Sect Master asked what Lin Bai had been doing, and an elder reported that he had spent his days sightseeing around Phoenix Valley.
• An elder received news that a large Nine Underworlds Demon Palace force, including more than five Supreme Dao Fruit Realm martial artists and more than ten Chaos Dao Fruit Realm martial artists, was approaching Phoenix Valley.
• Phoenix Valley's elders debated whether to fight or make peace, and the Sect Master ordered them to invite Lin Bai so he could discuss the situation with them.

Lin Bai confronted the Sect Master of Phoenix Valley with a challenge from the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, but the Sect Master denied betraying the Palace and demanded evidence. Lin Bai revealed that Palace forces had entered Phoenix Valley and suggested a Great Mystic Art User could join an attack, leaving the Sect Master facing the threat.

• A Phoenix Valley martial artist summoned Lin Bai to meet the Sect Master, and Old Wen explained that Phoenix Valley had sent forces to aid the Pure Yang Sect.
• Lin Bai refused the Sect Master's invitation to sit, used the Supreme Avatar's aura to assert his presence, and presented the Devil Palace's challenge.
• The Sect Master denied that Phoenix Valley had betrayed the Devil Palace, blamed the Pure Yang Sect, and demanded evidence from Lin Bai.
• Lin Bai apologized for the accusation, then admitted that Devil Palace forces had entered Phoenix Valley to prepare a surprise attack.
• Lin Bai warned that a Great Mystic Art User could join the assault and argued that the unwritten rule against their interference was not binding.

Lin Bai pressured Phoenix Valley into proving its loyalty to the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace by turning its forces against the Pure Yang Sect. The Phoenix Valley Sect Master agreed to contact the warriors supporting the Pure Yang Sect and have them assist the Demon Palace.

• Lin Bai invoked the threat of a Great Mystic Art User to make the Phoenix Valley Sect Master fear that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace could intervene against Phoenix Valley.
• Lin Bai told Old Wen to hold the Demon Palace's troops in place and instructed him to have Senior Duanmu Peng wait for orders.
• Lin Bai got the Phoenix Valley Sect Master to declare that Phoenix Valley remained loyal to the Demon Palace and to blame its support for the Pure Yang Sect on deception.
• Lin Bai rejected the Sect Master's offer to recall Phoenix Valley's warriors and instead demanded that they join the Demon Palace in crushing the Pure Yang Sect.
• After consulting with the elders, the Phoenix Valley Sect Master agreed to contact the warriors at the Pure Yang Sect and have them assist the Demon Palace.

Lin Bai secured Phoenix Valley’s return to the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace and promised it protection as long as he remained in the Palace. After leaving, he and Old Wen suspected Phoenix Valley had agreed too readily because it had been using its alliance with Pure Yang Sect to keep itself safe while Pure Yang Sect bore the Demon Palace’s wrath.

• Lin Bai obtained Phoenix Valley’s agreement to issue a declaration returning it to the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, and promised it would not face a reckoning while he remained in the Palace.
• The Phoenix Valley Sect Master agreed to supply contact methods for Phoenix Valley’s agents inside Pure Yang Sect and to send troops against Pure Yang Sect, while Lin Bai reserved the final allocation of seized territory for the Demon Palace.
• Phoenix Valley said it would issue its declaration in three days, and Lin Bai left with Old Wen, Dao Child Yu You, and the Demon Palace’s people.
• Aboard the airship, Lin Bai and Old Wen questioned why Phoenix Valley had agreed so easily and why it planned to attack its former ally.
• Lin Bai concluded that Phoenix Valley may have made its alliance with Pure Yang Sect to use it as a shield, and noted that Li Guxian’s first target had been Pure Yang Sect rather than Phoenix Valley.

Lin Bai and the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace analyzed Phoenix Valley’s hidden motives and agreed to use its help against the Pure Yang Sect while staying wary of a trap. As Qi Tian Sect’s defenses collapsed and the western nations attacked Ten Thousand Saints Mountain, Lin Bai grew suspicious of Li Guxian and was ordered to hurry to Pure Yang Sect territory.

• Lin Bai told the Palace Lord of the Demon Palace, the Saint Elders, and Li Guxian that Phoenix Valley had agreed to cooperate too easily, and Li Guxian argued that Phoenix Valley wanted to use the war to seize Pure Yang Sect territory.
• The Palace Lord of the Demon Palace ordered Lin Bai to give Li Guxian the method for contacting Phoenix Valley’s martial artists and warned her to guard against a joint trap by Phoenix Valley and the Pure Yang Sect.
• The Palace Lord reported that Southern Border Insect Valley’s plague had broken Qi Tian Sect’s third defense line, while the western nations attacked Ten Thousand Saints Mountain and were driven back by nine Supreme Dao Fruit Realm martial artists and nine Supreme Divine Weapons.
• The Palace Lord said Qi Tian Sect refugees were plundering the chaotic territory of the Seven Nights Divine Sect, while Ten Thousand Saints Mountain and Chu State had contained the refugees entering their lands.
• Lin Bai questioned Li Guxian about whether she had foreseen the events in the eastern region, then learned from Saint Elder Duanmu Peng that Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect were only probing the Devil Palace.
• The Palace Lord ordered Lin Bai to go to Pure Yang Sect territory and help Li Guxian defeat the Pure Yang Sect before Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect could act.

Lin Bai led the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s forces from Phoenix Valley to the Pure Yang Sect’s territory to meet Li Guxian and support her campaign. The chapter ended with Lin Bai arriving at the Demon Palace’s vast encampment and greeting Li Guxian and her allies.

• Lin Bai ordered the Nightmare Legion and the Demon Palace’s warriors in Phoenix Valley to join him on the journey to the Pure Yang Sect’s territory.
• Duanmu Longtian and other Supreme Dao Fruit experts joined Lin Bai, while Saint Elder Duanmu Peng agreed to accompany the group without easily intervening in the Devil Realm.
• Lin Bai and the assembled forces traveled unhindered through Phoenix Valley and entered the Pure Yang Sect’s territory.
• Lin Bai’s group reached the Demon Palace’s encampment, where he saw that tens of millions of warriors had gathered for the war.
• Li Guxian welcomed Lin Bai with Li Siyuan and Lu Yunzhe, and Lin Bai noticed that Li Siyuan no longer showed hostility toward him.

Lin Bai learned that the Pure Yang Sect had sealed its capital territory behind the All Living Beings Dao Unification Formation, leaving the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace little time to conquer it. After hearing Li Guxian's plan to raid Nine Abyss City again, Lin Bai wondered whether his Devouring Heaven Dao Method could break the formation.

• Li Guxian showed Lin Bai the Pure Yang Sect's defensive map and explained how its formations shielded the capital territory.
• Fifth God Child Lu Yunzhe explained the All Living Beings Dao Unification Formation's origins, while Eighth God Child Li Siyuan said it could last at most three years and would drain the territory's spiritual energy.
• Li Guxian warned that Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect might soon attack, preventing the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace from waiting out the formation.
• Li Guxian revealed that she was the Supreme Commander of the Front Line and proposed raiding Nine Abyss City with the Ma Family and Phoenix Valley to breach the defenses.
• Lin Bai learned that an earlier attack had failed after the Pure Yang Sect activated its formation and sealed the capital territory, then wondered whether his Devouring Heaven Dao Method could affect it.

Lin Bai considered using the Devouring Heaven Dao Method to break the Pure Yang Sect’s defenses but feared exposing his Heaven Swallowing Race powers. Li Guxian offered him a Holy Lord relic as cover, and Lin Bai discovered that the crystal sphere could contain Devouring Power, though it might crack and unleash it.

• Lin Bai agreed to join the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s planned surprise attack on Nine Abyss City within three to five days, after reinforcements arrived.
• Li Guxian privately asked whether Lin Bai’s formation-breaking method involved the Heaven Swallowing Race and gave him a crystal sphere she claimed was a relic of the Holy Lord.
• Lin Bai realized Li Guxian intended the sphere to conceal his Devouring Power as the Holy Lord’s power, letting him help break the formation without publicly revealing his identity.
• Lin Bai entered secluded cultivation and injected a thread of Devouring Power into the sphere, which contained it but developed fine cracks.
• Lin Bai concluded that filling the crystal sphere could make it break within days and release its stored power, and he wondered if he had made a bomb.

Lin Bai and Li Guxian prepared a covert assault on Nine Abyss City, relying on a blackened crystal ball filled with Lin Bai’s Devouring Power to break Pure Yang Sect’s defensive formation. After reaching the city and dealing with scouts, they settled on striking first and coordinating with allies inside; Li Guxian readied the crystal ball as the assault began.

• Li Guxian assembled several hundred powerful martial artists and waited for Lin Bai before setting out for Nine Abyss City.
• Lin Bai presented the crystal ball as the Holy Lord’s legacy, and he and Li Guxian concealed that it contained his Devouring Power, which he could direct.
• Lin Bai inspected Nine Abyss City with his Demon Eyes and saw that Pure Yang Sect’s formation shielded the city and its capital territory.
• Nine Underworlds Demon Palace martial artists captured a Pure Yang Sect scout hiding in the mountains, prompting Lin Bai and Li Guxian to plan a swift assault.
• Li Guxian decided the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace would attack first, with allies from the Ma Family, the Devil Palace, and Phoenix Valley cooperating from inside Nine Abyss City.
• Li Guxian gave the martial artists their orders to exploit any crack in the formation and took out the blackened crystal ball.

Lin Bai and Li Guxian reached Nine Abyss City and met Shen Yuan, the Pure Yang Sect’s commander, who explained why the sect feared the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s return. Lin Bai realized Phoenix Valley had manipulated events to secure recognition and preserve its territory, leaving him to suspect it would emerge as one of the war’s greatest winners.

• Lin Bai and Li Guxian approached Nine Abyss City openly, and Lin Bai tested the city’s defensive formation but could not break through it.
• Shen Yuan introduced himself as a Pure Yang Sect elder and commander of Nine Abyss City, and Old Wen explained that he had been a powerful figure in the Seven Nights Divine Sect’s territory thousands of years earlier.
• Lin Bai challenged Shen Yuan over the Pure Yang Sect’s rebellion, and Shen Yuan said the sect feared being discarded after the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace regained power.
• Lin Bai realized Phoenix Valley had used the Pure Yang Sect as a shield to provoke a war and win a promise that it could retain its name and territory after the Demon Palace’s return.
• Lin Bai concluded that Phoenix Valley might become one of the greatest winners of the war by securing recognition and taking some of the Pure Yang Sect’s territory.

Lin Bai tried to persuade Pure Yang Sect to surrender, but Shen Yuan rejected his terms and revealed the sect was waiting for other powers to strike the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace. Lin Bai gave the signal for Li Guxian to begin an attack, and she released black mist from a crystal ball against Pure Yang Sect’s defensive formation.

• Lin Bai explained that Pure Yang Sect was waiting for Overturning Heavens Sect, Worship Heaven Sect, or Azure Lotus Sect to attack the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace so it could strike at a turning point.
• Shen Yuan rejected Lin Bai’s offer of fifteen thousand provinces, insisting that Pure Yang Sect controlled far more territory and would not surrender.
• Lin Bai turned away and secretly signaled Li Guxian to begin the operation against Pure Yang Sect.
• Li Guxian brought out a crystal ball containing black mist and began cracking it open beside the invisible wall.
• The black mist surged out of the crystal ball and spread across Pure Yang Sect’s defensive formation.