Chapter Summaries

Lin Bai negotiated with Elder Shi Renshan to take command of the Forbidden Guards and place Shen Yunfan and Hu Zhiyao in the Deep Probe Guard, while the two agreed to divide responsibility for restoring order across the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s territory. He then began expanding the Dragon Protector Guard and entrusted its recruitment to Yu Ce and Yu You, leaving Old Wen to watch them for signs of disloyalty.

• Lin Bai secured the Forbidden Guards from Elder Shi Renshan, who refused to surrender the Deep Probe Guard but agreed to appoint Shen Yunfan and Hu Zhiyao as commanders.
• Lin Bai and Shi Renshan agreed to share information and divide the work of suppressing unrest and rebuilding order throughout the Demon Palace’s territory.
• Yu Ce reported that about twenty Great Purity Dao Fruit Realm elders from several Divine Hall families had come to join the Dragon Protector Guard.
• Lin Bai appointed Yu You as one of the Dragon Protector Guard’s nine commanders and ordered Yu Ce and Yu You to expand the guard to over a hundred members within a month.
• Old Wen warned Lin Bai that Yu Ce and Yu You’s family supported the Shi Family, and Lin Bai asked him to monitor them for suspicious behavior.

Lin Bai took command of the Forbidden Guards and began learning about its commanders and forces, while appointing Hua Qianshu to lead the Deep Probe Guard’s intelligence work. The chapter ended with Lin Bai assessing the Forbidden Guards’ structure and its roughly two hundred thousand members.

• Lin Bai told Old Wen to monitor Elder Yu Ce and Dao Child Yu You, and decided to delay dealing with the Overturning Heavens Sect and the Worship Heaven Sect.
• Lin Bai summoned Hua Qianshu and offered him a commander position in the Deep Probe Guard, which Hua accepted.
• Lin Bai directed Hua Qianshu to report to Third God Child Shen Yunfan, who would arrange his appointment.
• Lin Bai presented the Palace Master’s order and announced that the Forbidden Guards were under his command.
• The nine Forbidden Guards commanders introduced themselves, including He Gongwu of the He Family and Shi Zhongwen of the Shi Family.
• He Gongwu explained that the Forbidden Guards had nine commanders, eighteen vice-commanders under each, and about two hundred thousand members.

Lin Bai took charge of the Forbidden Guards and learned that the Shi Family secretly controlled much of the force, but he chose to preserve the truce and keep the Devil Palace stable. He returned to the Imperial Palace planning to strengthen the Dragon Protector Guard instead, while wondering about his weapons and the visiting delegations.

• Lin Bai instructed the nine commanders to maintain order in the Devil Palace and warned the Shi Family commanders that Elder Shi Renshan would hold them accountable for misconduct.
• After Lin Bai left the Forbidden Guards Hall, Xu Chen warned him that the Shi Family controlled many guards and could undermine his authority, then proposed removing its commanders.
• Lin Bai rejected Xu Chen’s proposal, explaining that attacking the Shi Family now would jeopardize the Devil Palace’s stability; Xu Chen pledged his support.
• Lin Bai returned to the Imperial Palace with Old Wen and decided to expand the Dragon Protector Guard because the Forbidden Guards could not be used for military campaigns.
• Lin Bai wondered how long it would take to forge his sword and flying sword and calculated that the delegations from Ten Thousand Saints Mountain, the Chu Kingdom, and Qi Tian Sect should have left Huang Long Thousand Provinces.

Lin Bai warned Yi Jinyun to return with the Seven Nights Divine Sect and stabilize the sect, while keeping the reason for his warning secret. As the Renaming Ceremony continued, the remaining top forces noticed the departures and learned that large numbers of Devil Palace troops and other forces had mobilized north, leading them to suspect a crisis at the borderlands.

• Yi Jinyun told Lin Bai that the Devil Palace’s leaders and high-level martial artists had stopped attending the ceremony, and Lin Bai ordered her and the Seven Nights Divine Sect to leave that night and prepare for trouble within their territory.
• Yi Jinyun secretly relayed Lin Bai’s instructions to Yi Gu and the Seven Nights Divine Sect’s ancestor, who arranged their quiet departure and told Yi Gu to stabilize the sect.
• The Azure Lotus Sect’s elders noticed that the Seven Nights Divine Sect and other top forces had left, then learned that Devil Palace forces had departed and Phoenix Valley and the Pure Yang Sect had sent about six million martial artists north.
• The Azure Lotus Sect left the ceremony after concluding that something had happened at the borderlands and that the Devil Palace’s troop movements might create an opportunity for them.
• On the eighth day, the Overturning Heavens Sect and the Worship Heaven Sect investigated the departures and likewise concluded that a major event had occurred at the borderlands.

Lin Bai decided to recruit all 275 candidates who passed the initial screening into the Dragon Protector Guard and summoned them to the Imperial Palace. As he continued stalling the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect, the recruits gathered to meet him and pledge their loyalty.

• Dao Child Yu You, Yu Ce, and Old Wen presented Lin Bai with a screened list of 275 experts from the Devil Palace and the Huang Long Thousand Provinces, including Shen Yuan of the Supreme Dao Fruit Realm.
• Lin Bai accepted everyone on the list and ordered Dao Child Yu You to summon them to the Imperial Palace the following morning.
• When elders from the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect came to visit, Lin Bai refused to meet them and told Dao Child Yu You to keep delaying them.
• Shen Yuan arrived at the Imperial Palace and exchanged greetings with Old Wen while eyeing Yu Ce with suspicion over the Yu Family's ties to the Shi Family faction.
• The recruited martial artists gathered in the main hall, where Lin Bai thanked them for joining the Dragon Protector Guard and they declared their loyalty to him.

Lin Bai expanded the Dragon Protector Guard by warning recruits of the dangers, promising rewards, and placing them under Elder Shen Yuan and Elder Yu Ce. As the guard prepared to assemble, Lin Bai monitored departing delegations and finally agreed to meet Meng Qinxian and Nie Shang after repeatedly avoiding their sects.

• Lin Bai warned prospective Dragon Protector Guard members that campaigns could cost their lives, and some withdrew while the rest accepted his promises of rewards and fiefs.
• Lin Bai threatened to punish betrayal by destroying the guilty members’ lineages, set a three-day preparation period, and appointed Elder Shen Yuan and Elder Yu Ce as joint commanders.
• Lin Bai observed Elder Shi Renshan secretly meeting with figures from the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace’s territories while the Overturn Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect grew suspicious of his repeated refusals to meet them.
• Lin Bai learned that the Ten Thousand Saints Mountain, Chu Kingdom, and Qi Tian Sect delegations had nearly reached the border safely.
• Dao Child Yu You announced that Meng Qinxian and Nie Shang had come to visit, and Lin Bai arranged to meet them at the Heart-Calming Pavilion after a delay.

Lin Bai met Nie Shang and the drunken Meng Qinxian at Stillheart Lake as Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect pressed Devil Palace to honor the territorial wager. Nie Shang demanded ninety-eight thousand-province regions, but Lin Bai insisted only the Palace Master could approve the transfer, leaving the dispute unresolved.

• Lin Bai arrived at the octagonal pavilion and asked Old Wen and Dao Child Yu You to leave while Nie Shang waited with the drunken Meng Qinxian.
• Lin Bai learned that Meng Qinxian had lost his Dao heart after winning against Zhao Yuanchen through a prepared formation and being condemned as a villain.
• Nie Shang showed Lin Bai a detailed map and demanded the ninety-eight thousand-province regions bordering Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect.
• Lin Bai said Devil Palace would honor the wager but claimed he lacked authority to divide its territory and directed Nie Shang to the Palace Master.
• Nie Shang revealed that the Palace Master had refused to meet them, saying he was in secluded cultivation, and accused Lin Bai of helping Devil Palace renege on the agreement.

Lin Bai stalled Nie Shang’s demand for the promised provinces by citing the Demon Palace Master’s seclusion and revealed that the Northern Region had breached Eternal Night Pass. As the invasion spread and the Demon Subjugation Alliance stirred up hostility against the Demon Palace, Lin Bai prepared the Dragon Protector Guard and warned the other Flourishing forces to withdraw their powerful fighters and spies from Demon Palace territory.

• Lin Bai denied that the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace was reneging on its wager, and Nie Shang agreed to report that the territory dispute would have to wait until the Palace Master emerged from seclusion in six months.
• Lin Bai told Nie Shang that Northern Region martial artists had captured Eternal Night Pass, prompting the Demon Palace to send Li Guxian to the frontier; he argued that the wider war made the sects’ territorial dispute a dangerous distraction.
• Nie Shang left the Imperial Palace with the drunken Meng Qinxian, promising to make a decision after further investigation, while Lin Bai wondered what he intended to do.
• Old Wen informed Lin Bai that news of the Northern Region’s invasion had spread across Demon Palace territory and that the Demon Subjugation Alliance was blaming the invasion on the Demon Palace’s rebuilt mountain gate.
• Lin Bai ordered the Dragon Protector Guard to prepare for battle and instructed Old Wen to warn the State of Chu, Ten Thousand Saints Mountain, and Qi Tian Sect to withdraw their high-level martial artists and spies from Demon Palace territory.

Lin Bai prepared the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace to confront the Demon Subjugation Alliance while trying to predict its plans from a map of the territory. He concluded that the Azure Lotus Sect might be backed by another power, with Qi Tian Sect as his leading suspicion, but he still did not know who stood behind it.

• Lin Bai ordered Old Wen to warn Ten Thousand Saints Mountain, the Chu Kingdom, and Qi Tian Sect to withdraw their people from the Demon Palace's territory before the Demon Palace attacked the Demon Subjugation Alliance.
• Lin Bai ordered the Demon Palace to issue a public warning against sheltering the alliance and to prepare a separate notice reassuring loyal martial artists, Lineages, and sects.
• Lin Bai studied Nie Shang's detailed map and rejected leading his forces into Azure Lotus Sect territory, fearing the sect could trap and restrict them.
• Lin Bai reasoned that the Azure Lotus Sect would use the Demon Subjugation Alliance to undermine the Demon Palace while staying behind the scenes, but he could not predict where the alliance would strike.
• Lin Bai suspected that another force was supporting the Azure Lotus Sect and considered Qi Tian Sect, the Chu Kingdom, and other regions as possibilities.
• Lin Bai ruled out the Chu Kingdom as the likeliest backer because the Azure Lotus Sect had ambushed its reinforcements, and he focused on Qi Tian Sect's refugee influx through Azure Lotus Sect territory.

Lin Bai prepared Devil Palace for unrest and learned that the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect delegations had vanished while crossing a mountain range in Mystic Heart Thousand Provinces. He set out with the Dragon Protector Guard to investigate, while a massive cloud vessel called the Night King appeared over Devil Palace.

• Lin Bai learned that the Chu, Ten Thousand Saints Mountain, and Qi Tian Sect delegations had safely returned to their territories, while elders from Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect remained in Devil Palace.
• Shen Yunfan and Hua Qianshu reported that scouts had lost track of the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect delegations after they entered a mountain range in Mystic Heart Thousand Provinces.
• Lin Bai considered Old Wen's theory that the delegations might have entered the void through a Space Node, but decided to investigate in case they had been attacked.
• Lin Bai ordered Old Wen to prepare a cloud vessel and the Dragon Protector Guard, assigned Hua Qianshu to remain in Devil Palace and Shen Yunfan to accompany him, and notified Elder Shi Renshan.
• Lin Bai visited Elder Mo Danqiu, learned Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing was still refining his flying sword and sword in seclusion, and asked her to contact him if Luo Yuanjing emerged.
• A huge cloud vessel appeared above Devil Palace, and the martial artists identified it as the Night King.

Lin Bai and the Devil Palace’s allies boarded the Night King, an ancient fortress-like cloud boat capable of traveling through the void. Guided by the Devil Palace’s Void Map, they crossed a Space Node toward Dao Heart Lake in Mystic Heart Thousand Provinces, and Old Wen spotted their destination’s light ahead.

• Lin Bai joined Old Wen, Shen Yunfan, Hu Zhiyao, Yu You, and the Dragon Protector Guard aboard the Night King, and Old Wen explained its history and defenses.
• At Lin Bai’s command, Old Wen steered the Night King to the Devil Palace’s rear mountain, where guards opened a stable Space Node.
• The Night King entered the void, and Old Wen explained how Space Nodes worked and how the Devil Palace had maintained safe routes through them.
• Old Wen used the Void Map to mark the Space Node at Dao Heart Lake in Mystic Heart Thousand Provinces and guided the Night King toward it.
• Old Wen spotted a ray of light from the real world ahead and announced that they had arrived.

Lin Bai and the Night King crossed the void into the Mystic Heart Thousand Provinces, then traveled to the mountain range where the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect delegations had disappeared. After a search found no trace of the delegations, Old Wen detected an obstruction in his Divine Sense in the northwest, and Lin Bai went to investigate.

• Old Wen piloted the Night King through a Space Node and emerged above Dao Heart Lake, where Liu Sheng and the other guards knelt before Lin Bai.
• Lin Bai ordered the guards not to reveal the Devil Palace party’s whereabouts, then had Old Wen take the Night King east toward the disappearance site.
• Third God Child Shen Yunfan identified the mountain range, and Lin Bai sent the Dragon Protector Guard to search for clues and a possible Space Node.
• Shen Yunfan reported that the intelligence agents had found no trace of either delegation and had seen no cloudships leave the mountain range.
• Old Wen searched with his Divine Sense and detected a brief obstruction in the northwest, so Lin Bai ordered the group to investigate.

Lin Bai and the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace discovered a hidden boundary concealing the wreckage of an attack on the envoys of the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect. After breaking through, they found nearly everyone dead, and Lin Bai learned that Wang Heng had been killed by an opponent far stronger than himself.

• Shen Yunfan struck an invisible barrier and confirmed that a vast boundary covered the mountain range.
• The Dragon Protector Guard failed to break the boundary, so Lin Bai used the Forbidden-Breaking Sword Qi to open a breach.
• Lin Bai and the others saw burning ruins, destroyed cloud boats, and the bodies of the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect envoys inside.
• Lin Bai ordered the Dragon Protector Guard to search for survivors and specifically look for Meng Qinxian and Nie Shang, while the commanders warned him not to enter rashly.
• The searchers found Wang Heng's corpse, and Old Wen determined that his soul and heart meridians had been shattered by an attacker of a much higher cultivation realm.
• Lin Bai concluded that Wang Heng had likely been killed by a martial artist at the Primal Chaos Dao Fruit or Chaos Dao Fruit Realm.

Lin Bai searched the battlefield and found Meng Qinxian and Nie Shang alive but gravely wounded, while Wang Heng and Feng Chuan had died. Nie Shang accused the Demon Palace of orchestrating the attack, and when reinforcements from Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect arrived, Lin Bai tried to explain that his people had come to investigate.

• Lin Bai learned that Wang Heng and Feng Chuan had been killed and ordered the Dragon Protector Guard to find Meng Qinxian and Nie Shang.
• The Dragon Protector Guard uncovered a concealed sphere beneath the rubble, where Lin Bai found Meng Qinxian and Nie Shang alive and gave them healing pills.
• After waking, Nie Shang accused Lin Bai and the Demon Palace of arranging the ambush and killing the envoys.
• Thousands of reinforcements from Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect surrounded Lin Bai's group and accused the Demon Palace of attacking their envoys.
• Hu Zhiyao suspected that someone had framed the Demon Palace, and Lin Bai told the arriving sect forces that he had come to investigate the missing envoys.

Lin Bai tried to prevent Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect from blaming the Devil Palace for the attack, but Nie Shang accused the palace and presented recorded evidence. The images showed Devil Palace martial artists—including three elders who had sworn allegiance to Lin Bai—attacking the delegations, leaving Lin Bai unable to deny the evidence.

• Elder Shen Yuan and Elder Yu Ce agreed to set aside their differences and considered seeking Devil Palace reinforcements, but Old Wen warned them not to act rashly.
• Nie Shang accused the Devil Palace of attacking the delegations, and Lin Bai asked him for portraits while insisting the matter needed investigation.
• Two elders from the delegations gave Lin Bai an Image Recording Pearl showing the ambush and the deaths of Wang Heng, Feng Chuan, and other martial artists.
• Lin Bai recognized Wang Shuyang, Yuan Chenhuan, and Hao Yu among the attackers who drew away the delegations' Supreme Dao Fruit Realm experts.
• Old Wen identified several other attackers as Devil Palace martial artists, and Lin Bai was left with no grounds to dispute the evidence.

After the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect presented images implicating Nine Underworlds Demon Palace martial artists in an ambush, Lin Bai could neither explain the evidence nor determine who had ordered the attack. As both sides prepared for battle, he argued that the Demon Palace might have been framed and recognized that divisions among the sects’ leaders left room to negotiate.

• The Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect challenged Lin Bai to explain Image Recording Pearl footage showing Wang Shuyang, Hao Yu, and other Demon Palace martial artists attacking their delegations.
• Elder Shen Yuan suggested Palace Master might have ordered the ambush, but Lin Bai doubted it and concluded he would need to return to the Demon Palace to ask him.
• As the two sects called for revenge, Elder Shen Yuan proposed killing them, while Lin Bai warned that their eight Supreme Dao Fruit Realm martial artists could overpower the Demon Palace’s three.
• Lin Bai ordered the Dragon Protector Guard to prepare for a counterattack, then told the sects’ leaders that the attackers’ actions did not necessarily represent the Demon Palace’s intentions.
• Lin Bai suggested that someone had staged the attack to sow discord during the Northern Region’s invasion, and he noticed that the eight Supreme Dao Fruit Realm martial artists disagreed over whether to fight.

Lin Bai confronted the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect over the attack on their delegations, and the two sects agreed to give the Devil Palace half a year to investigate before resorting to war. Back at the Devil Palace, Lin Bai began questioning who had ordered the attack, while the Palace Master denied involvement and authorized Lin Bai to investigate.

• Lin Bai and Old Wen learned that the eight Supreme Dao Fruit realm martial artists doubted the evidence and feared fighting the Devil Palace on its own territory.
• Lin Bai refused to travel to the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect, promised an investigation, and received a six-month deadline to provide an explanation.
• Lin Bai returned to the Devil Palace with the Image Recording Pearl and ordered Old Wen to summon senior martial artists and have the Forbidden Guards detain those shown in the recording.
• Lin Bai showed the recording to the Palace Master, who denied ordering the attack and said Elder Shi Renshan likely lacked the courage to arrange it.
• The Palace Master authorized Lin Bai to question Wang Shuyang, Yuan Chenhuan, Hao Yu, and the other martial artists shown in the recording.

Lin Bai questioned Elder Shi Renshan about the attack on the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect delegations, then considered whether warmongers in those sects had staged it to force a war. He prepared the Devil Palace for conflict and learned that rebellions were spreading through its territories, while Shi Renshan urged unity against the external threat.

• Lin Bai told Elder Shi Renshan about the attack and confirmed that neither Shi Renshan nor the Palace Master had ordered it, concluding that Wang Shuyang and the others had acted on their own.
• Elder Shi Renshan suggested the two sects might have staged the attack, and Lin Bai considered that their warmonger factions could be trying to force their pacifists into supporting war.
• Lin Bai and Elder Shi Renshan discussed preparing the Nine Underworlds Army and Skyguard Legion for the border, and Lin Bai said he would make arrangements.
• Elder Shi Renshan warned Lin Bai that rebellions were appearing across Devil Palace territory, and Lin Bai ordered the Thousand Prefecture leaders to govern their lands and suppress unrest.
• After Lin Bai left, Shi Renshan's aides mocked his predicament, but Shi Renshan called for unity if the two sects attacked.

Lin Bai confronted Wang Shuyang, Yuan Chenhuan, Hao Yu, and other elders with an Image Recording Pearl showing people who looked like them attacking the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect’s flying vessels. Though the evidence implicated them, Wang Shuyang argued that the Azure Lotus Sect had framed them, and Lin Bai ordered the elders to investigate the truth within half a year.

• Lin Bai summoned the elders to the Imperial Palace Great Hall and showed them the Image Recording Pearl.
• Yuan Chenhuan and Hao Yu denied responsibility and blamed Shi Renshan, while Wang Shuyang remained calm and pointed out that the Devil Palace’s rules required Saint Elders or the Palace Master to judge Supreme Dao Fruit Realm martial artists.
• Wang Shuyang, Yuan Chenhuan, and Hao Yu said they had been receiving guests on Ancestor Heaven Mountain when the attack occurred, and Shen Yunfan confirmed their account.
• Wang Shuyang argued that the Azure Lotus Sect had been the last to leave the Renaming Ceremony and was capable of attacking the flying vessels.
• Lin Bai said the evidence had already damaged the Devil Palace’s reputation, then ordered the elders to investigate the attack within half a year or face punishment in Nine Underworlds City’s prison of suffering.

Lin Bai rejected a search for the attack’s truth and ordered measures to contain the Azure Lotus Sect’s plot and avert war with the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect. Wang Shuyang’s group prepared to confront the Azure Lotus Sect, while Lin Bai sent troops to the borders and ordered a campaign to spread doubts within the two sects.

• Wang Shuyang persuaded Yuan Chenhuan and Hao Yu that Lin Bai had sent them to deal with the Azure Lotus Sect, and they planned to set out the next day.
• Lin Bai told Shen Yuan that he could not punish the powerful elders and intended to use them to probe the Azure Lotus Sect’s strength.
• Lin Bai explained that pursuing the attack’s truth would play into the Azure Lotus Sect’s plan to provoke war, then ordered defenses along the Devil Palace’s borders.
• Lin Bai ordered Shen Yunfan to spread claims that factions within the Overturning Heavens Sect and Worship Heaven Sect had staged the attack, stirring conflict before the sects could publicize the Image Recording Pearl.