Chapter Summaries

Lin Bai returned to the Ninghai Thousand Provinces and went to Spirit Lake, suspecting Town Sea Sect might be concealing the Demon Race’s actions there. After the Spirit Lake Dragon King’s people refused to receive him, Lin Bai surrounded the lake and publicly summoned its demons, leaving a confrontation imminent.

• Lin Bai chose to address Spirit Lake before investigating Town Sea Sect, wary of forcing the sect to ally openly with the lake’s Demon Race.
• Shen Yunfan announced the Devil Palace’s visit, and Gao Zheng emerged with Ao Qing and a Human Race Demon Cultivator to explain that the Spirit Lake Dragon King was in seclusion and would receive no guests.
• Lin Bai asked to see the Dragon Palace, but Ao Qing refused and ordered him to leave; Ao Qing’s remark about his surname prompted Lin Bai to question whether he belonged to the Flood Dragon Clan.
• After Gao Zheng and the others returned underwater, Lin Bai ordered the Dragon Protector Guard to surround Spirit Lake and prevent anyone from leaving.
• Lin Bai donned the Emperor Child Robe, flew above the lake, and called on the Spirit Lake Demon Race to come meet him.

Lin Bai confronted the Spirit Lake Dragon King over refusing the Devil Palace’s summons, while Lu Yunbo exposed Demon Realm members hidden in the Dragon Palace. The Spirit Lake Dragon King’s secret was revealed, and Elder Shen Yuan accused him of conspiring against the Devil Realm’s treasures.

• Lin Bai attacked the lake with his Crimson Lotus Sword Intent, prompting Ao Qing to challenge him before the Spirit Lake Dragon King ordered Lin Bai to leave.
• Lin Bai questioned the Dragon King’s claimed seclusion and suspected a secret beneath the lake.
• Lu Yunbo struck the Dragon Palace’s protective formation with a casual knock, shaking Spirit Lake and disturbing the surrounding region.
• Lin Bai and his companions descended to the Dragon Palace, where the Spirit Lake Dragon King confronted them from within the damaged barrier.
• Lu Yunbo revealed that Demon Realm members were inside the palace, and Elder Shen Yuan accused the Dragon King of secretly conspiring with them.

Lin Bai confronted Spirit Lake Dragon King over suspected Demon Realm warriors hidden in Spirit Lake and demanded access to investigate. After the Dragon King threatened retaliation if he survived an attack, Lin Bai hesitated and sought Palace Master's judgment on how to proceed.

• Lin Bai told Spirit Lake Dragon King that the Devil Palace suspected Demon Realm warriors were hiding in Spirit Lake and demanded that he open its restrictions for a search.
• Spirit Lake Dragon King denied harboring Demon Realm warriors, refused to let Lin Bai search, and challenged him to break the array restrictions himself.
• Spirit Lake Dragon King warned that he could escape even if the Devil Palace attacked, then seek revenge on its juniors and elders.
• Lu Yunbo cautioned Lin Bai that the Dragon King was a powerful Great Supreme whose surviving divided soul could threaten the Devil Palace for millennia.
• Lin Bai learned from Old Wen that Palace Master had been observing events, then used his transmission to ask Palace Master what he should do.

Lin Bai and the Palace Master decided to use the Night King's Immortal-Annihilating Divine Light against the Spirit Lake Dragon King after learning the Demon Palace could not safely deploy a Great Mystic Art User. Lin Bai gave the Dragon King a final chance to hand over the Demon Realm intruders, but the Dragon King refused, and the chapter ended with him and the hidden demons wondering whether the Heaven Swallowing Race member had exposed them.

• The Palace Master told Lin Bai that the Spirit Lake Dragon King was too dangerous for the available Supreme Dao Fruit realm fighters and that the Palace Master’s own intervention could provoke a wider war.
• Old Wen proposed using the Night King, and the Palace Master ordered its Immortal-Annihilating Divine Light activated and several Supremes teleported over.
• Lin Bai demanded that the Spirit Lake Dragon King hand over the Demon Realm intruders, but the Dragon King denied their presence and refused.
• Lin Bai and the Demon Palace martial artists left the lake bottom, while the Dragon King ordered the Spirit Lake defenses reinforced.
• The Dragon King told the hidden demons that Lin Bai might return, and they suspected his visit was connected to the Heaven Swallowing Race member troubling Ninghai Thousand Provinces.

Spirit Lake Dragon King and several Demon Race formation experts planned to alter the ancient formation beneath Crystal Palace so juniors could enter the Great Mystic Art User's cave dwelling within half a day. After the experts agreed to send their own disciples, Spirit Lake Dragon King assigned Gao Zheng to guard Spirit Lake and ordered his other disciples and Ao Qing to prepare for the expedition.

• Spirit Lake Dragon King persuaded the Demon Race formation experts to use Fellow Daoist Bai's method to alter the formation, despite the danger to anyone who entered.
• The experts agreed to send trusted disciples and nephews into the cave dwelling while they stayed outside.
• Spirit Lake Dragon King privately summoned Gao Zheng, Dong Qi, Ning Shuang, Xie Chen, and Ao Qing.
• Spirit Lake Dragon King ordered Gao Zheng to secure Spirit Lake and guard against Devil Palace's return.
• Spirit Lake Dragon King told Dong Qi, Ning Shuang, Xie Chen, and Ao Qing that they would enter the cave dwelling and instructed them to prepare.

Lin Bai chose to activate the Night King’s grand teleportation array before deciding whether to use the Immortal-Slaying Divine Radiance. Nine Supreme Dao Fruit Realm elders arrived from the Devil Palace, leaving Lin Bai and Old Wen with reinforcements aboard the Night King.

• Lin Bai learned from Old Wen that the Night King could serve as a mobile grand teleportation array, though activating it consumed enormous stores of immortal jade and spirit stones.
• Lin Bai ordered Old Wen to activate the array and postpone the Immortal-Slaying Divine Radiance, while Old Wen revealed a hidden chamber within the Night King to house the formation.
• Liu Wenjie and Meng Hui met at Zhou Tian Peak and learned that Palace Master had ordered a teleportation directly to the Night King.
• Seven more elders arrived, and the nine Supreme Dao Fruit Realm warriors entered Zhou Tian Peak’s grand teleportation array.
• The array connected to the Night King, and nine bewildered figures appeared in its secret chamber before Lin Bai and Old Wen.

Lin Bai met with Xie Chen, the Spirit Lake Dragon King’s fourth disciple, after Xie Chen secretly summoned him. Xie Chen offered to reveal what lay beneath Spirit Lake and why the Dragon King came to the Demon Realm in return for Lin Bai’s help protecting his family, then explained that his master planned to drain his Water Essence and that the Zhao Family’s influence made the Town Sea Sect unsafe for him.

• Lin Bai welcomed nine elders sent by the Nine Underworlds Demon Palace, and they grew furious after learning that the Spirit Lake Dragon King had colluded with martial artists from the Demon Realm.
• After night fell, Lin Bai left the Night King with Old Wen and traveled east of Spirit Lake to meet someone who had secretly contacted him.
• Xie Chen arrived using a water escape and revealed that he had a Water Essence Body, which let him send Lin Bai a message through Spirit Lake’s currents.
• Xie Chen offered to explain what lay beneath Spirit Lake and why the Dragon King came to the Demon Realm if Lin Bai helped his family become the foremost family in Rongzhou.
• Xie Chen explained that the Zhao Family and allied families had suppressed the Xie Family for a thousand years, and that the Spirit Lake Dragon King had accepted him only to harvest his Water Essence for treasure refining.
• Xie Chen told Lin Bai that the Zhao Family had powerful elders in the Town Sea Sect, so joining it would have exposed him to even greater danger.

Lin Bai heard Xie Chen’s account of a hidden Great Mystic Art User’s cave dwelling beneath Spirit Lake and learned that the Spirit Lake Dragon King might soon break its restrictions. After Xie Chen provided a warning signal and returned to Spirit Lake, Lin Bai contacted the Palace Master and Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing to investigate.

• Xie Chen explained that the Zhao family had pressured his clan and that the Spirit Lake Dragon King had kept him as a source of Water Essence.
• Xie Chen revealed that a cave dwelling, possibly belonging to a Great Mystic Art User, lay beneath Spirit Lake and that the Dragon King had sought Demon Realm Formation Daoists to open it.
• Xie Chen warned that the Dragon King might act within three to five days and gave Lin Bai a jade pendant that would signal when the restrictions were opened.
• Xie Chen used the Water Escape Technique to return to Spirit Lake, and Lin Bai decided to contact the Palace Master and Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing.
• Lin Bai met with the Palace Master and Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing through the voice transmission chamber and began telling them about his discovery.

Lin Bai learned that Spirit Lake Dragon King planned to reverse the formation concealing a Great Mystic Art User’s relic cave dwelling, and he and Shen Yunfan prepared to enter it. The Devil Palace planned to wait until the formation was opened before attacking Spirit Lake, while Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing traveled to assist.

• Lin Bai told Palace Master and Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing that Xie Chen had revealed a possible Great Mystic Art User’s relic cave dwelling beneath Spirit Lake and intended to notify him when the formation was opened.
• Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing inferred that Spirit Lake Dragon King planned to reverse the formation and send lower-realm martial artists inside, and warned Lin Bai that the cave dwelling would be extremely dangerous.
• Lin Bai proposed entering the relic cave dwelling with Shen Yunfan while Old Wen, Elder Yu Ce, and Elder Shen Yuan attacked Spirit Lake from outside; Palace Master approved, and Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing advised delaying the assault until Dragon King was weakened.
• Palace Master ended the meeting and went to confront Great Mystic Art Users from the Demon Realm, while Lin Bai asked Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing to bring him books on various cultivation arts.
• Back on the ship, Lin Bai told Elder Shen Yuan to wait for Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing’s arrival and asked Shen Yunfan to prepare for their dangerous expedition; he assigned Old Wen and the elders command of the forces left behind.

Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing arrived at the Spirit Lake and supplied Lin Bai’s forces with a powerful formation artifact and thousands of copied classics. After several days of waiting and study, Xie Chen’s jade pendant shattered, signaling that the Spirit Lake Dragon King had reversed the formation and opened the way to the hidden treasure.

• Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing reunited with Lin Bai aboard the Night King and gave Elder Shen Yuan the Five-Thunder Coiling Dragon Formation to help trap the Spirit Lake Dragon King.
• Luo Yuanjing gave Lin Bai a Storage Bag containing thousands of copied classics, then revealed his knowledge of the Night King’s formations by opening a hidden passage to a secret chamber.
• Lin Bai ordered Old Wen to monitor the Spirit Lake and withdrew the Dragon Protector Guard to make the Spirit Lake Dragon King lower his guard.
• Lin Bai spent several days memorizing the classics until Old Wen reported unusual movement at the Spirit Lake.
• Xie Chen’s jade pendant shattered, confirming that the Spirit Lake Dragon King had reversed the formation and opened its restrictions.
• Lin Bai ordered Shen Yunfan to accompany him to the Spirit Lake and commanded Old Wen to lead the Dragon Protector Guard in an attack.

Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan received Boundary Breaking Beads from Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing to escape the Great Mystic Art User’s cave abode if danger arose. After preparing to enter, they slipped into Spirit Lake and reached the Crystal Palace, where the story left them poised to proceed.

• Old Wen inferred that the Spirit Lake Dragon King had reversed the formation and was preparing to send the group into the cave abode after Xie Chen’s jade pendant shattered.
• Saint Elder Luo Yuanjing gave Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan Boundary Breaking Beads that could break formations and return them to the Night King, but refused Lin Bai’s request for extras.
• Luo Yuanjing gave them jade slips listing the rare materials needed to refine more beads and explained the time and effort required to master unorthodox arts.
• Lin Bai put Old Wen in charge of attacking Spirit Lake and reassured him that the Boundary Breaking Bead could help him escape the cave abode.
• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan vanished from the Night King, evaded the Spirit Lake Demon Race, and arrived at the Crystal Palace on the lakebed.

Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan infiltrated the Crystal Palace while the Devil Palace attacked Spirit Lake, after Lin Bai used Devouring Power to cut through its formidable protective formation. They entered undetected as the Spirit Lake Dragon King and most of his forces prepared to resist the assault, leaving the search for the cave dwelling’s treasures underway.

• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan waited outside the Crystal Palace until Old Wen reported their presence, then the Devil Palace began attacking Spirit Lake.
• Elder Yu Ce struck the Crystal Palace’s formation, drawing the Spirit Lake Dragon King out to confront the Devil Palace while he sent Ao Qing, Xie Chen, and other juniors through the reversed formation toward the cave dwelling.
• The Spirit Lake Dragon King allied with the Demon Race powerhouses remaining inside the palace to hold off the attack and buy time for their juniors.
• Lin Bai used Devouring Power to tear a passage through the Crystal Palace’s defensive formation, then entered with Shen Yunfan before the crack repaired itself.
• Inside the Crystal Palace, Shen Yunfan said he hoped to claim it as his secluded cultivation residence if it survived the coming battle.

Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan found the cave dwelling entrance in the Crystal Palace, but discovered it was guarded by powerful Demon Realm experts. Lin Bai asked Elder Shen Yuan and Old Wen to draw the guards away, and Old Wen began by unleashing his overwhelming divine sense against Spirit Lake.

• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan searched the Crystal Palace separately and used a jade mirror to reunite after Shen Yunfan found a courtyard on the eastern side.
• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan sensed seven or eight Supreme Dao Fruit realm Demon Race experts guarding the courtyard, which they believed contained the entrance to the Great Mystic Art User's cave dwelling.
• Lin Bai sent a message through the jade mirror, asking Elder Shen Yuan and Old Wen to find a way to lure the Demon Race guards away.
• Elder Shen Yuan told Old Wen that Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan were trapped outside the guarded cave entrance, and Old Wen devised a plan to make the Demon Realm martial artists leave it.
• Old Wen unleashed a vast divine sense over Spirit Lake, killing weaker Demon Race members and shaking the Crystal Palace's formations.

Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan entered the hidden passage beneath the Spirit Lake and emerged in a vast underground space that seemed like an independent world. There, Lin Bai recognized a glowing beetle as a dangerous Spirit-Exploding Insect just as it detonated.

• Old Wen battered the Crystal Palace’s array with his Divine Sense, while the Demon Race members fled to a chamber that could block Divine Sense searches.
• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan slipped through the courtyard’s array restriction and found a dark vortex at its center that served as a passage.
• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan entered the vortex and endured its crushing pressure before emerging in a vast, dim underground world.
• Shen Yunfan drew a glowing beetle toward him, and Lin Bai recognized it as a Spirit-Exploding Insect moments before it exploded.

Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan entered a vast field of Blade-Sword Leaves and discovered it was an insect chamber filled with Spirit-Exploding Insects. As an unseen force directed hundreds of thousands of insects to surround them, the two fought to break through but were battered by the swarm’s explosions.

• Lin Bai recognized the glowing insects as Spirit-Exploding Insects and fled with Shen Yunfan as the swarm detonated behind them.
• Lin Bai identified the Blade-Sword Leaves below and realized they had been cultivated as food for the Spirit-Exploding Insects.
• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan concluded they had entered an insect chamber where the insects had multiplied unchecked, and Lin Bai suspected someone was directing them.
• Lin Bai cut down an attacking swarm with the Six Paths Reincarnation Sword Formation, but more insects gathered into a wall and surrounded them.
• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan tore a gap in the encircling swarm and charged through, enduring repeated explosions that shattered and restored their protective barriers.

The Blood Demon learned that human and Demon Race martial artists had entered the ancient cave dwelling and assigned Sword Robe and Eight-Eyes to deal with them. Meanwhile, Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan fled the Spirit-Exploding Insects but realized a spatial formation was keeping them trapped in the same area.

• The woman in green told the Blood Demon that Demon Race martial artists had triggered the first-level hall’s restrictions, while two human martial artists had been moved into the insect chamber.
• The Blood Demon ordered Eight-Eyes to kill the two humans and Sword Robe to deal with the demons, while three others were told to support them.
• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan tore through the Spirit-Exploding Insects’ encirclement and fled at full speed, but the insects kept pace.
• Shen Yunfan noticed they had not escaped the insects’ territory despite flying a great distance, and Lin Bai suspected a spatial formation was looping their path.
• Lin Bai concluded the cave dwelling must have been created by a Great Mystic Art User, while he and Shen Yunfan remained trapped with the insects closing in.

Lin Bai concealed himself and Shen Yunfan from the Spirit-Exploding Insects, then used insights into the space’s laws to develop a movement art that carried them across the grassland. Just as they neared its edge, a horn awakened the insects and sent them charging at the pair.

• Lin Bai used the Void Evasion Art’s Undying Pursuit to hide himself and Shen Yunfan from the uncontrolled Spirit-Exploding Insects.
• After flying for three days, Lin Bai applied his observations of the space’s laws to devise a new movement art resembling a spatial jump.
• Lin Bai used the new art to carry Shen Yunfan across the grassland in repeated leaps, and they reached its boundary near a dark-red region.
• A strange horn sounded and awakened the Spirit-Exploding Insects, which charged toward Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan in orderly ranks.
• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan raised protective screens and used sword flashes to shred the insects attacking them.

Eight-Eyes activated the insect chamber’s control token, turning its Spirit-Exploding Insects against Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan as they neared the exit. The pair fought through the swarm and powerful sword-intent attacks, then Lin Bai used Flash to carry Shen Yunfan onward while both threats gathered again.

• Eight-Eyes watched the insect chamber, then learned from a sinister old man that the Demon Race fighters had wounded Ironheart and were causing trouble elsewhere.
• When Eight-Eyes spotted Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan nearing the exit, he used a black iron token to awaken and direct the Spirit-Exploding Insects toward them.
• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan found that their concealment technique no longer fooled the intelligent swarm, so they fought toward the exit with sword arts.
• The grassland’s sword-and-saber leaves gathered their sword intent into two iron-black attacks that struck Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan, injuring Shen Yunfan.
• As the sword-intent attacks and insect swarm formed again, Lin Bai grabbed Shen Yunfan and used Flash to carry him through the chamber.

Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan escaped the Spirit-Exploding Insects and crossed a vast field of Yinhun Soil, where Corpse Immortal Insects joined the pursuit. They fled toward a mountain crowned by a shifting golden-and-silver sun, while Lin Bai sensed that someone was watching them.

• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan fled the Spirit-Exploding Insects as the Sword Qi dissipated, and swarms of Corpse Immortal Insects emerged from the Yinhun Soil to fight them.
• Lin Bai identified the ground as Yinhun Soil and explained how Corpse Immortal Insects formed and why they were difficult to destroy.
• The Corpse Immortal Insects and Spirit-Exploding Insects stopped fighting and pursued Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan together, leading Lin Bai to suspect someone was controlling them.
• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan escaped the Yinhun Soil and discovered mountain ranges beneath a giant peak crowned by a sphere that shifted between golden and silver.
• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan decided to head toward the sphere, and Lin Bai revealed that he had sensed someone secretly watching them.

Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan tracked down the hidden controller of the insect swarms and discovered he was the Eight-Eyes strange man, a Demon Race native who guarded the cave dwelling for generations. After he revealed that he had gathered five kinds of Strange Insects to fight them, the pair found themselves surrounded.

• The Eight-Eyes strange man asked his companions for reinforcements, but they refused because they were occupied fighting Demon Race warriors elsewhere.
• The Eight-Eyes strange man activated five restriction tokens and summoned Corpse Immortal Insects, Spirit-Exploding Insects, Ironclad Insects, Soul Devouring Beasts, and Hundred-Eyed Insects.
• Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan noticed the Eight-Eyes strange man's deliberately exposed aura and searched for him while questioning him about the cave dwelling.
• Shen Yunfan used Void Tracking Swordplay to force the hidden man out, and Lin Bai blocked his escape as Shen Yunfan wounded him with a sword strike.
• The Eight-Eyes strange man escaped their encirclement, revealed that he was a peak Grand Luo Dao Fruit Demon Race native, and said his ancestors had guarded the cave dwelling for generations.
• The Eight-Eyes strange man summoned five kinds of Strange Insects, and Lin Bai and Shen Yunfan recognized the swarms gathering around them.