Chapter Summaries

Lin Bai took the Tribute Red Pearls from the Flood Dragon Puppets and tried to escape, but Huo Fentian attacked him. Huo Fentian unleashed Boiling Seas, destroying the puppets and evaporating the pool, while Lin Bai escaped and Shui Qingling left badly wounded.

• Lin Bai took the Tribute Red Pearls and tried to fly out of the pool before the Fire Region martial artists could claim them.
• Huo Fentian trapped Lin Bai with his Martial Soul Secret Method, Hellfire Prison, but Lin Bai broke free and struck him into the Flood Dragon Puppets’ encirclement.
• Lin Bai escaped from the pool as Huo Fentian unleashed Boiling Seas, causing the water to boil and explode, annihilating the Flood Dragon Puppets.
• Shui Qingling escaped the blast badly wounded and vowed not to spare Lin Bai.
• The Fire Region martial artists carried away the injured Huo Fentian and the tribute he had collected, leaving the Flood Dragon Puppet lair destroyed.

Lin Bai left with the offerings he had taken from Shui Qingling and Huo Fentian, then searched for Ji Qingqing as he had promised Di Hong he would. He stopped to help Luo Quan, who claimed he knew where the Ji family warriors were, and faced Gu Mao and the men pursuing him.

• Huo Fentian's punch, Boiling Seas, shocked the experts in Exiled Immortal City, while Zuo Hao said Leng Yun would likely match him.
• Lin Bai flew away with more than three thousand offerings and set out to find Ji Qingqing before leaving the first level.
• A wounded young man called Luo Quan asked Lin Bai to save him, offering to reveal where the Ji family warriors were.
• Gu Mao and a dozen warriors caught up with Luo Quan, who hid behind Lin Bai and taunted Gu Mao about his secret meetings with his martial sister.
• Gu Mao was stunned when Luo Quan accurately described the wooden house and the red mole on his martial sister's chest, and asked how Luo Quan knew.

Lin Bai protected Luo Quan from Gu Mao and the Big Dipper Sect disciples so he could obtain information about the Ji family’s martial artists. After Gu Mao agreed to postpone his revenge until the next day, Lin Bai asked Luo Quan how he knew he was searching for the Ji family.

• Gu Mao attacked Luo Quan, but Lin Bai stepped in and said he needed Luo Quan alive for information.
• Gu Mao revealed that he ranked thirty-first on the Eastern Continent Records and attacked Lin Bai, whose sword repelled him and sent him flying.
• Luo Quan identified Lin Bai as the renowned sword cultivator from the Myriad Kingdoms Domain, and Gu Mao recognized Lin Bai’s reputation.
• Lin Bai guaranteed Luo Quan’s safety for the day, and Gu Mao led the Big Dipper Sect disciples away after agreeing to settle their grudge the next day.
• Luo Quan thanked Lin Bai, who asked where the Ji family’s martial artists were and how Luo Quan knew he was looking for them.

Lin Bai enlisted Luo Quan, whose Martial Soul Secret Method let him see and hear across a hundred thousand miles, to find the Ji family’s martial artists. As they searched, Luo Quan revealed that the first layer’s Puppet lairs had been cleared and that a Puppet King would appear at Puppet Mountain before the battle between martial artists began.

• Luo Quan admitted he had falsely claimed to know the Ji family’s whereabouts to persuade Lin Bai to save him from Gu Mao, then offered to find them using his Martial Soul Secret Method.
• Lin Bai and Luo Quan traveled across the first layer while Luo Quan searched for the Ji family’s martial artists with his farsight and clairaudience.
• Luo Quan reported that powerful martial artists had cleared the first layer’s ten Puppet lairs and that many contestants had already gone to the second layer.
• Lin Bai warned that fighting between martial artists would intensify now that the Puppets were nearly gone, and said they needed to find the Ji family quickly.
• Luo Quan learned that a final Puppet King would appear at Puppet Mountain and that killing it would officially begin the bloody battle between martial artists.

Lin Bai found Ji Qingqing and her companions near Puppet Mountain, where martial artists had gathered for the final fight against the Puppet King. After Yue Rong warned that Lin Bai’s enemies might endanger their group, Ji Qingqing told Lin Bai to keep his distance, and Lin Bai left.

• Luo Quan told Lin Bai that Ji Qingqing and other martial artists from the Great Spirit Domain were heading toward Puppet Mountain, and Lin Bai rushed there.
• Lin Bai found Ji Qingqing, Ji Yanglin, Yun Yihe, and Zhao Hailan among a group of martial artists that included Yue Rong.
• Ji Qingqing said she had obtained just over three hundred Tribute Red Pearls and hoped the Puppet King would help them reach the second level.
• Yue Rong warned Ji Qingqing that Lin Bai’s enemies could put their group in danger, and Ji Qingqing told Lin Bai not to drag them down.
• Lin Bai said he would leave and departed from the tree.

Lin Bai stayed near Puppet Mountain to honor Di Hong’s request to protect Ji Qingqing, then killed Bi Dejiang, a Nameless Domain assassin who tried to ambush him. As vengeful martial artists held back to save their strength for the Puppet King, the mountain revealed a colossal Ape Puppet whose form resembled the Heaven-Supporting Demonic Ape.

• Lin Bai left the Great Spirit Domain’s tree but stayed near Puppet Mountain, remembering Di Hong’s plea to look after Ji Qingqing.
• Lin Bai detected Bi Dejiang, who emerged from concealment and declared his intention to avenge the Nameless Domain.
• Bi Dejiang attacked Lin Bai from behind, but Lin Bai killed him with a single sword strike.
• Other hostile martial artists withdrew beyond a thousand meters, choosing to conserve their strength for the Puppet King.
• The mountain shook apart and rose, revealing the hundred-zhang Ape Puppet, whose form Lin Bai recognized as resembling the Heaven-Supporting Demonic Ape.

Tens of thousands of martial artists besieged the Puppet King but failed to kill him, until Jian Kong and the Sword Domain arrived and swiftly destroyed its defenses. The Puppet King fell, scattering more than ten thousand tribute items, while the Sword Domain claimed half for itself.

• The Puppet King revealed his true form and fought off the tens of thousands of martial artists who attacked it, killing many while Yue Rong, Ji Qingqing, and the Great Spirit Domain fighters joined the siege.
• After more than an hour of fighting, Lin Bai watched as the attackers failed to overcome the Puppet King's formidable defenses.
• Jian Kong and more than twenty Sword Domain martial artists arrived atop a giant sword formed from Sword-Intent, and Jian Kong shattered over seven hundred of the Puppet King's runes with one attack.
• Jian Kong declared that the Sword Domain would take half of the tribute items and ordered Ye Yi to kill the Puppet King.
• More than twenty Sword Domain martial artists attacked together, killing the Puppet King and scattering over ten thousand red tribute items.

Yue Rong betrayed Ji Qingqing and the Great Spirit Domain martial artists, attacking them to seize their Tribute Red Pearls. Lin Bai stopped Yue Rong from killing Ji Qingqing, then ordered her to wear Di Hong’s armor and scolded her, leaving them arguing over his right to lecture her.

• Yue Rong asked Ji Qingqing how many Tribute Red Pearls the Great Spirit Domain had collected, then struck her and demanded that she surrender them.
• Yue Rong wounded Yun Yihe, Zhao Hailan, and other Great Spirit Domain martial artists before moving to kill Ji Qingqing.
• Lin Bai blocked Yue Rong’s fatal strike and sent him flying.
• Lin Bai tossed Ji Qingqing the black leather armor Di Hong had forged for her and ordered her to put it on.
• Lin Bai slapped Ji Qingqing and criticized her arrogance, and Ji Qingqing challenged his strength and right to lecture her.

Lin Bai rejected Ji Qingqing’s contempt and began collecting tributes by killing the martial artists who refused to hand them over. As more enemies gathered around him on Puppet Mountain, he challenged them to surrender their tributes or face a bloodbath.

• Lin Bai told Ji Qingqing that he had repaid his debt to Di Hong by saving her and would help her reach the second level, but she refused his help.
• Lin Bai killed Yue Rong after piercing through his Martial Soul Secret Method and took more than a thousand Tribute Red Pearls from his Storage Bag.
• Lin Bai killed another martial artist who refused to surrender his tributes and collected more than a hundred red tributes.
• Jian Kong led the Sword Domain martial artists away from Puppet Mountain with half the tributes, leaving the remaining martial artists to fight over the rest.
• Lin Bai killed more martial artists for their tributes as fighters from several domains recognized him and flew toward him.
• Lin Bai told the surrounding martial artists to hand over their tributes or face a river of blood.

Lin Bai defeated the Eastern Continent martial artists who attacked him over an old blood feud, then gave Ji Qingqing six thousand Tribute Red Pearls before leaving for the teleportation array. Ji Qingqing watched him go, stunned by how powerful he had become.

• Yi Tong incited the martial artists on Puppet Mountain to attack Lin Bai and avenge a blood feud from more than twenty years earlier.
• Lin Bai warned the attackers to hand over their tribute, then used his Dragon Eye Flying Sword to kill Liu Yuanqing and dozens of other martial artists.
• Yi Tong and more than a dozen prodigies attacked Lin Bai together, but Lin Bai knocked them down with one sword and killed them with the next.
• Lin Bai collected nearly five thousand Tribute Red Pearls from the fallen prodigies, and the remaining martial artists backed away in fear.
• Lin Bai gave Ji Qingqing six thousand Tribute Red Pearls, said they had nothing to do with each other anymore, and flew toward the first-level teleportation array.
• Ji Qingqing watched Lin Bai leave and realized his strength seemed to place him among the Eastern Continent Records' top twenty.

Lin Bai and Luo Quan headed for the teleportation array to leave the first level before its bloody battles spread, and Luo Quan shared what he had learned by listening in on nearby martial artists. At the array, Lin Bai came face-to-face with Ding Huo and the Profound Heaven Sect prodigies, rekindling their hostility.

• Lin Bai agreed to let Luo Quan travel with him to the second level, since Luo Quan wanted to avoid Gu Mao and the coming battles.
• Lin Bai and Luo Quan reached the teleportation array and learned it activated once every half hour.
• Luo Quan explained how his martial soul let him hear and see events across a vast area, and told Lin Bai that a short man at the array wanted to challenge him.
• Ding Huo arrived with Gu Yuan, Lei Chong, Chai Ming, and Lin Xiaoqing, and he and Lin Bai exchanged hostile stares.

Lin Bai encountered Ding Huo and several people from the Profound Heaven Domain in the teleportation array, while Luo Quan secretly overheard their plans to rescue Lord Yuanmo. The array transported Lin Bai and Luo Quan to the second level, where the Life-Death Demon Sect intended to free its imprisoned lord.

• Ding Huo suppressed his killing intent when he saw Lin Bai and stood with Gu Yuan, Lei Chong, Chai Ming, and Lin Xiaoqing as though they were strangers.
• Lin Bai noticed that Gu Yuan and the others had strangely fluctuating auras, while the Gray-Robed Old Man watched their encounter on a projected mural and warned that meeting now was no good.
• Ding Huo told the others through voice transmission that Lin Bai had broken the Life-Death Curse Seal and would eventually need to be killed, but they would postpone dealing with him until after rescuing Lord Yuanmo from the second level.
• Gu Yuan and the others agreed to proceed, acknowledging that Old Freak Ding had sent them to test the way and that they might be sacrificed in the attempt.
• Luo Quan used his Martial Soul Secret Method to overhear the group’s plans and, alarmed, blurted out that he had heard something he should not have.
• The teleportation array activated and sent Lin Bai and Luo Quan to the second level.

After teleporting to the second level, Lin Bai encountered Gu Yuan, an old friend from the Profound Heaven Sect, but grew suspicious of his strange behavior. Lin Bai tested him with a false claim about a five-million-spirit-stone debt, concluded that this was not the Gu Yuan he knew, and secretly followed him.

• Lin Bai arrived alone in a mountain forest on the second level and wondered what Luo Quan had heard before they were separated.
• Lin Bai recognized Gu Yuan among the newly arrived martial artists, but Gu Yuan acted as if he barely knew him and hurried away.
• Lin Bai claimed he owed Gu Yuan five million spirit stones and offered them back; Gu Yuan accepted them without hesitation.
• Lin Bai realized that the person posing as Gu Yuan was not the friend he had known and considered whether Gu Yuan had been possessed or changed by a strange green flame.
• Lin Bai concealed himself and followed Gu Yuan to uncover what had happened.

Lin Bai secretly followed Gu Yuan and discovered that he had joined Ding Huo, Lin Xiaoqing, Lei Chong, and Chai Ming, who seemed to be searching for something. After they studied the stars and concealed a mountain in black fog, Lin Bai approached, while the Gray-Robed Old Man recognized him from Exiled Immortal City.

• Lin Bai suspected Gu Yuan had been possessed after seeing him ignore puppets and realizing his claim about hunting them was a lie.
• Lin Bai followed Gu Yuan to a mountaintop, where he met Ding Huo, Lin Xiaoqing, Lei Chong, and Chai Ming.
• For three days, Lin Bai watched the five fly around the second level without hunting puppets or challenging martial artists.
• Ding Huo and the others stared at the starry sky, then used an object from his Storage Bag to shroud their mountain in black fog.
• Lin Bai cautiously approached the fog to learn what the five were doing and who they were.
• The Gray-Robed Old Man watched the scene from Exiled Immortal City and was shocked to see Lin Bai outside the fog.

Lin Bai discovered that Ding Huo was moving the stars while trying to deduce a great formation, but a warning from the Gray-Robed Old Man exposed Lin Bai’s presence to Ding Huo. Elsewhere, Zi Donglai noticed the stars shifting and divined a situation of nine deaths and one life.

• The Gray-Robed Old Man sent Qiu Lin a warning with a blood-colored paper crane, then killed a Life Extinction Realm martial artist who had witnessed the transmission.
• Lin Bai entered the smoke and found Gu Yuan, Lei Chong, Chai Ming, Lin Xiaoqing, and Ding Huo arranged in a formation as Ding Huo manipulated a miniature reflection of the sky.
• Lin Bai confirmed that Ding Huo’s movements changed the real stars above Nine Heavens Primordial Ancestor Mountain, including shifting the Big Dipper south.
• Ding Huo received the Gray-Robed Old Man’s warning that Lin Bai was nearby, stopped moving the stars, and spotted Lin Bai in the smoke.
• Zi Donglai noticed the stars moving, cast a divination with ten chess pieces, and found nine black sides and one white side, indicating a situation of nine deaths and one life.

Lin Bai tracked Ding Huo and his companions to their hiding place, where he learned that the man calling himself Gu Yuan was actually Chao Shan. Chao Shan overwhelmed Lin Bai with the first two strikes of the Heaven Extinguishing Three Slashes and brought down the third as Lin Bai lay gravely wounded.

• Ding Huo realized Lin Bai had followed them and let Chao Shan confront him while the others continued breaking the formation.
• Chao Shan revealed his identity to Lin Bai and claimed that the real Gu Yuan was nearly dead.
• Chao Shan shattered Lin Bai’s Demonic Sword attack with his overwhelming power.
• Chao Shan struck Lin Bai with the first two slashes of the Heaven Extinguishing Three Slashes, sending him flying and making him vomit blood.
• Chao Shan raised his blade and unleashed the third slash toward the gravely wounded Lin Bai.

Lin Bai defeated Gu Yuan’s Heaven Extinguishing Three Slashes with his flying swords and nearly killed him before Ding Huo and the others intervened. Ding Huo completed the formation’s deduction and revealed the Primal Demon Eye in the sky, which began absorbing spiritual energy to awaken Lord Yuanmo, while Lin Bai escaped.

• Lin Bai blocked Gu Yuan’s third slash with the Taiji Two Forms Sword Formation, then wounded him with its killing formation and attacked with Three Foot Edge.
• Ding Huo struck Lin Bai and joined Lin Xiaoqing, Lei Chong, and Chai Ming in surrounding him.
• Ding Huo said he had finished deducing the formation, and Gu Yuan saw the stars and full moon arranged into the Primal Demon Eye.
• Ding Huo explained that the Primal Demon Eye would absorb spiritual energy and the sun and moon’s essence to awaken Lord Yuanmo.
• Lin Bai escaped the encirclement on his flying sword, while Ding Huo stopped the others from pursuing him and began the final step of the ritual.

Lin Bai learned that the Primal Demon Eye was forming as Profound Heaven Domain martial artists worked to undo Lord Yuanmo’s seal. Luo Quan revealed that Yuanmo was the first Demons Sect Master and that his elder sister, the Gods Sect Master, had sealed him beneath Nine Heavens Primordial Ancestor Mountain.

• Hei Luo Jian Jiu abruptly ended his duel with Leng Yun, who accepted that they would settle the contest on the ninth layer.
• Zi Donglai saw the Primal Demon Eye forming and hurried toward its location with the young girl, hoping to stop it from forming.
• Luo Quan found Lin Bai and warned him that Profound Heaven Domain martial artists were trying to undo Lord Yuanmo’s seal, but Lin Bai showed him the eye already in the sky.
• Luo Quan told Lin Bai that the Eastern Continent Academy had once been the Gods and Demons Sect, whose Demons Sect was led by Lord Yuanmo.
• Luo Quan explained that Yuanmo’s elder sister, the Gods Sect Master, had sealed him, and Lin Bai recognized her connection to the statue atop Nine Heavens Primordial Ancestor Mountain.

As Nine Heavens Primordial Ancestor Mountain rose from the sea, nine previously hidden islands and a statue of Lord Yuanmo appeared beneath it. Lan Ling revealed that the mountain held the nine levels of the Devil Palace, where the Devil Sect accepted only one disciple, and watched as events unfolded.

• Lin Bai and Luo Quan felt Nine Heavens Primordial Ancestor Mountain quake and rise, and Luo Quan explained that the Eastern Continent Academy summoned it from the Sea of Gods and Demons.
• Ren Tiangao, Chen Liang, and the other experts watched as nine hidden islands emerged beneath the mountain, along with a statue that Chen Liang recognized as Lord Yuanmo.
• Ren Tiangao crushed a jade talisman, prompting hundreds of Eastern Continent Academy experts to fly out as people across the nearby region noticed the spectacle.
• Lan Ling explained that the upper nine levels were the Divine Palace and the lower nine were the Devil Palace, where the Devil Sect took only one disciple.

Yu Wu revealed that Nine Heavens Primordial Ancestor Mountain was a recruitment ground for the Gods and Demons Sect, not Yuanmo’s seal, and announced he would secretly choose one martial artist as the Demon Sect’s final disciple. Lin Bai and Luo Quan learned the chosen disciple would gain access to Yuanmo’s martial arts, leaving everyone on the mountain eager to prove themselves.

• More than two hundred Death Reversal Realm experts failed to suppress Nine Heavens Primordial Ancestor Mountain and were injured by its counterforce.
• A humanoid puppet’s spiritual light entered the Primal Demon Eye, where it identified itself as Yu Wu, the Demon Sect’s recruitment guardian, rather than Yuanmo.
• The Gray-Robed Old Man realized the mountain was a Demon Sect recruitment site and angrily suspected Qianqiu Zi had deceived him.
• Yu Wu explained that the Demon Sect once chose one disciple through trials of life and death, but he would now select one candidate privately by observing the martial artists’ battles.
• Lin Bai and Luo Quan learned that the chosen disciple would enter the Demon Sect Martial Hall and inherit Yuanmo’s arts.