Chapter Summaries

Chu Mu realized the Chen Family’s citywide array could expose him, while Xu Lingtian prepared to use Chu Mu’s hidden mechanism to wrest control of the war puppets. The struggle left the battle at a dangerous deadlock, and Xu Changqing’s transmission revealed Chu Mu’s involvement, prompting the Chen Family to order a citywide hunt for him.

• Chu Mu assessed the soul-tracking and spatial-surveillance arrays and concluded that the Chen Family might target him, though he had concealed his identity with a Heaven Deceiving Pill and removed his traces.
• Xu Lingtian told Xu Changqing to contact Chu Mu when the hidden mechanism was activated and ask him to observe the array’s layout from outside.
• Xu Lingtian and the trapped Nascent Soul cultivators launched their backup measure, using the war puppets’ hidden mechanism to contest the Chen Family’s control of all twelve puppets.
• Xu Changqing sent a transmission to Chu Mu, and the Chen Family Nascent Souls learned of Chu Mu’s involvement in their plan.
• A Chen Family Nascent Soul ordered the entire city searched for Chu Mu and offered the killer entry to the Dragon Transformation Pool and a place as his direct disciple.

Chu Mu realized he could exploit the Twelve Blood Fiends Corpse Transformation Grand Array’s control stalemate by letting accumulated blood qi destabilize it, and he sent Xu Changqing an obscure hint about the method. While Chu Mu hid from the Chen Family’s search, the city’s slaughter continued and the array absorbed the blood qi, setting his plan in motion.

• Chu Mu hid in the crowd and reached an inn while Nascent Soul experts fought over the twelve Fourth Order War Puppets.
• Chu Mu tested how overwhelming energy and divided control could destabilize an array, then concluded the Blood Fiend Grand Array could be broken by exploiting its current stalemate.
• Chu Mu sent Xu Changqing an obscure transmission hinting that the array’s blood-sacrifice effect should be activated while the Chen Family was caught off guard.
• The Chen Family and Ba Dao Alliance searched Tyrant Province City and slaughtered resisting cultivators as the city descended into chaos.
• Chu Mu observed that the Blood Fiend Grand Array passively absorbed the blood qi from the slaughter, causing it to accumulate without an outlet and potentially break the array.

Chu Mu’s explanation of the Twelve Earthly Fiends Array revealed how the trapped Nascent Soul Cultivators could use blood qi to break it, turning the Chen Family’s trap against them. The Chen Family halted the slaughter in the city, but the factions’ conflicting orders brought the bloodshed to a standstill as the array remained vulnerable.

• Chu Mu’s transmission prompted Chen Xuan Ling to realize that blood qi could disrupt the array and give the trapped cultivators a way to break it.
• Xu Lingtian understood the method and ordered some Nascent Soul Cultivators to hold off the Chen Family while the others prepared a Blood Sacrifice.
• The soldier puppet trembled as blood qi from the city’s slaughter destabilized the array, and Chen Xuan Ling warned that the bloodshed could break it.
• Old Ancestor Qing Cang ordered the Chen Family’s forces to stop killing and protect the independent cultivators in the city.
• Nascent Soul Cultivators inside the array ordered their factions to kill and generate blood qi, leaving the Golden Core Cultivators confused as the city’s fighting halted.

The factions began a Blood Sacrifice to break the grand array, prompting the Chen Family to resume its assault on them and plunging Tyrant Province City into citywide chaos. Chu Mu headed for the southern city wall and studied the Linked Grand Arrays, searching for a way out before he was trapped with the others.

• Extremely Yin Real Person, Li Huatian, and Chen Guangwu agreed to begin a Blood Sacrifice and assigned their factions directions around the array.
• The various factions began slaughtering cultivators across the city, and the Chen Family countered by targeting their Golden Core True Persons.
• Chu Mu hid in a looted shop, judged that the Chen Family might suppress the factions, and decided he could not wait passively.
• Chu Mu traveled toward the southern city wall, where cultivators gathered to attack or study the sealed grand arrays.
• Chu Mu used his Divine Sense to examine the Linked Grand Arrays and search for a flaw that could provide an escape.

Unable to break the Linked Grand Array, Chu Mu realized his survival depended on the Chen Family’s enemies freeing the Nascent Soul cultivators trapped inside the Blood Fiend Grand Array. He moved closer to Extremely Yin Real Person’s battle, preparing to act as the outnumbered cultivator faced six Chen Family Golden Cores.

• Chu Mu concluded that he could not break the Linked Grand Array and reconsidered hiding as the city’s fighting worsened.
• Extremely Yin Real Person fled toward South City with his Ten Thousand Souls Banner, slaughtering cultivators while the Chen Family Golden Cores pursued him.
• Several Chen Family Golden Cores ambushed Extremely Yin, shattered his ghost-cloud defenses, and surrounded him after he fell into the city.
• Extremely Yin fought back with the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and continued killing cultivators, even as the Chen Family’s attacks overwhelmed him.
• Chu Mu suppressed his aura, approached the battle, and observed both sides, judging that his hope of survival depended on keeping Extremely Yin’s side from losing.
• Six Chen Family Golden Cores besieged Extremely Yin, leaving his death seemingly imminent as Chu Mu prepared to strike.

Chu Mu intervened in the battle between Extremely Yin Real Person and the Chen Family Golden Cores, killing one of the Chen cultivators with a blade strike and having Wangcai devour his fleeing soul and Golden Core. With five Chen Family Golden Cores remaining, Chu Mu and Extremely Yin Real Person faced them together, and Chu Mu acknowledged that they had been forced into a fight to the death.

• Chu Mu assessed the six Chen Family Golden Cores attacking Extremely Yin Real Person and prepared his corpse puppet and Wangcai to act.
• Extremely Yin Real Person escaped the encirclement and began to destabilize his cultivation, prompting the Chen Family Golden Cores to realize he planned to self-detonate.
• Chu Mu's blade light shattered a Chen Family Golden Core's defensive ring and cut off his head while his corpse puppet blocked the other Chen cultivators.
• Wangcai swallowed the fleeing Chen cultivator's soul and Golden Core, while Chu Mu appeared beside the corpse puppet and Wangcai.
• Extremely Yin Real Person abandoned his self-detonation as Chu Mu joined him against the five surviving Chen Family Golden Cores.

Chu Mu fought Chen Xuan Yu and discovered that the Chen Family cultivator was actually a Gold Lightning Jiaolong who had taken human form. After the Jiaolong escaped Chu Mu’s fire dragons and devastated part of the city, Chu Mu prepared to unleash his Blade Intent Domain.

• The Chen Family Golden Core cultivators attacked Chu Mu, but Wangcai and the corpse puppet broke their encirclement.
• Chen Xuan Yu transformed into a Jiaolong and battered Chu Mu’s Nine Dragons Suppressing Prison formation until he broke free.
• Chu Mu realized Chen Xuan Yu was a genuine Gold Lightning Jiaolong who had undergone Shape Transformation ahead of time.
• Chu Mu unleashed nine fire dragons, but Chen Xuan Yu escaped with Lightning Escape, and the attack devastated several streets and killed trapped cultivators.
• Chu Mu sent the Nine Dragons Suppressing Prison Tower into the sky and formed dozens of crescent blade lights as his Blade Intent Domain began to take shape.

Chu Mu trapped and killed the late-stage third-order flood dragon despite its repeated Thunder Escape, while Nascent Soul experts restrained the Chen Family cultivators who intervened. The flood dragon’s soul and Demon Core were sealed, leaving the Chen Family’s scheme in Tyrant Province City disrupted.

• Chu Mu used the Nine Dragons Suppressing Prison Tower and his Blade Intent Domain to trap the flood dragon and carve it with countless blade strikes.
• Chen Sheng Wu pressured Chu Mu, but Xu Lingtian, Heavenly Yin Old Ancestor, and the other Nascent Soul cultivators attacked through the Blood Slaughter Grand Array to restrain the Chen Family ancestors.
• The wounded flood dragon escaped again, but a Blade War Puppet emerged from spatial concealment and struck it down with a blade light.
• Chu Mu’s Nine Dragons Divine Fire Grand Array suppressed the fallen dragon, and an invisible force removed its corpse before the Blood Slaughter Grand Array could consume it.
• Chu Mu confined the flood dragon’s soul and Demon Core and sealed them inside a Jade Box.

Chu Mu killed a late-stage third-order flood dragon, prompting Qing Ling to mobilize the Chen family and Ba Dao Alliance against him. Trapped in a citywide siege designed to counter his abilities, Chu Mu could not stop Tyrant Province City from being devastated and its fleeing independent cultivators from being sacrificed to the Blood Fiend Grand Array.

• Qing Ling ordered Cang Nan and Cang Yu to assist, circulated records of Chu Mu's methods, and directed Cang Wu to use the Five Elements Grand Array against his constructs and domain.
• The Chen family and Ba Dao Alliance deployed Golden Core cultivators and adjusted the citywide array as Chu Mu was surrounded by six Chen family Golden Cores.
• Chu Mu fought five Golden Core opponents while the Five Elements Grand Array and their specialized treasures weakened his powers and constrained his corpse puppet and domain.
• Chu Mu's battle briefly drew Chen family forces away from other factions, but the Chen family soon restored the deadlock across Tyrant Province City.
• After more than an hour of fighting, most of the city lay in ruins, and the fleeing independent cultivators were slaughtered and absorbed by the Blood Fiend Grand Array.

Chu Mu witnessed successive Golden Core cultivators self-detonate amid the Chen family's massacre in Tyrant Province City, unleashing destruction and ghost tides while feeding the Blood Fiend Grand Array with more blood Qi. As the city’s underground sea of blood filled and its energy began spreading through the array, both the trapped Nascent Soul Great Experts and their opponents realized the stalemate was nearing a dangerous turning point.

• A Golden Core Middle Stage cultivator self-detonated in the north, destroying miles of the city and releasing ghosts from his Lifebound Magic Treasure.
• Extremely Yin Real Person mourned his junior brother, while Chu Mu recognized that the explosion had deepened the blood staining the twelve war puppets.
• Chu Mu observed the Chen family overwhelm the visiting factions, killing two Heavenly Demon Sect Bloodline Golden Cores and capturing the sect’s remaining cultivators.
• Another unidentified Golden Core cultivator self-detonated in the north as the Chen family continued its assault.
• The Nascent Soul Great Experts sensed that the city’s underground sea of blood had filled and that excess blood Qi was spreading through the Blood Fiend Grand Array, prompting sharply different reactions on both sides.

As Qing Ling and the Chen family surrounded Chu Mu, she offered him a place in her clan in exchange for his surrender. Chu Mu realized the Blood Fiend Grand Array could spread its corrupting blood qi through North City, turning the surviving cultivators against one another and potentially giving him a way to break the array.

• The Chen family and Ba Dao Alliance imposed order in North City while Chu Mu and Extremely Yin Real Person resisted the remaining forces in South City.
• Qing Ling appeared with two golden wheels, halted Chu Mu’s attacks, and revealed that she had been watching him.
• Qing Ling identified Chu Mu as the Longevity Sect’s mysterious Ninth True Inheritance and offered generous treatment if he joined her clan.
• Qing Ling admitted she had anticipated Chu Mu’s arrival and offered not to reclaim Xuan Yu Real Person’s treasure if he submitted.
• Chu Mu recognized that the Blood Fiend Grand Array could spread the accumulated blood qi throughout the city, inciting the surviving cultivators and disrupting the Chen family’s control.

Chu Mu’s warning proved true as the Blood Fiend Grand Array unleashed citywide chaos in Tyrant Province City, undoing the Chen Family’s restored order. Old Ancestor Qing Cang shattered the array to free the trapped Nascent Souls, and the rival sides began a devastating battle that left the city close to ruin.

• Chu Mu warned Qing Ling that the Blood Fiend Grand Array would trigger another collapse of order, and the Chen Family Golden Cores withdrew.
• Blood qi bewitched cultivators across Tyrant Province City, driving them into lust and violence and feeding the grand array in a vicious cycle.
• Xu Lingtian told Old Ancestor Qing Cang that the Chen Family’s plans had failed, while Qing Cang answered that the present disaster was the fruit of past causes.
• Old Ancestor Qing Cang shattered the Blood Fiend Grand Array’s restrictions, releasing the trapped Nascent Souls and unleashing the accumulated blood qi.
• Dark Nether Old Ancestor struck first, starting a battle between more than a dozen Nascent Souls that shattered the blood qi and devastated Tyrant Province City.

As Nascent Soul experts fought above the ruined Tyrant Province City, Chu Mu hid and prepared to escape once the Linked Grand Array broke. He then captured Chen Xuan Yu’s soul and discovered an unexpected windfall in the Storage Bags he seized, though the chapter left the contents unrevealed.

• Chu Mu concealed himself among the southwest city walls after Qing Ling led the Chen Family Golden Cores away, and waited for the Linked Grand Array to fail.
• Chu Mu dissected the flood dragon corpse but found no treasure inside it.
• Chu Mu opened the Jade Box within layers of prepared arrays, trapping the escaping soul of Chen Xuan Yu.
• Chu Mu restrained Chen Xuan Yu’s soul and seized several Storage Bags from it.
• Chu Mu examined the Storage Bags and reacted with astonishment and delight at what he found.

As the Linked Grand Array collapsed and the battle around Tyrant Province City erupted, Chu Mu survived a Chen Family Nascent Soul’s lightning strike and drew Old Ancestor Qing Cang’s attention. After Qing Cang tried to kill him, Xu Lingtian rescued Chu Mu from beneath the ruins and carried him away.

• Xu Lingtian fought Old Ancestor Qing Cang while Nascent Soul cultivators clashed across Tyrant Province City, and the Linked Grand Array finally shattered.
• As the surviving cultivators fled, a Chen Family Nascent Soul unleashed lightning on them, and Chu Mu used his Blade Intent Domain and Nine Dragons Divine Fire to survive the strike.
• Old Ancestor Qing Cang recognized Chu Mu as a possible threat and attacked him with a giant palm, but Xu Lingtian intervened and Chu Mu escaped the first blow.
• Old Ancestor Qing Cang pursued Chu Mu and struck him again, but Chu Mu survived under the protection of his corpse puppet.
• Xu Lingtian swept Chu Mu and the damaged corpse puppet away with Sword Light, then sent a prison of swords toward Old Ancestor Qing Cang.

Chu Mu escaped Old Ancestor Qing Cang’s attack with the help of his corpse puppet, then evaded the Chen Family’s pursuit outside Tyrant Province City. He left a decoy flying boat to mislead his pursuers and sent concealed Azure Bird Puppets into the surrounding forests to scout.

• Chu Mu used his Third Order corpse puppet to block Old Ancestor Qing Cang’s blow, stored the badly damaged puppet, and fled.
• Qing Ling viewed an image of Chu Mu’s escape and ordered the Chen Family cultivators to pursue him and search the surrounding area.
• Chu Mu detected the Chen Family’s surveillance formations around Tyrant Province City, destroyed several, and realized that outward transmissions had been cut off.
• Chu Mu sent an ordinary flying boat carrying his Divine Soul Aura southwest as a decoy, then concealed himself in the forest while his pursuers followed it.
• Chu Mu dispatched dozens of concealed Azure Bird Puppets in different directions to scout the area.

Chu Mu fled through the Ba Zhou Basin as the Chen Family concentrated its forces on capturing him after the upheaval in Tyrant Province City. Several days later, the dragnet covered more than half the basin, and he remained trapped, repeatedly forced to change course.

• Chu Mu escaped Hidden Dragon Mountain amid blade light and evaded the pursuing Chen Family Golden Core cultivators.
• Chu Mu used Azure Bird Puppets and Wangcai's Bloodline Divine Ability to navigate around surveillance and pursuers, while realizing the Chen Family's forces were closing in.
• Chu Mu remotely sent a warning to Chang Hongyi and Xu Yuan on Red Cloud Island, fearing the Chen Family would retaliate against them and the True Understanding Main Pavilion.
• The Chen Family shifted its forces from controlling Tyrant Province City to hunting Chu Mu as the Nascent Soul battle continued inside the city.
• Over several days, Chu Mu repeatedly fled through the Ba Zhou Basin, but carpet searches and encirclements forced him to change direction before he could reach the Northwest Mountain Range.

Chu Mu realized the Chen family's relentless surveillance and pursuit had trapped him in a vicious cycle, so he decided to enter Tyrant Province City, where an ongoing Nascent Soul battle disrupted their control. He reached the city's edge and found the chaotic spiritual energy and blood qi could hinder even powerful cultivators' Divine Sense.

• Chu Mu used Azure Bird Puppets and concealed himself underground while evading the Chen family and Ba Dao Alliance search parties.
• Chu Mu assessed the surveillance network and concluded that Tyrant Province City was his best chance to break free of the pursuit.
• Chu Mu sent Wangcai the aura signatures of the Chen family's six Nascent Soul Great Experts and used its Bloodline Divine Ability to track them.
• Chu Mu abandoned concealment and headed toward Tyrant Province City, prompting the pursuing Chen family cultivators to reposition around the city.
• Chu Mu reached the city's edge and sensed that the chaotic spiritual energy and blood qi formed a domain that severely restricted Divine Sense.

Chu Mu entered Tyrant Province City during the Nascent Soul battle and used its ruins and chaotic spiritual energy to evade the Chen Family pursuit. After mapping their deployment with Wangcai’s tracking ability, he realized the Chen Family expected him to flee north, but he had no intention of leaving the Vast Ocean yet.

• Chu Mu concealed his aura and entered Tyrant Province City while Chen Family Golden Core cultivators followed cautiously behind him.
• Chu Mu laid formations and planted experimental puppets among the ruins, briefly considering killing his pursuers before deciding the risk of attracting the Nascent Soul cultivators was too great.
• Chu Mu used his traps to shake off the cultivators watching him and doubled back toward the collapsed city wall.
• Wangcai tracked the Chen Family forces, allowing Chu Mu to sketch their deployments around Tyrant Province City and identify Qing Ling’s position to the north.
• Chu Mu inferred that the Chen Family expected him to flee toward He Nei City and the Longevity Sect teleportation array, but he decided to remain in the Vast Ocean.

Chu Mu escaped the Chen family’s encirclement in Tyrant Province City and fought his way past their surveillance at Jade Ning Mountain. The Chen cultivators pursued him again as the Nascent Souls watched, leaving his escape uncertain.

• The Chen family found True Understanding Pavilion empty on Red Cloud Island, destroyed its main pavilion, and failed to catch the cultivators who had escaped through a hidden Teleportation Array.
• Chu Mu assessed the Chen family’s defensive deployment around Tyrant Province City and decided the Sky-Piercing Flying Boat could now be used without triggering spatial surveillance.
• Qing Ling and the Chen family cultivators debated whether Chu Mu had slipped out of Tyrant Province City before receiving word that he had been discovered at Jade Ning Mountain.
• Chu Mu struck down a Chen family cultivator, escaped the mountain in Crimson Blade Light, and drew the nearby Golden Core cultivators into pursuit.
• Dark Nether Old Ancestor mocked the Chen family as their Nascent Souls watched the pursuit, while Chen Sheng Wu and Old Ancestor Qing Cang looked grim.

Chu Mu escaped the Chen family’s pursuit aboard the Sky-Piercing Flying Boat and spent nearly half a year recovering at sea. The Chen family declared him and the True Understanding Pavilion wanted, while Chu Mu reflected on the events in Ba Zhou and wondered what had become of the region.

• Chu Mu fled through space aboard the Sky-Piercing Flying Boat, misleading the pursuing cultivators until they lost his trail far out at sea.
• Qing Ling ordered the Chen family to issue wanted notices for Chu Mu and the True Understanding Pavilion, spread claims that Chu Mu had seized the auction treasures and the ruins’ inheritance, and conceal his identity as a Longevity True Disciple.
• Chu Mu returned to the flying boat and secluded himself to heal while Zhao Shuang and the other two waited in the cabin.
• Nearly half a year later, Chu Mu finished recovering and looked out over the sea.
• Chu Mu reflected on how events in Ba Zhou had led to the pursuit and wondered what had become of the Nascent Soul battle and the scheme that had killed hundreds of thousands of cultivators.