Chapter Summaries

Fang Xiao tortured Bai Ling until she revealed that the Central Plains Royal Court planned to escape the Taichang Realm because the Devil Realm was approaching. After weighing the incomplete intelligence, he decided to target the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon and Earth Origin Bear King and asked Bai Ling where to find them.

• Fang Xiao used sword threads to torture Bai Ling until she explained the Royal Court's escape plan and its fear of the Devil Realm.
• Bai Ling recounted what she had learned from her two siblings, while Fang Xiao questioned her about the Royal Court's plans.
• Fang Xiao suspected the Royal Court had concealed the Devil Realm's approach and might have caused the loss of spirit veins, but he could not resolve the contradictions in the information.
• Fang Xiao decided to inform his sect and investigate the Royal Court assembly after reaching the Central Lands.
• Fang Xiao kept Bai Ling captive and asked her where the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon and Earth Origin Bear King were.

Golden Mane Roar and Thunder Luan decided to seek the Royal Court’s help to find Bai Ling and Fang Xiao. Meanwhile, Fang Xiao entered the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon’s territory and discovered that it was undergoing a Lightning Tribulation for advancement to late-stage Spirit Transformation.

• Golden Mane Roar wanted to attack the Eastern Domain, but Thunder Luan persuaded him that doing so would hinder their search for Bai Ling.
• Thunder Luan proposed joining the Central Plains Royal Court and asking it to locate Fang Xiao, and Golden Mane Roar agreed and activated the Royal Court cultivator’s jade talisman.
• Fang Xiao emerged from the Mobile Spirit Mansion and detoured deeper into the Southern Wilderness to capture the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon before returning for the Earth Origin Bear King.
• Fang Xiao found no human-form Demon Cultivators in the flood dragon’s territory and then noticed dark clouds gathering above its lair.
• Fang Xiao recognized the gathering heavenly might as the flood dragon’s Lightning Tribulation and hoped it would survive long enough for him to capture it after it was weakened.

Fang Xiao interfered with the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon’s tribulation, forcing it through a renewed wave of lightning until it emerged gravely weakened. As the tribulation ended, a Great Yin projection appeared and poured down Imperial Flowing Sap, leaving Fang Xiao eager to seize the rare treasure.

• Fang Xiao found no other cultivators near the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon and watched as its tribulation approached its final bolt.
• Fang Xiao sent a Thunder Controlling Sign into the tribulation clouds, provoking the tribulation and causing it to restart with greater power.
• The Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon endured the renewed lightning, but its aura weakened as the second wave neared its end.
• A final silver-white bolt ended the tribulation, leaving the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon’s aura at rock bottom.
• A jade-disk-like Great Yin projection appeared and poured down Imperial Flowing Sap, which Fang Xiao recognized as a rare treasure that could strengthen his essence, energy, and spirit.

Fang Xiao seized the Imperial Flowing Sap from the Great Yin projection and stored it, then discovered the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon had been demonized by True Demonic Qi. He began testing whether his Solar Essence Fire could purify the contamination, but realized cleansing a living Magic Beast would require purifying its Demon Soul as well.

• Fang Xiao used his Lunar Divine Light to control the Great Yin projection and reverse the Imperial Flowing Sap’s descent.
• Fang Xiao gathered every drop of the Imperial Flowing Sap and sealed it in a vessel.
• Fang Xiao landed beside the gravely injured Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon and found its scales blackened by demonization.
• Fang Xiao recognized that the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon had joined the Devil Race, like the Sun Devouring Mastiff, and wondered whether the Earth Origin Bear King had also been demonized.
• Fang Xiao tested Solar Essence Fire on a blackened scale, but found that its Demonic Contamination remained and concluded that purifying a living Magic Beast required cleansing its Demon Soul.

Fang Xiao tried to cleanse the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon’s Demonic Contamination, then kept it alive and prepared to seal its Demon Soul. Exploring its sea of consciousness revealed an unexplained anomaly that expelled his Spiritual Sense but tolerated his Thought Sword.

• Fang Xiao’s Solar Essence Fire and Lunar Divine Light destroyed the flood dragon scale, but the Demonic Contamination returned to the dragon’s body.
• Fang Xiao decided to capture the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon alive, gave it a fourth-grade healing spirit pill, and planned to seal its Demon Soul.
• Fang Xiao entered the flood dragon’s sea of consciousness with his Spiritual Sense and found dense Demonic Qi but no Demonic Contamination.
• A flood dragon’s cry and a powerful force expelled Fang Xiao’s Spiritual Sense, so he severed the connection and waited, but the dragon did not awaken.
• Fang Xiao sent a Thought Sword into the sea of consciousness, where an anomaly examined it and then stopped appearing, allowing him to survey the area.

Fang Xiao discovered that a Flood Dragon Pearl protected the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon’s Demon Soul, preventing him from safely sealing it. The Void Suppressing Sword Spirit identified the pearl and gave Fang Xiao the Seven Souls Sealing Soul Curse, but required him to agree to a condition before using it.

• Fang Xiao found a blue pearl in the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon’s Demon Soul and realized it repelled his Spiritual Sense and Demonic Contamination.
• Fang Xiao told the Void Suppressing Sword Spirit about the pearl and his difficulty sealing the flood dragon’s Demon Soul.
• The Void Suppressing Sword Spirit identified the object as an inherited Flood Dragon Pearl powerful enough to resist Fang Xiao’s current strength.
• The Void Suppressing Sword Spirit gave Fang Xiao the Seven Souls Sealing Soul Curse and said he had to agree to a condition if he chose to use it.
• Fang Xiao read the method and praised the senior who had devised it to save their cultivation partner.

Fang Xiao learned how the Seven Souls Sealing Soul Curse could restrain the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon and discovered that seven sword artifacts could solve the curse’s formation and contamination problems. The Void Suppressing Sword Spirit offered him the artifacts on condition that he promise to help them become Spirit Treasures, leaving Fang Xiao to weigh the cost.

• Fang Xiao learned that a Taibai Sword Sect Spirit Transformation senior had created the Seven Souls Sealing Soul Curse to protect his partner’s failing divine soul.
• Fang Xiao understood that the curse could seal the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon’s Demon Soul, but he lacked the formation knowledge and needed a way to handle the Seven Souls’ Demonic Contamination.
• The Void Suppressing Sword Spirit produced seven top-grade magic-treasure swords named after the Seven Souls and explained that they could serve as formation artifacts and receive the contamination.
• The Void Suppressing Sword Spirit told Fang Xiao that the swords belonged to a former Taibai Sword Sect member, the son of a Six Desires True Monarch, who had forged a Soul-Slaying Spirit-Devouring Path and left them in the Sword Mound.
• Fang Xiao learned that accepting the swords meant promising to help raise them to Spirit Treasures, though he would not need to nourish them with magic power and could return them if he could not fulfill the promise.
• Fang Xiao considered the swords’ value against the risk of dividing his attention from his six natal magic treasures.

Fang Xiao accepted the Seven Souls Sword Artifacts and used the Seven Souls Sealing Soul Curse to seize the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon’s Seven Souls. He formed seven inscriptions and sent them into the flood dragon’s sea of consciousness, leaving the curse’s final step unresolved.

• Fang Xiao decided to accept the Seven Souls Sword Artifacts because they could help preserve the flood dragon’s resources and prove useful amid the coming chaos.
• Fang Xiao refined the seven swords and comprehended the Seven Souls Sealing Soul Curse while the Void Suppressing Sword Spirit stood guard.
• Fang Xiao arranged the seven swords around the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon and used them to find and seize its Seven Souls.
• Fang Xiao suppressed the flood dragon’s Seven Souls and refined them into seven inscriptions.
• Fang Xiao sent the seven inscriptions into the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon’s skull and sea of consciousness.

Fang Xiao used the Seven Souls Sealing Soul Curse to seal the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon’s Demon Soul and capture the late-stage Spirit Transformation demon alive. After storing it in the Mobile Spirit Mansion and imprisoning the Six-tailed White Fox, he reconsidered his route and weighed three possible plans.

• Fang Xiao branded the seven Seven Souls runes onto the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon’s Demon Soul, sealing it completely.
• Fang Xiao tested the sealed Demon Soul with a Soul Nourishing Pill, then found that the Seven Souls Sword Artifacts had been tainted by Demonic Contamination and sealed the contamination with Great Yin and Great Yang Power.
• Fang Xiao placed the captured flood dragon in the Mobile Spirit Mansion, where the Sea-Shaking Ape and Six-tailed White Fox noticed its arrival.
• The Six-tailed White Fox realized Fang Xiao had captured the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon, while Fang Xiao accused her of hiding its strength and imprisoned her.
• Fang Xiao considered raiding the Earth Origin Bear King, crossing its territory toward the Central Lands, or finding a safe place to refine the Imperial Flowing Sap.

Fang Xiao set aside refining the Imperial Flowing Sap and headed north to pursue the Innate Xin Metal Qi before anyone else could claim it. Meanwhile, the Royal Court chose to blame Tianlan Sect for the Six-tailed White Fox's disappearance, unaware that Fang Xiao was already on his way to the Central Lands.

• Fang Xiao decided that securing the Innate Xin Metal Qi mattered more urgently than refining the Imperial Flowing Sap or pursuing the Earth Origin Bear King.
• Fang Xiao considered how Li Mobai could use the Royal Court council to investigate and expose the Devil Race's arrival and the Royal Court's planned flight.
• King Gan asked Qian Ge to identify who had taken the Six-tailed White Fox, and Qian Ge pointed to Fang Xiao as a possible suspect.
• King Gan ordered Qian Ge to tell the Golden Mane Roar that Tianlan Sect had killed the Six-tailed White Fox and that the Royal Court would seek justice at the council.
• Li Mobai and his companions continued spreading information among the sects, unaware that the Royal Court had turned its attention toward them.

Fang Xiao fled across the Southern Wilderness with a True Demon in pursuit, refusing its offer to join the Sacred Race. With the Innate Xin Metal Qi about to emerge, he decided to seek Du Yuan’s help at Heavenly Buddha Temple in the Western Desert, leaving the demon wary of entering Buddhist territory.

• Fang Xiao spent ten months fleeing west through the Southern Wilderness while the True Demon tracked him and tried to recruit him.
• The True Demon pursued Fang Xiao because the demonized Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon helped it sense his location, and Fang Xiao refused to abandon the flood dragon or join the Sacred Race.
• Fang Xiao realized he could not reach the Central Lands while the demon blocked his way and chose to seek help from Du Yuan at Heavenly Buddha Temple.
• Fang Xiao entered the Endless Desert, while the True Demon worried that he might have ties to Heavenly Buddha Temple and hesitated to pursue him onto Buddhist territory.

Fang Xiao fled across the Western Desert with the True Demon pursuing him, then entered Bore Mountain and its Immeasurable Sumeru Grand Formation to escape. The True Demon stopped outside the Heavenly Buddha Temple’s sacred mountain, where a peak Deity Transformation cultivator appeared and forced it to flee.

• Fang Xiao used the Great Five Elements Escape Arts and the Void Suppressing Sword to keep ahead of the True Demon as they crossed the Western Desert.
• Fang Xiao sent repeated messages to Du Yuan but received no reply, so he decided to head for the Heavenly Buddha Temple rather than endanger people in nearby cities.
• After three months, Fang Xiao reached Bore Mountain and entered the Immeasurable Sumeru Grand Formation with the True Demon still following him.
• The True Demon lost its connection to the Green Back Mountain Flood Dragon and realized Fang Xiao had vanished inside the formation.
• Buddhist light erupted from Bore Mountain, and the True Demon sensed a peak Deity Transformation cultivator and fled.

Fang Xiao escaped the Immeasurable Sumeru Grand Formation and infiltrated the area around Heavenly Buddha Temple’s summit to find its teleportation array. He remained concealed after the sect master sensed something unusual, while the temple’s Spirit Transformation cultivators were away or occupied.

• The True Devil fled as a Buddhist figure pursued him, leaving Fang Xiao trapped in the Immeasurable Sumeru Grand Formation.
• Fang Xiao used his command of space and the Void Cutter Sword to break through the shifting spaces, then chose to stay in Bore Mountain and search for the teleportation array.
• Fang Xiao attacked the surrounding spaces to slow the formation and concealed himself with the Great Five Elements Escape Arts as he moved toward the summit.
• More than ten Nascent Soul Cultivators kept watch outside the formation and discussed the absent Spirit Transformation True Lords and Du Yuan’s progress toward the Nascent Soul Late Stage.
• The sect master sensed something amiss, but Fang Xiao remained hidden and believed his concealment had prevented the monk from discovering him.

Fang Xiao met Du Yuan at Heavenly Buddha Temple and secured permission to use its ultra-long-distance teleportation array to travel to the Central Lands. Du Yuan could not repair the damaged Ascension Platform, but hinted that it might have been possible if Fang Xiao had arrived sooner.

• Fang Xiao decided to meet Du Yuan before seeking access to Heavenly Buddha Temple's teleportation array, then contacted the temple's sect master while pretending to remain trapped in the formation.
• Du Yuan contacted Fang Xiao, agreed to keep his alias Profound Origin secret, and asked whether Fang Xiao had the Ascension Platform.
• Du Yuan and Jianxing arrived at the formation, and Du Yuan dismissed the other cultivators before welcoming Fang Xiao.
• Fang Xiao handed Du Yuan the Prison Suppressing Pagoda, and Du Yuan promised to fulfill three requests in return.
• Du Yuan agreed to take Fang Xiao to the Central Lands through Heavenly Buddha Temple's teleportation array without counting it as a request.
• Fang Xiao explained that a demon cultivator had damaged the Ascension Platform, and Du Yuan said he could not repair it but suggested Fang Xiao had arrived too late for a possible solution.

Fang Xiao learned from Du Yuan that the Taichang Realm faced invasion while the Spirit Realm was occupied in a war with the Tianhuang Realm, and that the Royal Court and Myriad Treasures Merchant Association had concealed the danger. Du Yuan could not reveal how the Royal Court planned to evacuate people, and he and Fang Xiao teleported to the Central Lands.

• Du Yuan told Fang Xiao that the Myriad Treasures Merchant Association had ascended with its Ascension Platform, leaving the Taichang Realm without a way to repair or use one.
• Du Yuan explained that the Spirit Realm was fighting the Tianhuang Realm and that the Royal Court and Myriad Treasures Merchant Association had hidden the danger of Devil Race invasions from the Taichang Realm.
• Du Yuan said he had reincarnated in the Taichang Realm to preserve Heavenly Buddha Temple disciples and had intended to take Tian Ling to the Spirit Realm using an Ascension Platform.
• Fang Xiao asked how the Royal Court could evacuate people without an Ascension Platform, but Du Yuan refused to disclose the secret because he had sworn not to reveal it.
• Du Yuan and Fang Xiao stepped onto the Heavenly Buddha Temple's teleportation formation, and four disciples activated their talisman tokens to send them to the Central Lands.

Fang Xiao traveled to the Central Lands to investigate the suspected location of Innate Xin Metal Qi in the Sword Abyss. At the Sword Abyss, his Primordial Sword Body sensed that the forbidden land was actually a strand of Sword Qi beyond the Taichang Realm’s limits, though he could not perceive what lay deeper within.

• Fang Xiao thanked Du Yuan for arranging his passage to the Central Lands, then left Lingchan Monastery through an ordinary teleportation array.
• Fang Xiao arrived in Cloud-Touching City in East Lin Dao and hurried toward the Sword Abyss, where Innate Xin Metal Qi was suspected to have formed.
• Fang Xiao stood before the Sword Abyss and felt his Primordial Sword Body react to its immense Sword Dao power.
• Fang Xiao realized the Sword Abyss was a strand of basic Sword Qi whose power exceeded the Taichang Realm’s limits, and he wondered what kind of existence had released it.

Fang Xiao descended into the Sword Abyss seeking the Innate Xin Metal Qi, but discovered that another cultivator had already taken the sword artifact containing it. He left for Moyun Immortal City, carrying a trace of the cultivator’s sword intent and planning to identify them.

• Fang Xiao entered the Sword Abyss and followed a route through its increasingly dense sword-path power toward the Innate Xin Metal Qi.
• Fang Xiao sensed traces of a single Sword Cultivator and collected their lingering sword intent.
• Fang Xiao reached a cave where Spirit Transformation-level sword intent surrounded the entrance and entered despite suspecting the treasure was gone.
• Fang Xiao found only withered bones and an empty sword groove, concluding that someone had taken the sword artifact containing the Innate Xin Metal Qi.
• Fang Xiao studied the sword intent in his palm, devised a way to seek the cultivator’s identity, and hurried to Moyun Immortal City.

Fang Xiao visited the Myriad Treasures Pavilion in Moyun Immortal City to obtain intelligence about Nascent Soul cultivators who had explored the Sword Abyss. Tong Cheng hesitated to take the request, and Fang Xiao realized the Myriad Treasures Merchant Association might be acting cautiously because its powerful backers had left.

• Fang Xiao entered the Myriad Treasures Pavilion while displaying his Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivation, prompting Tong Cheng to invite him into a private room.
• Tong Cheng served Fang Xiao Spirit Tea grown in the Sword Abyss, and Fang Xiao recognized its Sword Dao power.
• Fang Xiao, using the name Profound Origin, asked the Myriad Treasures Merchant Association to investigate all cultivators above Nascent Soul who had visited the Sword Abyss within the past year, especially Sword Cultivators.
• Tong Cheng warned that investigating so many powerful cultivators and their factions could bring trouble to the pavilion.
• Fang Xiao suspected the association was reluctant because its Deity Transformation backers had left and it feared other factions might exploit its weakened position.

Fang Xiao revealed his Spirit Transformation-level power and threatened Tong Cheng into obtaining information about the person who took the Innate Xin Metal Qi. Tong Cheng reported the crisis to the Myriad Treasures Merchant Association, and True Monarch Li Fa’s clay effigy dharma body awakened to hear what had happened.

• Fang Xiao pressured Tong Cheng with his Spirit Transformation aura and exposed that he knew the Myriad Treasures Merchant Association had lost four people.
• Fang Xiao gave Tong Cheng half a day to provide the information he wanted or he would spread the association’s secret.
• Tong Cheng promised to deliver the information, then ordered his subordinates to compile it while he went to report to his superiors.
• Tong Cheng entered the hall of six statues and sent spiritual power into the statue representing True Monarch Li Fa.
• True Monarch Li Fa’s clay effigy dharma body awakened, stepped down from its platform, and asked Tong Cheng why he had summoned it.

Tong Cheng told True Monarch Li Fa that Fang Xiao knew the Myriad Treasures Merchant Association’s four peak Deity Transformation cultivators had left the Taichang Realm, prompting Li Fa to investigate Fang Xiao. Li Fa met Fang Xiao in person and presented the requested intelligence, but kept the Jade Slip under his hand.

• Tong Cheng reported Fang Xiao’s knowledge of the four cultivators’ departure, and True Monarch Li Fa ordered him to gather intelligence on Sword Abyss visitors and prepare a meeting.
• True Monarch Li Fa privately considered recruiting Fang Xiao if he proved powerful and discreet, or silencing him if he did not.
• While waiting, Fang Xiao tried to identify the familiar sword intent he had sensed in the Sword Abyss but could not match it to any Sword Cultivator he knew.
• True Monarch Li Fa entered Fang Xiao’s private room, introduced himself, and claimed the Pavilion’s intelligence covered Nascent Soul cultivators in East Lin Dao and Southeast Dao over the past year.
• Li Fa placed the Jade Slip before Fang Xiao but kept his hand on it, withholding the intelligence for the moment.