Chapter Summaries

Fang Xiao agreed to serve as a Guest Elder of the Myriad Treasures Merchant Association in exchange for answers about its fate and the Royal Court’s plans. True Monarch Li Fa explained the association’s predicament, but could not say whether the Spirit Realm had sent a remedy for True Demonic Qi and Demonic Contamination.

• True Monarch Li Fa offered Fang Xiao membership or a Guest Elder position to keep him from revealing the association’s secret, and Fang Xiao agreed to become a Guest Elder if Li Fa answered his questions.
• Li Fa explained that the Myriad Treasures Merchant Association operated across realms and that its Taichang Realm branch would be taken over by the Devil Realm after the Devil Race conquered the realm.
• Li Fa said four peak Spirit Transformation cultivators had fled to the Spirit Realm, while he and another cultivator would have to join the association in the Devil Realm to survive.
• Fang Xiao asked about the Royal Court’s plans, and Li Fa revealed that the Royal Court had spoken privately with the four cultivators before using their ascension as leverage to seize nearly all peak Fifth Order spirit veins.
• Fang Xiao asked whether the Spirit Realm had replied to contact through World-Transmitting Incense with a method to resolve True Demonic Qi and Demonic Contamination.

Fang Xiao accepted True Monarch Li Fa’s request to attend the Royal Court council in his place in exchange for the Spirit Realm’s message and a merchant association command token. The message urged Taichang Realm to fight to the death, but also included a method to purge Demonic Contamination, leaving Fang Xiao to study its provisions.

• True Monarch Li Fa offered Fang Xiao the Spirit Realm’s message if Fang Xiao attended the Royal Court council in his stead three years later.
• Fang Xiao accepted and received the message, clues about Innate Xin Metal Qi, and a Guest Elder command token from True Monarch Li Fa.
• Fang Xiao warned True Monarch Li Fa not to surrender to the Devil Race too soon and told him to watch the changing situation.
• After True Monarch Li Fa left, Fang Xiao read that the Spirit Realm urged Taichang Realm to fight to the death.
• Fang Xiao studied the three-part demon-purging method and realized the Spirit Realm had also accounted for restoring spiritual qi after Demonic Contamination.

Fang Xiao considered how the Taichang Realm could prepare for the Devil Race and reviewed records of Cultivators in the Central Lands while waiting to address his Innate Xin Metal Qi. He discovered that his former opponent Qinghong had reached Nascent Soul Middle Stage and taken the Innate Xin Metal Qi, prompting him to plan a visit to the Shangqing Sect.

• Fang Xiao assessed the Spirit Realm’s Demon Quelling, Demon Sealing, and Demon Transformation artifacts, but concluded that the Taichang Realm also needed to unite its Cultivators.
• Fang Xiao decided to wait for the Royal Court assembly to see how the Royal Court would respond to opposition over its plan to leave the Taichang Realm.
• Fang Xiao checked the Identity Token and saw that Yuan Chen was alone in East Lin Dao, then reviewed records showing many Nascent Soul Cultivators and Sword Cultivators had visited the Central Lands.
• Fang Xiao found Qinghong listed at Nascent Soul Middle Stage and connected his sword intent in Sword Abyss to the Twelve-Story Building divine ability.
• Fang Xiao realized Qinghong had taken the Innate Xin Metal Qi and resolved to visit the Shangqing Sect.

Fang Xiao agreed to help Yuan Chen obtain Spirit Wine and capture an Ice Soul Sect cultivator, but chose to head to the Shangqing Sect first. After receiving intelligence that Qinghong and two Deity Transformation cultivators were there, Fang Xiao prepared to attack the sect and possibly wipe it out.

• Fang Xiao ordered Tong Cheng to investigate the Shangqing Sect and Qinghong’s whereabouts and prepare a teleportation array to Beichen Dao.
• Yuan Chen asked Fang Xiao to help him obtain Spirit Wine for the Guanghan Art and capture an Ice Soul Sect Nascent Soul cultivator to learn about an inheritance that could transform yin-yang constitutions.
• Yuan Chen identified three Ice Soul Sect cultivators and proposed targeting the one at the Yuetian Sect, but Fang Xiao told him to remain at the Violet Heaven Sect and wait for news.
• Tong Cheng returned with the intelligence and teleportation array, and Fang Xiao left for the Shangqing Sect.
• After learning that Qinghong and Deity Transformation cultivators Cang Xi and Cang Hai were at the Shangqing Sect, Fang Xiao planned to break through its protective formation and seize its leaders.

Fang Xiao infiltrated the Shangqing Sect through its deadly sword formation, intending to destroy its teleportation arrays and prevent its members from escaping. Meanwhile, King Zhen of the Royal Court had already taken control of the Teleportation Hall and set her sights on Cang Hai and Cang Xi.

• Fang Xiao arrived near the Shangqing Sect in Sword Forest Immortal City and concealed himself to avoid being detected.
• Fang Xiao entered the Void Trapping Annihilation Sword Formation and used his Primordial Sword Body to move through and control its annihilation Sword Qi.
• Pei Dachang reported to King Zhen that he had pushed the sword formation to its limit and planned to seal the teleportation arrays.
• King Zhen promised Pei Dachang a great merit and ordered him to lead her to the grotto-heavens where Cang Hai and Cang Xi resided.

Fang Xiao entered the Shangqing Sect unharmed, then discovered that its formation was killing its own disciples and that a powerful intruder had sealed the teleportation formation while battling the sect’s cultivators. As the battle turned against Cang Xi and Cang Hai, Fang Xiao abandoned his plan to destroy the teleportation formation and went to search for Qinghong.

• Fang Xiao crossed the Void Trapping Annihilation Sword Formation and entered the Shangqing Sect, while the formation killed disciples trying to pass through it.
• Fang Xiao realized the deaths would alert the sect and fled toward the Teleportation Hall, intending to capture Qinghong and the Ice Soul Sect Nascent Soul Cultivator before leaving.
• A mysterious intruder fought Cang Xi with thunder arts, and the Void Suppressing Sword Spirit warned Fang Xiao that the enemy was near peak Deity Transformation.
• Cang Hai joined the battle, but Cang Xi’s sword intent was shattered, and Fang Xiao hurried to the Teleportation Hall.
• Fang Xiao found the teleportation formation sealed and understood that the intruder had trapped the Shangqing Sect, so he set out to find Qinghong.

Fang Xiao searched the Shangqing Sect disciples and learned that Qinghong was in the Sword Pool Grotto-heaven preparing to refine Innate Xin Metal Qi into his bonded sword. On his way there, Fang Xiao captured Cang Xi’s Nascent Soul and continued toward the grotto-heaven.

• Fang Xiao knocked out the Shangqing Sect disciples in the Teleportation Hall and searched two Core Formation cultivators, learning that Qinghong was at the Sword Pool Grotto-heaven.
• Fang Xiao learned that the Shangqing Sect had opened the grotto-heaven to help Qinghong strengthen his bonded sword, and he decided to investigate it.
• Fang Xiao sensed Cang Xi approaching the Teleportation Hall and hid nearby to ambush him.
• Cang Xi arrived, tried to teleport away, and was pinned down by Fang Xiao’s Void Suppressing Sword.
• Fang Xiao sealed Cang Xi’s consciousness with restrictions and stored his Nascent Soul, then headed toward the Sword Pool Grotto-heaven.

Fang Xiao reached the sealed Shangqing Sect as King Zhen overwhelmed Cang Hai and learned that the Royal Court was behind the Beast Taming Sect’s destruction. To keep King Zhen from turning her attention toward him and the Sword Pool Grotto-heaven, Fang Xiao intervened to draw her away, while Cang Hai grasped at the unexpected chance of help.

• King Zhen told Cang Hai that the Royal Court had destroyed the Beast Taming Sect and unleashed lightning that devastated the Shangqing Sect.
• Cang Hai fought while retreating, unaware that Cang Xi had already fallen into Fang Xiao’s hands and could not escape.
• Fang Xiao realized Cang Hai’s retreat was bringing the battle toward the Sword Pool Grotto-heaven and decided to intervene so King Zhen would not search the area.
• Fang Xiao placed a Sword Seal, approached the battlefield, and used the Void Suppressing Sword to suppress King Zhen’s lightning and ease the pressure on Cang Hai.
• Cang Hai thanked Fang Xiao and promised him anything from the Shangqing Sect’s collections if he helped the sect survive.

Fang Xiao claimed to be a formation Grandmaster and used the promise of reinforcements to keep Cang Hai pursuing King Zhen. The three raced toward the Teleportation Hall, where Fang Xiao planned to use Cang Hai to delay King Zhen while he escaped by another route.

• Fang Xiao told Cang Hai that Cang Xi had escaped to seek reinforcements and claimed he could undo the teleportation arrays' seals.
• King Zhen suspected Fang Xiao might be telling the truth, raised a lightning barrier, and fled toward the Teleportation Hall to destroy the arrays.
• Cang Hai and Fang Xiao broke through the barrier and chased King Zhen, though Fang Xiao secretly wanted to draw them away from the Sword Pool Grotto-heaven.
• When Cang Hai began to lose hope, Fang Xiao claimed he had set up a formation in the Teleportation Hall and urged him to keep pursuing King Zhen.
• Fang Xiao gave Cang Hai Fifth-Order Spirit Milk and relied on him to hold King Zhen off, though no formation awaited them in the Teleportation Hall.

Fang Xiao and Cang Hai raced King Zhen to the Teleportation Hall, where Fang Xiao rescued Lan Gu from her lightning attack. They arrived too late to stop King Zhen from destroying every teleportation array, and she demanded to know why Fang Xiao had lured her there.

• Cang Hai drank the Fifth-Order Spirit Milk Fang Xiao gave him, recovered his mana, and sped toward the Teleportation Hall with Fang Xiao.
• Lan Gu emerged from the Teleportation Hall, and King Zhen sent lightning after him as she entered to destroy the array.
• Fang Xiao used a Thunder Controlling Sign to delay the lightning, then took Lan Gu’s Nascent Soul into his Mobile Spirit Mansion and put it to sleep with a Thought Sword.
• Fang Xiao and Cang Hai entered the hall and found that King Zhen had destroyed every teleportation array.
• King Zhen glared at Fang Xiao and demanded to know why he had lured her there when the array seals had never been removed.

Fang Xiao escaped the Teleportation Hall after his plan left Cang Hai trapped with King Zhen, then entered the Sword Pool Grotto-heaven to find Qinghong. He discovered that Qinghong had become a Nascent Soul Late Stage demon cultivator and challenged him to settle their old sword duel.

• Fang Xiao vanished from the Teleportation Hall, leaving Cang Hai to face King Zhen after she destroyed the teleportation array.
• King Zhen unleashed her lightning domain and formed a divine thunder mace to kill Cang Hai.
• Fang Xiao returned through his Sword Seal to the entrance of the Sword Pool Grotto-heaven and used the Void Cutter Sword to enter.
• Fang Xiao sealed the grotto-heaven gate behind him and found Qinghong surrounded by Demonic Qi.
• Fang Xiao recognized Qinghong as the one who had taken the Innate Xin Metal Qi and revealed his true appearance before challenging him to their old sword duel.

Qinghong revealed how his ruthless cultivation and alliance with a True Demon had carried him to the Nascent Soul Late Stage, and he confronted Fang Xiao, whom he had long regarded as his rival. Fang Xiao attacked with the Void Cutter Sword, but Qinghong summoned True Monarch Moluo as a Demonic Puppet to block it.

• Qinghong recognized Fang Xiao and threatened to use his loved ones to force a battle, explaining that he had hunted Nascent Soul Cultivators and refined their Nascent Souls to advance his cultivation.
• Qinghong recalled that the Tai Shang Wang Qing Pian had led him to sacrifice his Junior Sister, relatives, and fellow disciples, thinning his emotions and weakening his karmic bonds.
• Qinghong resolved to kill Fang Xiao, believing that doing so would help him reach the Deity Transformation Stage sooner, and Fang Xiao challenged him to prove his strength.
• Fang Xiao sent the Void Cutter Sword at Qinghong, wielding heaven and earth spiritual energy despite remaining in the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Qinghong activated a black command talisman, and True Monarch Moluo appeared to stop the Void Cutter Sword with one hand.
• Fang Xiao recognized True Monarch Moluo as a mid-stage Deity Transformation True Demon who had been transformed into a Demonic Puppet after a failed initiation into the Devil Race.

Fang Xiao faced Qinghong and his Demonic Puppet, overcoming Qinghong’s Thought Sword and suppressing them both with the Void Suppressing Sword. After searching Qinghong’s soul, Fang Xiao learned that he had cultivated the Tai Shang Wang Qing Pian and discovered the path that had led him to this state.

• True Monarch Moluo regenerated his shattered arm with True Demonic Qi, while Qinghong sent a Thought Sword at Fang Xiao’s Divine Soul.
• Fang Xiao blocked Qinghong’s Thought Sword and charged at him with the Void Suppressing Sword.
• Fang Xiao suppressed Qinghong and the Demonic Puppet, then sealed Qinghong’s dantian to interrupt his Twelve-Story Building ability.
• Fang Xiao searched Qinghong’s soul, leaving Qinghong’s Divine Soul collapsing toward its end.
• Fang Xiao learned Qinghong had cultivated the Tai Shang Wang Qing Pian and had killed Qing Yu after leaving the Taibai Sword Sect.

Fang Xiao extracted Qinghong’s Nascent Soul, learned the limits and potential uses of the Twelve-Story Building, and incorporated the divine ability into his Primordial Sword Embryo. He then explored the Sword Pool Grotto-heaven and discovered the Shangqing Sect’s Melting Sword Pool, where generations of swords had been forged into a legacy for later disciples.

• Fang Xiao purified Qinghong’s Nascent Soul and learned that the Twelve-Story Building could strengthen his inner Grotto-heaven, though its advancement had strict limits.
• Fang Xiao planned to use the divine ability to preview the next stage of his inner Grotto-heaven and decided to refine the Imperial Flowing Sap to strengthen his body.
• Fang Xiao absorbed the Twelve-Story Building’s Divine Ability Origin into his Primordial Sword Embryo, causing its Dharma Form to manifest in the Sword Pool Grotto-heaven.
• Fang Xiao kept the mid-stage Deity Transformation Demonic Puppet under his control and decided to leave dealing with its True Demonic Qi to a worthy opponent.
• Fang Xiao reached the two Sword Pools and examined the Melting Sword Pool, where the Shangqing Sect melted ownerless swords to provide materials for later disciples’ bonded swords.

Fang Xiao used the Melting Sword Pool to temper his sword artifacts and waited for Qinghong’s natal sword to be refined so he could claim its Innate Xin Metal Qi. As the Qi emerged, the Void Cutter Sword flew toward it on its own, beginning its chance to gain both innate metal energies and advance into a Spirit Treasure.

• Fang Xiao asked Zhenkong to take the Melting Sword Pool and its companion Sword Pool, and Zhenkong agreed but said he could not extract their connected Water Vein and Fire Vein.
• Fang Xiao sent nine sword artifacts and one Sword Pellet into the Melting Sword Pool, while Zhenkong declined to enter because the pool could not provide the spiritual resonance it needed.
• Fang Xiao watched Qinghong’s unprotected natal sword artifact lose its Restrictions and dissolve in the vortex as he prepared to retrieve the Innate Xin Metal Qi.
• The Innate Xin Metal Qi rose from the vortex, and the Void Cutter Sword flew toward it before Fang Xiao could act.

King Zhen searched the Shangqing Sect’s grotto-heavens for Fang Xiao, then sensed a vast spatial disturbance and rushed toward its source. Inside the Sword Pool Grotto-heaven, Fang Xiao watched the Void Cutter Sword absorb the Melting Sword Pool’s essence and the grotto-heaven’s Space Force as it neared becoming a Spirit Treasure.

• King Zhen searched the seventeenth grotto-heaven but found no trace of Fang Xiao.
• King Zhen headed to the next grotto-heaven and detected a massive disturbance as Space Force gathered elsewhere.
• King Zhen abandoned the entrance she had located and sped toward the spatial disturbance.
• Fang Xiao watched the Void Cutter Sword ravenously absorb spiritual essence and Space Force in the Melting Sword Pool.
• Fang Xiao recognized that the sword’s transformation into a Spirit Treasure was nearing completion, as he had deliberately allowed its sword spirit to remain only half-condensed.

Fang Xiao let the Void Cutter Sword absorb the Sword Pool Grotto-heaven’s spiritual resonance while preparing to escape King Zhen. After collecting both pools and completing his preparations, he ordered the young daoist boy to open a path into the void.

• Fang Xiao ordered the Demonic Puppet to block King Zhen and sealed the grotto-heaven entrance while the Void Cutter Sword continued advancing.
• Fang Xiao withdrew the Seven Souls Sword Artifacts, observed the Nascent Soul Dao Sword absorb seven-colored smoke, and sent Zhenkong to collect the Sword Washing Pool.
• The Sword Washing Pool was drawn into the Void Suppressing Sword, while King Zhen destroyed the Demonic Puppet and began attacking the grotto-heaven entrance.
• Fang Xiao finished collecting the Sword Washing Pool and Melting Sword Pool, then commanded the young daoist boy to use Space Severance.
• The young daoist boy shattered a space before them and opened a dim passage into the void.

Fang Xiao escaped King Zhen through the void after taking the grotto-heaven’s treasures, while King Zhen failed to find him and returned to the ruined grotto-heaven. As Fang Xiao headed toward Moyun Immortal City, he reflected on his gains and the Void Cutter Sword’s new powers, and planned to test its long-distance teleportation.

• King Zhen emerged from the shattered grotto-heaven, and Fang Xiao led the little daoist boy into the void to escape.
• King Zhen pursued Fang Xiao through the spatial vortex but found no trace of him and returned to the grotto-heaven.
• Fang Xiao concealed himself with Primordial Immortal Light and headed for the teleportation array in Moyun Immortal City so he could return to East Lin Dao through the void.
• Fang Xiao reviewed his gains, including Cang Xi's Nascent Soul, the sword pools, and the recovered Innate Xin Metal Qi that had advanced the Void Cutter Sword into a Spirit Treasure.
• Fang Xiao considered the Void Cutter Sword's spatial abilities and planned to test its long-distance transference and arrange Sword Seals across the Taichang Realm.

Fang Xiao examined the Void Cutter Sword’s new Spirit Treasure powers and entrusted the Void Suppressing Sword Spirit with training it. Unable to Soul Search an Ice Soul Sect cultivator for information about the Cold Abyss, he turned to the imprisoned Six-tailed White Fox for help.

• Fang Xiao discovered that the Void Cutter Sword had gained extreme durability, adaptability, and the ability to sever a target’s body in a way that defeated regeneration.
• Fang Xiao asked the Void Suppressing Sword Spirit to guide the new sword, and it agreed to teach it everything it knew.
• Fang Xiao found a restriction on the Ice Soul Sect cultivator’s Nascent Soul that would destroy its soul if he attempted Soul Searching.
• Fang Xiao reasoned that threats, rewards, and oaths would not reliably make the captive reveal what the Ice Soul Sect knew about the Cold Abyss.
• Fang Xiao remembered that the Six-tailed White Fox in his Mobile Spirit Mansion might be able to bewitch the captive, summoned it, and looked at it meaningfully.

Fang Xiao used Bai Ling’s heart-seducing arts to question Lan Gu’s Nascent Soul about the Ice Soul Sect and the Inheritance Land. Lan Gu revealed the sect’s poverty and its plans to recover the Ancient Ice Dao inheritance, and Fang Xiao turned to ask about the Cold Abyss.

• Fang Xiao threatened Bai Ling into using her heart-seducing arts on Lan Gu’s Nascent Soul, promising her freedom within the Mobile Spirit Mansion if she cooperated.
• Bai Ling bewitched Lan Gu’s Nascent Soul, which answered Fang Xiao’s questions only when she relayed them.
• Lan Gu identified himself as a member of the Ice Soul Sect who had gone to the Shangqing Sect to borrow resources.
• Lan Gu explained that the Ice Soul Sect had been left impoverished after Nie Ying stripped it of resources, while Nan Xuan and Nan Kong sought to draw the Ancient Ice Dao’s Inheritance Land out of the Cold Abyss.
• Lan Gu estimated that more than seventy percent of the Inheritance Land’s inheritances remained unclaimed, but he did not know whether one involved mutually generating yin-yang constitutions.
• Fang Xiao asked Bai Ling to question Lan Gu about what lay at the bottom of the Cold Abyss and the dangers there.