Chapter Summaries

Xu Yue entered a peculiar Three Kingdoms world where Reincarnators had been placed, and investigated its connection to Demon Buddha and Yellow Old Lord. He ignored his assigned mission, remained in Xiapi until the task ended, paid the fine, and left.

• Xu Yue learned that Demon Buddha had likely arranged the Reincarnators' placement in the strange world to test him, though the Six Paths Lords were following a prearranged program rather than acting as Demon Buddha himself.
• Xu Yue arrived in Xiapi and discovered that the world was an altered Three Kingdoms setting where Zhang Jiao was a Dharmakaya expert defeated by Junior Master Luo.
• Xu Yue read the Taiping Sutra and found that its teachings had been changed from Huang-Lao Dao to Yellow Old Lord, while Zhonghuang Taiyi had become Eastern Emperor Taiyi.
• Xu Yue stayed in Xiapi without investigating the immortals or cultivating, waited for the mission to end, paid the fine, and left.

Xu Yue reunited with Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei after the mission, while the rest of the team returned and shared their gains. As the team prepared for their next mission, Xu Yue urged Meng Qi to invest in more body-hardening techniques, leaving him tempted despite his desire for flashy skills.

• Xu Yue returned to Reincarnation Plaza and joked with Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei, who had both survived the mission.
• Meng Qi revealed that he had opened his Eye Aperture after returning and offered to share the manual for safely stimulating the Marrow Aperture in advance.
• Zhang Yuanshan returned with Fu Zhenzhen, while the team discussed the manual and exchanged merit points for cultivation methods and pills.
• Xu Yue advised Meng Qi to focus on his strengths and use Six Paths empowerment to acquire additional Hardening Kung Fu.
• Meng Qi wavered as Xu Yue argued that the techniques would strengthen his Golden Bell Shield and support his future cultivation of the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts.

After Meng Qi broke through to Aperture Opening, his friends advised him that learning the Yi Jin Jing made leaving Shaolin difficult, but he remained determined to return to secular life. Nearly two years later, Xuan Bei took Meng Qi, Zhen Hui, and Xu Yue away from Shaolin, with Xu Yue beginning his return to lay life on the road to King Kong Temple.

• Meng Qi felt the Golden Bell Shield and his body-hardening techniques combine into explosive strength, and Jiang Zhiwei and Zhang Yuanshan praised his progress.
• Zhang Yuanshan, Qing Ying, and Qi Zhengyan warned Meng Qi that the Yi Jin Jing made it nearly impossible to leave Shaolin as a lay disciple, but Meng Qi insisted he would not remain a monk.
• After the mission ended, Meng Qi opened his eye aperture and chose Ananda's Precept-Breaking Saber Art and the Body Sacrifice Art from Shaolin's Scripture Depository.
• Nearly two years after arriving at Shaolin, Xuan Bei led Meng Qi, Zhen Hui, and Xu Yue toward King Kong Temple for Xu Yue's return-to-secular-life task.
• Meng Qi teased Xu Yue about being bald while Xu Yue helped him choose a hardening technique, and Xuan Bei instructed the three juniors about the martial world.

Xuan Bei guided Xu Yue and Meng Qi before leading them to Liusha Town, where they met the powerful innkeeper Qu Jiuniang. Over dinner, Xuan Bei’s account of the Crying Old Man’s return disturbed the group’s peace.

• Xuan Bei warned Xu Yue and Meng Qi that martial artists could fall to poison, formations, ambushes, and other dangers despite their strength.
• The group crossed the Gobi toward Liusha Town, and Xuan Bei crippled two groups of robbers they encountered.
• At the Vast Sea First Inn, Xu Yue called Qu Jiuniang a “Female Bodhisattva,” and Meng Qi pulled him away before he could say more.
• Xuan Bei told the group that Qu Jiuniang had appeared in the area ten years earlier and was an Exterior-level expert; Xu Yue and Meng Qi suspected the Six Paths Lords might be involved.
• Over dinner, Xuan Bei described the Crying Old Man, a notorious demonic practitioner ranked thirty-third on the Earth Ranking, who had returned after surviving a sword strike from Su Wuming.

Xuan Bei recognized Crying Old Man’s ambush and sent Meng Qi, Zhen Hui, and Xu Yue away before confronting him. As the grandmasters’ battle stirred up a deadly sandstorm, Xu Yue identified the threat and told them to run separately.

• Xuan Bei explained Crying Old Man’s disciples and granddisciples as he led the three juniors toward his sons’ burial site.
• Xuan Bei sensed Crying Old Man’s concealed malice and sent the three juniors back to fetch The Scripture of Prajna, intending to draw the enemy away from them.
• Meng Qi planned to use the errand to escape, while Zhen Hui ran back toward the inn and Xu Yue agreed to leave with Meng Qi.
• Xu Yue realized Xuan Bei had sent them away because of the ambush, and the sky darkened as the grandmasters’ fight raised a sandstorm.
• Xu Yue warned that Crying Old Man might have sent others after them and fled in a separate direction.

Meng Qi fled into the desert and ambushed An Guoxie, badly wounding him before escaping. Injured and pursued by more martial artists, Meng Qi remained unable to shake his pursuers, while Xu Yue was intercepted by You Huanduo.

• Meng Qi and Xu Yue split up, with Meng Qi fleeing deeper into the desert while Xu Yue drew away the pursuers.
• An Guoxie intercepted Meng Qi, who used a secret mental technique and Severing Purity to cut through more than half of An Guoxie's neck.
• An Guoxie struck Meng Qi and broke his hardening kung fu, but Meng Qi escaped before other pursuers could arrive.
• Two more Aperture Opening martial artists pursued Meng Qi; he killed one and drove off the other, but his injuries left him unable to shake the survivor.
• You Huanduo, Crying Old Man's other Nine Apertures granddisciple, blocked Xu Yue's path.

Xu Yue killed You Huanduo with a demonic version of the Formless Calamity Finger and continued toward Bomi to investigate the Nine Nethers. Meanwhile, An Guoxie and two of his martial brothers captured Meng Qi and began torturing him.

• You Huanduo threatened Xu Yue and urged him to kill himself, boasting that An Guoxie would make a worse fate for Meng Qi's companion.
• Xu Yue provoked You Huanduo, reversed his Buddhist aura into a demonic one, and killed him with a single finger strike.
• Xu Yue headed deeper into the Vast Desert toward Bomi to gather information about the Nine Nethers, while choosing not to interfere with Meng Qi's trials.
• Crying Old Man's disciples relentlessly pursued the wounded Meng Qi until An Guoxie and two martial brothers caught him.
• An Guoxie and his companions crippled Meng Qi's dantian and tortured him after learning of his Marrow Aperture cultivation art.

Meng Qi and Xu Yue regrouped with their reincarnation teammates, who discussed ways to help them survive their crises. A new, unusually difficult mission began, sending the combined teams toward the Demon Cult’s Sacred Volcano as the Demon Tomb prepared to open.

• Meng Qi sold the Golden Bell Shield and Body Sacrifice Art for karma points and refused the group’s offers to spend their own points treating his injuries.
• Xu Yue explained that You Huanduo was pursuing him in the Vast Desert, and the group discussed using hidden weapons to help both him and Meng Qi.
• Luo Shengyi arrived with Xia Chulin and Xia Dandan, explained that teams sometimes merged for difficult missions, and revealed that he was the Invincible Iron Fist ranked thirtieth on the Human Ranking.
• The Six Paths Lords assigned the teams missions involving the Demon Tomb and the four great sects’ assault on the Demon Cult’s headquarters at Sacred Volcano.
• Xu Yue considered the Demon Lord’s remnants and watched Qi Zhengyan, but worried that Gu Xiaosang’s presence would make interference dangerous.

The reincarnators gathered in an inn to coordinate their mission to help four major sects seal the Demon Tomb, while Luo Shengyi took charge and sent Xia Chulin to gather intelligence. Xia Chulin’s report revealed that this world’s Demon Tomb contained the Demon Lord’s remains and was periodically sealed by four weapons, leaving the group to prepare for the danger.

• Luo Shengyi and Zhang Yuanshan introduced their groups’ abilities and agreed to cooperate despite keeping some strengths secret.
• Luo Shengyi sent Xia Chulin to gather information, and Xia Chulin built rapport with local martial artists at the inn.
• Xia Chulin reported that the mission world’s Demon Lord legends resembled those in their own world, but this world contained the Demon Tomb and the Demon Lord’s remains.
• Qing Ying revealed that he was a disciple of the Xuantian Sect and explained that the Demon Lord’s remains had been absent from his world after the Heavenly Dao Seal and Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Spear destroyed and removed them.
• The group learned that demonic qi from the Demon Tomb could corrupt martial artists and that four sects used the Fengyun Saber, Taihua Sword, Star Plucking Hand, and Dawn Moon Weave to seal it every sixty years.

The group learned more about the Demon Lord and the cursed Demon Emperor's Claw before traveling to Fengyun Manor to join the righteous forces. Their effort to gather information ended with Xia Chulin's murder by a hostile Reincarnator, whom they identified as Gu Xiaosang.

• Qing Ying and Xu Yue warned the group about the Demon Lord's lingering danger and explained the Demon Emperor's Claw's history and curses.
• Luo Shengyi urged the group to reach Fengyun Manor, and they forced their way inside after he smashed the entrance's stone lion.
• Luo Shengyi sent Xia Chulin to gather information while the group waited at the manor.
• The Six Paths Lords announced that a hostile Reincarnator had killed Xia Chulin and deducted karma points from everyone.
• Xia Dandan rushed after the killer, and the group followed her to find Xia Chulin's dried corpse bearing the mark of the Life Extinguishing Finger.
• The group recognized Gu Xiaosang as the likely killer, while Meng Qi gleefully warned Xu Yue to be careful around her.

After Fengyun Manor placed Xu Yue's group under suspicion, Luo Shengyi took charge and offered to help, while a poisonous-insect attack deepened the manor's distrust and disrupted the four sects' plans. Meanwhile, Demon Cult Reincarnator Yun Tingfeng assessed the unexpectedly powerful opposing lineup and hesitated over how to proceed.

• Gu Kongshan questioned Xu Yue's group and effectively confined them to the courtyard after Xia Chulin's death made him wary.
• Luo Shengyi proposed that the group take the initiative and work with Fengyun Manor, while Qing Ying, Jiang Zhiwei, and Qi Zhengyan resented his forceful leadership.
• Fu Zhenzhen distributed antidotes and insect repellent, but poisonous insects attacked Fengyun Manor that night and intensified suspicions of Xu Yue's group.
• Luo Shengyi offered the group's help, and the four great sects decided to attack along separate routes while arranging swift mutual support.
• Jiang Zhiwei began teaching Meng Qi her sword move Yan Luo Tie.
• Yun Tingfeng heard Tang Hongxiu's assessment of the opposing Reincarnators and worried that his Demon Cult team was outmatched.

Xu Yue’s group split up to lure out the hostile Reincarnators, but Su Yuanying’s weather-altering power cut off their teams with a sandstorm. Luo Shengyi’s team was ambushed by a Demon Cult expert, while the enemy also moved to surround Jiang Zhiwei’s team.

• Shadow Kill and Su Yuanying assessed Xu Yue’s side as having revealed its full strength, while Gu Xiaosang agreed to follow Yun Tingfeng’s arrangements.
• Xu Yue’s group split into three scouting teams, with Gu Kongshan staying behind to prepare reinforcements.
• A sudden sandstorm separated the teams and prevented them from rendezvousing with Gu Kongshan.
• Xu Yue suggested that the sandstorm had been caused by a special exchanged item, and Luo Shengyi agreed they needed to regroup quickly.
• A Demon Cult Through the Nether expert burst from beneath Luo Shengyi and attacked his team as Yun Tingfeng’s group moved to surround them.
• Gu Xiaosang and Su Yuanying led another force to surround Jiang Zhiwei, Meng Qi, and Xia Dandan.

Luo Shengyi was ambushed by Yun Tingfeng while Xu Yue and Ke Biqun faced Tang Hongxiu, Shadow Kill, and another demonic sect elder in the sandstorm. Xu Yue killed the attackers with overwhelming speed and sword and leg techniques, leaving Yun Tingfeng shocked by his strength.

• Luo Shengyi killed a demonic sect elder, but Yun Tingfeng seized him with the Star Absorbing Great Method.
• Tang Hongxiu, Shadow Kill, and another demonic sect elder attacked Xu Yue and Ke Biqun with concealed weapons and golden beetles.
• Xu Yue drew the weapons, beetles, and sand into his sword qi and killed Tang Hongxiu.
• Luo Shengyi used the distraction to force Yun Tingfeng back and escape his grasp.
• Xu Yue chased down and killed Shadow Kill and the demonic sect elder, shocking Yun Tingfeng with his apparent Two Apertures cultivation.

Xu Yue defeated Yun Tingfeng’s group while Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi survived Gu Xiaosang’s attack at another location. Gu Xiaosang withdrew after sensing someone’s warning, and Zhang Yuanshan’s group reached Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi.

• Xu Yue killed two Four Apertures Reincarnators, and Yun Tingfeng fled while Luo Shengyi and Ke Biqun watched in shock.
• Luo Shengyi gave Xu Yue a pill to restore his true qi and explained that Yun Tingfeng had drained his energy through contact.
• Xu Yue learned from the kill notifications that Xia Dandan’s group had also been attacked and decided to provide support.
• Jiang Zhiwei killed Su Yuanying with Yama’s Post, while Gu Xiaosang killed Xia Dandan and threatened Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi.
• Meng Qi shielded Jiang Zhiwei as she gathered the Sword Intent of Sword Comes Without Self, keeping Gu Xiaosang from approaching.
• Gu Xiaosang sensed a warning from the sandstorm, vanished, and Zhang Yuanshan’s group arrived as Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi recovered.

After a deadly ambush during the faction confrontation, Luo Shengyi mourned Xia Dandan while the survivors assessed the enemy’s frightening abilities and debated the Demon Tomb’s secrets. Gu Kongshan left to warn the other sects, while the defeated Demon Cult Reincarnators regrouped and concealed what they had learned from one another.

• Luo Shengyi blamed himself for Xia Dandan’s death, and Zhang Yuanshan and Qing Ying reviewed the battle and the enemy’s abilities.
• Meng Qi described Gu Xiaosang’s strange conduct, and Xu Yue speculated that she wanted them alive for the Demon Tomb and its inheritance.
• The weakened sandstorm ended, and Gu Kongshan arrived, learned it had been artificially created, and left to contact the other sect leaders.
• Su Yuanying berated Yun Tingfeng over the failed ambush, while Yun Tingfeng kept his information about a powerful opponent to himself.
• Gu Xiaosang returned in good spirits, and Su Yuanying and Yun Tingfeng both hid their suspicions about her strength.

Gu Xiaosang seized the Taihua Sword, then lured Xu Yue’s pursuit party to a temple and scattered them into the Demon Tomb. Xu Yue entered the Tomb’s blood-red world and began tracing its information toward the lightning-pierced central peak.

• Gu Kongshan’s attempt to unite the four great sects failed, and the Demon Cult seized the Taihua Sword during a renewed sandstorm.
• The Demon Cult split into four retreating groups, so the Righteous Path divided its forces to pursue them; Xu Yue’s group followed Gu Xiaosang’s route.
• Xu Yue and the others found Gu Xiaosang at a Demon Lord temple, where she had killed the Heaven, Earth, and Man Trinity with the Life Extinguishing Finger.
• Gu Xiaosang appeared beside the Demon Lord’s statue and scattered the pursuers into separate parts of a twisted blood-red world.
• Xu Yue recognized that he had entered the Demon Tomb and followed streams of information toward the central peak pierced by purple lightning.

Xu Yue rejected the Demon Lord’s inheritance but gained the chance to use the Demon Lord and Thor’s identities, while Meng Qi received Thor’s Thunder Mark. Back at Reincarnation Plaza, the group discussed the mission’s rewards and planned for Meng Qi and Xu Yue to face their pursuers.

• Xu Yue spoke with the Demon Lord’s phantom, declined his inheritance, and said he might borrow the Demon Lord’s identity.
• Xu Yue considered using Thor’s identity and a connection to the Demon Buddha’s schemes to influence events at the Other Shore.
• Thor’s violet lightning marked Meng Qi, granting him an initial understanding of Divine Firmament Nine Annihilations and activating his Ear Aperture acupoints.
• The Demon Tomb exploded, doubling the group’s Virtuous Merit and returning them to Reincarnation Plaza, where they learned only Jiang Zhiwei, Qi Zhengyan, and Meng Qi had reached the mountaintop.
• Meng Qi said he would use a Reincarnation Talisman to train before confronting An Guoxie, while Xu Yue revealed that he had opened his Ear Aperture and planned to escape You Huanduo.

Xu Yue traveled through the Vast Desert toward Bomi, hoping to study the Nine Nethers by gathering information near Yellow Springs. He found a caravan bound for Bomi and claimed to be a Jiangzuo Yan Family disciple seeking a Yin Blood Stone.

• Xu Yue reflected that Meng Qi had likely defeated An Guoxie and was advancing toward becoming an Outer Scenery expert.
• Xu Yue decided to gather information about Yellow Springs in Bomi without entering the sealed area.
• Xu Yue calculated that the caravan for Bomi had already departed and set out to find it.
• Xu Yue reached a well-guarded trading party consisting of two Outer Scenery experts and four Half-step Outer Scenery experts.
• Xu Yue introduced himself as an outer-family disciple of the Jiangzuo Yan Family and asked to join the caravan to buy a Yin Blood Stone.
• The caravan relaxed its guard after recognizing the Jiangzuo Yan Family's connection to Yan Wuwo and the Zombie Sect.

Xu Yue joined a caravan into Bomi and gathered information about the region and its Nine Nethers. Elsewhere, Meng Qi began searching for Zhen Hui and set out for Bomi with Gu Changqing.

• Xu Yue convinced Cao Chong and the caravan that he was a Jiangzuo Yan Family disciple seeking ordinary Yin Blood Stones, then traveled with them toward Bomi.
• Cao Chong’s young kinsman told Xu Yue about Bomi’s dangers, the local powers, and Crying Old Man’s fight with Xuan Bei.
• Xu Yue reached Bomi with the caravan and began gathering information about the Nine Nethers.
• After killing An Guoxie, Meng Qi used the clues he bought from Ninth Lady to search for Zhen Hui.
• Meng Qi set out toward Bomi with Gu Changqing as his guide.

Xu Yue visited Bomi’s exchange market and traded an Ice Heart Pill for a Yin Blood Stone. Life-Taking Yaksha offered to trade for more pills in the future, leaving Xu Yue with a way to obtain additional stones through the Vast Sea Cao Family.

• Xu Yue observed how the Nine Nether Aura and Yellow Springs aura made Bomi difficult for ordinary martial artists to endure.
• Life-Taking Yaksha threatened Xu Yue over his request for a single Yin Blood Stone, while another fiend mocked him for fearing Crying Old Man.
• Xu Yue offered three Ice Heart Pills and explained that they could temporarily calm agitated emotions by affecting the body.
• Poison Hand Demon Lord and the other fiends examined the pills, but Life-Taking Yaksha accepted them and gave Xu Yue a Yin Blood Stone.
• Life-Taking Yaksha and another fiend offered to trade one Yin Blood Stone for each pill if Xu Yue brought more than ten, and Xu Yue agreed to arrange future trades through the Vast Sea Cao Family.