Chapter Summaries

Ye Zhen arrived at Chihuo Martial City after the North Absolute Three Ghosts attacked the Crimson Fire Branch Hall and injured Nian Sijing, Little Cat, and dozens of martial artists with their Soul Attacks. After healing the survivors and condemning the ghosts’ demand for three hundred children, Ye Zhen confronted them and offered them ten breaths to kill themselves.

• The North Absolute Three Ghosts demanded three hundred virgin boys and girls from the Crimson Fire Branch Hall and used Soul Attacks to injure Nian Sijing, Little Cat, and more than forty martial artists.
• Ye Zhen reached the City Lord's Manor, healed Little Cat and the injured martial artists by refining the ghost qi in their souls, and learned that the three attackers were preparing for a treasure hunt.
• Hong Jiayin explained that he had refused the ghosts’ demand, and Ye Zhen praised his decision and vowed to avenge the branch hall’s slain martial artists.
• Ye Zhen flew out to confront the North Absolute Three Ghosts and gave them ten breaths to kill themselves, while the hidden Palace Opening Realm Kings watched.

Ye Zhen defeated Heart-Grinding Ghost Lu Mei’s soul attack and seized his Innate Soul, leaving him to be devoured by Demonic Spirit Ghosts. As Lu Mei’s brothers attacked to save him, Ye Zhen gave them a countdown before their third brother’s soul was consumed.

• The watching martial artists mocked Ye Zhen for ordering the North Absolute Three Ghosts to prostrate themselves and commit suicide.
• Heart-Grinding Ghost Lu Mei attacked Ye Zhen with Soul-Devouring Ghost Light and tried to extract his living soul.
• Ye Zhen’s soul withstood Lu Mei’s attack, then seized Lu Mei’s Innate Soul and severed its connection to his Innate Soul Light.
• Over a hundred Demonic Spirit Ghosts began devouring Lu Mei’s Innate Soul while Ye Zhen warned Howling Soul Ghost Yan Chou and Shadowless Ghost that Lu Mei had only a short time left.
• Yan Chou and Shadowless Ghost attacked Ye Zhen together as Lu Mei cried out for help.

Ye Zhen defeated the North Absolute Three Ghosts with Soul Thorns and used their torment to warn outsiders not to cause trouble in Chihuo Martial City. As the city’s martial artists began to feel protected, a seventh-layer Palace Opening Realm King appeared and overwhelmed the area with spiritual pressure.

• Yan Chou unleashed Myriad Ghosts Soul Seeking, but Ye Zhen silenced him and struck down Shadowless Ghost with Soul Thorns.
• Ye Zhen captured the North Absolute Three Ghosts’ Innate Souls and subjected them to Hundred Ghosts Devouring Soul.
• Ye Zhen amplified their screams and warned cultivators that anyone who harmed Chihuo Martial City would suffer the same fate.
• Outsiders were frightened into avoiding trouble in the city, while local martial artists felt reassured by Ye Zhen’s protection.
• A seventh-layer Palace Opening Realm King appeared, and his spiritual pressure suppressed the Crimson Fire Branch Hall and stunned the watching martial artists.

Mountain Shaking King Hu Zhen arrived in Chihuo Martial City and demanded Ye Zhen’s three Demon Extermination Marshals in exchange for a Low-grade Spirit Weapon. Ye Zhen pretended to bargain, then suddenly attacked Hu Zhen with Soul Refining Divine Light.

• Hu Zhen injured a blue-clad Palace Opening Realm King with a glance, silencing the martial artists gathered around the Five-Colored Treasure Light.
• Nian Sijing warned Ye Zhen about Hu Zhen’s formidable history and seventh-layer Palace Opening Realm cultivation, so Ye Zhen prepared his defensive Spirit Weapons and planned to strike first if they fought.
• Hu Zhen revealed Ye Zhen’s fifth-layer Innate Soul Light cultivation, shocking the Crimson Fire Branch Hall martial artists and the watching Palace Opening Realm Kings.
• Hu Zhen demanded Ye Zhen’s three Demon Extermination Marshals and offered one Low-grade Spirit Weapon in exchange, claiming he was not bullying the young.
• Ye Zhen feigned interest in the trade, then roared at Hu Zhen and fired Soul Refining Divine Light at him.

Ye Zhen ambushed the Mountain Shaking King with his Soul Refining Divine Light and repeatedly injured him despite the king’s powerful soul defenses and life-saving talisman. After the Mountain Shaking King vanished inside a blood mist, Ye Zhen raised every defense he could and searched the surrounding area for him.

• Ye Zhen struck the Mountain Shaking King with Soul Refining Divine Light, piercing his soul defenses and sending him plunging from the sky.
• The Mountain Shaking King’s Soul-Replacing Puppet Talisman shattered and saved him from Ye Zhen’s follow-up attack, but Ye Zhen blasted apart part of his Innate Soul.
• The Mountain Shaking King spat out Origin Vital Blood infused with three-colored Innate Soul Light, forming a blood mist that blocked Ye Zhen’s attack before dispersing with the king gone.
• Ye Zhen activated his Spirit Weapons, condensed three powerful Earth Spirit Shields, and searched the surrounding void, but could not detect the Mountain Shaking King within ten kilometers.
• Ye Zhen spread his Soul Power through the surrounding Earth Spirit Energy to continue searching for the vanished king.

Ye Zhen drove off the Mountain Shaking King and used the North Absolute Three Ghosts to frighten Chihuo Martial City’s onlookers into obeying the city regulations. Three days later, the lava in Tiger Mouth Gorge stopped erupting, and messages announced that the treasure hunt had begun.

• Ye Zhen’s Soul Attacks severely wounded the Mountain Shaking King, who escaped after spending Origin Vital Blood and soul power to cover his flight.
• Yin Changsheng concluded that the Mountain Shaking King had fled and identified Ye Zhen’s weak physical cultivation as a possible way to defeat him.
• Ye Zhen warned the Palace Opening Realm Kings to behave as guests in Chihuo Martial City, then used the North Absolute Three Ghosts’ screams to drive them away and enforce order.
• Nian Sijing told Ye Zhen that the Mountain Shaking King would seek revenge against him rather than attack ordinary martial artists, and Ye Zhen urged Nian Sijing to heal.
• Three days later, the lava in Tiger Mouth Gorge stopped erupting, and Dao Talisman messages announced the start of the treasure hunt.

Ye Zhen confronted Tiger King Yu and four other powerful Tiger Shark Island martial artists who attacked Crimson Fire City, then followed them to Tiger Mouth Gorge as the treasure hunt drew Palace Opening Realm Kings from across the region. With the crowd growing and tensions rising, the Azure Sheep Palace Master arrived in a blaze of heavenly fire.

• Ye Zhen’s city manor was attacked by Tiger King Yu and four Tiger Shark Island Palace Opening Realm Kings, whose linked spiritual and soul powers let them withstand Ye Zhen’s Soul Refining Divine Light.
• Ye Zhen held back his Demon Extermination Marshals, and Tiger King Yu’s group withdrew toward Tiger Mouth Gorge to pursue the treasure.
• Ye Zhen ordered Crimson Fire City onto first-level alert, left six Supreme-grade Attribute Spirit Crystals behind, and traveled to the gorge with Xiao Mao, Nian Sijing, and one Demon Extermination Marshal.
• Ye Zhen joined the gathered Palace Opening Realm Kings, where he found Tiger King Yu’s group and was later joined by Wu Ying.
• Wu Ying told Ye Zhen that a powerful arrival would prevent the gathered martial artists from causing trouble, and the Azure Sheep Palace Master appeared amid blazing Qingyang Arrogant Flame.

Qingyang Palace Master Chu Yang arrived at Tiger Mouth Gorge and was chosen to oversee the treasure hunt, then ordered the Pulse Forging Realm martial artists to leave. After the crowd departed, Mountain Shaking King Hu Zhen pointed out that Ye Zhen was still there, turning the gathered kings’ attention toward him.

• Chu Yang arrived at Tiger Mouth Gorge with five Palace Opening Realm Kings after using a secret technique to cross the distance quickly.
• The Palace Opening Realm Kings welcomed Chu Yang and chose him to preside over the treasure hunt.
• Hu Zhen arrived and fixed his hostile gaze on Ye Zhen, whose soul cultivation and Cloud Winged Tiger King Xiao Mao made Hu Zhen wary.
• Chu Yang ordered all Pulse Forging Realm martial artists to leave, and the more than two hundred gathered martial artists departed.
• Hu Zhen pointed out that Ye Zhen remained, and the Palace Opening Realm Kings turned their attention toward him.

Ye Zhen challenged Mountain Shaking King’s right to join the treasure hunt, but Chu Yang stopped them from fighting and organized the Palace Opening Realm Kings to clear the lava. When they uncovered a vast palace gate beneath the lava, its plaque revealed the name Earth Fire Heart Palace.

• Ye Zhen taunted Mountain Shaking King and insisted that he had no more right to seek treasure than the man Ye Zhen had defeated.
• Chu Yang blocked Mountain Shaking King’s attack, allowed Ye Zhen to join the hunt, and directed the gathered kings to excavate and cool the lava pit.
• Mountain Shaking King, River Crossing King Chi Yulong, and Ice Fiend King Luo Zhu displayed their formidable abilities as the kings worked to expose the treasure below.
• After giving the workers time to recover, Chu Yang led all forty-seven Palace Opening Realm Kings in lifting away the cooled lava shell.
• A surge of five-colored treasure light revealed a gigantic palace gate bearing the plaque Earth Fire Heart Palace.

Ye Zhen and the other Palace Opening Realm Kings discovered that the Earth Fire Heart Palace was protected by a grand array powered by twenty underground Spirit Veins, which they could not break. After every attempt to enter failed, Ye Zhen approached the palace gates and pulled a bronze ring, triggering a strange change.

• Ye Zhen and the other Palace Opening Realm Kings suffered injuries when they examined the palace plaque with Spiritual Sense.
• The Illusion Array King explained that the palace array mobilized twenty underground Spirit Veins, making it impossible for the gathered Kings to break through by force.
• River Crossing King Chi Yulong attacked the protective light curtain, but his strike rebounded and injured him.
• Qingyang Palace Master Chu Yang ordered everyone to search for a safe way into the palace, but their attempts all failed.
• Ye Zhen walked to the palace gates and lightly pulled one of the bronze rings, causing streams of light to appear.

Ye Zhen triggered the Earth Fire Heart Palace’s gate mechanism and encountered the ancient Earth Core Fire Marshal, who offered him a chance to inherit his martial Dao. The Marshal warned that the three trials were deadly, and Ye Zhen had yet to decide whether to accept.

• Ye Zhen clasped the bronze gate ring, and crimson light bound him so tightly that he could not move.
• The Earth Core Fire Marshal appeared as an azure phantom and announced that visitors who knocked could become candidates for his martial Dao legacy.
• The Palace Opening Realm Kings fled, then returned when they realized the phantom was addressing Ye Zhen and ignoring them.
• Ye Zhen recognized the Marshal as an ancient warrior from the Yuan Da Calendar who had slain vast numbers of Devil Race warriors.
• The Earth Core Fire Marshal revealed that 138 previous candidates had failed and 101 had died, then asked Ye Zhen whether he would enter the trials.

Ye Zhen faced the first trial of the Earth Core Fire Marshal's inheritance: choosing which of the marshal's three beloved women to keep. The story of the marshal's regret made Ye Zhen imagine facing the same choice with the women in his own life, and the countdown began before he answered.

• The Earth Core Fire Marshal's lingering image recounted how he loved his junior sister, Huowu, and a Demon Race Princess but failed to choose among them before their deadline passed.
• The marshal explained that his three confidantes left, after which he searched for them for nearly a thousand years and built the Earth Fire Heart Palace to pass on his martial legacy.
• The lingering image asked Ye Zhen which woman he would choose and warned that a wrong answer would end his chance to inherit the martial arts.
• Ye Zhen imagined Caiyi, Green Vine, Feng Qingyue, and Hu Qingtong demanding the same choice, and felt the marshal's anguish.
• The half-hour ended, and the lingering image began a ten-count while Ye Zhen still had not answered.

Ye Zhen disappeared into the Earth Fire Heart Palace, where he began the martial inheritance trial, while the Palace Opening Realm Kings outside struggled to discover how to enter. After several failed attempts, they learned the correct choice was to choose all three confidantes, the same answer Ye Zhen had given.

• Ye Zhen vanished within the crimson light, leaving the Palace Opening Realm Kings outside to argue over the bronze ring and how to use it.
• Mountain Shaking King proposed breaking the deadlock, and Chu Yang appointed Qingyang Palace's Fifth Elder Tang Hui to test the ring.
• Tang Hui entered the trial, chose Huowu, and was teleported away after failing; he told the others that Ye Zhen had likely begun the martial inheritance trial.
• The Palace Opening Realm Kings made later candidates swear Soul Oaths to reveal their choices, but four of the next five candidates failed.
• After further attempts, the Palace Opening Realm Kings discovered that passing required choosing all three confidantes, which was also Ye Zhen's answer.

Ye Zhen passed Earth Core Fire Marshal’s first trial by refusing to abandon any of the three women and entered a deadly Devil Race fortress to test his survival skills. After learning how powerful the fortress’s Demonic Spirit Ghosts were and finding fire talismans to aid him, he spotted what appeared to be a true Devil Race member approaching.

• Ye Zhen answered that he would find a way to keep all three women, and Earth Core Fire Marshal approved his answer and sent him into the survival trial.
• Earth Core Fire Marshal explained that Ye Zhen had to retrieve the Demon Race Battle Flag from a dangerous fortress and left him five fire talismans as assistance.
• A powerful Demonic Spirit Ghost attacked Ye Zhen with a soul beam, but Ye Zhen slowed it with Soul Shocking Heavenly Lightning and captured it in the Demon Soul Hall.
• Ye Zhen refined Demonic Spirit Ghosts and learned that the ghosts he had previously called Soul Generals and Soul Commanders were far weaker than their true counterparts, while the fortress contained Soul Generals comparable to Dao Entry Realm experts.
• Ye Zhen concluded that survival depended on gathering fire talismans rather than relying only on strength, then saw a violent aura approaching and recognized a possible true Devil Race member.

Ye Zhen explored the Devil Race fortress, testing a fire talisman against a powerful Four-armed Demon and gathering talismans and Demonic Spirit Ghosts. After learning about the Multi-armed Demon Race and surviving repeated attacks, he spotted a familiar human martial artist arriving from the sky.

• Ye Zhen used a fire talisman to heavily injure a Sixth Level Palace Opening Realm Four-armed Demon, then destroyed its soul and tested how little his sword could pierce its durable hide.
• Ye Zhen stored the demon’s corpse and explored the fortress cautiously, seeking hidden fire talismans and adult Demonic Spirit Ghosts to help him survive the trial.
• Over two hours, Ye Zhen captured more than five hundred Demonic Spirit Ghosts, encountered over three hundred Multi-armed Demons, and found more than one hundred talismans while using three fire talismans to escape ambushes.
• Ye Zhen learned that the Multi-armed Demon Race was a formidable combat race whose members grew additional arms as they advanced in cultivation.
• Ye Zhen spotted a familiar human martial artist descending from the sky and wondered whether Palace Opening Realm Kings had finally entered the fortress.

Ye Zhen watched the Palace Opening Realm Kings organize into teams after deadly attacks in the Devil Race fortress territory, while resolving to eliminate Mountain Shaking King and Tiger King Yu's group before they could threaten him. As the teams formed, Mountain Shaking King Hu Zhen claimed Shadow Moon Guard Commander Wu Ying and Nian Sijing for his own, alarming both of them.

• Ye Zhen saw forty-one Palace Opening Realm Kings enter the second trial and concluded that Mountain Shaking King and Tiger King Yu's group had to be killed before they could leave Earth Fire Heart Palace.
• Demonic Spirit Ghosts and Multi-armed Demons wounded the Palace Opening Realm Kings, leaving two Kings' Innate Souls near collapse and a fourth-layer King without a leg.
• Chu Yang proposed that the Kings travel in five teams, with the five strongest captains choosing members in turn.
• Chen Chi chose Ice Fiend King Luo Zhu, while Moon Swallowing Sun's team joined with Tiger King Yu's five companions and the Longevity Sect members.
• When Chi Yulong tried to choose Wu Ying, Hu Zhen interrupted and declared that Wu Ying and Nian Sijing belonged on his team, revealing his intentions to both of them.

Mountain Shaking King used Wu Ying and Nian Sijing to lure Ye Zhen into a confrontation, leaving both Divine Sect elders injured and isolated. After Nian Sijing warned that their deaths would cripple the sect, Wu Ying contacted Ye Zhen, who told them to bring Mountain Shaking King's group to him.

• Wu Ying and Nian Sijing contacted Ye Zhen, prompting Mountain Shaking King to target them for revenge.
• Mountain Shaking King claimed Wu Ying and Nian Sijing for his team, and the other captains refused to select them after they rejected him.
• Mountain Shaking King pursued the pair with seven Palace Opening Realm Kings, using them as bait to draw Ye Zhen out while rescuing them from Devil Race threats.
• Mountain Shaking King wounded Nian Sijing and Wu Ying when they refused to contact Ye Zhen, and Nian Sijing persuaded Wu Ying to consider the Divine Sect's safety.
• Wu Ying sent Ye Zhen a Talisman Signal, and Ye Zhen replied, "Bring them over. I'll handle them!"

Ye Zhen used his control over the Demonic Spirit Ghosts to surround the Mountain Shaking King and his seven companions. The Mountain Shaking King rallied them to fight, but they looked up at Ye Zhen and were overcome by despair.

• Ye Zhen learned that only some of the Palace Opening Realm Kings had acquired the Earth Core Fire Marshal's Fire Talismans, and he arranged for Wu Ying to flee on his signal.
• The Mountain Shaking King pursued Wu Ying and Nian Sijing, boasting that a tracking mark on Nian Sijing would lead him to Ye Zhen.
• Wu Ying and Nian Sijing escaped with a secret art, while Demonic Spirit Ghosts appeared in every direction around the Mountain Shaking King's group.
• Ye Zhen revealed himself above the surrounded Kings, and the Mountain Shaking King urged his companions to fight with their Fire Talismans.
• Ye Zhen told the Kings that fighting desperately against his Demonic Spirit Ghosts was a joke, and they looked up at him in despair.

Ye Zhen used hundreds of Demonic Spirit Ghosts to overwhelm Mountain Shaking King and the other Palace Opening Realm Kings, then stopped Mountain Shaking King’s escape and killed him. After the remaining Kings were defeated, Ye Zhen rushed to gather the uncontrollable ghosts before they escaped.

• Ye Zhen released hundreds of Demonic Spirit Ghosts, and they attacked Mountain Shaking King and the other eight Palace Opening Realm Kings.
• The Kings threw fifteen fire talismans at the ghosts, but Mountain Shaking King used a blood-mist secret art to shield himself and secretly escape.
• Ye Zhen sensed Mountain Shaking King’s spatial escape trail and severed it with a fire talisman, forcing him to fall from the void.
• Ye Zhen killed Mountain Shaking King with Soul Refining Divine Light, took his Storage Rings, and recovered part of his Innate Soul Light.
• The Demonic Spirit Ghosts overwhelmed the remaining Kings; Ye Zhen explained that he could not control them, then charged into the swarm to keep them from escaping.

After defeating Mountain Shaking King’s group, Ye Zhen separated from Wu Ying and Nian Sijing to search for a way past the two terrifying Devil Race guardians in the fortress. While surveying the region from above, he realized its seven valleys seemed to form an altar.

• Ye Zhen recovered most of his Demonic Spirit Ghosts, shared Storage Rings with Wu Ying and Nian Sijing, and urged them to recuperate before attempting the trial.
• Ye Zhen left Wu Ying and Nian Sijing with five fire talismans and rode Cloud Winged Tiger King Xiao Mao away alone.
• The four surviving teams discovered the northern Devil Race fortress but stayed at its outskirts after sensing two auras that seemed to rival Dao Entry Realm mighty figures.
• Ye Zhen learned the fortress held a Six-armed Multi-armed Demon and a Soul General-level Demonic Spirit Ghost, and decided to search for another way through rather than risk entering.
• After exploring for three days without finding clues, Ye Zhen surveyed the region from the air and noticed its seven valleys formed what looked like an altar.