Chapter Summaries

Chen Luo entered Elder Rong Ling’s Inner Demon Tribulation through the Inner Demon Art and found himself living as an ordinary fishmonger in a meticulously realistic world. Unable to locate Elder Rong Ling, he began to understand how difficult it would be to sever the attachments that defined a life.

• Chen Luo absorbed the Inner Demon Tribulation’s power near Elder Rong Ling, took a trace of Rong Ling’s aura, and fled Black Stone City to cultivate in seclusion.
• Chen Luo used the Inner Demon Art to enter Elder Rong Ling’s tribulation and discovered that he had become an ordinary man with no spiritual power.
• Chen Luo searched the city for Elder Rong Ling while posing as Zhang Erge, a fishmonger, and learned that the people and world around him seemed entirely real.
• Chen Luo returned to Zhang Erge’s home and met the man’s wife, whose ordinary concerns and cherished belongings made him question who could endure such a tribulation.

Chen Luo found Elder Rong Ling living as his nephew, Zhang Rong Ling, inside the Inner Demon Tribulation and followed him as he pursued scholarly success. Years later, Zhang Rong Ling reached the capital’s official circles, and a trembling invitation brought him to a grave choice.

• Chen Luo discovered that the young scholar Zhang Rong Ling was the Elder Rong Ling he had been searching for and lent him money to travel for the provincial examination.
• After Zhang Rong Ling placed highly in the provincial examination, he asked Chen Luo to accompany him to the capital, and Chen Luo agreed.
• Chen Luo learned that Zhang Rong Ling’s calamity was his desire for glory, wealth, and honor, and that he was sinking deeper into the tribulation as his ambitions advanced.
• Zhang Rong Ling became a Presented Scholar and a minor capital official, while Chen Luo remained his trusted companion and his childhood sweetheart stayed in the countryside before joining them.
• Years later, Zhang Rong Ling summoned Chen Luo at night and held a trembling invitation as he faced a grave choice.

Chen Luo watched Zhang Rong Ling make successive choices to pursue status and survive political upheaval during the Inner Demon Tribulation. After betraying the Prime Minister to join the Old Faction, Zhang Rong Ling was abandoned by his new allies and demoted to prefect in Dizhou, while Chen Luo saw that he still could not let go of power and ambition.

• Zhang Rong Ling accepted the Prime Minister's marriage offer, returned the Peace Talisman to the woman waiting for him, and married the Prime Minister's Daughter.
• Zhang Rong Ling rose through court with the New Faction, while the woman who had once waited for him grew old beside Chen Luo.
• When the Prime Minister resigned, Zhang Rong Ling told Chen Luo he planned to abandon his father-in-law and seek protection from Lord Si; Chen Luo asked whether he had considered giving up, but Zhang Rong Ling refused.
• After the Prime Minister retired, Zhang Rong Ling exposed his father-in-law's secrets to join the Old Faction and preserve his position.
• Shen Tu publicly severed ties with Zhang Rong Ling, and the New Faction impeached him before Elder Si withdrew his support.
• The court demoted Zhang Rong Ling to prefect in Dizhou, and he vowed to reclaim what he had lost as Chen Luo looked toward the tribulation sky.

Chen Luo watched Zhang Rong Ling deepen his corruption and cling to power while his second aunt’s health failed. After her death, Zhang Rong Ling returned to the Capital City, joined the New Faction, and built a political faction of his own.

• Zhang Rong Ling extorted 2,700 taels from Huang Danu and promised to free Huang Danu’s son, while revealing that he planned to exploit the case for the Liu Family’s benefit.
• Chen Luo’s second aunt died after falling asleep, and Chen Luo and Zhang Rong Ling held her simple funeral.
• Chen Luo urged Zhang Rong Ling to let go of fame and fortune, but Zhang Rong Ling refused, citing the people who depended on him and his wife, Jun Ru.
• Half a year later, Zhang Rong Ling returned to the Capital City as a first-class Minister, switched to the New Faction after the New Emperor ascended, and allied with Elder Zhou.
• Zhang Rong Ling and Elder Zhou purged their opponents and established a growing faction at court.

Zhang Rong Ling rose toward the Cabinet after prosecuting the Consort Murder Case, but the Old Faction arranged his transfer to the southwest following the Late Emperor’s death. There, he abandoned his earlier principles, exploited the people, and colluded with eunuchs and Wokou Pirates as Chen Luo absorbed the power of his failing tribulation.

• Zhang Rong Ling tried the Consort Murder Case impartially, implicating imperial relatives and officials and winning fame that brought him an imperial appointment to the Cabinet.
• On the night before his appointment, soldiers sealed Zhang Manor, and a general delivered a decree ordering Zhang Rong Ling to leave the Capital City and suppress the Wokou Pirates after the Late Emperor’s death.
• Zhang Rong Ling left for the southwest with Chen Luo and recognized that his enemies had removed him from the Capital City to block his rise.
• Zhang Rong Ling changed his approach, delegated the suppression campaign, and amassed wealth by colluding with local clans and exploiting the people.
• Zhang Rong Ling connected with a eunuch and used the Wokou Pirates to commit violence that concealed his corruption, while Chen Luo absorbed the growing tribulation qi.

Zhang Rong Ling rose to Prime Minister through corruption and political manipulation, then watched the Sacred Dynasty collapse under foreign invasion. As his life ended, he recognized the source of his Inner Demon Tribulation and awakened, telling Chen Luo that he did not regret his choices.

• Zhang Rong Ling used his painting and bribery to win the Emperor's favor, return to the Capital City, and eventually replace the Prime Minister.
• Zhang Rong Ling's New Policies enriched powerful families, weakened the Border Army, and helped drive the Emperor into indulgence.
• Foreign tribes invaded, and seventy-year-old Zhang Rong Ling fled the fallen capital before being abandoned with Chen Luo and Jun Ru.
• Jun Ru died in the wilderness, and Zhang Rong Ling buried her while Chen Luo watched.
• An old woman on a farmer's cart reminded Zhang Rong Ling of the woman he had abandoned, and he realized that he was undergoing the Inner Demon Tribulation.
• Chen Luo asked whether he regretted his choices, and Zhang Rong Ling answered that he did not.

After surviving Elder Rong Ling’s Inner Demon Tribulation, Chen Luo stabilized the immense spiritual power he had gained and discovered the Peace Talisman Rong Ling left behind. When he tested the talisman on an Iron Corpse, it fused with the corpse’s heart and transformed the body into a mass of living blood vessels and meridians, leaving Chen Luo to suspect it was a Gu.

• Elder Rong Ling died in the Inner Demon Tribulation after giving Chen Luo a Peace Talisman, and Black Stone Ancestor returned to Black Stone City and crushed the looters who remained there.
• Chen Luo stabilized the spiritual power he had gained from Rong Ling and found that his Spiritual Power Flood Dragons had increased from sixty to eighty.
• Chen Luo inventoried his stolen resources and raised the number of Foundation Establishment Realm External Brains under his control to one hundred and eighteen, including a Beast Taming Cultivator’s brain.
• Chen Luo implanted the Peace Talisman into an Iron Corpse to test its power, and it fused with the corpse’s heart and caused its meridians and blood vessels to erupt and move like living tendrils.
• Chen Luo saw the talisman pulsing at the center of the transformation and wondered whether it was a Gu.

Chen Luo discovered that the Peace Talisman contained the Soul Parasite Gu and used it to control a Rare Insect, the Silver Centipede. After testing its enhanced speed and Geng Metal Energy, he returned from the cave with his cultivation advanced and the Inner Demon Tribulation’s aftereffects gone.

• Chen Luo recognized the Peace Talisman as the Soul Parasite Gu and removed it from the Corpse Puppet.
• Chen Luo used the Soul Parasite Gu to parasitize and control the Silver Centipede, a Rare Insect he had obtained from Wang Zangxiao.
• Chen Luo tested the centipede outside the cave and found that the Soul Parasite Gu extended his divine sense and greatly enhanced the insect’s power.
• The Silver Centipede killed a demon-qi-infused black bear that was about to attack an old man at a post station.
• Chen Luo recalled the Silver Centipede and realized that his cultivation had advanced and the Inner Demon Tribulation’s aftereffects had dissipated.

Chen Luo returned to Gu Demon Mountain, learned that the Seed Demon Sect had struck Pingshan Stream and that Su Linlin had news of a Core Formation Secret Technique, then cultivated by the river. When three sword-bearing intruders attacked the mountain, Ding Zhao killed them but was struck by a curse and collapsed.

• Chen Luo returned to Gu Demon Mountain, rejected three new Lineages seeking to become his vassals, and heard that Pingshan Stream was in chaos after Venerable Yin Wind disappeared and several boys were Curse Killed.
• Ding Zhao gave Chen Luo a Communication Talisman from Su Linlin, whose message invited him to Tu Mountain to discuss a Core Formation Secret Technique.
• Chen Luo grew wary of the spread of Core Formation Secret Technique rumors, then fished by the river for a day and a night while cultivating.
• Three sword-bearing men flew toward Gu Demon Mountain, and Ding Zhao attacked them as the Registered Disciples joined the fight.
• Ding Zhao killed the three intruders, but black qi rose from their bodies and formed an aged face that entered his chest, leaving him convulsing under a curse.

Chen Luo repelled a curse sent to test Gu Demon Mountain, then spent six months cultivating and searching for ancient corpses to support his progress. News that the Five Eyes Temple Master had been killed over a rare Core Formation Secret Technique left him suspicious as he learned of a possible source of ancient corpses.

• Chen Luo used a Soul Parasite Gu to consume the curse afflicting Ding Zhao, while the Seed Demon Sect Master concluded that Gu Demon Mountain was not his target and turned his attention toward Fox Mountain.
• After six months of cultivating in seclusion, Chen Luo heard that Elder Rong Ling had destroyed Black Stone City's Second-grade Formation while undergoing tribulation, killing more than ten Foundation Building Cultivators.
• Ding Zhao reported that a disciple of Granny Cai could sell them ancient corpses, and Chen Luo ordered him to pay the high price.
• Ding Zhao told Chen Luo that the Five Eyes Temple Master had been killed after obtaining a rare Core Formation Secret Technique, making Chen Luo suspect that something was amiss.

Chen Luo consolidated his rule over Gu Demon Mountain while the Evil Cultivator Territory was shaken by battles over Core Formation Secret Techniques and conflict between the Seed Demon Sect and the Fox Clan. Seeking a faster way to advance his cultivation, he sent the Silver Centipede to investigate his new neighbor at Pingshan Stream.

• Chen Luo strengthened Gu Demon Mountain's formations, refined pills, and defeated challengers until he became known as the Pill Formation Master.
• The Poison Dragon Pool Master vanished after a deadly clash over the Core Formation Secret Technique, while the Seed Demon Sect Master returned badly injured after provoking the Fox Clan's Core Formation Ancestor.
• Ding Zhao reported that Granny Cai's disciples had delivered three Ancient Corpses and that Black Stone City had sent Chen Luo an Elder Token, which Chen Luo accepted and arranged to pay taxes under.
• Chen Luo reviewed his slow cultivation progress and decided to use the Soul Parasite Gu's extended divine sense to approach cultivators and study their heart demons.
• Chen Luo controlled the Silver Centipede into Pingshan Stream, where it bypassed a warning formation and found a gaunt cultivator beside several dead women.

Chen Luo tested the Inner Demon Art and found that its attack was too obvious to catch an alert cultivator off guard. After Venerable Yin Wind revealed that the injured Seed Demon Sect Master could be vulnerable, Chen Luo agreed to help him pursue their old enemy and traveled with him to a village near the Demon Race Boundary.

• Chen Luo used the Silver Centipede to test the Inner Demon Art on an old man in seclusion, but the man sensed danger and dispersed the attack.
• Chen Luo concluded that the Inner Demon Art worked best during tribulation or after an enemy had been crippled, while Su Linlin visited to trade Blood Jade Marrow for pills and share news about Madam Hua's death.
• Venerable Yin Wind visited Chen Luo and said the Seed Demon Sect Master had been severely injured by a Fox Clan Core Formation cultivator.
• Venerable Yin Wind showed Chen Luo a diamond-shaped black fragment, which matched one Chen Luo had found in Shi Jun's Storage Bag, and invited him to a hidden location.
• Chen Luo agreed to help avenge their old grudges, and the two flew for two days to a village where the children greeted Venerable Yin Wind warmly.

Venerable Yin Wind explained how the Demon Seeds tied Chen Luo and him to the Seed Demon Sect Master, then revealed his connection to the Qionghua Sect and invited Chen Luo to join. The chapter ended with Venerable Yin Wind showing Chen Luo the hidden valley where the injured Seed Demon Sect Master was hiding.

• Venerable Yin Wind introduced his disciple Xiao Yu, and Chen Luo gave her a first-rank artifact sword.
• Venerable Yin Wind revealed that the black Small Stones were Demon Seeds, and explained that Chen Luo and he had taken the two remaining seeds needed by the Seed Demon Sect Master.
• Venerable Yin Wind explained that a Second-grade Formation had concealed Chen Luo's Demon Seed and that the Black Stone Ancestor had released Core Formation Secret Techniques while seeking a way through the Heavenly Tribulation.
• Venerable Yin Wind told Chen Luo that he had joined the Qionghua Sect and invited him to join, but Chen Luo said he would consider it.
• Venerable Yin Wind used a Bone Slip to show Chen Luo the sealed valley where the Seed Demon Sect Master was hiding.

Chen Luo and Venerable Yin Wind gathered four Qionghua Sect brothers to attack the injured Seed Demon Sect Master at his hidden valley refuge. Wang Mingyi’s sword strike forced the enemy out, and the brothers began their coordinated assault.

• Venerable Yin Wind and Chen Luo recruited four Foundation Establishment cultivators, the Qionghua Sect brothers known as Benevolence, Righteousness, Propriety, and Integrity.
• The six arrived at the valley, sealed it with formation flags, and learned from Venerable Yin Wind’s scouts that the Seed Demon Sect Master had concealed six false bodies alongside his main body.
• Wang Mingyi unleashed his Azure Wood Sword Intent and destroyed the hidden cave, while Chen Luo caught a sword-qi-laced rock fragment with only a small cut.
• The Seed Demon Sect Master burst from the collapsed earth and attacked Wang Mingyi with a curse, but Wang Mingren engaged him while Wang Mingdao and Wang Mingde protected their brothers and supported the attack.

The Seed Demon Sect Master used curses and decoys to ambush the group, gravely injuring Venerable Yin Wind before escaping through a break in the formation. Chen Luo followed a suspicious trail to a hidden cave behind a waterfall and prepared to confront whoever was inside.

• The Seed Demon Sect Master cursed Venerable Yin Wind through a stolen strand of hair, then later crushed his heart meridian while the others were distracted by illusions.
• Chen Luo and the Wang brothers resisted or broke free of the illusions, but the Seed Demon Sect Master destroyed a formation flag and escaped by splitting into seven shadows.
• Wang Mingde led the brothers after one shadow while Chen Luo tracked another and found two dead Qi Refining cultivators whose bodies had been emptied of their brains and organs.
• Chen Luo released his insects, which located the missing figure in a cave behind a waterfall, and he readied his magical swords and Soul Banner.

Chen Luo followed the Seed Demon Sect Master and two Inner Demon Sect cultivators as they fought over the Inner Demon Ancestor’s inheritance. The Seed Demon Sect Master unleashed an Inner Demon Stone to incapacitate his pursuers, but Chen Luo remained unharmed and confronted him.

• Chen Luo entered the cave behind the waterfall, found the injured Seed Demon Sect Master facing the red-clothed woman and Venerable Yin Wind, and refused to leave because he had a grudge against the Sect Master.
• Venerable Yin Wind attacked Chen Luo with black smoke, but Chen Luo’s insects devoured it before the red-clothed woman redirected their attention to the Seed Demon Sect Master.
• The Seed Demon Sect Master escaped through a wall after unleashing a curse, and Chen Luo followed the group into an abandoned village.
• The Seed Demon Sect Master revealed a Bone Slip bearing the Inner Demon Ancestor’s inheritance, but the red-clothed woman and Venerable Yin Wind turned against each other over who would claim it.
• After drawing on their attacks to recover strength, the Seed Demon Sect Master activated an Inner Demon Stone, incapacitating the red-clothed woman and Venerable Yin Wind.
• The Seed Demon Sect Master realized Chen Luo had survived the Inner Demon Sea unharmed, and Chen Luo praised its power.

Chen Luo killed the Seed Demon Sect Master, the red-clothed woman, and Rat Spirit, then discovered the Sect Master's memories held a clue about an ancestor beneath the Qionghua Sect. He arrived at the Four Brothers of Benevolence and Virtue's battle just as their opponent, a Bear Demon, exploded, and recognized a Demon Seed in the aftermath.

• Chen Luo absorbed the Seed Demon Sect Master's brain, learned that the Inner Demon Ancestor was trapped beneath the Qionghua Sect, and collected his soul.
• Chen Luo killed the unconscious red-clothed woman and Rat Spirit, took their brains and souls, and buried the four corpses together.
• Chen Luo flew toward the continuing battle and found the Four Brothers of Benevolence and Virtue struggling against a demonic Shadowy Figure.
• Wang Mingdao activated the Qionghua Sword Formation with his brothers, but the Bear Demon broke through it and hurled the injured men aside.
• The Bear Demon used Reverse Demonic Origin Energy and exploded, and Chen Luo recognized a Demon Seed amid the blood rain.

After defeating the Seed Demon Sect Master, Chen Luo absorbed his knowledge and spent six months mastering new techniques while tensions rose between Black Stone City and Qionghua Sect. He evaded Black Stone Ancestor’s birthday summons with a Straw Man double and crossed into Qionghua Sect territory to pursue the “Old Fellow” named in the Seed Demon Sect Master’s obsession.

• Chen Luo tried to treat Wang Mingde and Wang Mingyi but found both men dead, absorbing their brief obsessions before Wang Mingren offered him a token to join Qionghua Sect.
• Chen Luo spent six months digesting his gains, mastering the Seed Demon Sect Master’s curse techniques, part of the Inner Demon Art, Wang Mingyi’s sword skills, and other abilities.
• After receiving Black Stone Ancestor’s summons to an eight-hundredth birthday celebration, Chen Luo used a Straw Man to impersonate him and left Gu Demon Mountain.
• Chen Luo traveled west, avoided Black Zombie Daoist at the border, and entered Qionghua Sect territory to find the “Old Fellow” from the Seed Demon Sect Master’s obsession.

Chen Luo joined the Qionghua Sect as an Inner Elder and Alchemist Elder, then explored its temporary base and entered Gray Stone Mountain. He discovered a chained blood pool where three people were seated, and one of them suddenly cried for help as the pool began to boil.

• Chen Luo accepted the Qionghua Sect's offer to become an Inner Elder and registered himself with a blood-sealed roster.
• The White-robed Man appointed Chen Luo Alchemist Elder and introduced him to the sect's Foundation Building Elders, including Wang Mingren, Wang Mingde, and the Thousand Ghost Daoist.
• After two months of settling in and taking alchemy assignments, Chen Luo explored the temporary base and went to Gray Stone Mountain to seek spirit materials.
• A Stone Spirit guarded the mountain entrance, and Chen Luo's Inner Elder token opened a stone gate leading to a chained blood pool.
• One of the three people beside the blood pool shouted for help, and the pool began to churn and boil.

Chen Luo discovered that the sealed Old Devil’s Heart Demon power could greatly accelerate his cultivation, so he volunteered to guard the blood pool despite being an Alchemist Elder. After joining the sealing task, he learned that the Old Devil erupted only every few months or years, disappointing his hopes for frequent gains.

• Chen Luo absorbed most of the Heart Demon power during the Old Devil’s eruption, stabilizing the three elders and increasing his Spiritual Power Flood Dragons to eighty-three.
• Chen Luo revealed that he was a second-tier Alchemist Elder, then insisted that the elders let him join the blood-pool sealing task.
• Several months later, Chen Luo became a Seal Elder on Gray Stone Mountain after the White Robe Peak Master accepted his request.
• Chen Luo spent more than three months guarding the blood pool with Mei Xuan, Weng Jiang, and Gong Cheng, but the Old Devil did not erupt.
• Chen Luo learned that the Old Devil’s eruptions usually occurred every three months to half a year, and sometimes years apart, leaving him disappointed.