Chapter Summaries

Meng Zhao defeated a magma giant and collected its Magma Gemstone before finding a secret account of how the Imperial Sui Imperial Advisor had contained the Goguryeo Evil Artifact. The account confirmed that the Town Evil Golden Hall was an array core built around a spatial rift and helped explain the Amber Stone’s presence.

• Meng Zhao transformed into a crimson true dragon and defeated the Great Grandmaster-level magma giant, extracting its Magma Gemstone.
• Meng Zhao stored the cooled Magma Gemstone beside the Amber Stone in the Heavenly Evil Battle Casket.
• Meng Zhao used his Emperor's Qi Gazing Technique to find and seize a hidden golden secret casket inside the volcanic crater.
• Meng Zhao opened the casket and read an account left by a Li Clan agent who had served among the Imperial Sui Imperial Advisor’s array masters.
• The account revealed that the Town Evil Golden Hall was the array core of the Nine Heavens Jade Scenery Cloud Array, built to suppress the Goguryeo Evil Artifact by adapting methods associated with Heavenly Emperor Shaohao and Human Emperor Yu.
• Meng Zhao learned that the array used special locations from Lishou Mountain and remnants of ancient power, confirming his conjecture about the Amber Stone.

Meng Zhao discovered a formation master’s records revealing how to reach the Town Evil Golden Hall’s core and describing the mysterious dragon qi of Lishou Mountain. He weighed pursuing the Goguryeo Evil Artifact directly against breaking other formations for their treasures, while worrying that Pai Gang and Mr. Yue might get ahead of him.

• Meng Zhao learned that a trapped formation master had hidden records of ways to bypass formations and mechanisms and reach the Town Evil Golden Hall’s core.
• The records described how Shaohao and Emperor Yu had shaped Lishou Mountain’s unusual dragon vein, and speculated that its dragon qi might help suppress the Goguryeo Evil Artifact.
• Meng Zhao connected the records to the fierce, imposing-but-weak dragon qi he had sensed in Lishou Mountain, though he lacked enough evidence to understand it fully.
• Meng Zhao considered whether to head straight for the Goguryeo Evil Artifact or break the other formations to claim their treasures.
• Meng Zhao worried that Pai Gang and Mr. Yue might reach their goals first and resolved to pursue victory through his strength.

Meng Zhao encountered Xu Tingyun, Wu Chen, Min Tao, and Lu Hou'er inside Town Evil Golden Hall and explained how he and Gan Mingfeng had entered separately. The group suspected Gan Mingfeng had been guided toward the hall’s hidden opportunity, while Meng Zhao grew wary of Lu Hou'er.

• A warped vortex brought Xu Tingyun, Wu Chen, Min Tao, and Lu Hou'er into Town Evil Golden Hall, where they found Meng Zhao beside the magma giant’s corpse.
• Lu Hou'er sensed that Meng Zhao’s martial arts surpassed those of the four newcomers, while the others assumed he had used a treasure to defeat the giant.
• Wu Chen asked Meng Zhao where Gan Mingfeng was, and Meng Zhao said a mysterious presence had guided Gan Mingfeng to the hall before they became separated.
• Meng Zhao described how Gan Mingfeng had led him through Guardian Forest and into the hall, prompting the group to suspect Gan Mingfeng had been pursuing a hidden opportunity.
• Wu Chen speculated that Gan Mingfeng had used Meng Zhao and the treasure on his back to reach that opportunity, and Meng Zhao asked Lu Hou'er to introduce himself.
• Lu Hou'er identified himself as the leader of the Pai Gang and apologized for offending Meng Zhao earlier.

Meng Zhao exchanged information with Lu Hou'er and the others about their experiences in the Town Evil Golden Hall, learning that Third Young Master Bai and Mr. Yue were seeking the Goguryeo Evil Artifact. The group considered whether to pursue them or search the outer perimeter, but Lu Hou'er expected their greed to lead them after the artifact.

• Lu Hou'er explained that Mr. Yue had forced him to seal Lishou Mountain, and Meng Zhao accepted his account to smooth over their past grievance.
• Wu Chen asked Meng Zhao what he had encountered and gained; Meng Zhao described his travels while concealing his valuable discoveries.
• Lu Hou'er and Xu Tingyun recognized that Meng Zhao was dangerous, and Wu Chen held back from pressing him about the empty golden casket.
• Meng Zhao asked about the others' experiences, and Xu Tingyun told him about Third Young Master Bai, Mr. Yue, and three mysterious experts from Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism.
• Meng Zhao inferred that Third Young Master Bai and Mr. Yue might know how to locate the Goguryeo Evil Artifact and worried they had reached it before him.
• Lu Hou'er proposed pursuing Bai and Yue or searching the outer perimeter, while expecting the others to choose the chance of claiming the artifact.

Lu Hou'er persuaded Meng Zhao's group to head for the Golden Palace rather than risk being stranded if the grand array broke. At the palace, Third Young Master Bai confronted the Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian figures, while Gan Mingfeng wondered whether they could stand against Mr. Yue.

• Lu Hou'er urged the group to advance toward the core of the Town Evil Golden Hall and prioritize a safe retreat over pursuing opportunities on the outskirts, winning the others' agreement.
• Meng Zhao's group followed Lu Hou'er's covert guidance through traps and deceptive formations to reach the Golden Palace.
• Third Young Master Bai and Mr. Yue's party arrived at the Golden Palace, where Gan Mingfeng and Monk Cheng Kong, Yu Daoist, and Mu Yi were already blocked by a vast river in the air.
• Third Young Master Bai questioned Monk Cheng Kong and the others, accusing them of using him to reach the Town Evil Golden Hall.
• Monk Cheng Kong denied knowing the other two, while Mu Yi warned that the Goguryeo Evil Artifact had brought ruin before and might overwhelm the Bai Family's methods.
• Gan Mingfeng assessed the three newcomers' composure and secretly hoped they had the means to oppose Mr. Yue.

Third Young Master Bai weighed whether Mr. Yue could seize the group before they entered the Town Evil Golden Hall. The arrival of Meng Zhao and the others shifted the standoff, while Lu Hou'er chose to side with Third Young Master Bai and Mr. Yue.

• Mr. Yue told Third Young Master Bai he had only a sixty percent chance of capturing the four and warned that they might have dangerous trump cards.
• Third Young Master Bai decided to eliminate the others before entering the Golden Hall, but Meng Zhao, Lu Hou'er, Xu Tingyun, and their companions arrived.
• Gan Mingfeng hurried to Meng Zhao and claimed he had searched for him after they were separated, hoping to regain his protection.
• Meng Zhao sensed an extraordinary aura around Gan Mingfeng and suspected he had gained a great opportunity while they were apart.
• Meng Zhao said he had been sent to a strange mountain peak and credited Xu Tingyun and the others with helping him reunite with the group.
• Lu Hou'er left the group and quietly approached Third Young Master Bai and Mr. Yue to secure their favor.

Third Young Master Bai gathered the newcomers under his command as they prepared to cross the Weak Water Grand Array surrounding the Town Evil Golden Hall. Monk Cheng Kong demonstrated a powerful Buddhist treasure and crossed the deadly river, leaving the others to reveal their own methods.

• Third Young Master Bai abandoned the plan to force the others into submission and invited them to follow his orders through the Weak Water Grand Array.
• Xu Tingyun and the others, including Gan Mingfeng and Meng Zhao, joined Third Young Master Bai's group.
• Monk Cheng Kong explained that Weak Water could sink boats and dissolve even a Celestial, while Mu Yi asked how Third Young Master Bai planned to cross it.
• Monk Cheng Kong transformed a golden pattra leaf into a kasaya and used its Buddha light to withstand the Weak Water.
• Monk Cheng Kong crossed the river and disappeared from sight, astonishing Meng Zhao, Mr. Yue, and the others.

Monk Cheng Kong and Yu Daoist used a sacred palm leaf and a Weak Water Crystal Stone sword to cross the Weak Water and enter the Town Evil Golden Hall. Third Young Master Bai then ordered Mr. Yue to kill Mu Yi, and Mr. Yue attacked him with two Vital Energy Hands.

• Monk Cheng Kong revealed a sacred palm leaf that produced twenty-two beams of Prajna Buddha Light and let him cross the Weak Water.
• Yu Daoist rode his broadsword into the Weak Water, where the Weak Water Crystal Stone let him move through it safely and reach the Town Evil Golden Hall.
• Third Young Master Bai secretly asked Mr. Yue to kill Mu Yi before he could enter the hall.
• Mr. Yue attacked Mu Yi with two powerful Vital Energy Hands.

Mu Yi survived Mr. Yue’s attack through a bizarre coincidence, prompting Third Young Master Bai and Meng Zhao to suspect that Lishou Mountain was lending him its power. Mu Yi then crossed the Weak Water unharmed as it parted before him, leaving the onlookers astonished.

• Mr. Yue’s attack crushed a porcupine-like beast that had emerged near Mu Yi, and the beast’s quills dissipated the attack before it could harm him.
• Mu Yi accused Third Young Master Bai of separating the group so he could eliminate them one by one, then calmly declared that Mr. Yue could not kill him.
• Third Young Master Bai questioned Mu Yi about his unusual luck and suspected he had a secret connection to Lishou Mountain, while Meng Zhao considered the same possibility.
• Mu Yi leaped into the Weak Water, and the river parted to form a passage without touching him.

Third Young Master Bai and Mr. Yue led their group through the Weak Water Grand Array using an array formation and a golden crystal. On the mountain, they faced the Cloud Mist Giants, while Mu Yi and the other three who entered ahead remained nowhere to be seen.

• Mr. Yue urged Third Young Master Bai to bring the others along to help restrain Monk Cheng Kong, Yu Daoist, and Mu Yi, and Third Young Master Bai agreed while ordering Mu Yi killed if the chance arose.
• Third Young Master Bai’s six attendants formed an array as Mr. Yue used a golden crystal to carry the group safely across the Weak Water.
• The group landed on a lush mountain and was attacked by giants formed from clouds and mist.
• Third Young Master Bai explained that the Cloud Mist Longbo formation grew stronger against stronger foes and that his method let them evade its giants.
• Meng Zhao wondered how Monk Cheng Kong, Yu Daoist, and Mu Yi had passed the giants, since they had entered earlier without Third Young Master Bai’s method.

Third Young Master Bai’s group crossed a succession of perilous arrays with his and Mr. Yue’s guidance and reached the plaza before the suspended Golden Palace. Monk Cheng Kong, Yu Daoist, and Mu Yi were already there, with Mu Yi appearing untouched while the other two looked worn down.

• Third Young Master Bai concluded that Monk Cheng Kong and Yu Daoist could not have passed through the array, while Xu Tingyun suggested they might have come from the mountain’s other peak.
• Third Young Master Bai led the group onward as Meng Zhao noticed the six array-operating boys and girls seemed to be losing their life force and considered how they might leave afterward.
• The group encountered the Sky Patrol Grand Array and learned from Third Young Master Bai and Mr. Yue that they would face many more arrays on the way to the Golden Palace.
• Third Young Master Bai and Mr. Yue used their special methods to guide the group safely through the arrays, and Meng Zhao recognized how much they had contributed.
• The group reached the plaza before the suspended Golden Palace and found Monk Cheng Kong, Yu Daoist, and Mu Yi waiting there; Mu Yi looked unchanged, while the other two appeared listless and had tattered clothes.

Meng Zhao and the others discovered that the Town Evil Golden Hall was a spatial prison bound by Void Chains and Great Sui dragon qi, with the Goguryeo Evil Artifact sealed inside. Yu Daoist challenged Third Young Master Bai’s claim to the artifact and suggested that Mu Yi might be among those able to pass the prison’s defenses.

• Third Young Master Bai’s group arrived and froze in astonishment at the plaza’s rear, where a transparent space was bound by Void Chains and a river of dragon-shaped crystals.
• Meng Zhao recognized the dragon-like entity as Lishou Mountain’s dragon qi and sensed his Purple Origin Dragon Blood react to it.
• Monk Cheng Kong explained that the Golden Hall was a spatial method suppressing and cleansing the Goguryeo Evil Artifact, then offered Third Young Master Bai the chance to take it.
• Yu Daoist said the dragon qi belonged to Great Sui and argued that the Sheji Cauldron should belong to Great Sui’s people, not Third Young Master Bai.
• Yu Daoist claimed the prison could not be broken and turned to Mu Yi, asking whether the final defense was meant to keep out people like Bai rather than people like them.

Yu Daoist revealed that Mu Yi was descended from the Sui imperial clan and identified Monk Cheng Kong as the Narayan Sect's inheritor. He explained the history of the Seven-Colored Glazed World Purifying Sarira, which lay in the square space, leaving the gathered figures to consider competing for it.

• Yu Daoist's revelation led everyone to suspect that Mu Yi was a descendant of the Sui imperial clan, and Third Young Master Bai resolved to kill him while fearing Yu Daoist's motives.
• Mu Yi confirmed his Sui imperial blood and asked Yu Daoist how he had discovered it and what ties he had to the dynasty.
• Yu Daoist identified Monk Cheng Kong's Narayan Sect and revealed that Cheng Kong had come to reclaim its Seven-Colored Glazed World Purifying Sarira from the square space.
• Yu Daoist recounted how Divine Nun Zhi Xian raised Yang Jian, founded the Narayan Sect, and left the sarira, which Emperor Yang of Sui later entrusted to the Imperial Advisor to help suppress the Goguryeo Evil Artifact.

Yu Daoist explained how Emperor Yang Guang forged the Sheji Cauldron from Goguryeo’s Fuyu Cauldron to preserve a chance for Great Sui’s revival. He then suggested Mu Yi might be destined to control it, leaving the others to reconsider their chances of claiming the treasure.

• Monk Cheng Kong and Mu Yi questioned Yu Daoist about his knowledge, but he redirected them toward their shared goals of finding the sarira and the Sheji Cauldron.
• Third Young Master Bai and Lu Hou'er pressed Yu Daoist for details about the Sheji Cauldron and its connection to Goguryeo’s Evil Artifact.
• Yu Daoist revealed that Emperor Yang Guang had used the Fuyu Cauldron, Great Sui’s dragon qi and National Strength, and the fire of humanity to forge a legacy treasure for the dynasty’s future resurgence.
• Yu Daoist explained that Yang Guang renamed the Fuyu Cauldron the Sheji Cauldron in hopes that his descendants could reclaim it and raise it into a Human Dao Supreme Divine Artifact.
• Yu Daoist pointed to Mu Yi’s success on Lishou Mountain as a sign that he might be able to subdue the Sheji Cauldron, alarming Third Young Master Bai.

Mu Yi questioned Yu Daoist’s motives and challenged his claim that his ancestor had served the Great Sui Dynasty. Yu Daoist said he sought only his ancestor’s hidden treasure and urged Mu Yi to win the gathered elites’ support, but the others rejected the idea of submitting to him.

• Mu Yi asked Yu Daoist whether he wanted the Seven-Colored Glazed World Purifying Sarira or the Sheji Cauldron and questioned what role he played.
• Yu Daoist claimed his ancestor had been a trusted minister of the Great Sui Dynasty and said he had come to recover a family treasure, not the Sarira or Sheji Cauldron.
• Mu Yi accused Yu Daoist of exposing his imperial identity to provoke Grandmaster Yue and questioned the coincidence of their gathering at Lishou Mountain.
• Monk Cheng Kong said his sect had come to Lishou Mountain through Serendipitous Encounters and denied having other involvement.
• Yu Daoist argued that no one in the Town Evil Golden Hall could kill Mu Yi and suggested Mu Yi could gain support by subduing the gathered elites.
• Third Young Master Bai and the others resented Yu Daoist’s proposal, and Bai refused to submit to Mu Yi.

Yu Daoist urged the gathered figures to support Mu Yi, claiming that the blue dragon was a Hidden Dragon Vein that could grant its chosen bearer sixty years of great fortune. The revelation stirred the group, while Meng Zhao wondered whether the dragon vein was connected to the Sheji Cauldron.

• The gathered figures doubted Yu Daoist’s proposal, and Mu Yi treated the Sheji Cauldron as a chance to strengthen himself rather than revive the Great Sui Dynasty.
• Yu Daoist argued that Mu Yi’s imperial lineage and the Sheji Cauldron could let him establish a domain or sect, then urged everyone to join him early.
• Yu Daoist revealed that the blue dragon was a Hidden Dragon Vein formed from Great Sui national fortune and Lishou Mountain’s dragon aura, promising its bearer sixty years of great fortune.
• Third Young Master Bai and Mr. Yue were shaken by the prospect of gaining the dragon vein, which seemed more valuable to Mr. Yue than the Sheji Cauldron.
• Meng Zhao questioned whether the Hidden Dragon Vein was truly separate from the Sheji Cauldron or remained connected to it.

Yu Daoist explained that the Sheji Cauldron housed and suppressed the Hidden Dragon Vein, and that together they could grant the fate pattern called Ascend the Mountains and Rivers. The group learned that this could give someone the bearing of a king or even the station of the Nine-Nine Supreme, leaving them to regard Mu Yi with newfound solemnity.

• Gan Mingfeng asked Yu Daoist how the Sheji Cauldron compared with the dragon vein and what made it significant.
• Yu Daoist explained that the Hidden Dragon Vein was one with the Sheji Cauldron, which contained it and stabilized its providence.
• Yu Daoist said that refining both treasures could grant a special status resembling a fate pattern, though he could not verify his ancestors' account.
• Lu Hou'er doubted that martial artists could acquire a status or fate pattern, while Third Young Master Bai pressed Yu Daoist for its name.
• Yu Daoist named the status Ascend the Mountains and Rivers and said it could bestow kingly bearing or the station of the Nine-Nine Supreme.
• The others looked at Mu Yi with newfound solemnity as they considered the possibility that he could attain this status.

Yu Daoist argued that fate had brought Mu Yi and the others to the Hidden Dragon Vein, but Mu Yi and the other figures questioned his claims and weighed their own chances of claiming its power. Third Young Master Bai tested the vein with his array, and its backlash killed the six people holding the Array Flags.

• Mu Yi challenged Yu Daoist to explain why Monk Cheng Kong, Yu Daoist, himself, and the others had gathered there, despite Yu Daoist's claim that fate had brought them together.
• Yu Daoist told Mu Yi that their meeting and Mu Yi's decision to enter Lishou Mountain were signs of fate, leaving Mu Yi uncertain but still distrustful.
• Third Young Master Bai asked whether the dragon vein truly made Mu Yi impossible to kill, while Gan Mingfeng considered the Sheji Cauldron's connection to his transformation and whether he should seek Mu Yi's protection.
• Yu Daoist said Third Young Master Bai's notes and array could not subdue the Hidden Dragon Vein because the Record of Exorcising Heresy did not describe it.
• Third Young Master Bai ordered six boys and girls to probe the Hidden Dragon Vein with their Array Flags, but its aura broke the flags, aged them into corpses, and killed them.

After the six Array Flags broke, the group worried that they might be trapped in the strange space and argued over how to cross the Hidden Dragon Vein. Min Tao tested the blockade and felt its immense pressure, but continued forward in hopes of reaching the Sheji Cauldron.

• Yu Daoist urged Third Young Master Bai and the others to rely on Mu Yi to subdue the Hidden Dragon Vein, while Mu Yi remained wary of Yu Daoist's motives.
• Monk Cheng Kong asked how they could cross the blockade to retrieve the Seven-Colored Glazed World Purifying Sarira, and Yu Daoist insisted that Mu Yi had to subdue the vein.
• Mr. Yue warned Third Young Master Bai that his grandmaster cultivation could not contend with the Hidden Dragon Vein, though he promised to give his life to help.
• Min Tao stepped forward to test the blockade after Xu Tingyun, Lu Hou'er, and the others saw an opportunity to reach the Sheji Cauldron.
• As Min Tao entered the area where the six had died, immense pressure weakened his legs and overwhelmed his true qi, body, and martial arts; he realized he could escape by retreating but chose to continue.

Min Tao and the others tested the Hidden Dragon Vein and failed to reach it, while learning that forceful attempts provoked its power. When Gan Mingfeng stepped forward, a black great cauldron appeared around him, revealing a possible connection to the Sheji Cauldron as the others watched helplessly.

• Min Tao unleashed a sealed grandmaster-level technique, but the Hidden Dragon Vein shattered its power and injured him before he retreated.
• Min Tao warned the others that advancing through the pressure was difficult and that trying to force a breakthrough could bring a heavy blow.
• Xu Tingyun, Wu Chen, Lu Hou'er, and Monk Cheng Kong tested the path, with Monk Cheng Kong advancing only five steps farther than Min Tao.
• Lu Hou'er questioned why Gan Mingfeng and Meng Zhao had not tried, prompting Gan Mingfeng to say they had been guided into the Golden Palace but that the mysterious voice had vanished.
• Gan Mingfeng walked toward the Hidden Dragon Vein, and a phantom black great cauldron appeared around him as Mu Yi, Yu Daoist, and Third Young Master Bai reacted with alarm.
• Yu Daoist and Third Young Master Bai tried to stop Gan Mingfeng, but he took his first step and they could not intervene.