Chapter Summaries

The Academy Dean discovered that Qin Shuang’s supposed past-life wisdom was a Body Seizure plot tied to the Myriad Cities Era, then found that Shen Bai was not affected—though investigating him injured the Dean. After Hong Zhuang began evolving with the Bizarre Transformation Orb, Shen Bai spent several days forging until he maxed out the Spirit Forging Art and began another qualitative transformation.

• The Academy Dean told Shen Bai that Qin Shuang’s past-life wisdom was actually a remnant from the Myriad Cities Era that could seize her body, and said he would report the danger to Emperor Shengwu.
• The Academy Dean investigated Shen Bai’s character, found no sign of Body Seizure, but saw a terrifying fog that made him vomit blood.
• Shen Bai gave the Bizarre Transformation Orb to Hong Zhuang, who absorbed it and turned into a red egg to evolve.
• Emperor Shengwu discussed choosing a successor, eliminating the Myriad Cities remnants, and helping Shen Bai rise further before ordering Eunuch Chen to withdraw.
• After several days of training and forging, Shen Bai maxed out the Spirit Forging Art and used ten strands of Killing Intent to begin its second qualitative transformation.

Shen Bai mastered the Unhealing Spirit Forging Art, received ten Bizarre Items and an appointment as Lingyun Dao’s daoist master, and learned that he must investigate Marquis Rende. As he prepared to leave for Lingyun Dao, Hong Zhuang completed her second evolution and announced that she would show him her new abilities.

• Shen Bai learned that the Unhealing attribute made wounds inflicted by his forged weapons impossible to heal, and he advanced halfway toward opening his fourth bridge.
• A Heavenly Oversight Bureau member summoned Shen Bai to the palace, where Emperor Shengwu gave him ten Bizarre Items and ordered him to become Lingyun Dao’s daoist master.
• Emperor Shengwu explained that Shen Bai was to gather evidence against Marquis Rende, who was protected by a golden plaque, and authorized Shen Bai to act first if danger arose.
• Shen Bai spent the day with Qin Shuang, then planned his journey and set out for Lingyun Dao with Amber.
• Hong Zhuang’s red egg cracked inside Shen Bai’s Life-Death Item Storage Technique, and after emerging and embracing him, she merged into Cold Moon and promised to demonstrate her evolved abilities.

After reaching Lingyun Dao, Shen Bai uncovered a Demonic Faction massacre and exposed an infiltrator within the Heavenly Oversight Bureau. As he prepared to investigate the Dao’s factions, a golden arrow raced toward him.

• Hong Zhuang’s second evolution tripled the power of Shen Bai’s sword techniques and gave his Sword Qi a hidden second layer.
• Shen Bai left Xuanjing City for Lingyun Dao, while Wen Jing pressured Marquis Rende to join Torch Academy’s plan against him.
• Shen Bai discovered a village slaughtered by the Demonic Faction and exposed Yang Jian as a Body-Seized infiltrator who had delayed the Bureau’s response.
• Shen Bai pursued and killed the murderers, then ordered Ding Quan to inspect every member of the Lingyun Dao Heavenly Oversight Bureau.
• A golden arrow tore through the sky toward Shen Bai.

Shen Bai investigated the village massacre, summoned the Lingyun Dao Heavenly Oversight Bureau, and prepared to attend Marquis Rende’s family banquet. At the yamen, he discovered a disturbing secret about Daoist Master Zhang’s son and confronted Zhang, whose response suggested the conflict was only beginning.

• Wen Jing of Torch Academy threatened Shen Bai with more attacks, while Shen Bai ordered Ding Quan to conceal Yang Jian’s betrayal and the village incident.
• Shen Bai met the Lingyun Dao bureau officials, assigned them to investigate the massacre, and agreed to pursue clues about Marquis Rende.
• Shen Bai planned to inspect Lingyun Dao’s major forces, but Ding Quan reported that Marquis Rende had invited him and Daoist Master Zhang to a family banquet.
• Shen Bai gathered bureau members and went to meet Daoist Master Zhang, who had already set out for Marquis Rende’s residence without him.
• Shen Bai used the Void-Breaking Red Eye to identify Zhang’s resentful son and uncover information that made him disdain Zhang; when Zhang blocked his way, Shen Bai warned him to step aside.

Shen Bai arrived at Marquis Rende’s banquet and used threats and force to make the gathered martial leaders submit to the Heavenly Oversight Bureau. The banquet’s hidden purpose emerged when Torch Academy revealed Zhang Huan had once joined them and offered Daoist Master Zhang a deal to erase the records and help him deal with Shen Bai.

• Daoist Master Zhang confronted Shen Bai in the street, but Shen Bai ordered Ding Quan to kill anyone who blocked his path and continued to Marquis Rende’s Estate.
• Shen Bai struck the old steward for his contempt, threatened to kill him, then spared him after Marquis Rende intervened and asked Shen Bai to take a seat.
• Shen Bai pressured three martial leaders into drinking wine and ordered the Heavenly Oversight Bureau to monitor their forces, warning that it would destroy them if they made excessive moves.
• Daoist Master Zhang told Marquis Rende that he had come only to make an appearance, and Marquis Rende offered to help him after Shen Bai’s humiliation.
• A Torch Academy member disclosed that Zhang Huan had joined Torch Academy and offered Daoist Master Zhang a deal to erase the records and help him settle his grudge with Shen Bai.

Shen Bai uncovered signs of a demonic plot in Lingyun Dao, strengthened his Water Control Art into the Myriad Water Art, and avoided a suspicious lead that divination warned could be a trap. The chapter ended with villagers bringing corpses to the county yamen and reporting that armed men had attacked Cloud-Connecting Medicine Mountain.

• A Torch Academy agent persuaded Daoist Master Zhang and Marquis Rende to help stage disturbances intended to isolate and kill Shen Bai, and the banquet conspirators were killed after Marquis Rende exposed them as infiltrators.
• Shen Bai left the banquet and ordered Ding Quan to investigate Daoist Master Zhang's son while preserving other evidence and avoiding further action for the moment.
• Shen Bai perfected the Water Control Art, transformed it into the Myriad Water Art, and learned that its Water Transformation attribute let him become water and fight with enhanced abilities underwater.
• Ding Quan delivered clues showing demonic faction members had infiltrated orthodox sects, and Shen Bai used the Limitless Divination Art to find a lead that appeared increasingly dangerous as more agents joined the mission.
• Shen Bai set the suspicious lead aside, went out to eat, and followed villagers carrying corpses after they reported that fierce men had attacked Cloud-Connecting Medicine Mountain.

Shen Bai investigated the attack on Cloud-Connecting Medicine Mountain, traced the apparent cover-up involving Daoist Master Zhang’s son, and fought Zhang’s trusted confidant Li Zhong. After Li Zhong died, Zhang Huan suddenly exploded before Shen Bai could question him, while someone approached.

• At the yamen, the coroner identified the herb gatherers’ killer as Demonic Hand An Long of Torch Academy, and Daoist Master Zhang handed the case to Shen Bai.
• Daoist Master Zhang refused Shen Bai’s request to meet Zhang Huan, then ordered Li Zhong to take his son away from Lingyun Dao.
• Shen Bai followed Li Zhong and Zhang Huan out of the city, where Li Zhong attacked him after pretending to cooperate.
• Shen Bai used the Soul Annihilation Sword to shatter Li Zhong’s divine soul and kill him.
• As Shen Bai approached the unconscious Zhang Huan, Zhang Huan’s body cracked and exploded, and Shen Bai heard someone approaching.

Shen Bai let Daoist Master Zhang’s constables monitor him so he could feed them misleading information while preparing for trouble at Cloud-Connecting Medicine Mountain. After arranging a deceptive deployment, Shen Bai learned that Marquis Rende had been poisoned, creating the new crisis he had anticipated.

• Daoist Master Zhang framed Shen Bai for Zhang Huan’s death and tried to detain him, but Shen Bai returned to the yamen with Heavenly Oversight Bureau support.
• Daoist Master Zhang and Wen Jing arranged to monitor Shen Bai, while Shen Bai allowed the constables to follow him so he could manipulate what they reported.
• Shen Bai upgraded the Life-Death Item Storage Technique to level four and gained the ability to teleport through its space.
• Shen Bai ordered a deployment to Cloud-Connecting Medicine Mountain, then secretly sent only half the forces while making the enemy believe he had sent more.
• Wen Jing learned of Shen Bai’s apparent deployment and prepared to act with Marquis Rende, while Daoist Master Zhang hoped Shen Bai would die.
• A soldier told Wang Teng that Marquis Rende had been poisoned and asked him to bring Shen Bai to help.

Shen Bai followed the apparent poisoning of Marquis Rende to Swift Wind Camp, where he cured the Marquis and used divination to discover that more than a thousand soldiers were marked for death. As Shen Bai tried to evacuate them, Torch Academy sprang its trap, trapping the soldiers in the Heart-Questioning Technique and revealing its plan to destroy Lingyun Dao.

• A soldier reported that Marquis Rende had been poisoned, and Shen Bai ordered Wang Teng to assist Ma Yuan while he led more than a hundred Heavenly Oversight Bureau members to Swift Wind Camp.
• Ma Yuan read Shen Bai's letter and sent twenty percent of his force back by a concealed route to support Shen Bai.
• Shen Bai cured Marquis Rende's seven poisons, but the Marquis left the camp alone after claiming demonic wanderers from the Wild Daoism Sect had attacked him.
• Shen Bai divined that the Swift Wind Camp's soldiers would die and persuaded Yang Chuan to evacuate them under the Heavenly Oversight Bureau's authority.
• Dark clouds and invisible threads trapped the soldiers, and Ding Quan identified the phenomenon as Torch Academy's Heart-Questioning Technique.
• Wen Jing appeared and revealed that Torch Academy had lured Shen Bai into a trap to destroy the Heavenly Oversight Bureau, Marquis Rende, Daoist Master Zhang, and Lingyun Dao.

Shen Bai defeated Wen Jing and broke the Heart-Questioning Technique, while the Heavenly Oversight Bureau and the five great factions crushed the Demonic Faction’s invasion. He returned to Lingyun Dao and confronted Daoist Master Zhang, striking him when Zhang insisted on leaving under his own dignity.

• Shen Bai explained Wen Jing’s plan to kill him and empty Lingyun Dao, then revealed that he had secretly persuaded the five great factions to defend the city.
• Wen Jing activated the Heart-Questioning Technique, but his attempt to copy Shen Bai’s power caused him to burn away and die.
• Shen Bai used the Void-Breaking Red Eye to find the technique’s weakness and shattered it with one sword strike, then killed the fleeing Demonic Faction members.
• Wang Teng and the martial-world factions reported that they had wiped out the Demonic Faction force in Lingyun Dao, and Shen Bai ordered the factions dismissed and the wounded Swift Wind Camp soldiers hidden under concealed identities.
• Shen Bai went to the government office with Ma Yuan and Ding Quan to arrest Daoist Master Zhang, who admitted defeat but refused to be escorted under guard.
• Daoist Master Zhang tried to leave the government office, and Shen Bai struck him across the face and stamped on him.

Shen Bai had Daoist Master Zhang executed after the higher city approved the sentence, while Marquis Rende tried to determine whether Shen Bai had evidence against him. A Great Yue Kingdom envoy then offered Marquis Rende the Heart-Locking Jade and warned that the Imperial Advisor had foreseen his death at Shen Bai’s hands.

• Shen Bai sealed Daoist Master Zhang’s cultivation, detained him, and ordered the Heavenly Oversight Bureau to guard his family while higher authorities decided his punishment.
• Marquis Rende concluded that Shen Bai might be bluffing about having evidence and sent trusted men to Torch Academy to investigate.
• Wang Teng delivered the higher city’s order, and Shen Bai arranged for Daoist Master Zhang’s public execution while Ding Quan reported that Yang Chuan had begun carrying out their plan against Marquis Rende.
• Shen Bai oversaw Daoist Master Zhang’s beheading, then noticed Piercing Arrow Technique Zhao Feng, a Great Yue Kingdom official, watching from the crowd and ordered him secretly followed.
• Zhao Feng entered Marquis Rende’s Estate and offered him the Heart-Locking Jade in exchange for submitting to Great Yue Kingdom’s control and moving his troops across the border.
• Zhao Feng warned Marquis Rende that the Imperial Advisor had predicted his imminent death because of Shen Bai.

Marquis Rende accepted Zhao Feng’s Heart-Locking Jade and prepared to defect to Great Yue with his troops, while Shen Bai’s agents turned much of the army against him. At the gathering, Marquis Rende’s escape plan failed, and Shen Bai ordered the Heavenly Oversight Bureau to move in.

• Zhao Feng persuaded Marquis Rende to connect with the Heart-Locking Jade and arranged for him to take his army to Great Yue through the Life-Death Road, while secretly planning to assassinate Shen Bai with a Golden Arrow.
• Yang Chuan won General Chen and more than half of the military camps over to Shen Bai’s plan, and Shen Bai prepared the Heavenly Oversight Bureau to intervene at Marquis Rende’s reward feast.
• Marquis Rende gathered his soldiers and urged them to follow him to Great Yue, but commanders challenged him over the Swift Wind Camp’s deaths.
• Yang Chuan arrived with the surviving Swift Wind Camp soldiers and exposed Marquis Rende’s role, causing many of his troops to turn against him.
• Marquis Rende tried to activate the oil lamp and open the Life-Death Road, but discovered it was an ordinary lamp; Shen Bai then ordered his forces to move and kill anyone who resisted.

Shen Bai led the Heavenly Oversight Bureau in crushing Marquis Rende’s rebellion and killed him after he used a blood-forged spear and sacrificed his soldiers. After surviving a deadly Golden Arrow attack, Shen Bai traced it to Zhao Feng and captured him, leaving the Imperial Advisor of Great Yue Kingdom as his next target.

• Shen Bai arrived with the Heavenly Oversight Bureau as Marquis Rende discovered that his oil lamp had been replaced, and a covert operative revealed himself as the saboteur.
• Shen Bai stopped Marquis Rende from killing the covert operative, while Yang Chuan and the Bureau turned the soldiers against Marquis Rende’s forces.
• Marquis Rende forged a blood weapon from the old steward and later sacrificed his soldiers to empower it, but Shen Bai defeated him with the Myriad Water Art and Soul Annihilation Sword.
• A Golden Arrow struck at Shen Bai after the battle, but he survived by drawing part of it into the Life-Death Item Storage Technique and destroying the rest.
• Shen Bai used the Limitless Divination Art to track the attack, pursued Zhao Feng across space, and captured him for interrogation and punishment.

Shen Bai upgraded the Life-Death Item Storage Technique into the Yin-Yang Item Storage Technique and learned it could unleash stored Yin-Yang Qi powerful enough to kill peak Heavenly Spirit Realm fighters. While he continued training and learned the Great Zhou Dynasty had retaliated against the Great Yue Kingdom, Daoist Cang Xuan and a Wild Daoism Sect infiltrator poisoned the guests at the Mad Blade Sect’s birthday banquet as part of a plot to awaken a slaughterous figure and kill Shen Bai.

• Shen Bai handed Zhao Feng over to Wang Teng and Ma Yuan for interrogation and reported his ambush to the authorities.
• Shen Bai raised the Life-Death Item Storage Technique to level five, transforming it into the Yin-Yang Item Storage Technique and gaining the ability to store and release Yin-Yang Qi.
• Ding Quan told Shen Bai that the Great Yue Kingdom denied responsibility for Zhao Feng, while the Great Zhou Dynasty retaliated by killing more than a dozen Evil Extermination Bureau experts.
• Daoist Cang Xuan killed Wu Hai at the Mad Blade Sect and met with the Grand Elder, who had infiltrated the sect for the Wild Daoism Sect.
• The Grand Elder poisoned the birthday banquet’s food and wine, and the guests collapsed in agony as the poison took effect.

The Grand Elder of the Wild Daoism Sect used the Mad Blade Sect’s deaths to summon Drunken Daoist, who rejected the sect’s ideals and killed the Grand Elder. Drunken Daoist met Shen Bai and asked the Heavenly Oversight Bureau to help find his lost jade pendant; before leaving, he offered to bring Shen Bai the heads of Lingyun Dao’s three Demonic Faction leaders.

• The Grand Elder revealed his role in poisoning the Mad Blade Sect and used the victims’ remains to summon Drunken Daoist.
• Drunken Daoist rejected the Wild Daoism Sect’s methods, killed the Grand Elder with the Five Thunder Method, and traveled to Lingyun Dao.
• Drunken Daoist entered the Heavenly Oversight Bureau and met Shen Bai after identifying him as Lingyun Dao’s strongest person.
• Drunken Daoist told Shen Bai how he had survived and asked the bureau to search its records for his lost jade pendant.
• Drunken Daoist said he would stay in Lingyun Dao and bring Shen Bai the heads of its three Demonic Faction leaders.

Shen Bai learned that the Academy Dean was secretly investigating people who had undergone Body Seizure and that the Heavenly Pride Salvation Society had lost a treasure, while Drunken Daoist set out for the Barren Forbidden Land to retrieve his jade pendant. As Qu Yongfeng and Xue Caixiang arrived to seek Shen Bai’s help, he reached level six in the Limitless Divination Art.

• Shen Bai sent the Heavenly Oversight Bureau a report about Drunken Daoist, who soon wiped out the three demonic factions and brought their leaders’ heads to Shen Bai.
• Daoist Master Yangyuan told Drunken Daoist that his jade pendant had been carried into the Barren Forbidden Land, and Drunken Daoist left to retrieve it.
• Daoist Master Yangyuan gave Shen Bai a letter explaining the Academy Dean’s secret investigation into Body Seizure and Eunuch Chen’s warning about the Heavenly Pride Salvation Society’s missing treasure and possible spies.
• Lingyun Dao’s storytellers credited Shen Bai with the region’s new reputation for safety and spread rumors of his growing powers.
• Qu Yongfeng and Xue Caixiang, members of the Heavenly Pride Salvation Society, headed to the Heavenly Oversight Bureau to meet Shen Bai and recover their organization’s treasure.
• Shen Bai raised the Limitless Divination Art to level six.

Shen Bai mastered level-six Limitless Divination Art, broke through into the Void Transformation Realm, and agreed to help Qu Yongfeng search for a stolen Bizarre Item. After swiftly defeating Qu Yongfeng in a spar, Shen Bai left Xue Caixiang stunned by the gap in their strength.

• Shen Bai saw the phantom divert a storm of lightning with an Eight Trigrams diagram, then mastered level-six Limitless Divination Art and gained the Fortune Seizure attribute.
• Shen Bai completed his breakthrough from the Unity Realm to the Void Transformation Realm and chose to begin grinding the Myriad Water Art.
• Qu Yongfeng and Xue Caixiang tried to enter the Heavenly Oversight Bureau, but Shen Bai let Qu Yongfeng in and ordered Xue Caixiang to stay outside under threat of beheading.
• Qu Yongfeng told Shen Bai that the Heavenly Pride Salvation Society’s stolen Myriad Bizarre Entities Map might pass through Lingyun Dao, and Shen Bai agreed to help intercept its thief.
• Qu Yongfeng asked Shen Bai to spar so he could improve his Landscape Painting Intent, but Shen Bai defeated him and sent him flying from the Five-Story Building within three breaths.
• Xue Caixiang watched Qu Yongfeng lose and was shocked, while Qu Yongfeng acknowledged Shen Bai’s formidable strength.

After three county towns were massacred, Shen Bai joined forces with Qu Yongfeng and Xue Caixiang to lure the traitor Qiu Ze into a trap. Shen Bai confronted Qiu Ze and neutralized his five Bizarre Items, leaving him poised to capture and interrogate the old man.

• Qu Yongfeng admitted defeat to Shen Bai, and Xue Caixiang apologized for her earlier arrogance before they left the Heavenly Oversight Bureau.
• Qiu Ze slaughtered Anle County's residents to nourish the Myriad Bizarre Entities Map, then used a jade token to erase traces of himself and flee.
• After three county towns were massacred, Shen Bai ordered a search of Lingyun Dao and arranged with Qu Yongfeng and Xue Caixiang to use their jade to locate Qiu Ze as he tried to escape.
• When the jade detected Qiu Ze crossing a mountain, Shen Bai used the Yin-Yang Item Storage Technique to teleport there with Qu Yongfeng and Xue Caixiang.
• Shen Bai attacked Qiu Ze with the Soul Annihilation Sword, killing five bizarre entities inside the Myriad Bizarre Entities Map and gaining one hundred wisps of Killing Intent.
• Qiu Ze summoned four more Bizarre Items, but Shen Bai touched all five and turned them into ordinary objects before declaring that he would capture Qiu Ze and take him to the dungeon.

Shen Bai identified Qiu Ze’s Bizarre Items, transformed two divine abilities to level seven, and had Qiu Ze tortured until he confessed information about the Lava Forbidden Zone. As Shen Bai considered pursuing the forbidden zone, a mysterious image of a young Daoist appeared in the sky, stepping toward a chaotic expanse.

• Shen Bai converted the identified Bizarre Items into proficiency, captured Qiu Ze, and returned with Qu Yongfeng and Xue Caixiang to the Heavenly Oversight Bureau.
• Shen Bai transformed Vajra Dharma-Body Fist into Buddha’s Aspect Fist and Flawless Tenfold Body into Flawless Divine Soul Body, then continued training Myriad Water Art.
• Ding Quan obtained Qiu Ze’s confession, revealing that the Demonic Faction had targeted the Lava Forbidden Zone in neighboring Cangnan Dao to capture Bizarre Entities.
• Shen Bai ordered the confession reported to the capital-level city and told Qu Yongfeng and Xue Caixiang about the forbidden zone.
• A great pressure swept over the Heavenly Oversight Bureau, and Shen Bai, Qu Yongfeng, and Xue Caixiang saw a young Daoist appear in the sky and walk toward a chaotic expanse.

The Drunken Daoist entered the Barren Forbidden Land, demonstrating his Daoist arts and sharing what he learned about its power of desolation before the gate closed behind him. After the First Prince arrived to take over Lingyun Dao’s military affairs so Shen Bai could explore a coming forbidden land in Cangnan Dao, he revealed that Zhou Qing had run into trouble.

• The Drunken Daoist opened a visible passage into the Barren Forbidden Land and displayed his Daoist arts for cultivators across the world.
• The Drunken Daoist explained how desolation weakened temperament, qi, and soul, then walked a hundred steps into the land before charging deeper and letting the gate close.
• The Great Yue Kingdom’s Imperial Advisor regretted losing his pure heart for seeking the Dao, while the old eunuch ordered the Evil Extermination Bureau to gather intelligence on Shen Bai.
• Emperor Shengwu discussed Shen Bai’s work in Lingyun Dao and hoped to buy him time to grow stronger before the emperor’s death.
• Shen Bai sent Qu Yongfeng and Xue Caixiang away, ordered Wang Teng to stabilize Lingyun Dao, and later accepted the First Prince’s offer to manage its military affairs while Shen Bai explored Cangnan Dao’s coming forbidden land.
• The First Prince told Shen Bai that Zhou Qing had run into trouble.