Chapter Summaries

Lu Xuan and his companions patrolled Black Star City’s perimeter and fought off a flock of demon birds. After Lu Xuan revealed his formidable swordsmanship, Qiu Changyuan acknowledged his strength and offered him first choice of the spoils.

• Sun Yunming explained that Black Star City’s protective formation was only fully activated at critical points because of its immense cost.
• Lu Xuan sensed a flock of demon birds approaching before Qiu Changyuan spotted them, and the four cultivators prepared to fight.
• The demon birds attacked with blades of qi, and Lu Xuan dodged their assault before crippling one bird with his Wind Lightning Sword.
• Lu Xuan and his companions killed the demon birds, with Lu Xuan defeating four of them himself.
• Meng Yue praised Lu Xuan’s swordsmanship, and Sun Yunming realized he had understated his skill.
• Qiu Changyuan acknowledged Lu Xuan’s contribution and told him to choose first from the spoils.

Lu Xuan shared the Demon Bird spoils generously with his companions, keeping only the corpses’ flesh and blood for his own purposes. While patrolling near Black Star City, he detected a hidden Demon Worm and saved Qiu Changyuan from its sudden attack, warning that more might be underground.

• Lu Xuan learned that the Demon Birds had been mutated by Extraterritorial Demons and let Sun Yunming, Meng Yue, and Qiu Changyuan take their valuable claws, fangs, and Flesh Tumors in exchange for the corpses’ flesh and blood.
• The three companions thanked Lu Xuan and gave him ten of the more intact Demon Bird Corpses, which he packed away for his Spirit Beasts and Spirit Plants.
• Over the next three days, Lu Xuan and the others patrolled near Black Star City and dealt with several mutated Demon Beasts, while Meng Yue recovered quickly from a minor wound.
• Lu Xuan sensed giant insects moving underground and warned the others, but Qiu Changyuan failed to detect them before a Demon Worm attacked him with a Deep Yellow Tentacle.
• Lu Xuan’s Thousand Owl Sword Qi destroyed the tentacle and exposed the Demon Worm, and he urged the group to deal with it before more emerged.

Lu Xuan and his companions fought seven powerful Demon Worms, and his Rank 4 Sword Talismans turned the battle in their favor. Afterward, the group divided the spoils, with Lu Xuan claiming a Demon Core, three skin pouches, and the worms’ blood and flesh.

• More than ten Deep Yellow Tentacles burst from the soil, but Lu Xuan, Qiu Changyuan, Meng Yue, and Sun Yunming defended themselves and faced seven giant Demon Worms.
• Qiu Changyuan’s mantis Demonic Beast wounded a worm only slightly, while Sun Yunming’s broken blade damaged another before its corrosive pus ruined the Magic Tool.
• Lu Xuan urged the others to use their trump cards, and Meng Yue summoned a fire dragon while Qiu Changyuan unleashed a Four-Armed Six-Eyed Demon Ape.
• Lu Xuan used three Rank 4 Howling Sea Sword Talismans to destroy most of the Demon Worms, and Meng Yue and Qiu Changyuan finished off the others.
• The group recovered three Demon Cores and seven skin pouches, then agreed that Lu Xuan could take one Demon Core, three pouches, and all the collected blood and flesh.

After returning safely to Black Star City, Lu Xuan accepted Sun Yunming’s offer to show him where he could sell Demonic Beast materials. At a street stall, Lu Xuan recognized Yu Jie, an old acquaintance from Vast Forest Market, and learned that Yu Jie’s grandfather had died after their flight to the city.

• Lu Xuan, Sun Yunming, Meng Yue, and Qiu Changyuan returned to Black Star City after half a month patrolling its outskirts and parted ways inside the city.
• Sun Yunming offered to guide Lu Xuan to places where he could exchange Demonic Beast materials for Spirit Stones, and Lu Xuan agreed.
• As Sun Yunming showed Lu Xuan the city’s stalls and shops, Lu Xuan stopped at a stall selling Azure Water Python Blood.
• Lu Xuan recognized the stall owner, Yu Jie, from Vast Forest Market, and Yu Jie remembered Lu Xuan as the Spirit Plant Master who had bought snake blood from his grandfather.
• Yu Jie told Lu Xuan that Demonic Beasts had attacked the market and that his grandfather died after being injured and falling ill during their journey to Black Star City.

Lu Xuan reunited with Yu Jie in Black Star City, gave him several treasures, and helped arrange a possible place for him in Clear Source Sect. He then sold a large haul of Demonic Beast materials at Golden Dipper Pavilion for twenty-eight thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

• Lu Xuan recognized Yu Jie, gave him Spirit Accumulation Elixirs and two Third-grade treasures, and warned him to keep them hidden.
• Sun Yunming offered to introduce Yu Jie to Clear Source Sect, and Lu Xuan accepted his help.
• Sun Yunming brought Lu Xuan to Golden Dipper Pavilion, where Lu Xuan met the shopkeeper surnamed Jin.
• Lu Xuan had the pavilion assess his Demonic Beast materials, which they valued at about twenty-eight thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Lu Xuan accepted two hundred and eighty Middle Grade Spirit Stones and exchanged Communication Talismans with Sun Yunming before returning to his Small Courtyard.

After returning to Black Star City, Lu Xuan planted Water Firefly Grass and tended his Arrow Vines while waiting for a new assignment. He then disguised himself and entered the city’s hidden Black Market, hoping to find an Unknown Spirit Seed.

• Lu Xuan settled into his courtyard, planted more than two hundred Water Firefly Grass Spirit Seeds, and tended four Arrow Vines.
• Lu Xuan spent ten days cultivating plants and meeting fellow Heaven Sword Sect disciples, then learned Zhou Qi had asked about his whereabouts.
• Lu Xuan decided to visit the Black Market after recalling Sun Yunming’s recommendation and obtained the entry details from him.
• Lu Xuan used the Voidsky Nightmare Eye to check for observers, disguised himself with the Thousandfold Wraith Mask, and entered the hidden Black Market through the ruins.

Lu Xuan visited a secret market and bought a Soul Loss Bell and a mysterious tusk-shaped bone after the Demon Ghost Vine sensed a Spirit Seed within it. Back at his courtyard, he discovered the bone was a Sixth-Grade Tusk Bone Demon Seed tied to an Extraterritorial Demon and a powerful innate Divine Ability.

• Lu Xuan entered the hidden market with Sun Yunming's jade seal and bought a Fourth-Grade Soul Loss Bell for five thousand six hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• The Demon Ghost Vine alerted Lu Xuan to a Spirit Seed at a stall selling demon and monster remains.
• Lu Xuan bought a dim-black tusk-shaped bone from the stall owner for eight thousand Spirit Stones.
• Lu Xuan returned to his Spirit Field and identified the bone as a Sixth-Grade Tusk Bone Demon Seed that could absorb bone marrow, refine Demonic Qi, and develop the Tusk Bone Divine Ability.
• Lu Xuan wondered what a Demon Seed was and contemplated the power described in its information.

After discovering that the Tusk Bone Demon Seed had to grow inside a living host, Lu Xuan sealed it away and arranged to hunt alone beyond Black Star City. He ventured toward the Black Demon Abyss with the Voidsky Nightmare Eye scouting ahead and released the Flesh Spirit God to feast on stored Demon Beast meat.

• Lu Xuan learned that the Tusk Bone Demon Seed used a living being's flesh and bones to grow, then sealed it inside a Jade Box protected by Evil Expelling Isolation Talismans.
• Lu Xuan asked Zhou Qi to let him take a solo task hunting Demonic Beasts and Evil Spirits farther from Black Star City, and Zhou Qi agreed to arrange it.
• Several days later, Lu Xuan received authorization to act alone and hunt beyond the city.
• Lu Xuan went deeper beyond Black Star City, used the Voidsky Nightmare Eye to scout the area, and found no unusual auras nearby.
• Lu Xuan released the Flesh Spirit God and offered it stored Demon Beast blood meat, which it rapidly consumed.

Lu Xuan encountered Chen Luo in the Secluded Dark Forest and discovered that his senior fellow disciple intended to force him to reveal a fabricated ancient book about strange insects. Chen Luo threatened him with soul-searching, and Lu Xuan faced him while remaining on guard.

• Lu Xuan killed a Third Grade demonic snake, fed its flesh and blood to the Flesh Spirit God, and drew its Yin soul into the Soul Guiding Lamp.
• Lu Xuan spotted Chen Luo and another cultivator nearby through the Voidsky Nightmare Eye, then noticed the companion had disappeared when Chen Luo approached him.
• Chen Luo asked Lu Xuan for the ancient book about strange insects, and Lu Xuan repeated that he had returned the borrowed book years earlier.
• Chen Luo threatened to use the Soul Searching Technique unless Lu Xuan disclosed the book’s contents, revealing that he had pursued him to seize it.
• Lu Xuan condemned Chen Luo’s threat as conduct unbefitting an Orthodox Daoist Cultivator.

Lu Xuan confronted Chen Luo and Zheng, who planned to seize an ancient book and kill him, then revealed an array of powerful treasures and abilities in battle. He killed Chen Luo, while Zheng remained locked in combat with him.

• Chen Luo and Zheng revealed their plan to take Lu Xuan's ancient book, search his soul, and kill him.
• Lu Xuan scattered Chen Luo's Giant Bees with a dragon roar, trapped the attackers in illusions, and destroyed the spirit insects with his Wind Lightning Sword.
• Lu Xuan exposed and pierced Chen Luo's transparent Demon Beast, then blocked Zheng's powerful punch with his own body.
• Chen Luo fled on a four-winged Demon Bird, but Lu Xuan struck him with the Thorn God Cone and beheaded him with the Peacock King Ming Sword.

Lu Xuan captured Chen Luo's remnant soul and killed the fleeing Foundation Establishment Perfection Body Cultivator, then erased the evidence and considered how to keep the sect from discovering what happened. He left the forest with their Storage Bags and planned to watch Senior Brother Zhou Qi for any suspicious behavior.

• Chen Luo's remnant soul tried to seize Lu Xuan's body, but Lu Xuan trapped him in the Soul Guiding Lamp.
• Lu Xuan tracked the fleeing Body Cultivator with the Voidsky Nightmare Eye, immobilized him with illusions, and killed him using three Great Sun Sword Talismans.
• Lu Xuan collected both cultivators' souls and Storage Bags, destroyed their corpses, and checked the area with Evil Expelling Talismans before leaving.
• Lu Xuan assessed his physical strength and decided to conceal the killings from the sect.
• Lu Xuan recalled that Senior Brother Zhou Qi had asked about him and planned to watch Zhou Qi with the Voidsky Nightmare Eye.

Lu Xuan looted Chen Luo and the body cultivator, then sold off their seized treasures while secretly watching Zhou Qi for signs of betrayal. Back in his courtyard, he harvested a mutated Arrow Vine and received a Fifth Grade Nailhead Arrow.

• Lu Xuan searched Chen Luo's Storage Bag and found the Hundred Beast Annotations, demon beast records, a Flying Sword, Spirit Stones, pills, and a Monster Beast Egg.
• Lu Xuan searched the body cultivator's Storage Bag and collected an Array Plate, body-tempering supplies, demon beast materials, and more than three hundred Middle Grade Spirit Stones.
• Lu Xuan returned to Black Star City and later sold a batch of seized Treasures at the Black Market in disguise.
• Lu Xuan used the Voidsky Nightmare Eye to follow Zhou Qi for more than a month but found no sign that Zhou Qi had acted suspiciously.
• Lu Xuan cultivated the Water Firefly Grass and harvested a mature Fourth Grade Mutated Arrow Vine.
• Lu Xuan touched the White Light Orb and obtained the Fifth Grade treasure Nailhead Arrow.

Lu Xuan harvested a fifth-grade curse treasure and refused to explore deeper into the dangerous Black Demon Abyss. After Zhou Qi informed him that the sects planned to withdraw, Lu Xuan chose to return to the sect, where his spirit plants were nearing maturity.

• Lu Xuan obtained a fifth-grade Nailhead Arrow from a Light Orb and continued tending his Arrow Vines.
• Sun Yunming, Qiu Changyuan, and Meng Yue invited Lu Xuan to explore deeper into the Black Demon Abyss, but he declined.
• Zhou Qi told Lu Xuan that Extraterritorial Demons were increasing and the sects planned to evacuate Black Star City’s cultivators and resources.
• Lu Xuan chose to return to the sect with the other disciples because his spirit plants were about to mature.

Lu Xuan returned from Black Star City to Sword Gate Town with a small group of Heaven Sword Sect disciples, eager to tend his spirit plants. Back at his Netherworld Courtyard, he fed his sinister plants and the Flesh Spirit God before returning to the sect.

• Lu Xuan packed his spirit plants and belongings, including the Sixth Grade Tusk Bone Demon Seed, and joined the disciples returning from Black Star City.
• Zhou Qi sent the group toward the sect on a Fourth Grade Four-Winged Thunderstorm Tiger, which brought them safely to Sword Gate Town the next day.
• Lu Xuan put on the Thousandfold Wraith Mask, entered the Netherworld Courtyard, and released the Flesh Spirit God.
• Lu Xuan offered Chen Luo's and another cultivator's organs to the Five Organs Treasure Plant and fed souls to the Yin Cry Wood and Soul Burning Flower.
• Lu Xuan used infant souls to cultivate the Saint Infant Fruit Mother Plant and its child plants, left the Fiend Origin Fruit with too little Killing Intent to cultivate, and returned to the sect.

Lu Xuan returned to his Inner Sect Cave Mansion, reunited with his spirit beasts, and resumed caring for his Spirit Field. He harvested all the mature Jade Dew Fruit and collected the Light Orbs’ rewards, including pills, spirit dew, recipes, and magic tools.

• Lu Xuan returned to the sect and reunited with Fat Bird and the other spirit beasts at his Cave Mansion.
• Lu Xuan gave the Grass Puppet a Fourth Grade Arrow Vine to use as a defensive treasure while patrolling the Spirit Field.
• Lu Xuan transplanted more than two hundred Water Firefly Grass plants and three Arrow Vines into the Cave Mansion’s spirit soil, then tended his Spirit Plants.
• Lu Xuan found that all fifteen remaining Jade Dew Fruit plants had matured and harvested sixty-two fruits.
• Lu Xuan collected sixty-two Light Orbs and received Dust Cleansing Pills, Jade Cleansing Spirit Dew, recipe experience packs, and three Fourth Grade Qing Wei Jade Lock Magic Tools.

Lu Xuan tended his spirit plants, collected rewards for a harvest of Jade Dew Fruits, and heard fellow cultivators discuss the dangers and opportunities in the Black Demon Abyss. Back in his Cave Mansion, he successfully advanced a mutated Water Firefly Grass into a Third Grade Spirit Plant and named it Ice Firefly Grass.

• Lu Xuan harvested eighty-six Jade Dew Fruits for the Alchemy Hall and received five hundred and ten Sword Seals.
• Over two months, Lu Xuan cultivated his spirit plants and Spirit Beasts, then planted another batch of Jade Dew Fruit seeds entrusted to him by the Alchemy Hall.
• Lu Xuan nourished his Fifth Grade Sword Grasses and discussed the Black Demon Abyss with Liu Su and a group of fellow Spirit Plant Masters, remaining unwilling to risk himself for treasures.
• Lu Xuan planted a mutated Water Firefly Grass seed and discovered that it had advanced into a Third Grade Spirit Plant.
• Lu Xuan named the new ice-attribute spirit plant Ice Firefly Grass.

Lu Xuan discovered that his mutated Third Grade Ice Firefly Grass might provide better cultivation rewards after his breakthrough and learned that Zhou Qi and Qingxu True Person had suffered disastrous fates in the Black Demon Abyss. The sect’s losses shook his confidence, but he resolved to keep cultivating spirit plants and trust the sect to face the danger.

• Lu Xuan found five Ice Firefly Grass Spirit Seeds and handed his Fourth Grade Sword Peacock to Sword Hall in exchange for five hundred Sword Seals.
• Lu Xuan learned that Zhou Qi had suffered severe soul injuries from demons and monsters in the Black Demon Abyss and might need decades to recover.
• Lu Xuan heard nine bell tolls announcing that Qingxu True Person had fallen to demons and monsters in the Black Demon Abyss.
• Lu Xuan recalled that he was cultivating Qingxu True Person’s Purification Glazed Tea and worried about the demons’ threat, then decided to focus on farming and harvesting Light Orbs.

Lu Xuan learned that demons and evil spirits were ravaging the Eastern Wasteland, and Ge Pu revealed that the Heaven Sword Sect planned to relocate to its parent sect in another realm. The sect would take only a select few, leaving Lu Xuan and most disciples to face separate arrangements.

• Liu Su informed Lu Xuan of attacks by a Disaster-Class Evil Spirit, mutated demons, and frenzied Spirit Beasts, heightening his anxiety about the worsening situation.
• Lu Xuan put away the seven Ice Firefly Grass Spirit Seeds he had improved, choosing not to plant them yet.
• Ge Pu visited Lu Xuan after breaking through to the Core Formation Realm and thanked him for helping him along the way.
• Ge Pu told Lu Xuan that stronger Extraterritorial Demons had emerged from the Black Demon Abyss, prompting the Heaven Sword Sect to leave the Eastern Wasteland.
• Ge Pu revealed that the Heaven Sword Sect was a branch of the Profound Cave Sword Sect in the Azure Wave Realm and planned to return there with only a small group of cultivators and relatives.
• Ge Pu explained that most disciples, including Lu Xuan, would not travel with the sect because crossing realms was too dangerous for large groups.

Ge Pu told Lu Xuan that the sect would send its Inner Sect Disciples to the Central Continent to escape the demon invasion, and promised to protect Lu Xuan’s claim to Qingxu’s Fifth Grade Purification Glazed Tea. Lu Xuan began preparing to leave by gathering his spirit plants and supplies, while wishing he had a secret realm of his own.

• Ge Pu explained that the damaged spatial barrier in the Black Demon Abyss had let Extraterritorial Demons into the Eastern Wasteland, so the sect planned to send its Inner Sect Disciples to the Central Continent.
• Lu Xuan asked how Outer Sect Disciples and cultivators unable to use the ancient teleportation array would be settled, and Ge Pu described the limits of spatial Treasures and the aid planned for Qi Practitioners.
• Ge Pu told Lu Xuan to direct anyone seeking Qingxu’s Purification Glazed Tea to him, and Lu Xuan agreed to keep the evacuation news confidential.
• After Ge Pu left, Lu Xuan accepted that he would have to make his way in the Central Continent and planned to gather spirit plants, seeds, and pill-refinement methods before departing.
• Lu Xuan traveled to the Defective Secret Realm and packed its spirit plants, Flame Soil, Underworld Spring Spiritual Dew, and Demon Subduing Pestle into the Gluttony Insect Pouch.
• Lu Xuan left the Wood Sprites behind and lamented that he did not own an independent secret realm.

Lu Xuan evacuated the strange Spirit Plants from his Netherworld Courtyard and spent most of his Sword Seals on Fourth Grade Spirit Seeds and seed-condensation methods before returning to his Cave Mansion. There, Gu Jiankong arrived with a Spirit Seed gifted by a Nascent Soul Grand Elder who valued Lu Xuan’s skill and contributions.

• Lu Xuan removed the strange Spirit Plants and Spirit Soil from the Netherworld Courtyard, then compressed its Yin Qi and concealed the courtyard’s former appearance.
• Lu Xuan went to Si Nong Hall and exchanged 8,200 Sword Seals for twelve Fourth Grade Spirit Seeds and the seed-condensation methods for Earth Fire Heart Lotus and Five Elements Fruit.
• Lu Xuan returned to his Cave Mansion, where Gu Jiankong brought him a Spirit Seed gifted by a Nascent Soul Grand Elder.