Chapter Summaries

Lu Feng cleared himself of suspicion in the death of Cloud Essence Temple disciple Xia He and helped Qiu Ci and Qiu Ai identify clues pointing to Zuo Qiu. He agreed to travel with them to confront him, while the group remained uncertain about the killer’s motives.

• Lu Feng redirected Qiu Ci and Qiu Ai to examine Xia He's body, and they found injuries suggesting she had been killed upstream rather than by him.
• Qiu Ci and Qiu Ai discovered Xia He's shattered wrist bones and suspected Zuo Qiu, though Qiu Ci wondered whether someone had copied his methods to frame him.
• Qiu Ci accused Lu Feng of being the killer but admitted she wanted his help confronting Zuo Qiu, and Lu Feng agreed to travel with the disciples.
• Lu Feng learned that Qiu Shuang and the other women from the lotus pond incident had become the Chief Disciples of the four houses of Cloud Essence Temple.
• As they traveled west, Qiu Ci and Qiu Ai questioned why Xia He's death did not match Zuo Qiu's usual crimes and asked Lu Feng for his thoughts.

Lu Feng and Qiu Ci traced the deaths of Xia He and Zuo Qiu to a clash between Zuo Qiu and Black Fiend, Mo Xuanming, over a valuable treasure. They continued upstream and found Mo Xuanming dead among more than a dozen bodies, leaving the identity of his killers unresolved.

• Lu Feng identified a corpse as Zuo Qiu from the Yin Yang Mysterious Rings fragment and the calluses on his fingers, then deduced that Black Fiend had killed him with poisoned, spiked gauntlets.
• Lu Feng concluded that Black Fiend and Zuo Qiu likely fought over a treasure, while Xia He had been killed after encountering Zuo Qiu by chance.
• Qiu Ci left Qiu Ai and the other disciples behind for safety and continued upstream with Lu Feng to investigate.
• Lu Feng and Qiu Ci found Black Fiend dead among more than a dozen bodies, with some victims bearing fist wounds and others sword wounds.
• Qiu Ci suspected Black Fiend had been ambushed and wondered whether the sword-wielders had been his accomplices.

Lu Feng and Qiu Ci investigated the deaths of Black Fiend and Guan Guyi, tracing the killings to the feared husband-and-wife team Fu Mo and Evil Moon. Lu Feng warned that the Five Views would soon face great trouble and revealed that the View Breaking Art had appeared in the world.

• Qiu Ci found Black Fiend pierced through the throat, and Lu Feng deduced that his companion had likely killed him after a fierce battle.
• Lu Feng and Qiu Ci found Guan Guyi dead with his skull crushed and his nearly Heaven-grade sword bent, then identified Fu Mo and Evil Moon as the likely killers.
• Lu Feng advised Qiu Ci to end the investigation and gave her a letter containing a jade slip with three forms of the Cloud Essence Pure Spirit Art for Qiu Shuang.
• Qiu Ci asked what danger threatened the Five Views, and Lu Feng revealed that the View Breaking Art had appeared in the world.

Lu Feng informed Qiu Ci that the View Breaking Art had leaked and gave her three lost forms of the Cloud Essence Pure Spirit Art. After finding Fu Mo and Evil Moon dead, he tracked Ruo Shui’s aura to an underground cellar, where she and an injured Ye Fan explained their fight and revealed the fragment they had taken was tied to the Luo Family.

• Lu Feng warned Qiu Ci about the leaked View Breaking Art and gave her a letter containing three lost forms of the Cloud Essence Pure Spirit Art.
• Lu Feng found a woman dead beside Fu Mo and Evil Moon, recognized Ruo Shui’s broken white silk and Ye Fan’s bent silver needles at the scene, then burned the bodies and erased the battle traces.
• Lu Feng followed Ruo Shui’s aura to an underground cellar in an ancient ruin, where he found her helping Ye Fan recover from his injuries.
• Ruo Shui explained that a strange woman had chased her before she ran into Fu Mo and Evil Moon, and Ye Fan described how he fought them and took Fu Mo’s Storage Ring.
• Lu Feng opened the Storage Ring and found a Luo Clan Fragment, realizing it had driven the Azure List soul masters to fight over it.

Lu Feng told Ye Fan and Ruo Shui about the Luo Family fragment and his dealings with Luo Tianci, then the three discovered murals depicting the ancient Heaven Rain Clan. They suspected that a woman who left with a merchant may have been connected to the clan’s later annihilation.

• Ye Fan warned Lu Feng that keeping the Luo Family fragment was dangerous, but Lu Feng stored it in his Kirin Ring and said it gave him leverage.
• Lu Feng revealed that Luo Tianci had offered two hundred and fifty High-Grade Source Stones, which he planned to use to support Ning Xiang and the other students.
• Ye Fan refused to stay overnight so they could continue toward the Southern God Fire, and the group left the cellar.
• Lu Feng, Ye Fan, and Ruo Shui uncovered murals showing merchants obtaining spiritual liquid from the Heaven Rain Clan and later traveling with a woman from the clan.
• Lu Feng and Ye Fan inferred that the woman had willingly left with a merchant and that her departure may have contributed to the Heaven Rain Clan’s annihilation.

Ye Fan, Lu Feng, and Ruo Shui followed clues toward the Soul Refining Cauldron, while fending off a persistent suitor and uncovering the Blood Clan’s old formations. They found the cauldron fixed to a strange black base whose patterns produced powerful spirit fire, but the Southern God Fire they sought was still unaccounted for.

• Ye Fan uncovered a fragmentary map pointing to the Profound Extremity Mountain Range, and Ruo Shui warned that her persistent pursuer was nearby.
• A red-robed Five Elements Pure Fire Body soul master demanded that Ruo Shui become his companion, but Lu Feng drove him off and later used formations to shake his pursuit.
• Ye Fan sensed the Soul Refining Cauldron northwest, though he and Lu Feng found no sign of Southern God Fire near it.
• Lu Feng and the others broke through Blood Clan formations and discovered piles of drained Blood Clan corpses surrounding the Soul Refining Cauldron.
• Ye Fan and Lu Feng found that the cauldron could not be separated from the black base beneath it, and Lu Feng activated its patterns to produce a fierce flame through the Nether Sparrow Separation Fire Pattern.

Lu Feng and Ruo Shui searched for the Southern God Fire, which Ye Fan believed could free the Soul Refining Cauldron from the black lump fused to it. In a forest, they encountered the icy woman who had attacked Ruo Shui before, and Ruo Shui began fighting her.

• Ye Fan reasoned that the Southern God Fire could power the Nether Sparrow Separation Fire Pattern and separate the black lump from the Soul Refining Cauldron, then stayed behind to study its patterns while Lu Feng and Ruo Shui went west to find the fire.
• Ruo Shui told Lu Feng that an icy woman had attacked her in the forest, and Lu Feng concealed his appearance with the Fox Mask before they continued onward.
• The woman appeared and charged at Ruo Shui, while Lu Feng recognized her but told Ruo Shui to exchange moves with her.
• Ruo Shui attacked with water droplets and white silk, but the woman caught and split her water spikes, demonstrating her control over water.
• Lu Feng tossed spiritual brew to Ruo Shui, who shaped it into flying swallows, and the woman brought out two three-sided spike weapons.

Lu Feng reunited with Leng Huaping after she nearly attacked Ruo Shui, and the two confirmed his identity through an old sparring code and a gesture she had taught him. After Leng Huaping explained that Ruo Shui had disrupted her hunt for a Blazing Feather Cat, Lu Feng asked why she wanted the beast, but she had not yet answered.

• Leng Huaping defeated Ruo Shui’s water-formed attacks with her Three-Pronged Water Dividing Thorn, prompting Lu Feng to step in.
• Leng Huaping mistook masked Lu Feng for Ruo Shui’s adulterous man and attacked, but she wavered when he called her by name and referred to their old water fights.
• Ruo Shui jumped in front of Lu Feng, and he shouted at Leng Huaping; Leng Huaping redirected her thorn’s attack before it struck Ruo Shui.
• Leng Huaping recognized Lu Feng by the old mask-removal gesture and embraced him, then accused Ruo Shui of ruining her hunt in the Iron Water Chestnut Forest.
• Ruo Shui apologized after learning she had disrupted Leng Huaping’s attempt to capture a young Blazing Feather Cat, and Lu Feng asked why Leng Huaping wanted it.

Lu Feng and Leng Huaping searched for the Blazing Feather Cat and discovered that its tracks and excrement carried the aura of Southern God Fire. After learning about Lu Feng’s difficult path to restoring his strength, Leng Huaping resolved to stay by his side as they searched for the fire.

• Leng Huaping explained that Ruo Shui’s dense Water Essence Qi would scare away the Blazing Feather Cat, so Lu Feng used an array plate to conceal Ruo Shui’s aura and told Leng Huaping about his experiences over the past few years.
• Leng Huaping found a Blazing Feather Cat scale and tracks, and she and Lu Feng deduced that the injured cat had fled eastward.
• Lu Feng discovered dense Southern God Fire in the Blazing Feather Cat’s excrement and explained Southern God Fire and his restored Soul Plate to Leng Huaping.
• Leng Huaping realized Lu Feng’s three refined kinds of mystic qi gave him strength comparable to three breaths of the Heaven Soul Realm, and she reaffirmed her faith in him.
• Lu Feng privately asked Leng Huaping to protect Ruo Shui if he encountered danger, but Leng Huaping refused to leave him and agreed to search for Southern God Fire.

Lu Feng, Leng Huaping, and Ruo Shui crossed a wasteland scorched by the Southern God Fire, where Ruo Shui tried to ease tensions by protecting the others with her Water Essence Qi. After Lu Feng told Leng Huaping about the Blood Clan and Qing Xue, the group encountered an ancient ferocious beast that carried the Southern God Fire’s aura.

• Lu Feng refused Leng Huaping’s suggestion to hunt a Blazing Feather Cat and followed its traces west into a barren region affected by the Southern God Fire.
• Ruo Shui used her Water Essence Qi to cool Lu Feng and Leng Huaping, but Leng Huaping warned her to conserve her strength, and she accepted a Source Stone to recover.
• Leng Huaping learned from Lu Feng that Qing Xue had impersonated him and that a Half-Step Saint Soul Realm expert was among the Blood Clan, then suggested they hide if war came.
• Lu Feng sensed a powerful presence, and the Demon Vine Crimson Flame Python emerged from the cliffs to block the group’s path.
• Lu Feng warned Leng Huaping and Ruo Shui that the ancient ferocious beast was dangerous and recognized traces of the Southern God Fire in its aura.

Lu Feng, Leng Huaping, and Ruo Shui fought the Crimson Flame Python, a powerful beast guarding the Southern God Fire, after it blocked their retreat. Leng Huaping demonstrated a new ability with her Water Dividing Thorn while Lu Feng found a way to pierce the python’s scales, but the battle continued as the clever beast pressed its attack.

• Lu Feng and Leng Huaping struck the Crimson Flame Python, but its tough scales and rapid recovery blunted their attacks, while Ruo Shui dispersed its fire breath with her white silk sash.
• Leng Huaping called out “Cosmic Synchronization! Sharing Joys and Sorrows!” and coordinated with Lu Feng to draw the python’s attention and create an opening.
• Lu Feng used One United Swordplay’s Duckweed move to shave a scale from the python’s back as it attacked from both ends.
• The python intensified its flames and targeted Leng Huaping with a fireball, but she split it into three with her Three-Pronged Water Dividing Thorn.
• Lu Feng raised his hand to attack again, and the python abruptly recoiled its tail in apparent fear of his swordplay.

Lu Feng and Leng Huaping fought the Crimson Flame Python with Ruo Shui’s help, but its powerful fire drove them into retreat. Lu Feng began luring the beast around formations he had placed, while Leng Huaping and Ruo Shui realized the formations were gathering its flames.

• Ruo Shui bound the Crimson Flame Python’s mouth with her white silk, giving Lu Feng and Leng Huaping a chance to attack its exposed scales.
• Lu Feng cut away a second scale, and Leng Huaping drove her Water Dividing Thorn into the exposed flesh, but the strike failed to reach the beast core.
• The Crimson Flame Python rose into the air and unleashed a devastating torrent of fire, forcing Lu Feng, Leng Huaping, and Ruo Shui to flee.
• Lu Feng fired arrows at the serpent’s wings, but its azure flames melted them and burned away part of Ruo Shui’s white silk.
• Lu Feng decided to hunt the Crimson Flame Python and gave Ruo Shui and Leng Huaping formation plates to set up before luring the beast between their formations.
• Leng Huaping and Ruo Shui noticed that Lu Feng was steering the serpent’s flames toward the formations, which appeared to be gathering the fire.

Lu Feng survived the Crimson Flame Python’s attack and used the Ice Fire Yin Yang Pattern to badly injure it, then led Ruo Shui and Leng Huaping to the ruins where he sensed the Southern God Fire. As other soulmasters fought the wounded python nearby, Lu Feng sent Leng Huaping to watch them while Ruo Shui guarded him as he prepared to refine the fire.

• Lu Feng escaped the Crimson Flame Python’s fiery assault and unleashed two linked formations, severely damaging the beast and forcing it to flee.
• Lu Feng sensed approaching soulmasters, then led Ruo Shui and Leng Huaping west toward the ruined palace where the Southern God Fire lay beneath the rubble.
• Lu Feng and his companions disguised themselves after noticing other soulmasters near the ruins.
• Several soulmasters began fighting the injured Crimson Flame Python, and Lu Feng worried they might kill it and claim its beast core.
• Lu Feng sent Leng Huaping to observe the fight and told Ruo Shui to protect him while he refined the Southern God Fire.

Lu Feng and Ruo Shui found Southern God Fire leaking from the ruins, but Sun Liuliu and her companions arrived and tried to claim the site. After Lu Feng killed A Bao and faced down the gathering factions, Qin Tianliang offered to yield the treasure only if Sun Liuliu gave him “some sweetness.”

• Lu Feng found Southern God Fire beneath the ruins, set up a defensive formation, and began preparing to refine it while Ruo Shui waited at a distance.
• Sun Liuliu ordered Lu Feng and Ruo Shui to leave, but Lu Feng insulted her and killed A Bao when he attacked.
• Sang Feichen challenged Lu Feng, attacked Ruo Shui instead, and saw her repel his Six Harmonies Force.
• Qi Feiyu and Qin Tianliang arrived with other Earth Soul Realm Soul Masters, forming a second group alongside Sun Liuliu and Sang Feichen.
• Sun Liuliu asked Qin Tianliang to let her claim the treasure, and he hinted that he wanted a favor in return.

Sun Liuliu tried to use Qin Tianliang to seize the Southern God Fire, but Zhu Yizhong intervened to protect Ruo Shui and agreed to stay by her side. The Crimson Flame Python died, drawing several powerful factions to its exposed beast core, while a dispute over Huai Ziyou’s contracts raised a new question about an attempted assassination of Luo Tianci.

• Sun Liuliu persuaded Qin Tianliang to help her and directed him toward Ruo Shui, but Zhu Yizhong arrived and forced Qin Tianliang and Qi Feiyu back.
• Zhu Yizhong asked Ruo Shui to let him stay by her side; she agreed on the condition that he not be too annoying, and he then faced Qin Tianliang.
• Sun Liuliu revealed that she had come for the Southern God Fire, alarming Zhu Yizhong and Lu Feng.
• The mortally wounded Crimson Flame Python crashed into the ruins and died, and Huai Ziyou, Xiong Yuan, Luo Tianci, Luo Tianfu, and Jun Ziqian arrived as the groups eyed its exposed beast core.
• Sun Liuliu swore that she had not hired Huai Ziyou to assassinate Luo Tianci and explained that she had hired him to gather Fire Essence Qi and kill anyone who obstructed her.
• An unidentified woman asked why Luo Tianci was alive if Huai Ziyou had accepted a job to assassinate him.

Huai Ziyou killed Gongsun Zhe after he insulted him, while Lu Feng finished setting up his formation. A powerful Crimson Flame Python arrived seeking revenge, and the soulmasters prepared to fight as Red Scorpion’s attempt to kill Qin Tianliang failed; the python’s belly appeared to be injured.

• Red Scorpion questioned Huai Ziyou about his failed assassination, and he said a stranger with a familiar feeling had thwarted him.
• Sun Liuliu asked Huai Ziyou to kill Lu Feng, but he refused; when Gongsun Zhe called him a coward, Huai Ziyou killed him with one swift strike.
• Lu Feng completed his formation as a fearsome Crimson Flame Python appeared, and Luo Tianci urged the soulmasters to unite against it.
• Red Scorpion attacked Qin Tianliang with poisoned darts, but Qin Taiheng used Qi Feiyu and a guard as shields; both died, and Qin Tianliang promised to support Qin Taiheng’s branch.
• Two guards fled, but the python killed them with purple flames; Xiong Yuan then noticed breaks in the white patterns on its belly.

The Crimson Flame Python trapped the group and began consuming its companion’s beast core to heal and break through, while Sun Liuliu urged the Soul Masters to seize the Southern God Fire. Lu Feng activated a protective array and demonstrated that it could channel powerful Fire Essence Qi, leaving the others eager to enter.

• The Crimson Flame Python mourned its dead companion, trapped the group behind a ring of fire, and crushed the corpse to extract its beast core.
• Lu Feng realized the python intended to consume the beast core and heal its injuries before breaking through.
• Sun Liuliu persuaded many Soul Masters to move toward the Southern God Fire, while Xiong Yuan warned that the group should attack before the python absorbed the core.
• Jun Ziqian and Luo Tianfu proposed making Lu Feng lead the charge, but Lu Feng activated an array that enclosed himself, Leng Huaping, Ruo Shui, and Zhu Yizhong.
• Lu Feng told the others to pour spiritual qi into the shield to draw out the Southern God Fire’s aura, and Zhu Yizhong demonstrated its power with a blood-red palm strike.
• Luo Tianci confirmed the strike’s dense Fire Essence Qi, and Jun Ziqian urgently asked to be let inside.

Lu Feng used the formation to let the others channel the Southern God Fire’s aura against the Crimson Flame Python while secretly refining the fire himself. As the group attacked the python and Jun Ziqian brought out a powerful treasure, Lu Feng continued cautiously refining the Southern God Fire, wary that adding it to his Soul Plate could shatter it.

• Sun Liuliu tried to enter the Spiritual Qi Shield, but Sang Feichen pulled her back and burned his arm on its aura.
• Lu Feng sat down and claimed he would draw out the Southern God Fire to strengthen the shield, while secretly beginning to refine it.
• The Crimson Flame Python swallowed the beast core and began refining it, so Huai Ziyou lured it toward the group by repeatedly attacking one patch of its scales.
• Luo Tianci and the others used the formation to imbue their attacks with the Southern God Fire’s aura, opening a wound in the python’s scales.
• Leng Huaping redirected the python’s flames onto the Spiritual Qi Shield, and the group recognized Lu Feng’s actions as righteous and attacked without holding back.
• Jun Ziqian produced the Heaven Severing Divine Shuttle and asked the group to help activate it, while Lu Feng continued refining the Southern God Fire cautiously to protect the balance of his Soul Plate.

Lu Feng began safely refining Southern God Fire while Jun Ziqian and the others used the Heaven Severing Divine Shuttle against the wounded Crimson Flame Python. The shuttle shattered after the python blocked its strike, and the group was left defending against its flames as Luo Tianfu proposed redirecting the attacks toward Leng Huaping and the others.

• Lu Feng chose to refine Southern God Fire through the boundary between Central Palace Earth and Eastern Soul Wood, prioritizing a steady method while Ruo Shui and Leng Huaping remained in danger.
• Jun Ziqian asked Xiong Yuan and Huai Ziyou to control the powered Heaven Severing Divine Shuttle and aim for the Crimson Flame Python's broken scales.
• The group infused the shuttle with Southern God Fire and launched it, but the python sacrificed its tail to block the strike, and the shuttle shattered.
• As the grievously wounded python rushed closer and unleashed flames, Sun Liuliu raised her Fuxi Shield and called for everyone to supply it with spiritual qi.
• Qin Tianliang warned that their remaining spiritual qi would not hold for long, and Luo Tianfu urged everyone to draw the python's attacks toward Leng Huaping and the other two.

As Lu Feng refined the Southern God Fire inside the Sub-Mother Heavy Sound Array, Luo Tianfu and others tried to redirect the Crimson Flame Python's attack toward Leng Huaping and Ruo Shui. Sun Liuliu revealed her own plan to seize the fire with a Flame Spirit Gourd, but Lu Feng resisted her using energy supplied by the array.

• Luo Tianfu and Jun Ziqian urged the others to sacrifice Leng Huaping and Ruo Shui, while Xiong Yuan and Huai Ziyou hesitated under threats from the Four Great Families.
• Leng Huaping shielded Ruo Shui, and Zhu Yizhong prepared to help her escape if the formation broke; Ruo Shui insisted that she trusted Lu Feng.
• Lu Feng continued refining the Southern God Fire with the Sub-Mother Heavy Sound Array sustaining his child shield.
• Sun Liuliu stopped supplying energy to the mother shield and warned that it was about to crack, prompting Luo Tianfu and the others to tilt it and divert the flames.
• The Crimson Flame Python kept attacking, while the mother shield began draining the spiritual qi of those supporting it; Sun Liuliu vanished from their sight.
• Sun Liuliu cast a Flame Spirit Gourd toward Lu Feng's shield to draw in the Southern God Fire, but Lu Feng resisted with energy transmitted from the mother shield.