Chapter Summaries

Shen Mo rescued the unconscious Peng Leyao and fought Lin Zhaozai long enough to escape the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. He emerged to find Hong Gu, Song Han, Fu Jianghuo, and Peng Lexiao waiting, and they asked whether Lin Zhaozai had eaten Peng Leyao.

• Shen Mo sent Peng Leyao into the Golden Flower World after Fu Jianghuo abandoned her to escape the tower.
• Shen Mo resisted Lin Zhaozai’s blood-colored sword attack and burned him with Pure Yang True Fire.
• Shen Mo weighed the risks of fighting Lin Zhaozai and chose to flee rather than pursue a costly battle.
• Lin Zhaozai let Shen Mo escape instead of renewing the tower’s pulling force.
• Shen Mo emerged from the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, and Hong Gu, Song Han, Fu Jianghuo, and Peng Lexiao asked whether Peng Leyao had been eaten.

Shen Mo rescued Peng Leyao, sealed the others’ cultivation, and erased their memories of what happened inside the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. After fortifying the mountain hollow, he learned Hong Gu’s hidden family history and left with the group preparing to seek another opportunity.

• Shen Mo revealed the unconscious Peng Leyao, then trapped Hong Gu and the others in the Big Dipper Seven-Star Sword Array and erased their memories of entering the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.
• Shen Mo left Lin Zhaozai confined in the pagoda and spent two days strengthening the mountain hollow’s formations to keep others away.
• From Hong Gu’s memories, Shen Mo learned that she was the illegitimate daughter of the Mount Li Alchemy Sect’s sect master and had spread rumors to spite him.
• Hong Gu, Song Han, Fu Jianghuo, the Peng Siblings, and Shen Mo awoke with injuries and missing memories, but found no other apparent harm.
• After failing to break through the strengthened Natural Killing Array, the group agreed to recover and then seek another opportunity.

Shen Mo sensed Lü the Groom through the Soul Refining Banner and left Hong Gu’s group to find Yang Chengxiong before they could alert the Taiyi Sword Alliance and Heaven-Patrolling Daoist Temple. Song Han suspected Shen Mo had caused the group’s injuries and lost memories, then left the Floating Light Dharma Boat, while Shen Mo reached a vast volcanic region.

• Shen Mo sensed Lü the Groom’s long-dormant imprint and realized Yang Chengxiong might learn that he had returned to the Heaven-Patrolling Domain.
• Shen Mo gave Hong Gu and the others Ghost Flower powder so they could find one another, then flew toward Yang Chengxiong’s location.
• After Shen Mo left, Song Han told the others he suspected Shen Mo had taken the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda’s opportunity and erased their memories.
• Song Han rejected Peng Lexiao’s arguments, chose to trust his intuition, and left the Floating Light Dharma Boat to travel alone.
• Shen Mo stopped before a vast cluster of volcanoes where poisonous smoke and powerful pillars of flame filled the sky.

Shen Mo gathered more than seven hundred treasures from the Ancient Immortal-Demon Battlefield and entered its volcanic sea of fire in pursuit of Yang Chengxiong. Yang Chengxiong was traveling with seven Taiyi Sword Alliance elders, who planned to capture Shen Mo as he approached.

• Shen Mo waited outside the volcanic range while his Demon Soul Generals returned with their collected treasures and then reabsorbed them into the Soul Refining Banner.
• Shen Mo equipped protective techniques and entered the poisonous smoke and fire pillars, using his senses and Sword Qi to survive the dangerous passage.
• Yang Chengxiong stood aboard a fire-resistant dragon boat with seven Origin Core elders of the Taiyi Sword Alliance, including Elder Zhu Zhao.
• Yang Chengxiong told Elder Zhu Zhao that Shen Mo was less than three thousand li away, and Elder Zhu Zhao resolved to capture him.

Zhu Zhao’s group pursued the Samadhi True Fire while Shen Mo weighed whether to attack them or keep his distance. He chose to follow the Fire-Scaled Dragon Boat and wait for a chance to kill Yang Chengxiong or seize an opportunity.

• Zhu Zhao sensed Wan Yan spying on the Fire-Scaled Dragon Boat and killed the Demon Soul General with a strike of Sword Qi.
• Zhu Zhao warned Yang Chengxiong not to probe the enemy and focused his group on obtaining the Samadhi True Fire in the Fire Prison.
• Shen Mo learned through Wan Yan that Zhu Zhao led eight Taiyi Sword Alliance cultivators, including one peak Origin Core Realm expert, and decided a direct fight was too risky.
• Shen Mo concluded that Yang Chengxiong could help the Heaven-Patrolling Daoist Temple track him through the Soul Refining Banner, so he still hoped to kill him.
• Shen Mo followed the Fire-Scaled Dragon Boat from two or three thousand li away, intending to wait for an opening and possibly claim the group’s opportunity.

Shen Mo followed Zhu Zhao's group through the Fire Prison, surviving Zhu Zhao's attempted ambush and keeping track of the Fire Scale Dragon Boat. The group reached a vast volcano where the Samadhi True Fire lay, and Shen Mo entered after them to pursue the opportunity.

• Shen Mo used the Divination Treasure Mirror and decided to keep following Yang Chengxiong's group into the Fire Prison, sending Demon Soul Generals to scout the Fire Scale Dragon Boat.
• Zhu Zhao ambushed Shen Mo, but Shen Mo's Destiny Cicada Sense warned him in time to escape with Sword Evasion; Zhu Zhao then abandoned his attempt to kill him directly.
• Zhu Zhao suspected Shen Mo wanted to interfere with Yang Chengxiong and steal the Samadhi True Fire, so he planned to make arrangements after finding it.
• After several days of stalemate, Zhu Zhao's group reached a vast volcano and planned for Yang Chengxiong to sneak into the fire monsters' altar to steal the Samadhi True Fire.
• Zhu Zhao and the others drove the Fire Scale Dragon Boat into the volcano, and Shen Mo followed them inside.

Zhu Zhao and the Sword Alliance fought the Fire Spirit race inside its volcano to draw its strongest members away while Yang Chengxiong secretly sought the Samadhi True Fire. Yang Chengxiong reached the Fire Spirit altar, where the flame was enshrined.

• Zhu Zhao and six Sword Alliance powerhouses entered the volcano aboard the Fire Scale Dragon Boat as Yang Chengxiong concealed himself and slipped away.
• A powerful Fire Spirit demanded to know why the humans had invaded, and Zhu Zhao provoked the race by claiming they had come to hunt and capture its members.
• The Fire Spirits and Sword Alliance cultivators resumed their battle, drawing powerful defenders away from the altar and weakening its protection.
• Yang Chengxiong infiltrated the Fire Spirit city through its tangled upper and middle levels while the battle drove weaker Fire Spirits to lower ground.
• Yang Chengxiong arrived at the altar near the volcano's magma, where the Samadhi True Fire was enshrined.

Yang Chengxiong broke through the Fire Spirit clan’s defenses and stole the Samadhi True Fire using powerful treasures. As the clan’s strongest fighters learned of the theft, the battle against Zhu Zhao and the Sword Alliance escalated.

• Yang Chengxiong infiltrated the altar but was exposed by its fiery defenses and extinguished the flames around himself with a talisman.
• Yang Chengxiong used the Taiyi Sword Alliance founding patriarch’s portrait scroll to kill four fourth-rank Fire Spirits and badly wound the fifth.
• Yang Chengxiong collected the Samadhi True Fire in a treasure furnace and vanished with his concealment ability.
• Zhu Zhao and the Sword Alliance fought the Fire Spirit clan’s foremost experts, suffering two Dao Body losses while killing several fourth-rank and dozens of third-rank Fire Spirits.
• A streak of fire entered the peak fourth-rank humanoid Fire Spirit, which grew into a hundred-zhang giant and unleashed a vast blaze after learning the Sacred Fire had been stolen.

A peak fourth-order Fire Spirit turned the region into a thousand-li Fire Prison, hoping to suppress the Sword Alliance and expose the thief who had stolen the Samadhi True Fire. Zhu Zhao raced to rescue Yang Chengxiong, but a spiritual flying sword suddenly shot through the flames toward him.

• A peak fourth-order humanoid Fire Spirit spent its origin power to engulf the area in flames, empowering the Fire Spirit clan and damaging the Fire Scale Dragon Boat.
• The raging flames exposed Yang Chengxiong, who called to Zhu Zhao for help after revealing that he had stolen the Samadhi True Fire.
• Zhu Zhao rushed to rescue Yang Chengxiong, using Tie Shan to block a magma trident before a sixth-grade Feathering Talisman carried him two hundred li toward him.
• Zhu Zhao cut apart the flame whips attacking Yang Chengxiong while the two peak fourth-order Fire Spirit experts pursued them.
• A spiritual flying sword tore through the sea of fire and shot straight toward Yang Chengxiong.

Shen Mo broke through Zhu Zhao’s Five Elements Sword Formation and appeared beside Yang Chengxiong, whose defensive formation he then destroyed. The chapter left Shen Mo poised to attack Yang Chengxiong despite the severe strain on his divine soul.

• Zhu Zhao trapped the Demon Slayer Sword in a Five Elements Sword Formation, but the sword spirit used Samsara of All Phenomena to break through.
• Yang Chengxiong activated a defensive formation from his array disk to shield himself from the Demon Slayer Sword.
• Shen Mo appeared beside the sword after using Sword Evasion across more than a thousand miles and swallowed pills to ease the damage to his divine soul.
• Shen Mo attacked Yang Chengxiong’s formation with the Demon Slayer Sword and shattered it.

Shen Mo burned and captured Yang Chengxiong, then escaped Zhu Zhao’s devastating attack with repeated Sword Evasion techniques. Zhu Zhao returned to the embattled Fire Scale Dragon Boat and pursued Shen Mo, leaving the remaining Sword Alliance cultivators fighting for survival.

• Shen Mo used his Pure Yang Fire Pupils to expose Yang Chengxiong’s hiding place and burn him nearly to death.
• Shen Mo captured Yang Chengxiong and his Qiankun Pouch inside the Golden Flower World as Zhu Zhao closed in.
• Zhu Zhao unleashed a peak Origin Core Realm sword strike, but Shen Mo evaded it with All-Encompassing Star Meteor and repeated Sword Evasion techniques.
• Zhu Zhao drove back the pursuing Fire Spirits and returned to the Fire Scale Dragon Boat.
• Two more Sword Alliance cultivators died, leaving only two late-stage Origin Core cultivators holding out against the Fire Spirits.
• Zhu Zhao steered the Dragon Boat after Shen Mo.

Shen Mo escaped the pursuing Zhu Zhao and a Fire Spirit while recovering from repeated uses of [Sword Evasion]. He captured Yang Chengxiong, learned that the stolen treasure was the Samadhi True Fire, and left him transformed into a Demon Soul General with part of his consciousness retained.

• Shen Mo fled the volcanic range, planting Demon Soul Generals along his route to track Zhu Zhao and the pursuing Fire Spirit.
• Shen Mo repeatedly used [Sword Evasion] to widen the distance from his pursuers, though they continued to track him.
• Shen Mo brought Yang Chengxiong out of the Golden Flower World and learned that Yang had stolen the Samadhi True Fire.
• Shen Mo refused Yang Chengxiong's offer of the treasures in his Qiankun Pouch and gave him a choice between two fates as a soul general.
• Yang Chengxiong chose to retain part of his consciousness, and Shen Mo refined him into an early fourth-tier Demon Soul General whose two-faced form shared features with Lü the Groom.

Shen Mo subdued Yang Chengxiong and claimed the Samadhi True Fire from Zhu Zhao’s treasure furnace. After refining the flame, he strengthened his true essence and gained a path past his cultivation bottlenecks before the late Origin Core Realm.

• Shen Mo confirmed that Yang Chengxiong retained intelligence but held no significant resentment, then refined it into a Demon Soul General.
• Shen Mo opened Yang Chengxiong’s Qiankun Pouch and trapped the Wildfire treasure furnace as it tried to escape with the Samadhi True Fire.
• Shen Mo broke Zhu Zhao’s Divine Soul imprint, but the Wildfire artifact spirit resisted until it shattered, allowing Shen Mo to claim the furnace.
• Shen Mo swallowed the Samadhi True Fire and refined it in his dantian, where it began tempering his true essence.
• Shen Mo received one Destiny Point and realized the flame could help him overcome bottlenecks before reaching the late Origin Core Realm.

While fleeing Zhu Zhao and the flame-shaped fire spirit, Shen Mo let his Divine Soul recover and examined the treasures taken from Yang Chengxiong. He considered whether the Soul-Fixing Coffin Nails could help Yu Yan inhabit a body, while the pursuers continued closing in.

• Shen Mo replenished his true essence with a Three Sovereigns Spirit Marrow Pill and learned that Zhu Zhao and the flame-shaped fire spirit were within two thousand li.
• Shen Mo decided to delay using [Sword Evasion] while his Divine Soul recovered, reasoning that he could outlast his pursuers and grow stronger through the Samadhi True Fire.
• Shen Mo examined Yang Chengxiong's belongings and found a Sword Alliance founder painting whose stored killing power had been spent, along with a damaged defensive formation plate.
• Shen Mo considered giving the formation plate to Zhao Lingyin when he returned to the Red Flame Domain.
• Shen Mo studied seven Soul-Fixing Coffin Nails and wondered whether they could help Yu Yan inhabit a freshly dead body.

Hong Gu and the Peng siblings encountered Shen Mo fleeing from Zhu Zhao and a powerful fire spirit, realizing he had hidden far greater strength than they had thought. After more than ten days of pursuit left him exhausted, Shen Mo called out Ami and proposed using the Mother Tree Green Leaf’s power to frighten off his pursuers.

• Hong Gu, Fu Jianghuo, Peng Lexiao, and Peng Leyao discussed entering an ancient tomb cluster after finding no trace of Shen Mo at their previous sites of opportunity.
• Peng Leyao wondered why Shen Qingyun had not reunited with them, while Peng Lexiao argued that Song Han’s suspicions were unreliable.
• Shen Mo’s escaping light passed near the group, followed by Zhu Zhao and a peak fourth-order fire spirit pursuing him.
• Hong Gu and the others realized Shen Mo had concealed his strength as he continued fleeing from the two powerful pursuers.
• After evading Zhu Zhao and the fire spirit for more than ten days, Shen Mo summoned Ami and suggested bluffing them with the hidden power of the Mother Tree Green Leaf.

Shen Mo used Ami and the Mother Tree Green Leaf to drive Zhu Zhao away and deter the flame-shaped fire spirit, then rejoined Hong Gu’s group. After hearing about Song Han, the group entered the ancient tomb complex together, with the fire spirit following at a distance.

• Shen Mo stopped fleeing and had Ami activate the Mother Tree Green Leaf to unleash a fearsome aura at Zhu Zhao and the flame-shaped fire spirit.
• Zhu Zhao fled, while the fire spirit kept its distance and continued following Shen Mo rather than abandoning the Samadhi True Fire.
• Shen Mo told the fire spirit he would not return the Samadhi True Fire and warned both pursuers against continuing the hunt.
• Shen Mo returned to Hong Gu’s group, explained his conflict with Zhu Zhao and the Fire Spirit Clan, and asked what had happened to Song Han.
• Hong Gu and the others entered the ancient tomb complex aboard the Floating Light Dharma Boat, followed by the fire spirit from a distance.

Shen Mo defeated a powerful Corpse Spirit in the Ancient Cultivator Tomb Complex and divined that venturing deeper would bring certain death. He and his companions decided to search nearby tombs instead, leaving the complex’s deepest danger unexplored.

• Shen Mo cut down the black-furred Corpse Spirit, destroyed its soul with a Soul Extinguishing Curse, and sealed its remains in an Iron Coffin to sell later.
• Hong Gu asked Shen Mo whether they should explore deeper or open more nearby mausoleums, and he weighed the risks against their modest gains so far.
• Shen Mo used the Divination Treasure Mirror and found a hexagram showing no chance of survival if the group went deeper.
• Shen Mo told Hong Gu and the others about the danger and his suspicions about the tomb complex’s hidden cause.
• Hong Gu, Fu Jianghuo, and the Peng Siblings agreed to avoid the depths and search the nearby tombs for treasures.

Shen Mo and his companions spent a year excavating tombs in the ancient battlefield, gathering treasures and surviving numerous dangers. As they headed toward the outskirts to leave and rest, the persistent Fire Spirit lured a peak fourth-tier centipede demon toward their boat and disappeared.

• Shen Mo, Hong Gu, Fu Jianghuo, and the Peng Siblings used treasure-detection methods to choose tombs and divided the spoils after breaking their restrictions.
• The group excavated twenty to thirty tombs over roughly a year, encountering deadly guardians and traps while gaining many resources.
• Shen Mo discovered a beast bone inscribed with over thirty complete and more than fifty incomplete ancient pill formulas.
• Shen Mo refused to return the flame-shaped Fire Spirit, which continued following him in pursuit of the Samadhi True Fire.
• Shen Mo and his companions set out to leave the tomb complex and return to the Colorful Garment Kingdom to recuperate and resupply.
• The Fire Spirit lured a peak fourth-tier centipede demon from a ruined tomb toward Shen Mo's group aboard the Floating Light Dharma Boat, then vanished.

Shen Mo fought the Mutated Evil-Eating Flying Centipede and learned that its hardened body came from consuming evil objects in an ancient tomb. He trapped it in the Big Dipper Seven-Star Sword Array, hoping to wear it down and tame it as a spirit pet; the centipede was still enduring the attack.

• Shen Mo warned Hong Gu and the others not to let the Fire Spirit lure them away, then confronted the centipede demon.
• Shen Mo used [Insight into All Living Beings] to learn the centipede's history, strength, and weakness: its muddled mind made it vulnerable to a killing formation.
• Shen Mo trapped the centipede in the Big Dipper Seven-Star Sword Array and began wearing it down, intending to subdue it as a spirit pet.
• The centipede curled into a ball and endured the sword formation's relentless assault without suffering a serious wound.

Shen Mo wore down the peak fourth-tier Devour-Evil Centipede until it submitted and signed a Spirit Pet Contract. After the Fire Spirit fled, Shen Mo gained a new spirit pet whose first words still sounded violently murderous.

• Shen Mo continued tormenting the Devour-Evil Centipede with the Big Dipper Sword Formation while it resisted surrender.
• Shen Mo sent the Wedding Dress Female Ghost and other Demon Soul Generals to confront the hidden Fire Spirit, which burned them away and fled toward Volcanic Purgatory.
• Hong Gu warned Fu Jianghuo and the others not to reveal Shen Mo’s strength after they witnessed his battle.
• Near death, the Devour-Evil Centipede pleaded for its life, and Shen Mo offered it a Spirit Pet Contract.
• The Evil-Eating Flying Centipede signed the contract, bonded with Shen Mo, and spoke a threatening word as he fed it medicinal pills.