Chapter Summaries

Li Fan and Li Wugou heard Liu Zhuo’s account of the Heng Hai Army using corpse poison and agreed to investigate its camp and help rescue the Yellow Heaven Dao’s followers. After Liu Zhuo’s group vanished with the spirit coffins, Li Fan noticed he could read the strange markings they left behind.

• Li Wugou persuaded Li Fan to let Liu Zhuo and the Yellow Heaven Dao members break the formation around the three spirit coffins first.
• Liu Zhuo told Li Fan and Li Wugou that the Heng Hai Army was poisoning Yellow Heaven Dao followers and refining baleful corpses into corpse soldiers.
• Li Fan and Li Wugou agreed to investigate the Heng Hai Army and assist the Yellow Heaven Dao if Liu Zhuo’s claims were true.
• Li Wugou revealed that she hoped to join the Xuan Sect or Divine Sect, while Li Fan warned her that the Heng Hai Army might have ties to the Divine Sect.
• Liu Zhuo’s group used a talisman banner to vanish in a yellow gale, and Li Fan memorized the strange markings they left behind.

Li Fan and Li Wugou reached the Heng Hai Army’s Corpse-Refining Array and were intercepted by six orthodox cultivators, forcing them into battle. After Li Fan killed most of their opponents and Li Wugou killed Yan Qin, they became sworn siblings, and Li Fan asked her to teach him how to trigger a calamity of slaughter.

• Li Fan and Li Wugou disguised themselves and flew openly toward the Heng Hai Army’s camp, where six Nascent Soul cultivators intercepted them and attacked Li Wugou over her past deeds.
• Li Fan tested the three cultivators attacking him while Li Wugou struggled against Yan Qin and two other women in a sword formation.
• The iron-staff general signaled for a coordinated attack, but Li Fan endured the blows and protected Li Wugou as she began setting up a calamity of slaughter.
• Li Fan and Li Wugou argued over how he could join her calamity, then agreed to become sworn siblings while Yan Qin insulted them.
• Li Fan used Moon Soul to kill five opponents, and Li Wugou killed Yan Qin with her bare hands.
• Li Wugou called Li Fan her Second Brother, and he asked her to teach him how to set off a calamity of slaughter.

Li Fan and Li Wugou infiltrated the Heng Hai Army’s camp and discovered that its corpse-refining formation was part of a vast Kun-Gen arrangement tied to the Central Plains’ dragon vein. As the God Cult’s scheme appeared impossible to stop locally, Li Fan watched the corpse tide and unexpectedly formed a Dao Fruit.

• Li Wugou disguised herself as Yan Qin of Kongsang Mountain with her magic treasure, while Li Fan transformed into the dead monk Fa Ke and suspected that the Death Gate Dao had hidden itself among Buddhist sects.
• Li Fan and Li Wugou flew into the Heng Hai Army’s camp and saw thousands of baleful corpses feeding at the formation before some were captured and made into corpse soldiers.
• Li Wugou identified the formation as the Kun-Gen Gates of Life and Death and concluded that it used the Central Plains’ dragon vein and the fortunes of Gen and Kun Countries to turn people into ghosts.
• Li Wugou explained that destroying the formation would scatter the corpses and that stopping the scheme would require restoring the countries’ Immortal Palaces and establishing a Demon Subduing Palace.
• Li Fan resolved to oppose the God Cult and stared at the corpse tide, whereupon a purple figure appeared behind him and three flowers bloomed on its antler-like branches as he formed a Dao Fruit.

Li Fan discovered that he had formed the Three Flowers at his crown, which gave him a way to ward off calamities, then joined Li Wugou in attacking the Heng Hai Army’s camp. They seized the Tiger Tally and began destroying the corpse soldiers and their guards as reinforcements approached.

• Li Wugou explained that Li Fan’s Three Flowers could protect him from calamities, and the system confirmed that fallen flowers could be restored with Dao Heart insight or Mood Limit.
• Li Fan and Li Wugou decided to strike the Heng Hai Army’s barracks before its elite corpse soldiers could be used or the formation’s baleful corpses could multiply further.
• Li Fan and Li Wugou entered the camp disguised as a monk and a celestial maiden, learning that Guyeshan and Kongsang Mountain had secretly joined the Heng Hai Army’s operation.
• Li Wugou killed a Guyeshan Daoist while Li Fan seized the Tiger Tally and escaped the command tent as its formation exploded.
• Li Fan attacked the camp’s guards and cultivators while Li Wugou used the Yang Thunder Seal to destroy the corpse soldiers, and Li Fan sensed that a powerful enemy was approaching.

Li Fan used Moon Soul and the Taiyin Sword Art to kill three cautious Nascent Soul cultivators who had approached the Heng Hai Army camp, then captured the underground lurker. After Li Wugou mastered the Tiger Tally, Li Fan imprisoned Wang Hong and joined her in sending the remaining corpse soldiers to help the Yellow Heaven Dao followers.

• Li Fan detected four Nascent Soul cultivators approaching and sent Moon Soul to attack the eastern one while he held off the western cultivator.
• Moon Soul struck the eastern cultivator three times before destroying him, and Li Fan used the Taiyin Sword Art to kill the western and southern cultivators.
• Li Fan confronted the underground lurker, who surrendered and identified himself as Wang Hong, a former Black Lotus Sect cultivator.
• Li Fan bound Wang Hong and returned to Li Wugou, who had subdued the remaining fiendish corpse soldiers with the Tiger Tally.
• Li Wugou explained that the Black Lotus Sect descended from scattered Luo Sect teachings, while Li Fan stored Wang Hong in his Heaven and Earth Sleeve.
• Li Wugou sent the twenty remaining corpse soldiers to assist the Yellow Heaven Dao followers in breaking through the encirclement.

Li Fan routed the Heng Hai Army, sealed the valley of fiend corpses, and advanced his Qiongqi Dao Body to the Nascent Soul Realm by eating the corpses. After summoning a Chang Gui and questioning it, he encountered two child cultivators who sensed him hiding nearby and demanded that he reveal himself.

• Li Wugou led the demon soldiers in a rear assault that broke the Heng Hai Army’s formation, while Li Fan killed its vanguard officers and captured the rampaging immortal fiend corpses.
• Li Fan told Liu Zhuo to lead the Yellow Heaven Dao members to safety and spread the accusation that the Heng Hai Army and Divine Cult were making corpse soldiers, then flew to the valley and blocked its exit.
• Li Fan found thousands of fiend corpses in the valley and ate them as Qiongqi, reaching the peak of the Golden Core stage before using a Three Flower to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Li Fan summoned Jue Ming as a Chang Gui and learned that he had served as a Buddhist official under the Tianzang Sect, but Jue Ming could not recall the Death Gate Dao’s secrets.
• Li Fan hid underground as two child cultivators attacked the fiend corpses, but Sun Xizhen and Su Moran sensed him and called for him to show himself.

Li Fan posed as Fa Ke, a Death Gate Dao ancestor, while confronting Xuan Sect cultivators at the corpse-filled valley. After killing a pursuer and agreeing to visit Tianlong Mountain with Fa Ding, he watched Li Wugou reject his offer and leave to seek the righteous path.

• Li Fan introduced himself to Sun Xizhen and Su Moran as Fa Ke and learned they planned to open the valley’s Gen position, contain escaping corpses with a lightning formation, and alert nearby sects.
• When Li Wugou returned with two pursuers, Li Fan drove Sun Xizhen and Su Moran away by claiming to be Wu Lian Laozu of the Death Gate Dao and declaring the valley his sect’s grounds.
• Li Wugou told Li Fan that other pursuers had focused on the corpses, then warned him that the monk Fa Ding had attacked her with Invisible Sword Qi.
• Li Fan severed the long-faced Daoist’s Golden Chopsticks, killed him, and accused Fa Ding of using stolen Sword Sect techniques.
• Fa Ding invited Li Fan to Tianlong Mountain, and Li Fan agreed to go with him and pay respects to Dao Ci Zuozhu.
• Li Wugou returned the Tiger Tally and lightning seal, said she wanted to follow the righteous path, and flew away.

Li Fan followed Fa Ding into Tianlong Mountain, where he discovered that Death Gate Dao had taken control of the Buddhist stronghold and might be able to return from the other side. After meeting a deceased former leader who gave him the Great Evolution Diagram and a jade Buddha, Li Fan learned that Death Gate Dao was actually Tai Xuan Dao.

• Li Fan let Li Wugou leave, then forced Fa Ding to explain that the Ten Absolutes God Sect had involved Death Gate Dao in the Tiger Tally plot.
• Fa Ding guided Li Fan through Tianlong Mountain and explained how Death Gate Dao had concealed itself as the Tianzang Sect.
• Li Fan entered the Cemetery Forest and met the apparent Zuozhu, who handed him a scroll, a jade Buddha, and access to the sect's secret trove.
• Li Fan discovered that the meditation hall had vanished and that the monk he met was Da Hui Daojun, the deceased former Zuozhu.
• Fa Ding identified Li Fan as a senior brother after recognizing that Da Hui Daojun had given him the Tai Xuan Scripture, revealing that their sect was Tai Xuan Dao.

Li Fan forced Fa Ding to lead him to Tianlong Mountain’s Scripture Pavilion, where he entered Tai Xuan Dao’s hidden temple and obtained the Tai Xuan Scripture. He also discovered and memorized a fragment of the Beichen Qi Sword True Formula before returning to the pavilion.

• Li Fan beat Fa Ding until he revealed that the Tai Xuan Scripture was kept in the Scripture Pavilion, then ordered him to gather the other disciples.
• Fa Ding guided Li Fan to the Scripture Pavilion, where Li Fan entered a hidden profound gate using Daoist Qiongqi’s Nascent Soul and the Great Evolution Diagram.
• Li Fan found Tai Xuan Dao’s ancient temple, bowed before its Dao scroll, and used the Great Evolution Diagram to open a stone casket containing the Tai Xuan Scripture.
• Li Fan followed a sound produced by the Ruyi Sword Scripture to a side hall and found a broken sword and bloodstained garment containing a Beichen Sword Sect inheritance fragment.
• Li Fan memorized the Beichen Qi Sword True Formula fragment, collected it with the broken sword, and returned through the mountain gate to the Scripture Pavilion.

Li Fan forced Fa Ding and three other Tianlong Mountain monks to join him in a killing tribulation at Kongsang Mountain, after learning the Divine Sect had drawn Tianlong Mountain into a plot against Kongsang Mountain. He left Li Wugou with tools and blood robes to help suppress the crisis at the Gate of Life and Death while he set out to draw the Divine Sect’s attention.

• Li Fan took the Untraceable Sword Qi from Fa Ding and followed him to Tan Zen Nunnery, where Fa Ding explained that three junior brothers were staying there.
• Fa Ding revealed that Tianlong Mountain had secretly agreed with Guyeshan to attack Kongsang Mountain if the Gate of Life and Death plan went awry, with the Divine Sect manipulating the factions.
• Li Fan beat Fa Qiao, Fa Deng, and Fazhi, then ordered them and Fa Ding to prepare to leave for Kongsang Mountain and pass through a killing tribulation.
• Li Wugou revealed that she had infiltrated Tianlong Mountain for the Yellow Heaven Dao and asked Li Fan to leave with her.
• Li Fan gave Li Wugou the Jade Buddha, the Tiger Tally, the Thunder Seal, and the blood robes, instructing her to help suppress the baleful corpses and pose as a Beichen Sword Sect descendant if challenged.

Li Fan deciphered the Tai Xuan Scripture as a changing system for calculating cultivation methods, then learned that the Tai Xuan Dao was preparing to abandon Tianlong Mountain. He chose to gather the rival factions at Death Gate Valley and settle the conflict by force.

• Li Fan used the Great Evolution Diagram and ancient texts to interpret the Tai Xuan Scripture as a method for calculating cultivation suited to changing circumstances.
• Li Fan concluded that the Death Gate Dao’s focus on life, death, and personal vitality might help its cultivators withstand changes that weakened the Xuan Sects.
• Fa Ding and the other monks arrived with a ceremonial sedan chair, and Li Fan asked Fa Ding which disciple was the Ten Absolutes God Sect’s spy.
• Fa Ding revealed that Fa Deng was the spy, the Ten Absolutes God Sect had discovered Death Gate Valley, and Dao Ci was preparing to move the Tai Xuan Dao’s true legacy.
• Fa Ding offered to take the Great Evolution Diagram and Tai Xuan Scripture, but Li Fan refused and ordered the factions involved to meet at Death Gate Valley for a decisive battle.

Li Fan and the monks of Death Gate Dao entered Ghost Valley, where Kongsang Mountain ambushed them and Guyeshan had already seized the Death Gate Dao temple. As Kongsang Mountain’s forces closed in, Li Fan rushed his group into the temple to begin the killing tribulation.

• Li Fan’s procession entered Ghost Valley and found the corpse of Fayan, confirming that they had reached Kongsang Mountain’s territory.
• Fading explained that he had invited Kongsang Mountain and Guyeshan to negotiate at the ruins, intending to exploit their fight and the valley’s traps.
• Kongsang Mountain attacked with a flying sword and a hidden sword formation, but Li Fan stopped Flowing Rain, forced it to surrender, and wounded its wielder.
• Li Fan ordered Fading and the other monks to carry him onward, and they reached the Death Gate Dao temple ahead of the arriving Kongsang Mountain forces.
• Daoist Wu Zhui appeared from the temple and revealed that Guyeshan had entered the ruins and taken control of the formations.
• Li Fan learned that a Divine Transformation cultivator and seventeen Nascent Soul cultivators were approaching, so he ordered the monks to charge into the temple.

Li Fan and the Tai Xuan Dao monks crossed Ghost Valley’s nine halls and three checkpoints, while Li Fan studied the Tai Xuan Scripture and drew new ideas for his cultivation. At Death Gate Dao’s palace, Fa Ding and Wu Zhui’s negotiations over Kongsang Mountain were interrupted by the arrival of Zhu Ming Jianjun and the Kongsang cultivators.

• Li Fan broke four Xuan Sect formations with talisman flags and learned from Fa Ding that Guyeshan had altered the route through Ghost Valley.
• Fa Deng used his lamp-like divine art to burn away a Jiang Xiao, and Li Fan studied the ghost’s scroll and began deriving new cultivation methods from the Tai Xuan Scripture.
• Li Fan cultivated silently in the palanquin as Fa Ding and the other monks handled the remaining checkpoints and carried him to the Death Gate Dao palace.
• Wu Zhui refused Fa Ding’s proposal to join forces against Kongsang Mountain and revealed Guyeshan’s alignment with Hengshan, represented by Liu Daoming.
• Fourteen Kongsang sword lights reached the mountain, and the group greeted Zhu Ming Jianjun as she arrived wielding a powerful golden sword.

Li Fan watched as Zhu Ming Jianjun entered Lingguan Hall and the factions negotiated an alliance, until Fading revealed that he had joined Death Gate Dao and was involved in the Gates of Life and Death. The person in the sedan, Li Qingyue, killed Fading and challenged everyone to attack him together.

• Yuepo explained the history of the four Sword Lords and how Sword Ancestor Xuantian had alienated them from Beichen Sword Sect.
• Zhu Ming Jianjun stormed into Lingguan Hall, where Liu Daoming tried to reconcile Hengshan and Kongsang Mountain and secure an oath from the Sword Lord.
• Fading and Wu Zhui argued over the history of Guyeshan and Kongsang Mountain as Liu Daoming offered terms for an alliance.
• Wu Zhui accused Tianlong Mountain of harboring a traitor who had colluded with the demon sect, while Fading received a message from the person in the sedan.
• Fading confessed his involvement with Death Gate Dao and the Gates of Life and Death, swallowed a golden cicada, and was blasted apart by a palm strike.
• Li Qingyue stepped out of the sedan, identified himself as a Tai Xuan Daoist, and challenged everyone in the hall to attack him at once.

Li Fan revealed his newly deduced Tai Xuan Dao techniques as he fought the Xuanmen cultivators trapped in the temple, killing or swallowing several attackers while cultivating rapidly in the Ghost Valley. The Hengshan survivors recognized his power as the orthodox Tai Xuan Gate, even as Daoxi remained locked in battle with his summoned demon god.

• Li Fan examined Fazhi’s Cicada-Shed Immortal Garment, confirmed that Fazhi had escaped through body dissolution, and sent the golden cicada away.
• Li Fan swallowed Fa Deng, Faqiao, and Fazhi with a gale, then absorbed Zhu Ming Jianjun’s sword attack into the wind and trapped four Kongsang Mountain women inside a blood-stained scroll.
• Li Fan’s hidden Formless Sword Qi killed Zhang Daoxu, while the remaining Hengshan cultivators took pills and sent Daoxi to fight a huge demon god summoned from Li Fan’s scroll.
• Li Fan explained that he had used the Mood Maintenance System to devise a Tai Xuan cultivation method suited to his Daoist Qiongqi body, allowing his power to rise rapidly in the Ghost Valley.
• Zhu Ming Jianjun returned in a blazing attack but vanished into Li Fan’s gale again, and Liu Daoming recognized Li Fan as belonging to the orthodox Tai Xuan Gate.

Li Fan used the Tai Xuan Dao’s Mountain Protecting Array to defeat Hengshan fighters while delaying Zhu Ming Jianjun, and Liu Daoming revealed Hengshan’s ambition to unify the world. Li Fan deduced that Hengshan and the Ten Absolutes God Sect were conspiring with other factions to attack Emei and establish a new Three Great Sects.

• Li Fan explained how the Tai Xuan Gate let him teleport through a fourth-dimensional shortcut, then killed the wounded Dao Xi and collected five hundred points.
• Liu Daoming offered Li Fan a position at Shangqing Palace, but Li Fan refused and challenged the Hengshan fighters to break his scrolls.
• Xu Daoyan destroyed Li Fan’s summoned lion with lightning, but Li Fan killed Xu Daoyan with astral wind in their spell duel.
• Liu Daoming recognized Li Fan’s Tai Xuan Dao transformations and ordered four Hengshan Daoists to form the Crimson Fiend formation, while Li Fan continued stalling.
• Zhu Ming Jianjun returned in a disciple of Kongsang Mountain, but Li Fan teleported it away again before asking Liu Daoming why Hengshan wanted the Tai Xuan inheritance.
• Liu Daoming admitted Hengshan intended to unify the world, and Li Fan concluded that Hengshan, the Ten Absolutes God Sect, and other factions were conspiring to attack Emei and create a new Three Great Sects.

Li Fan confronted Liu Daoming over Hengshan’s suspected alliance with the Divine Cult and fought the Hengshan formation, killing Jiang Daochun. Liu Daoming revealed that Hengshan sought to defy a doomed fate while Emei’s elders planned to ascend to the Tai Xuan Realm, leaving Li Fan stunned by the revelation.

• Li Fan accused Hengshan of conspiring with the Divine Cult and planning to attack Emei, but Liu Daoming denied the charges and questioned Li Fan’s identity.
• Liu Daoming had Jiang Daochun lead a four-person Hengshan formation and challenged Li Fan to prove his strength.
• Jiang Daochun broke Li Fan’s elemental spells and held his Qiongqi form at bay with Supreme Purity true energy.
• Li Fan’s accusations shook Jiang Daochun’s Dao Heart, allowing Li Fan to overpower and kill him in their ensuing battle.
• Liu Daoming declared that Hengshan alone sought to unify the world and defy fate, then revealed that Emei’s elders intended to seize the Golden Summit and ascend to the Tai Xuan Realm.
• Li Fan’s hidden informants confirmed that Emei had long been preparing to escape to the Tai Xuan Realm.

Li Fan discovered that Hengshan had joined forces with the God Sect and fought Liu Daoming, who used the Blood Demon Great Path Body while defending Hengshan’s plan to defy Heaven and restore order. The chapter ended with Li Fan revealing himself as Li Qingyue of the Beichen Sword Sect and challenging Liu Daoming to a sword duel.

• Li Fan learned from the System that Emei planned to abandon the world and that the orthodox sects were left without their leader.
• Liu Daoming revealed that Emei, Songshan, and Penglai sought escape through Yuntai Peak, while Hengshan aimed to unify the land and change its fate.
• Liu Daoming and three Hengshan Daoists used the Blood Demon Great Path Body to attack Li Fan, and Liu Daoming fused with the others and nearly killed him.
• Liu Daoming explained that Hengshan was targeting Yellow Heaven Dao followers to prevent the Dao Ancestor’s descent, and argued that the orthodox sects and nobles had abandoned the common people.
• Li Fan rejected Liu Daoming’s justification, revealed himself as Li Qingyue of the Beichen Sword Sect, and challenged him to answer for those abandoned in the Gate of Life and Death.
• Liu Daoming accepted the challenge, and he and Li Fan began a sword fight using their respective sect techniques.

Li Fan defeated Liu Daoming with the Qingyang Dao Fire, but Zhu Ming Jianjun’s sword wind then left him seemingly mortally wounded. Wu Zhui revealed his God Sect allegiance and claimed victory, only for the real Li Fan to emerge and reveal that Wu Zhui had defeated merely his Tai Xuan clone.

• Li Fan studied Liu Daoming’s Blood Demon Great Path Body and adjusted the Qingyang Dao Fire to burn through its blood-based body.
• Li Fan repeatedly cut Liu Daoming apart, then destroyed him with a powerful burst of Qingyang Dao Fire after Liu Daoming tried to possess him.
• The weakened Li Fan was struck by Zhu Ming Jianjun’s sword wind after the formation teleported the skeleton and its sword away, and Wu Zhui entered once the Tai Xuan formation had been sabotaged.
• Wu Zhui admitted he had joined the God Sect, spread the corpse poison, and manipulated the events to seize the Tai Xuan inheritance and earn a place inside the Shangqing Sect.
• The real Li Fan emerged from the sedan chair, recalled Daoist Qiongqi’s protective gale, and told Wu Zhui that he had only defeated Li Fan’s Tai Xuan clone.

Li Fan defeated Wu Zhui, sealed Zhu Ming Jian inside Ghost Valley, and discovered that Wangwu Mountain and Tianlong Mountain were transporting corpse fiends there from the Gate of Life and Death. After verifying they were sealing the fiends rather than turning them into corpse soldiers, he flew north.

• Li Fan explained how Wu Zhui’s actions had helped him defeat Liu Daoming, then killed Wu Zhui when he tried to flee.
• Li Fan found Zhu Ming Jian trapped in its sword form, repaired the Tai Xuan Array, and sealed the divine sword inside Ghost Valley to wear down its power.
• Li Fan went to the Gate of Life and Death and learned that Wangwu Mountain and Tianlong Mountain had sealed the corpse fiends under a formation supplied by someone from the Grand Tutor Manor.
• Gao Da told Li Fan that the corpse fiends would be moved to Ghost Valley, and Li Fan later confirmed they were being sealed there rather than refined into corpse soldiers.
• Li Fan flew north after confirming the cleanup was proceeding as described.