Chapter Summaries

While Cang Yue and Yan Kingdom remained locked in a costly stalemate, the Blood Moon Cult Leader planned to exploit the wounded Wuri Sect Master and take control of Cang Yue. He arranged to lure the Wuri Sect Master out that night and kill him with help from four hidden Core Formation Stage followers.

• Ye Tian betrayed the Wuri Sect Master during the invasion of Yan Kingdom, severely wounded him, and escaped, turning the campaign into a stalemate.
• The prolonged war strained Cang Yue’s people and resources more severely than Yan Kingdom’s, while the Wuri Sect Master remained in seclusion to recover.
• The Blood Moon Cult Leader revealed that he had reached the Nascent Soul stage and rejected his followers’ calls to attack Yan Kingdom before securing Cang Yue.
• The Blood Moon Cult Leader said he would lure out the Wuri Sect Master that night and attack him with the four Core Formation Stage cultivators.
• The Blood Moon Cult Leader concealed his true cultivation with a secret method and declared that the Wuri Sect Master would die that night.

The Blood Moon Cult Leader arrived at the Cangyue camp and revealed that he had reached Nascent Soul Early Stage as he challenged the Wuri Sect Master. The Wuri Sect Master’s decoy and powerful divine sense thwarted his attempt to catch him off guard, while four hidden Core Formation subordinates joined the fight against the Sect Master’s guards.

• The Blood Moon Cult Leader sent four Core Formation subordinates ahead to provide support and kill any Wuri Sect disciples they encountered.
• Cangyue’s soldiers suffered from cold and illness, while the Yan Kingdom’s Spirit Gathering Array helped its own sick soldiers recover.
• The Blood Moon Cult Leader entered the Cangyue camp and told the Wuri Sect Master that hardship in the Northern Lands could undermine the army.
• The Blood Moon Cult Leader pulled aside the screen, discovered the Wuri Sect Master was absent, and revealed his Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivation when the Sect Master’s divine sense attacked him.
• The tent’s roof shattered during their clash, and the Blood Moon Cult Leader’s four subordinates arrived with low-grade magic treasures to attack the Wuri Sect’s two Core Formation cultivators.

The Blood Moon Cult’s Core Formation cultivators attacked two Wuri Sect cultivators, but the pair survived the Flowing Light Spear and disappeared. After a long standoff in the snow, the Wuri Sect Master appeared beside the two unharmed cultivators, facing the Blood Moon Cult Leader.

• Two Wuri Sect cultivators blocked the Blood Moon Cult’s attacks, but four opponents cornered them with the Flowing Light Spear and other magic treasures.
• The Flowing Light Spear blasted a massive pit into the ground, leaving only two storage bags and making the Blood Moon Cult believe the Wuri Sect cultivators had died.
• The Blood Moon Cult Leader challenged the missing Wuri Sect Master while Cangyue’s soldiers and Yan Kingdom’s forces waited through the night and heavy snow.
• The Blood Moon Cult Leader searched for the Wuri Sect Master but could not find him, and the snowy standoff weakened Yan Kingdom’s soldiers’ morale.
• The Wuri Sect Master appeared in the air beside the two surviving Wuri Sect cultivators and mocked the Blood Moon Cult Leader’s divine sense.

The Wuri Sect Master defeated the Blood Moon Cult Leader’s attack and drove him into retreat, but was too injured to pursue. Nangong Jin then appeared with Ghost Daoist, announced his intention to handle the Wuri Sect Master’s troubles, and left him uncertain about what would happen next.

• The Blood Moon Cult Leader and four Core Formation cultivators attacked the Wuri Sect Master with powerful magic treasures, while their attacks failed to break through his defenses.
• The Six-winged Golden Scorpion split the Wuri Sect Master’s silver sphere, but he destroyed its weakened Primordial Spirit with divine sense and killed the last Blood Moon Cult Core Formation cultivator.
• The Blood Moon Cult Leader used Blood Moon Slash to raise his cultivation, but the Wuri Sect Master injured his sea of consciousness with a silver divine sense arrow, forcing him to flee.
• The Wuri Sect Master recognized Ghost Daoist approaching with a Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivator, then learned that the youth was Nangong Jin using Liu Ziyi’s body.
• Nangong Jin said he intended to help resolve the Wuri Sect Master’s troubles, then left with Ghost Daoist, leaving the Wuri Sect Master wondering about his plans.

Nangong Jin destroyed Song Ci Town as revenge against the Nangong Family, then captured the injured Blood Moon Cult Leader to use in persuading the Wuri Sect Master to help attack the Nangong Family. He headed north with his prisoner, planning to exploit the war between Cangyue and the Yan Kingdom to strike Heaven's Gate.

• Nangong Jin recalled how the Nangong Family controlled the Song Kingdom and arrived in Song Ci Town to collect interest from Nangong Jing.
• Nangong Jin used the Spirit Locking Dragon Binding Chain to destroy the town and kill its residents, including a Core Formation Stage cultivator.
• Nangong Jin sensed the injured Blood Moon Cult Leader in the mountains and captured him after the leader tried to flee.
• Nangong Jin took the Blood Moon Cult Leader's storage pouch and said he would use the prisoner to gain the Wuri Sect Master's trust and attack the Nangong Family.
• Nangong Jin headed north with the captive, planning to strike Heaven's Gate while the Nangong Family focused on the war.

Nangong Jin offered to help the Wuri Sect Master destroy Yan Kingdom in exchange for the Wuri Sect’s help against the Nangong Family. He turned his black dragon weapon on Yan Kingdom, leaving its army scattered and part of its defenses in ruins as the Cangyue army advanced.

• Nangong Jin arrived above the battlefield with the captured Blood Moon Cult Leader and proposed an alliance to the Wuri Sect Master.
• The Wuri Sect Master accepted Nangong Jin’s offer to destroy the Yan Kingdom city in return for help taking control of the Nangong Family.
• Nangong Jin crushed the Blood Moon Cult Leader with the Spirit Locking Dragon Binding Chain, killing him and revealing the chain’s immense power.
• Nangong Jin sent the black dragon crashing into the Yan Kingdom camps, killing soldiers and sending the rest fleeing.
• The Wuri Sect Master ordered the Cangyue soldiers to attack the scattered Yan Kingdom army.
• Nangong Jin smashed part of the city wall and destroyed its Immortal Shooting Crossbows, killing soldiers and cultivators caught in the collapse.

Nangong Jin used the Spirit Locking Dragon Binding Chain to destroy Yan Kingdom’s defenses, allowing Cangyue to seize the city and begin its southward invasion. As Nangong Jin and the Wuri Sect Master prepared to attack the Nangong Family, Ye Tian chose to pursue his own revenge, while Ghost Daoist headed south with a newly made Nascent Soul Realm puppet.

• Nangong Jin’s black dragon shattered Yan Kingdom’s walls and defenses, and Cangyue’s forces captured the city after its cultivators fled.
• The Wuri Sect Master celebrated Cangyue’s victory, then met Nangong Jin, who proposed waiting one more night and summoned Ye Tian to help attack the Nangong Family.
• Ye Tian received Liu Ziyi’s message blaming Nangong Jing for the Ling Tian Sect’s destruction and revealing that Nangong Jing controlled the Heavenly Gate.
• Ye Tian decided to destroy the Nangong Family before seeking the Heavenly Gate and flew toward the address Liu Ziyi had provided.
• Ghost Daoist finished refining a Nascent Soul Realm puppet, received Nangong Jin’s summons, and flew south toward the Nangong Family.

Nangong Jing warned the ten hall elders that Nangong Jin might be alive and that the Nangong Family had to prepare for threats from him and the advancing Cangyue army. After Ghost Daoist arrived at the family residence and attacked its scouts, Nangong Yu confronted him, binding his puppet as Ghost Daoist’s Spirit Cleansing Pearl barrier shattered.

• Nangong Jing told the ten hall elders that Ling Tian Sect had been destroyed and warned them about Ye Tian and the missing Illusion Spirit Drum.
• Nangong Jing suspected Nangong Jin had survived by using the Refining Void Returning Spirit Technique and asked Nangong Cheng to guard the Heavenly Gate.
• Nangong Jing informed the elders that the Wuri Sect and Cangyue soldiers were advancing toward the Song Kingdom, and they left to prepare.
• Nangong Jin and the Wuri Sect Master listened from above the residence before Nangong Jin said it was time to meet their other allies.
• Ghost Daoist arrived with a Nascent Soul Realm puppet, killed more than twenty Nangong Family scouts, and faced Nangong Yu.
• Nangong Yu bound Ghost Daoist’s puppet with Immortal Binding Silk and attacked him with a black sword, shattering the Spirit Cleansing Pearl’s barrier.

Ye Tian watched as the Wuri Sect's sect master fought Nangong Jing, then the Nangong Family's Heavenly Gate opened on its own. The family moved to guard the dangerous portal and pursue Ghost Daoist, while Ye Tian stayed hidden and waited for Liu Ziyi.

• Ye Tian hid near the Nangong Family's ancestral residence and watched Ghost Daoist attack with a Nascent Soul Realm puppet, which Nangong Yu bound and knocked down.
• The Wuri Sect's sect master intervened, destroyed Nangong Yu's black flying sword, and challenged Nangong Jing with his Setting Sun Palm.
• Nangong Jing countered with Cloud Arrival and split the fiery sun with a sword strike, forcing the Wuri Sect's sect master to retreat with Ghost Daoist.
• The Nangong Family's ancestral residence sank, revealing the activated Heavenly Gate and a Space Tunnel filled with deadly spatial astral winds.
• Nangong Jing suspected that Nangong Jin had opened the Heavenly Gate, while Ye Tian remained hidden and chose not to enter it.
• Nangong Cheng ordered four elders to guard the Heavenly Gate, and Nangong Yu led four others toward Ghost Daoist.

Nangong Jin and the Wuri Sect Master ambushed Nangong Jing and the Ten Halls elders, but Nangong Jing escaped the Spirit Locking Dragon Binding Chain with the Cloud Arrival Sword. As the Illusion Spirit Drum weakened the Heavenly Gate, Nangong Jin found Ye Tian and urged him to help fight Nangong Jing, whose sword’s dangerous power then closed in through the rain.

• Nangong Jin trapped Nangong Jing with the Spirit Locking Dragon Binding Chain and asked the Wuri Sect Master to attack the Ten Halls elders.
• The Wuri Sect Master killed two elders, while Nangong Jing summoned the Cloud Arrival Sword, which pierced Ghost Daoist and wounded the chains restraining him.
• Nangong Jin threw the Illusion Spirit Drum onto the Heavenly Gate, raising a vast white mist that revealed Ye Tian’s hiding place.
• Nangong Jin asked Ye Tian to join forces against Nangong Jing and promised him a choice about entering the Heavenly Gate.
• Nangong Jing broke free, and his Cloud Arrival Sword stirred the clouds, thunder, and rain as Nangong Jin tried to disrupt his control of the sword.

Ye Tian discovered that the Book of Life and Death could attack divine sense and used it to kill Nangong Jin after killing Nangong Jing’s Nascent Soul. The Book then absorbed the dead cultivators’ souls, and Ye Tian fell into demonic deviation, ending with a black hole swallowing the Nangong Family before vanishing.

• Nangong Jing trapped Ye Tian and Nangong Jin with Seal Heaven Fix Earth, but a white light from Ye Tian’s Book of Life and Death broke the barrier and swallowed Nangong Jing.
• Nangong Jin immobilized Nangong Jing’s fleeing Nascent Soul with a Spirit Locking Talisman, but Ye Tian killed it with the Azure Decision Cloud Piercing Sword.
• Nangong Jin used the Spirit Locking Talisman on Ye Tian, but Ye Tian released the Book of Life and Death’s white light and killed Nangong Jin and his Nascent Soul.
• With the Illusion Spirit Drum no longer controlled, the clouds dispersed, and Nangong Qiming arrived with Nangong Family disciples as Ye Tian began slaughtering them in a bloodthirsty frenzy.
• The Book of Life and Death absorbed the slain cultivators’ souls, and Ye Tian fell into demonic deviation as the characters for Ye Tong and heart demon appeared within his consciousness.
• The Nangong Family cultivators attacked Ye Tian, but a black hole swallowed them and enveloped the entire family before disappearing.

After using the Book of Life and Death to slaughter the Nangong Family, Ye Tian was trapped by a heart demon born from Ye Tong’s memories. The heart demon began devouring his consciousness to take over his body, while Ye Tian remained strangely calm.

• Ye Tian regained control after killing the Nangong Family and hurried toward the Heavenly Gate despite the backlash from the Book of Life and Death.
• A spreading chill weakened Ye Tian, and a shadowy double drew him into a world without spiritual energy.
• Ye Tian used a Bone-Corroding Spirit Ant to break the illusion and reveal the black-eyed figure, which admitted it could control the ants too.
• Ye Tian recognized the figure as a heart demon formed from Ye Tong’s memories and realized it had influenced his massacre of the Nangong Family.
• The heart demon attacked Ye Tian and began pouring black energy into him to devour his consciousness, but Ye Tian stayed calm and hummed.

Ye Tian stopped his inner demon from devouring his consciousness by exploiting the inner demon’s belief that they were separate, but he intercepted only a tiny amount of spiritual energy. The two sat in a stalemate, each waiting for the other to run out of options, while the absent Wuri Sect Master remained a possible threat.

• The inner demon’s attempt to devour Ye Tian’s consciousness stalled after he declared that he would replace Ye Tian, and Ye Tian explained how that belief had caused his rejection.
• The inner demon realized Ye Tian had used the failed attempt to intercept some of his spiritual energy, but refused to try devouring him again.
• Ye Tian recognized that the intercepted spiritual energy was too little to defeat the inner demon and would gradually dissipate.
• Ye Tian warned that the Wuri Sect Master might find them while they waited, and the inner demon realized the Nascent Soul Realm cultivator was still unaccounted for.
• The inner demon and Ye Tian agreed to wait and see whether the Wuri Sect Master found them before Ye Tian’s intercepted spiritual energy ran out.

Ye Tian tried to escape his stalemate with the heart demon, then used their shared Small World to turn the struggle into a contest of consciousness. Their fight ended when Ye Tian vomited blood and the Small World collapsed, just as someone approached the forbidden ground.

• As his spiritual energy dwindled, Ye Tian tried to draw visitors by deactivating the formation that concealed the forbidden ground’s aura.
• The heart demon enclosed Ye Tian and itself in a Small World, but Ye Tian helped spread the heart demon’s aura instead of his own.
• Ye Tian revealed that he had planned to confront the heart demon inside the Small World, where his stronger cultivation foundation, mind, and divine sense gave him an advantage.
• Ye Tian seized the heart demon and began devouring it, but spat blood and released it before either could finish the struggle.
• The Small World collapsed, and Ye Tian and the heart demon saw a figure approaching as a voice greeted Fellow Daoist Ye.

Ye Tian stalled the Wuri Sect's sect master while he and the heart demon secretly prepared to open the Heaven Gate as their only chance to escape. The Yin-Yang gate appeared above them, and the heart demon was poised in midair as Ye Tian activated it.

• The Wuri Sect's sect master confronted the weakened Ye Tian, examined the heart demon, and delayed attacking while he assessed their strength.
• Ye Tian and the heart demon realized the sect master had not fully recovered and planned to use the Heaven Gate to escape.
• The heart demon pretended to merge with Ye Tian while secretly working to open the gate, and the sect master watched without intervening.
• Ye Tian offered the Spirit Shaking Divine Wood, his divine ability's cultivation method, and the Bone-Corroding Spirit Ants, but the sect master rejected every bargain.
• As the heart demon prepared the Yin-Yang Gate, Ye Tian stalled the sect master until he shouted for the Heaven Gate to open.

Ye Tian entered the Heavenly Gate and overcame its Heart Questioning Path by recognizing that freedom meant choosing what he should and should not do. After returning outside, he killed the inner demon and the Wuri Sect's sect master, then set off through the gate toward the Third Heaven.

• Ye Tian, the inner demon, and the Wuri Sect's sect master were pulled into the Heavenly Gate, where Ye Tian found himself alone on a marble path beneath gathering lightning.
• Ye Tian gave in to murderous rage, shattered the path, and fought visions of Nangong Jing and others until he questioned why he had to kill.
• Ye Tian realized that true freedom meant choosing whether to act on his nature, overcame the Heart Questioning Path, and passed through the gate.
• Ye Tian returned to find the inner demon and the Wuri Sect's sect master trapped in their own visions, then killed both with the Spirit Shaking Divine Wood.
• Ye Tian recovered his spiritual energy and flew through the Heavenly Gate again to head for the Third Heaven.

Ye Tian passed the Third Heaven’s Heart Refining Path and emerged into a desolate wilderness, where a mysterious man warned that his Path of Slaughter threatened his cultivation. The man tasked Ye Tian with joining a sect and investigating why the Heavenly Gate had remained closed for centuries, and Ye Tian sensed cultivators approaching as he considered the demand.

• Ye Tian awakened in a stone chamber, examined murals showing the Heavenly Gate and strange black hands, then stepped into the Third Heaven.
• Ye Tian realized his Seventh-grade Golden Core limited his path to the Nascent Soul Realm, though the Third Heaven’s abundant spiritual energy began flowing into it.
• A mysterious man appeared beyond Ye Tian’s divine sense, judged him qualified to live, and revealed the murky qi caused by his Path of Slaughter.
• The man warned that Ye Tian’s sword heart could bring disaster during his heavenly tribulation and contrasted it with the Ye Family Ancestor’s mastery of ten sword hearts.
• After Ye Tian left and returned to the mountaintop, the man asked him to join a sect and investigate why the Heavenly Gate had not opened for several hundred years.
• The mysterious man vanished, and Ye Tian sensed countless streams of spiritual energy approaching, apparently from cultivators coming to welcome him.

Ye Tian descended the mountain and was met by cultivators from the Third Heaven, who mocked his low cultivation and his sword-cultivator path. He learned of their prejudice against sword cultivators and left the gathered cultivators discussing the Dong family’s hopes for someone from the lower realm.

• Ye Tian waited as cultivators from different sects gathered around him and examined him with their divine consciousness.
• A pale-blue-robed man exposed a shy female sword cultivator to the crowd, and several Nascent Soul Cultivators mocked and humiliated her.
• Ye Tian realized that Third Heaven cultivators looked down on sword cultivation, though he believed accomplished sword cultivators could surpass other paths.
• The cultivators identified Ye Tian as a lower-realm sword cultivator with early Core Formation and a Seventh-grade Golden Core, prompting some to dismiss him and an elder to defend his potential.
• A young man asked Ye Tian whether he had met Dong Xueyan; Ye Tian denied knowing her, and the man apologized and left.
• Nearby cultivators said the Dong family had pinned its hopes on Dong Xueyan and doubted its plans would succeed.

Ye Tian arrived in the Third Heaven and faced cultivators who mocked his early Core Formation cultivation and sword-cultivator background. After swiftly defeating an arrogant challenger, he drew Ning Suxin’s invitation to join the Heavenly Sword Sect, and she waited for his answer.

• Ye Tian learned that cultivators had gathered at the Heavenly Gate to recruit arrivals from the lower realm, but they were disappointed to discover his cultivation was only early Core Formation with a Seventh-grade Golden Core.
• A late Core Formation cultivator insulted Ye Tian and challenged him, so Ye Tian disarmed him with a single swift sword strike.
• Ye Tian rebuked the crowd for looking down on sword cultivators, and Ning Suxin praised his words and invited him to join the Heavenly Sword Sect.
• Other cultivators mocked Ning Suxin and urged Ye Tian to join the Three-Ringed Golden Saber Sect instead, while Ning Suxin remained steadfast.
• Ning Suxin asked Ye Tian again whether he was willing to join her sect, and he had not yet answered.

Ye Tian rejected Wen Qi’s invitation to Tianyi Sect and chose to join Ning Suxin’s declining Heavenly Sword Sect, committing to the sword path despite its hardships. Ning Suxin brought him to the sect, and Ye Tian learned about the Third Heaven’s secret realms and the troubles that had left Heavenly Sword Sect nearly deserted.

• Wen Qi tried to recruit Ye Tian to Tianyi Sect and disparaged Heavenly Sword Sect, while Ning Suxin urged Ye Tian to choose carefully.
• Ye Tian chose Heavenly Sword Sect, explaining that he was a sword cultivator and wanted to pursue the sword Dao without compromising his path.
• Wen Qi threatened Ye Tian and left after Ye Tian rejected Tianyi Sect’s invitation.
• Ning Suxin took Ye Tian toward Heavenly Sword Sect and explained the Third Heaven’s lands, Demon Race, and Heavenly Spirit Secret Realms.
• Ye Tian learned that Heavenly Sword Sect had declined through internal conflict and the loss of most of its secret realm entrances.
• Ye Tian arrived at Heavenly Sword Sect and saw its grand but desolate entrance, with no disciples guarding the gate.