Chapter Summaries

Ling Qing watched Fahai face the heart-demons within himself, then invited him to join a demon hunt at Phoenix Mountain. The pair reached the mountain and Fahai immediately slaughtered the lesser demons who ambushed them.

• Ling Qing waited for Fahai to wake, then challenged him to examine his own heart instead of condemning Ling Qing as demonic.
• Fahai battled and killed the heart-demons in a vision, while a giant turtle’s murderous aura emerged within him.
• Fahai admitted he had judged Duan Chenxian by appearances but maintained his resolve to slay demons.
• Ling Qing invited Fahai to join him in eliminating demons at Phoenix Mountain, and Fahai accepted.
• Days later, lesser demons ambushed Ling Qing and Fahai near Phoenix Mountain, and Fahai killed them and pursued their leader.

Ling Qing and Fahai reached Phoenix Mountain, where Fahai killed Jinwu and fought the Golden Cymbal Dharma King. The Dharma King poisoned Fahai, but Ling Qing intervened and absorbed the poison with a banner as the demon prepared to attack him.

• Ling Qing buried the remains of the demons Fahai had killed, and the two continued up Phoenix Mountain.
• The Golden Cymbal Dharma King sent his son Jinwu to confront Fahai, but Fahai burned Jinwu to ashes with Vajra Flames.
• The Golden Cymbal Dharma King attacked Fahai with his golden cymbals, but Fahai countered with Buddhist light and trapped the cymbals beneath his Purple-Gold Alms Bowl.
• The Golden Cymbal Dharma King begged for mercy by claiming he had received the Buddha's grace before Bodhisattva Guanyin, then secretly poisoned Fahai and knocked him unconscious.
• Ling Qing appeared and used a banner covered in strange insects to absorb the Dharma King's poisonous mist.
• The Golden Cymbal Dharma King drew his Flying Centipede Hooks and prepared to fight Ling Qing.

Ling Qing defeated the Golden Cymbal Dharma King’s attack and questioned him, then watched Fahai execute the centipede demon. Ling Qing spared demons who had not committed death-worthy crimes by testing them with Red Lotus Karma Fire, leaving forty or fifty survivors, led by two rabbit demons.

• Ling Qing collected the Golden Cymbal Dharma King’s poison and used Spirit Sword Golden Cicada Gu to destroy his Flying Centipede Hooks, forcing him to surrender.
• The Golden Cymbal Dharma King admitted that his claim of studying under Guanyin Bodhisattva was a bluff, but Fahai emerged unharmed and executed him with the Purple-Gold Alms Bowl and Vajra Fire.
• Fahai summoned the mountain’s minor demons, but Ling Qing stopped him from killing them all and offered each one a Red Lotus Karma Fire platform to judge their past deeds.
• Ling Qing’s flames consumed the demons whose crimes merited death, leaving forty or fifty survivors, including two rabbit demons with five hundred years of cultivation.

Ling Qing spared the lesser demons on Phoenix Mountain, taught them cultivation methods, and gave Fahai a formula to restrain his inner demon before they parted. While traveling toward Mount Huang, Ling Qing discovered that the seemingly respectable Daoist Hua Qingfeng was a wicked cultivator and stayed overnight at his temple.

• Ling Qing judged the lesser demons to be mostly kind, taught them breathing methods and an Incantation of Mind Purification, and warned them against wrongdoing.
• Ling Qing gave Fahai the formula “Transform tribulations into demons, refine demons into the Dao,” and the two departed from Phoenix Mountain.
• The rabbit demon mistakenly told the others that Ling Qing’s name was Fahai, and the lesser demons vowed to remember him while doing good.
• Ling Qing studied Golden Cymbal Dharma King’s incomplete Buddhist scripture and considered adapting its Dharma-form techniques for his own use.
• Ling Qing found the High Heaven Temple near Kaihua, met its host Hua Qingfeng, and realized from their conversation that Hua was a wicked cultivator.

Ling Qing exposed Hua Qingfeng’s plot to capture him and refine a sword, then killed him and uncovered the sinister sword-forging methods in the Secret Record of Sword Artifacts. He dealt with Hua Qingfeng’s disciples and ordered the Taoist temple’s remaining Daoists to assemble the next morning.

• Hua Qingfeng poisoned Ling Qing’s meal and sent paper snakes into his room, intending to capture him and forge a treasured sword.
• Ling Qing destroyed Hua Qingfeng’s paper snakes and Flying Sword, then turned Hua Qingfeng’s attack back on him and burned him to ash with Red Lotus Karma Fire.
• Ling Qing found the Secret Record of Sword Artifacts among Hua Qingfeng’s belongings and read its cruel methods for forging swords from tortured beasts’ souls.
• Ling Qing killed the disciples who tried to avenge Hua Qingfeng, crippled the survivors’ cultivation, and restrained the remaining Daoists with demonic-sha talismans.
• Ling Qing ordered the Daoists to keep to their duties and gather in the main hall at the beginning of the Mao hour the next morning.

Ling Qing refined the Yellow Emperor True Form, disciplined the Taoists at the temple, and moved into Hua Qingfeng’s quarters. A snake demon arrived to avenge Hua Qingfeng, and Ling Qing subdued him beneath the Nine-Layer Azure Gate.

• Ling Qing completed the Red Emperor True Form and began refining the Yellow Emperor True Form using the Five Elements' principles.
• At dawn, Ling Qing addressed the Taoists, restrained their evil thoughts, and taught them the daily liturgy before assigning them their duties.
• Ling Qing moved into Hua Qingfeng’s Abbot’s Quarters and sensed demonic qi approaching the temple.
• A green-faced Daoist entered and attacked Ling Qing after learning that Ling Qing had killed Hua Qingfeng, revealing himself as a great python.
• Ling Qing countered the python’s attacks with the Spirit-Commanding Whip, Ten Thousand Gu Banner, and Three Lights Divine Sword, then suppressed him beneath the Nine-Layer Azure Gate.

Ling Qing subdued a snake demon who had attacked him for Hua Qingfeng’s sake, then tested it with Red Lotus Karma Fire and agreed to guide it into the Dao. He named it Chang Ran and left it in charge of High Heaven Temple while he continued cultivating and studying a sword artifact for a coming battle.

• Ling Qing questioned the snake demon, learned it had missed the chance to join Jiang Taigong’s Investiture of the Gods, and sentenced it to the Red Lotus Karma Fire.
• The snake demon survived the fire after its karmic sins were burned away and revealed that it had once helped Zhao Zilong of Changshan cultivate.
• Ling Qing agreed to guide the snake demon into the Dao, named it Chang Ran, and taught it the Sun-Moon Water-Fire Refinement Rite.
• Ling Qing entrusted High Heaven Temple to Chang Ran and spent his time touring Mount Huang, meeting fellow cultivators, and studying the Secret Record of Sword Artifacts.
• Ling Qing considered refining the Hundred Spirits Immortal-Slaying Sword to strengthen himself for the great battle he sensed was ahead.

Ling Qing adapted the Hundred Spirits Immortal-Slaying Sword method into a new sword-refining system that used Wildness Templates instead of beast souls. He chose materials for several sword blanks, including an ambitious Four Symbols Constellation Sword, and prepared to forge them for himself or his disciples.

• Ling Qing reworked the sword-refining restrictions so Wildness Talismans could strengthen swords and be combined selectively for different traits.
• Ling Qing reviewed his Templates and decided epic-ranked ones could make swords powerful enough to serve him through the Heavenly Immortal Realm.
• Ling Qing considered the Primordial Spirit Dragon, Azure Dragon, Yellow Dragon, and Black Tortoise Templates, then decided to forge several sword blanks rather than choose one.
• Ling Qing selected different materials for the Azure Dragon Sea-Churning Sword, Yellow Dragon Heaven-Balancing Sword, Black Tortoise Yin-Yang Sword, and Four Symbols Constellation Sword.
• Ling Qing prepared extra materials so he could forge additional sword blanks for Daoist Yunsheng and other Mount Lao Sect disciples.

Ling Qing forged a batch of sword blanks, gave Chang Ran a Fire Dragon Sword blank, and began refining the Black Tortoise Yin-Yang Sword while preparing for the coming battle near Lin'an and Zhenjiang. Meanwhile, Xu Xian and Bai Suzhen awaited their child in Zhenjiang, where Fahai arrived.

• Ling Qing and his three avatars forged swords in a furnace over forty-nine days, capturing four special sword blanks and letting more than twenty others scatter across the land.
• Ling Qing gave Chang Ran a Fire Dragon Sword blank and taught him how to receive and refine it; Chang Ran began its refinement.
• Ling Qing examined the sword blanks, stored most of them, and chose to refine the Black Tortoise Yin-Yang Sword while sending his avatars to scout the areas around Lin'an and Zhenjiang.
• Xu Xian and Bai Suzhen had grown closer during his exile in Zhenjiang, defeated Wang Daoling when he came seeking revenge, and awaited their child.
• Fahai arrived outside Zhenjiang City after wandering abroad to eradicate the demons within his heart.

Xu Xian’s return to town brought Fahai into contact with the inner demon tribulation he believed Xu Xian would answer. Fahai recognized Bai Suzhen as the white snake from his past and attacked her, but Xiaoqing transported them away as Bai Suzhen collapsed from pain.

• Xu Xian saw Fahai return to town, and their meeting stirred Fahai’s inner demon.
• Fahai concluded that Xu Xian was tied to his inner demon tribulation and went to Peace Preservation Hall.
• Fahai recognized Bai Suzhen from their past and attacked her, forcing her to flee while pregnant.
• Bai Suzhen’s abdominal pain briefly slowed her escape, but she blocked Fahai’s attacks with her magic.
• Xiaoqing used Five-Ghost Transportation to take Bai Suzhen and the Five Ghosts to a valley a hundred li away, where Bai Suzhen collapsed.

Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing went to Jinshan Temple to rescue Xu Xian, whom Fahai had seized and decided to ordain as his disciple. Bai Suzhen unleashed the Yangtze River against the temple, and powerful figures across the region sensed the rising flood.

• Bai Suzhen told Xiaoqing that her pregnancy had drained her magical power, and they planned to leave Zhenjiang after she recovered.
• Xu Xian learned that Fahai had taken Bai Suzhen, rushed to Jinshan Temple, and fought the monks who tried to stop him.
• When Xu Xian grabbed Fahai’s kasaya, Fahai’s inner demon quieted, so he announced that Xu Xian would become his disciple and prepared to ordain him.
• Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing arrived at Jinshan Temple and demanded Xu Xian’s release, but Fahai refused.
• Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing summoned the Yangtze River’s waters, and Bai Suzhen sent a colossal wave toward Jinshan Temple.
• Figures at Putuo Mountain, Hidden Spirit Temple, High Heaven Temple, and Jinshan Temple sensed the surging water and recognized that a tribulation had arrived.

Daoji and Ling Qing set out to intervene in a dispute, but Buddhist figures blocked both of them. Ling Qing summoned Zhao Gongming to occupy Muzha and escaped toward Zhenjiang.

• Daoji left Hidden Spirit Temple to settle a quarrel, but Pumiao confronted him and forced him to debate Chan before agreeing to accompany him.
• Ling Qing left High Heaven Temple and was challenged by Muzha, who insisted they talk despite Ling Qing's urgent business.
• Ling Qing and his incarnations surrounded Muzha and trapped him in the Nine Palaces formation, but Muzha fought through its challenges.
• Ling Qing invoked Mysterious Altar True Lord Zhao Gongming, who accused Muzha of resisting and attacked him.
• While Zhao Gongming kept Muzha occupied, Ling Qing flew toward Zhenjiang.

Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing flooded Jinshan Temple to rescue Xu Xian, but Fahai’s attacks caused Zhenjiang to be inundated. Xu Xian blamed Fahai for the disaster, while Daoji, Pumiao, and Ling Qing arrived at the devastated city.

• Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing raised a colossal wave against Jinshan Temple, and Fahai lifted the temple with his whisk before attacking them with his Buddhist powers.
• Xiaoqing transformed into a gigantic python and charged at Fahai’s golden dragon, but prayer beads from Bai Suzhen captured the dragon and transported it to Daoji and Pumiao.
• Xiaoqing rammed Jinshan Temple and toppled half of it, but Fahai struck her and Bai Suzhen with his Great Luo Golden Bowl, causing the floodwaters to sweep through Zhenjiang.
• Xu Xian struck Fahai away as he attacked the fallen Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing, then accused Fahai of causing the deaths and destruction.
• Fahai saw the ruined temple and flooded city and recoiled in horror as Daoji and Pumiao arrived; Ling Qing appeared and was relieved that they were not too late.

Ling Qing and the others rescued the people of the flooded city, and Fahai sacrificed himself to restore the dead and heal the survivors. Bai Suzhen went into labor, while Fahai’s true body began ascending before stopping to look toward Ling Qing.

• Ling Qing, his incarnations, Daoji, and Pumiao rescued the city’s survivors and gathered the dead while Ling Qing treated Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing.
• Fahai asked Xu Xian, Bai Suzhen, and Ling Qing for divine substances, then transformed into a giant turtle and used them to create healing rain that revived the dead.
• Fahai’s turtle form turned to ash, and a golden-silver sphere entered Bai Suzhen’s belly, triggering labor.
• Ling Qing conjured a house for Bai Suzhen’s delivery, and Emperor Miaoxiang brought midwives to assist her.
• Fahai’s true body began ascending from Jinshan Temple, but he stopped and looked toward Ling Qing as Bai Suzhen cried out inside the house.

Fahai abandoned his attempted ascension and sought to suppress Bai Suzhen, believing that severing her unborn child’s foundation was necessary for him to become independent of the true spirit he shared with the child and Xu Xian. Ling Qing persuaded Fahai to submit to a sword strike that would test whether Ling Qing’s patriarch and master permitted his transcendence, and Fahai sat down as an altar rose.

• Daoji tried to flee, but Emperor Miaoyuan, Wondrous Existence Emperor Lord, and Muzha stopped him and invoked the Bodhisattva’s decree for help; Daoji agreed to hold the others back and seized Muzha and Pumiao to discuss Zen.
• Emperor Miaoyuan and Wondrous Existence Emperor Lord left for Ling Qing while Fahai flew toward Bai Suzhen after halting his ascension.
• Ling Qing blocked Fahai, who explained that he planned to suppress Bai Suzhen beneath Leifeng Pagoda and sever the unborn child’s foundation to free himself from their shared true spirit.
• Ling Qing refused to let Fahai harm the child and proposed using his Primordial One Qi and Black Tortoise Yin-Yang Sword to strike Fahai, leaving the outcome to Ling Qing’s patriarch and master.
• Fahai accepted Ling Qing’s proposal, sat cross-legged, and watched as Ling Qing stomped the ground and raised an altar.

Ling Qing’s sword strike helped Fahai transcend and disappear into the Western Paradise, while the sword and Dragon Pearl were consumed by the newborn child. After Zhenjiang began rebuilding, Ling Qing gave the family guidance and sword embryos before leaving, while Daoji stayed to establish Jinshan Temple.

• Ling Qing invoked Primordial One Qi and sent the Black Tortoise Yin-Yang Sword at Fahai as Buddhist light and Daoist qi clashed above Zhenjiang.
• Fahai proclaimed Buddhahood and departed beneath a Buddhist banner, while the sword’s clear light entered the newborn and the world returned to normal.
• Xiaoqing told Ling Qing that the child had briefly borne a Nine Palaces omen, and Ling Qing discovered that his sword and the Dragon Pearl were gone from the Eight-Treasure Glazed Bottle.
• Daoji chose to remain in Zhenjiang to rebuild Jinshan Temple and comfort the survivors, while Pumiao left to help Buddhist monks.
• Xu Xian, Bai Suzhen, and Xiaoqing planned to return to Lin'an, and Ling Qing gave them three sword embryos and gave Bai Suzhen a technique to pass to the child.
• Ling Qing departed, and Xu Xian, Bai Suzhen, and Xiaoqing wondered what treasured sword he had meant for the child.

Ling Qing returned from the White Snake instance, gave sword blanks and a sword-refining manual to his fellow Mount Lao Sect disciples, then re-entered the Demon Star Instance to join Zhu Guang. They planned to defeat Great Wisdom Chan Master during the coming campaign, while Ling Qing gathered his avatars and prepared new techniques.

• Wen Ling welcomed Ling Qing back and brought him to Han Fu, where Ling Qing reported what had happened in the White Snake instance.
• Ling Qing gave sword blanks to Jiang Chengyan, Cheng Xinya, Wen Ling, Wenjun, and Sun Yuwei, and added more blanks and a modified sword manual to the Mount Lao Sect treasure vault.
• Han Fu told Ling Qing that the Mount Liang demon stars had reclaimed the Liao State's demonic qi, seized the dragon veins of Tian Hu and Wang Qing, and were fighting Fang La.
• Ling Qing re-entered the Demon Star Instance, met Zhu Guang in Hangzhou, and learned that Great Wisdom Chan Master of Six Harmonies Temple was a Three-Tribulation Earth Immortal.
• Ling Qing and Zhu Guang agreed to use the coming attack to defeat Great Wisdom Chan Master, while Ling Qing summoned his avatars and developed new formations and thunder techniques.

Ling Qing reviewed his cultivation and nearly completed the White Emperor True Form while the Mount Liang army besieged Hangzhou. After brutal battles and heavy losses on both sides, the demon stars breached the city, and their fallen companions gathered in the Galaxy Scroll.

• Ling Qing catalogued his divine abilities, treasures, instruments, and six incarnations, then continued refining the White Emperor True Form in secret.
• Song Jiang led more than forty Heavenly Fiend and Di Sha stars to attack Hangzhou, where Fang Tianding killed Hao Siwen and poisoned arrows killed Xu Ning.
• Zhu Guang joined Ling Qing outside the cave as the siege escalated, and Lu Zhishen fought Deng Yuanjue until Wu Song intervened.
• Zhu Wu had Ling Zhen use Windfire Thunder God Charge to blast open Hangzhou's gates, allowing the Mount Liang army to seize the city.
• Many demon stars died in the campaign, and their souls, starlight treasures, and divine abodes filled one-fifth of the Galaxy Scroll's Star Palace master outline.

Ling Qing and Zhu Guang used Hangzhou’s demonic calamity to gather its wandering souls and force Great Wisdom Chan Master to ascend. After the people witnessed his apparent departure, Zhu Guang unleashed five demons that devoured him before their eyes.

• Ling Qing and Zhu Guang surveyed the devastation in Hangzhou and began clearing resentment and baleful qi from the city.
• Great Wisdom Chan Master organized a Water and Land Dharma Assembly outside Golden Surge Gate to deliver the dead.
• Ling Qing and Zhu Guang activated their Soul-Attracting Array, drawing the remaining wandering souls toward the assembly and overwhelming the monks.
• Ling Qing and Zhu Guang strengthened the assembly’s Buddha-light, causing Great Wisdom Chan Master to ascend despite his concern for the souls.
• Ling Qing concealed the true events from the people through the Dream Realm, making them believe they had witnessed a living Buddha ascend.
• Zhu Guang summoned five demons, which gathered the region’s baleful qi and tore Great Wisdom Chan Master apart before the gathered people.

Ling Qing and Zhu Guang took over the rites in Hangzhou, suppressed its demons and ghosts, and established the Divine Firmament Sect there. The Demon-Quelling Celestial Venerable gathered the cultivators at Longevity Palace to plan the destruction of Fiery Bright Venerable and the recovery of its dragon vein.

• Ling Qing and Zhu Guang captured the rampaging demons and gathered Hangzhou's vengeful souls into the Nine Heavens Ten Grounds Dharma Realm.
• Ling Qing and Zhu Guang conducted rites for forty-nine days, delivered the ghosts, and won Hangzhou's people over to the Divine Firmament Sect.
• The Demon-Quelling Celestial Venerable and the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden arrived with fellow cultivators, including Tong Guan, to prepare for a campaign against Fiery Bright Venerable.
• The Demon-Quelling Celestial Venerable explained Tong Guan's role as military overseer and outlined the plan to recover the dragon vein, destroy the foreign god, and complete the Baleful Intent demon stars' tribulation.