Chapter Summaries

Gui Yan learned how the Four Seas Society used merit, lectures, and resources to support its members before traveling with Mr. Wugou and the Green Wolf Mountain Master to the site of ancient Taiyuan City. When they reached the seabed, they found that the terrain had changed dramatically from what the other two remembered.

• Gui Yan discovered that Longevity True Men gave lectures for merit, which cultivators could use to compete for scarce resources and opportunities.
• Gui Yan recognized that the Four Seas Society’s merit system connected lectures with the collection of resources, especially those needed to survive tribulations.
• After half a month of travel, Gui Yan, Mr. Wugou, and the Green Wolf Mountain Master arrived above the Eastern Sea site of ancient Taiyuan City.
• Mr. Wugou warned that remnants of a Rakshasa Sect divine ability could still cause phantom demons, and the Green Wolf Mountain Master recalled a Void Stepping cultivator who had recently died there.
• Gui Yan and his companions dived beneath the sea and found an uneven underwater mountain range where Mr. Wugou and the Green Wolf Mountain Master remembered a steep slope and deep abyss.

Mr. Wugou, the Green Wolf Mountain Master, and Ghostly Weariness investigated a newly risen undersea mountain range and found signs that someone had deliberately twisted the seafloor. As they began to withdraw, a clash erupted nearby, and they discovered the corpse of Dai Zong before an unknown woman spoke to them.

• Mr. Wugou and the Green Wolf Mountain Master concluded that the undersea mountain range had likely been raised by deliberate power and used the unsettled earth veins to locate its source.
• Mr. Wugou led the others through a fissure to the seafloor, where they recorded the twisted rock strata and agreed to investigate the surroundings before approaching the core.
• As the three ascended, the mountain range shook and a burst of light and force clashed in the northern waters.
• A corpse drifted to the group, and they identified it as Dai Zong, the Six Desire Heavenly Demon of the Nine Profound Demonic Sect.
• An alluring, gentle voice from an unseen speaker joined their conversation.

Gui Yan faced a woman wielding a powerful palace lantern that trapped him in a self-created void and exposed him to the Outer Domain of the Nine Heavens. After she offered him a place in the Western Sect, he declared his loyalty to the Four Seas Society.

• A woman with a purple-lit palace lantern appeared and separated Gui Yan from his companions, trapping him in an illusion of a flooded city and deep-sea demons.
• Gui Yan used Spirit Transformation Light and the Chaotic Desire Essence method to resist the lantern, discovering that it contained a self-created void linked to a vast array.
• The lantern shifted its illusion to the Outer Domain of the Nine Heavens, where Gui Yan encountered countless Heavenly Demons and more than a hundred Profound Yin Blood Shadows.
• A great star illuminated Gui Yan and exposed his Heavenly Demon transformations as a voice identified him as Ghost Aversion and invited him to join the Western Sect.
• Gui Yan refused the invitation, saying he had already joined the Four Seas Society.

Ghost Weary negotiated a temporary alliance with the mysterious demonic sect cultivators and learned that the formidable Jian Ziyu was using the Heavenly Demon Wuliang Method. Xiao Limai pressed him to join them, offering Jian Ziyu’s insight into the flaw in his Dao foundation.

• Ghost Weary pretended to offer help and asked that Mr. Wugou and the Green Wolf Mountain Master be spared, prompting the opponents to withdraw their illusionary domain.
• Mr. Wugou and the Green Wolf Mountain Master reappeared, with the Green Wolf Mountain Master disoriented and Mr. Wugou injured but conscious.
• Mr. Wugou identified the veiled female cultivator as Jian Ziyu, whose strength and artifact left Ghost Weary unable to gauge her cultivation.
• Xiao Limai identified Ghost Weary’s Netherworld Nine Hidden Secret Art and warned that he might encounter a flaw at the Shattering God Ghost stage.
• Xiao Limai revealed that Jian Ziyu wielded the Heavenly Demon Wuliang Method, which could expose flaws in demonic cultivators’ Dao foundations.

Gu Yan and Mr. Wugou were brought into the Bright Hall Palace of the Nine Palaces Demon Domain, where Xiao Limai assigned Gu Yan to garrison the palace with Jian Ziyu. The demon domain revealed its target: the Five Sacred Peaks True Form Diagram, standing against a host of heavenly demons.

• Gu Yan accepted Xiao Limai's recruitment, while Jian Ziyu quietly accepted Gu Yan addressing her as Senior Nephew Jian.
• Xiao Limai transported Gu Yan, Mr. Wugou, and the Green Wolf Mountain Master into a sealed chamber in the Nine Palaces Demon Domain.
• Xiao Limai explained that the Bright Hall Palace was vacant and ordered Gu Yan to garrison it with Jian Ziyu, while warning that outsiders could enter but not leave or send messages.
• Gu Yan asked who the demon sect had mobilized against, and the chamber's murals revealed a distant void filled with heavenly demons and towering mountains.
• Gu Yan recognized the mountains as the Five Sacred Peaks True Form Diagram.

Gui Yan watched the Nine Palaces Demon Domain summon a dharma image of the Great Brahma Demon King and realized the array could imitate the Eight Emperor Demon Lords’ power. He questioned Xiao Limai about the Bright Hall Palace’s Demon Lord, sensing that Xiao Limai was withholding something.

• Xiao Limai warned Gui Yan that the Five Sacred Peaks True Form Diagram was extremely powerful and that its Origin Spirit had nearly escaped after killing the Deputy Sect Master.
• Gui Yan watched the Five Sacred Peaks True Form Diagram hold off the demons while the Nine Palaces Demon Domain formed a fierce dharma image that drained power from cultivators and inflamed their minds.
• Xiao Limai explained that the array borrowed cultivators’ magic power to manifest the Eight Emperor Demon Lords, and Gui Yan recognized the image as the Great Brahma Demon King.
• Gui Yan inferred that the Nine Palaces Demon Domain was designed to simulate the Demon Lords’ powers and asked which Demon Lord the Bright Hall Palace represented.
• Xiao Limai said the Bright Hall Palace corresponded to Demon Lord Huiyuan, then avoided demonstrating that power; Gui Yan doubted his explanation.

Gui Yan pressured Xiao Limai into allowing him to study the demonic methods, and Xiao Limai agreed to let Jian Ziyu instruct him when Demon Lord Huiyuan’s manifestation appeared. Jian Ziyu then drew Gui Yan into her lamp’s mortal-world illusion and received him at a banquet in a high tower.

• Gui Yan warned Xiao Limai that he would not accept being sent to die and pressed him about releasing more manifestations.
• After learning about the events in Taiyuan City, Xiao Limai contacted the person in charge and agreed that Gui Yan could study Demon Lord Huiyuan’s methods in forty hours for half an hour.
• Mr. Wugou said their society would send information in about ten days and would search for them if communication was interrupted.
• Xiao Limai warned the captives not to cause trouble in the Nine Palaces Demon Domain, then left without speaking to Jian Ziyu.
• Jian Ziyu asked Gui Yan about the first great difficulty of the Longevity Realm and drew him into the Purple Dust Red Dust Lamp’s illusion.
• Jian Ziyu appeared at a high-tower banquet and remarked that she found their meeting place unusual.

Jian Ziyu offered to help Guiyan repair flaws in his Dao foundation, but revealed that her true request was for him to help her leave the Western Branch of the Demonic Sect. She explained that her master would soon die and hinted that she had already tried to escape before Xiao Limai intervened.

• Jian Ziyu explained that Guiyan's Netherworld Nine Hidden Secret Art could leave his Dao foundation incomplete and risk backlash as he developed the Spirit-Breaking Ghost divine ability.
• Jian Ziyu offered to use the Heavenly Demon Wuliang Method of Supreme Origin Hidden Star to deduce and repair Guiyan's Dao foundation at the cost of a hundred years of her lifespan.
• Guiyan considered his own deduction methods and questioned whether Jian Ziyu's offer was valuable enough to justify her hesitation.
• Jian Ziyu asked Guiyan to help her change allegiance and leave her sect.
• Jian Ziyu said her master's allotted lifespan would end in two or three months, leaving her vulnerable, and revealed that she had nearly used Dai Zong's situation to escape before Xiao Limai interfered.

Ghost Weariness spent several days observing the Nine Palaces Demon Domain and learned that Jian Ziyu's master, Madam Huanyong, was a powerful Western Sect elder trapped in a dangerous delusion realm. As Xiao Limai prepared to reveal the Demon Lord Huiyuan, Ghost Weariness considered how the demonic manifestations worked and what they might do to the Five Peaks Origin Spirit.

• Ghost Weariness saw Jian Ziyu shelter herself beneath the Purple Dust Red Dust Lamp while Mr. Wugou guarded the unconscious Green Wolf Mountain Master.
• Mr. Wugou told Ghost Weariness that Jian Ziyu's master was Madam Huanyong, a founding elder of the Western Sect whose injuries and backlash had left her mind unstable and surrounded by a deadly delusion realm.
• Ghost Weariness spent three days studying the Nine Palaces Demon Domain and the manifestation of the Demon Lord Wuming while the Green Wolf Mountain Master's condition worsened.
• Xiao Limai arrived before the promised activation of the Demon Lord Huiyuan and warned Ghost Weariness that the manifestation could not restrain the Five Peaks Origin Spirit, leaving him responsible for any backlash.
• Ghost Weariness reasoned that the Demon Lord Wuming's flames targeted inner obsessions to provoke the Five Peaks Origin Spirit, but the method had so far had little effect.

Demon Lord Huiyuan’s manifestation revealed a rotten mountain of flesh whose vast sorcery overwhelmed Bright Hall Palace and began draining Gui Yan’s strength. A message urged Gui Yan to test the power on an old acquaintance, and he turned Huiyuan’s sorcery toward a group of cultivators on the seabed.

• Demon Lord Huiyuan’s dharma manifestation appeared in Bright Hall Palace, and Gui Yan saw its grotesque true form beneath the illusion of an immortal Buddha.
• Xiao Limai explained that Huiyuan’s limitless desire and the ruin it caused nourished his sorcery, while the demonic power began draining Gui Yan’s strength.
• Huiyuan’s power surged through Bright Hall Palace, forcing Xiao Limai and Jian Ziyu to kneel and suppressing Mr. Wugou.
• Gui Yan saw the Six Desires Turbid Stream fail to break the rosy light protecting the Five Peaks, and understood why Huiyuan’s power had little effect on the Five Peaks Origin Spirit.
• A message told Gui Yan that an old acquaintance had entered the domain, and he used Huiyuan’s power to turn toward a group of seabed cultivators and recognized their leader.

Ghost Weary resisted Demon Lord Huiyuan’s Dharma power before realizing that the cultivators opposing it were tied to the Dongyang Orthodox Sect. He identified their leader as Xiao Lei, the Sun Demon Lord and Xiao Fuyun’s patron.

• Demon Lord Huiyuan’s Dharma power overwhelmed the group with visions and seductive cultivation methods, causing several cultivators to yield.
• Ghost Weary recognized that the Demon Domain’s power was also threatening to assimilate him, so he closed his eyes and circulated his aura to resist it.
• Ghost Weary realized the group’s origins were suspicious and recognized one cultivator as a client of Duan Xiang from the Dongyang Orthodox Sect.
• Ghost Weary identified the group’s leader as Xiao Lei, one of the Three Demon Lords of Dongyang and Xiao Fuyun’s patron.

Gui Yan withdrew from Demon Lord Huiyuan’s dharma power after realizing that Old Crow was the Free Heavenly Demon King overseeing the encirclement. He and Jian Ziyu discussed the perilous plan and Madam Huanyong’s unknown intentions, leaving Gui Yan suspicious of the gathered sects’ true purpose.

• Gui Yan noticed a gap in his control of Demon Lord Huiyuan’s dharma power, and Xiao Lei challenged him over their supposed alliance.
• Gui Yan withdrew his hand, after which the sea’s image and Demon Lord Huiyuan’s manifestation disappeared.
• Gui Yan questioned Jian Ziyu in the Purple Dust Red Dust Lamp and learned that Old Crow was the Black Feather Heavenly Demon King, a Free Heavenly Demon.
• Jian Ziyu explained that Old Crow’s true body had not been seen for at least three calamities and might be roaming the outer realms.
• Gui Yan questioned the cost of the encirclement and asked about Madam Huanyong’s final limit, but Jian Ziyu said she did not know her teacher’s whereabouts.
• Gui Yan suspected that the assembled sects’ real objective was Little Five.

Ghost Weary watched the demon sects’ plans unfold while the Green Wolf Mountain Master’s condition worsened and efforts to secure his release failed. As he examined the dying man, Ghost Weary sensed an unfamiliar order in his collapsing qi flow.

• After forty days in the Nine Palaces Demon Domain, Ghost Weary learned that the Rakshasa Sect had sent people to investigate Taiyuan City.
• Ghost Weary warned Mr. Wugou that the Green Wolf Mountain Master would die within twenty hours or become Heavenly Demon Kin, while the Four Seas Society failed to secure his release.
• Jian Ziyu considered seeking the Four Seas Society’s help to escape, but Ghost Weary dismissed the possibility.
• The Green Wolf Mountain Master’s body convulsed as his cultivation collapsed, and Mr. Wugou explained how he had painstakingly acquired his cultivation methods.
• Ghost Weary touched the Green Wolf Mountain Master’s chest and sensed an ordered pattern twisting his qi circulation and draining his remaining life force.

After Green Wolf Mountain Master died, Gui Yan was summoned to meet a Patriarch in the Mud Pill Palace. The veiled figure questioned him about the Void Treasury and the first barrier of the Netherworld Nine Hidden Secret Art.

• Green Wolf Mountain Master died, and Gui Yan used the Sea Swallowing Bottle to take his corpse while asking Jian Ziyu to inform the Four Seas Society.
• Xiao Limai praised Gui Yan and told him to go meet the Patriarchs, then took over his shift.
• Gui Yan followed the guiding lamplights through the Nine Palaces Demon Domain toward the Mud Pill Palace, reflecting on the vast number of heavenly demons and securing his core consciousness away from his true body.
• At the Mud Pill Palace, an indistinct figure confirmed Gui Yan's identity and asked what insight he had into the Void Treasury and the first barrier of the Netherworld Nine Hidden Secret Art.

Ghost Aversion met the Supreme Good Demon Lord and Sun Demon Lord in the valley, learning more about the Heavenly Demon Great Dao and the Nine Palaces Demon Domain. The chapter ended with the Supreme Good Demon Lord warning Ghost Aversion to stay away from Jian Ziyu, while Xiao Lei revealed that the demon lord was bound to the area by a fragile remnant soul.

• Ghost Aversion discussed his Void Divine Ability and Hehua Demonic Consciousness with the person beneath the lamp, who revealed himself as the Supreme Good Demon Lord.
• The Supreme Good Demon Lord left to seek amusement, and Ghost Aversion proceeded to the valley house, where Sun Demon Lord Xiao Lei was waiting.
• Xiao Lei questioned Ghost Aversion about Wanqi Wuming and suggested several demonic sects that might suit him besides the Nine Profound Demonic Sect.
• Xiao Lei drew demonic patterns for Ghost Aversion to memorize and study so he could understand the Void Divine Ability's mysteries in the Nine Palaces Demon Domain.
• The Supreme Good Demon Lord warned Ghost Aversion to keep his distance from Jian Ziyu, and Xiao Lei explained that the demon lord's remnant soul could not survive beyond a hundred-mile radius.

After Gui Yan returned from meeting Xiao Lei and Supreme Good Demon Lord, Yu Ci used his detached perspective on the avatar to study how thoughts and emotions scattered into inner demons. He realized that this view could expose traces of outside interference, and began examining whether the two demon lords had influenced Gui Yan.

• Gui Yan returned to the Bright Hall Palace overwhelmed by what he had learned, and Mr. Wugou and the others let him meditate undisturbed.
• Yu Ci kept his core thought separate and observed Gui Yan’s tangled reactions to the demon lords’ attention and the hidden truth about the Sacred Canon.
• Yu Ci studied how emotions attached to thoughts, multiplied into inner demons, and scattered a person’s attention.
• Yu Ci recognized that this lowest layer of mental activity preserved traces of every process, making it useful for detecting outside influence.
• Gui Yan’s thoughts shifted toward believing that Xiao Lei and Supreme Good Demon Lord might have no reason to act against him.

Gui Yan regained control of his thoughts and confirmed that Supreme Good and Xiao Lei had deliberately influenced his consciousness. He concluded Xiao Lei had lied about giving him time to choose, and began investigating the demonic pattern Xiao Lei had given him.

• Gui Yan’s core thought dismissed the idea of relying on others and considered how the Black Forest might inform a personal method for subduing the mind.
• Gui Yan’s core thought unified the changes in his avatar and steadied his wavering mind.
• Gui Yan learned that the Supreme Good Demon Lord had killed more than a dozen cultivators, while Xiao Lei and Demon Lord Tianqiong had received envoys near the Taiyuan City ruins.
• Gui Yan’s investigation of the Black Forest revealed traces of intentional guidance by Supreme Good and Xiao Lei.
• Gui Yan judged Xiao Lei’s promise of time and leeway to be a lie, then copied Xiao Lei’s demonic pattern diagram onto a blank Jade Talisman for study.

Gui Yan studied the jade talisman’s diagrams and agreed to hold the Bright Hall Palace during a planned defense against enemies seeking to exploit the Sky Shuttle Tide. As Demon Lord Huiyuan’s dharma idol blessed the palace, Gui Yan extended his mind and spirit across the surrounding sea and spotted nine demonic sect cultivators waiting nearby.

• Gui Yan spent days comprehending diagrams that could enhance his Square Inch Demon Kingdom by adapting the Nine Palaces Demon Domain’s void environment.
• Xiao Limai told Gui Yan that the Bright Hall Palace would receive the Devil Master’s blessing the next day and that enemies planned to draw in the Sky Shuttle Tide.
• Gui Yan agreed to hold the fort while Xiao Limai prepared to strike those plotting against the Demon Domain.
• Demon Lord Huiyuan’s decaying dharma idol appeared above the Bright Hall Palace as its walls turned transparent and its magical patterns activated.
• Gui Yan projected his mind and spirit beyond the Nine Palaces Demon Domain, surveyed the surrounding sea, and discovered nine demonic sect cultivators about seven hundred li away, including Xiao Limai, Jian Ziyu, and Wan Mi.

Nine demonic-sect cultivators tested Guiyan’s ability to channel Demon Lord Huiyuan’s power as they approached the Sky Shuttle Tide. Fen Guang’s reconnaissance revealed millions of fish and a strange object inside roughly one fish in every thousand.

• Night Lion questioned whether Guiyan could be trusted, and the nine cultivators received Demon Lord Huiyuan’s empowerment to prepare for battle.
• Night Lion moved ahead and judged that Guiyan’s power still reached him from five thousand li away, though he remained wary of the man.
• Night Lion asked Fen Guang to scout the Sky Shuttle Tide, and Fen Guang used the Nine Glimpse Demonic Eyes to locate it and count more than two million fish.
• Zheng Mancheng advised Fen Guang to search the fish for unusual objects, and Fen Guang used his Scene Retaining Brocade Handkerchief to inspect the tide.
• Fen Guang reported that at least one fish in every thousand contained a different object, and several fish appeared red in his reflected vision.

The cultivators discovered that Spirit Warding Ancestor was using Spirit Warding Magnets inside the Sky Shuttle Fish to steer the tide toward the Nine Palaces Demon Domain. Jian Ziyu volunteered to attack the fish remotely and unleashed a sword pill that began cutting down the tide despite the interference.

• Fen Guang revealed a Spirit Warding Magnet inside a red-turned Sky Shuttle Fish, and Zheng Mancheng identified it as evidence of Spirit Warding Ancestor's involvement.
• The cultivators discussed Spirit Warding Ancestor's history with the Dongyang Orthodox Sect and agreed that destroying the controlling object was the best course.
• Jian Ziyu volunteered to attack the Sky Shuttle Fish, and Fen Guang accepted after she said she could use his aura-reading ability and the Respond to Opportunity technique.
• Jian Ziyu released her Ten Feet of Red Dust sword pill, which flew toward the target across the sea.
• A thunderbolt scattered the sword light before it reached the sea, but Jian Ziyu's Sword Light Differentiation still destroyed about thirty percent of the marked fish and continued to cut through the tide.