Chapter Summaries

The Black and White Twin Fiends killed Brother Niu and Brother Zhou before leaving the bonfire, while the battle for the Heavenly Purple Bright Pill escalated across Sky Beam Mountain Island. On a pleasure boat, Ayun told Baiyi she intended to quit for a while and demanded to settle the account for a token, which Baiyi said was tied to the ships surrounding the island.

• The White-robed Scholar killed a Void Stepping cultivator who threatened Brother Niu and Brother Zhou, then Ge Qiuniang killed both men.
• The Black and White Twin Fiends left the bonfire as cultivators rushed toward the pill battle, which had intensified after Daoist Baihe's death and the pill furnace's destruction.
• Baiyi and Ayun watched the fleets surrounding Sky Beam Mountain Island, and Baiyi judged the Heavenly Purple Bright Pill's reputation to exceed its proven worth.
• Baiyi tried to get close to Ayun, but Ayun rebuffed her and then shared a brief kiss with her before stopping.
• Ayun told Baiyi she planned to step away after settling their accounts, and she raised the token she had sold Baiyi six months earlier.
• Baiyi revealed that the token was no longer in her or the other side's hands and that something had gone wrong, connecting it to the fleets outside the island.

Baiyi explained how rumors linking the hand-cutting token, Daoist Baihe’s Heavenly Purple Bright Pill, and the Sword Discussion Pavilion’s tribulation-averting token had drawn powerful factions into the lake. After leaving Seyun trapped aboard the boat, Baiyi spread intelligence through several channels amid the chaos.

• Baiyi explained that the Heavenly Purple Bright Pill had inspired the Sword Discussion Pavilion’s Thunder-Slaying Calamity-Averting Token, raising its value and fueling rumors about the hand-cutting token.
• Baiyi told Seyun that Daoist Baihe had claimed the elixir formula came from the hand-cutting token, which supposedly recorded valuable sword-qi marks.
• Baiyi asked whether Seyun still wanted her request for compensation reported, but Seyun stayed silent, so Baiyi ended their meeting and left the boat.
• Seyun sensed the Devil Lord’s absence but remained aboard, terrified by the surrounding chaos and unable to flee.
• Baiyi changed her appearance and identities as she moved among boats, spreading different pieces of intelligence through multiple channels.

Baiyi finished her intelligence work on Ring Belt Lake and returned to her painted boat as the Cold Smoke Lady, where a spell bracelet warned her of an unseen assassin. A powerful visitor’s servant summoned her to the viewing platform, and she left her cabin hoping his presence would keep the assassin at bay.

• Baiyi slipped into a pleasure boat, disguised herself as the Cold Smoke Lady, and began bathing after completing her mission.
• Her protective bracelet revealed that an unseen enemy with killing intent was approaching from the maids’ quarters.
• A formidable servant interrupted her when he arrived to invite the Cold Smoke Lady to meet his master.
• Baiyi used the invitation to delay the assassin, who retreated after noticing the change in events.
• After bathing and dressing at her leisure, Baiyi met Xusheng and went with him to the viewing platform, where the lake’s chaos came into view.

Baiyi approached the mysterious guest on the pleasure boat, but his strange presence disrupted her thoughts and left her unable to control the encounter. After forcing her to watch the chaos on Ring Belt Lake, he declared that the true wonder lay in the Human World Realm and the seven emotions, then announced that he had awakened.

• Baiyi approached the guest on the dimly lit pleasure boat and sensed that his presence was suppressing the space around him.
• The guest ignored Baiyi’s greeting, then pulled her onto his lap and forced her to look toward the lake.
• Baiyi described the fog, ships, and people being crushed in the chaos around Sky Beam Mountain Island.
• The guest recited a verse and said that he watched Baiyi rather than the slaughter, finding the wonder in the Human World Realm and its seven emotions.
• The guest declared, “Awakened, awakened!”

Baiyi questioned the powerful guest, Yu Ci, who praised her uniqueness and spoke of her chance to survive a cycle of destruction. She decided to keep him close for protection against the unseen assassin, but the assassin’s blood-light returned when Yu Ci gave his name.

• The guest’s restraint on Baiyi eased, and she asked him what Chengqitian was.
• Yu Ci said Baiyi’s true-hearted emotions made her unique and that she had a strong chance of surviving amid life-and-death destruction.
• Baiyi noticed the blood-light on her bracelet had vanished and resolved to keep Yu Ci close in case the assassin was still hiding nearby.
• Yu Ci asked Baiyi to accompany him for the evening, and she instructed the managing mama to arrange it.
• Baiyi asked the guest’s name, and he introduced himself as Yu Ci; blood-light surged again on her bracelet.

Yin Yang, an assassin of the Heavenly Evasion Sect disguised as the maid Qingnang, assessed a chance to kill Yu Ci and Cold Smoke Lady but decided the mission required him to withdraw. Yu Ci dismissed the maids, leaving Yin Yang to reconsider his timing.

• Yin Yang infiltrated Cold Smoke Lady’s cabin as Qingnang and entered with the other maids to tend to her and Yu Ci.
• Yin Yang recognized Yu Ci as a newly ascended Longevity cultivator and judged that killing the pair would jeopardize the larger plan to replace Cold Smoke Lady.
• Yin Yang decided to abandon the immediate opportunity and preserve his cover, while noting that the sect could track Yu Ci through his aura.
• Yu Ci ordered the maids to withdraw so he could speak privately with Cold Smoke Lady.
• Yin Yang’s assassin consciousness briefly resurfaced as the maids left, and he prepared to retreat.

Yin Yang escaped the pleasure barge and tried to report to the Heavenly Evasion Sect, but Yu Ci intercepted him with a domain and confronted him over his techniques. Yu Ci revealed that he was nearby after first confronting Yin Yang through a cross-space projection, leaving Yin Yang facing a powerful enemy.

• Yin Yang slipped away from the ships near Sky Beam Mountain Island, where sects were fighting over the Heavenly Purple Bright Pills and clearing minor vessels from the lake.
• Yin Yang sent a communication dharma sword to the Heavenly Evasion Sect with news of Yu Ci, but destroyed it when a domain trapped its flight.
• Yu Ci exposed Yin Yang’s disguise and accused him of hiding among servants while posing as the opposite sex.
• Yin Yang asked Yu Ci where he had learned the Shadow-Melting Escape Art and Unreturning Wheel Heart Method, then attacked what he thought was Yu Ci’s position.
• Yin Yang realized Yu Ci’s apparent form was a cross-space projection and tried to provoke him into revealing himself.
• Yu Ci emerged from the distant waterscape, walking across the lake and singing as Yin Yang faced him.

Yu Ci used a projected clone and a Sword Qi talisman formation to trap and wound Yin Yang, who escaped the lake and fought back with his evasion art. After the encounter ended, Yu Ci offered to take Baiyi as his disciple and teach her the Art of Longevity, prompting her laughter.

• Yin Yang recognized Yu Ci's figure as a clone and sank into the lake to conceal himself and prepare a later attack.
• Yu Ci's Sword Qi talisman formation filled the water, forcing Yin Yang to abandon his concealment and burst out wounded.
• Yin Yang clashed swords with Yu Ci's clone and used the Absolute Shadow Evasion Art to avoid triggering the Heaven and Earth Law Will.
• Yu Ci watched the fight from a tent with Baiyi and received a pearl that held the defeated trouble.
• Yu Ci offered to take Baiyi as his disciple and teach her the Art of Longevity, and Baiyi laughed at the proposal.

Yu Ci reflected on how the seven emotions and six desires preserved a living being’s true nature while Baiyi ended their encounter and prepared to pass information about him to her master. Their conversation was interrupted by Aunt Xue, who came to invite Cold Smoke to a banquet and found Yu Ci leaving her cabin.

• Baiyi declared that her night with Yu Ci had settled her debt and ordered a maid to help him dress.
• Yu Ci considered how cultivating the seven emotions and six desires could help preserve one’s true nature and improve the chance of reincarnation.
• Yu Ci recognized that Baiyi was plotting to sell information about him, but he intended to use her scheme to identify her master.
• Aunt Xue arrived to invite Cold Smoke to perform at a Four Gates Lake Touring Banquet, but Nanny Hu warned her that Cold Smoke was attending a guest.
• Yu Ci emerged from the cabin and asked Aunt Xue what she needed.

Yu Ci met Xue Zhi aboard the ship and subtly influenced her thoughts with his new divine ability. When Cheng Jishi arrived to invite Cold Smoke Lady to Meng Du’s lake-viewing banquet, he also pressed Yu Ci to attend, setting up a gathering that would include Pill Seizing Talisman Combat.

• Xue Zhi mistook Yu Ci for Cold Smoke Lady’s secret lover and grew fond of him, while Yu Ci realized his divine ability could influence others’ emotions and thoughts.
• Cheng Jishi boarded the ship to invite Cold Smoke Lady to a banquet hosted by Meng Du of the Eight Extremes Sect.
• Xue Zhi warned Yu Ci that Cheng Jishi was the powerful Mountain Shaker General.
• Xue Zhi tried to deflect Cheng Jishi’s attention, but he seized on her words and invited Yu Ci to the banquet as well.

Yu Ci dismissed Cheng Jishi and learned from Xue Zhi about the four factions competing for Daoist Baihe’s pills. Xue Zhi returned to her island residence, where a maid told her that her husband had arrived.

• Xue Zhi explained that Crimson Firmament Heaven, the Eight Extremes Sect, the Chunyang Sect, and the Azure Wave Water Mansion were competing over the remaining pills through contests in pills, talismans, and artifacts.
• Yu Ci dismissed Cheng Jishi and arranged for Xusheng to see Xue Zhi out, while Xusheng challenged Cheng Jishi’s lack of a proper written invitation.
• Cheng Jishi asked Yu Ci’s surname, then watched Xue Zhi leave with Xusheng.
• Xue Zhi ended her trip and returned to her island residence, realizing she had forgotten to ask Yu Ci’s name.
• A maid greeted Xue Zhi at the pier and told her that her husband had arrived.

Xue Zhi visited Su Shuanghe after learning he had returned, carefully concealing her thoughts as she described a lakeside encounter with Cheng Jishi and a mysterious junior surnamed Yu. As she left, she overheard Su Shuanghe angrily questioning his guest about a deployment at Ring Belt Lake and when their plan would succeed.

• Xue Zhi learned that Su Shuanghe had returned and changed into her formal robes before going to pay her respects.
• Su Shuanghe admitted Xue Zhi to his room, where she saw him meeting an unremarkable gray-robed cultivator.
• Su Shuanghe asked about Xue Zhi's lake tour, and she recounted seeing Cheng Jishi and meeting a junior surnamed Yu aboard the Cold Smoke.
• Su Shuanghe remarked on Cold Smoke's resemblance to Xue Zhi and her relationship, prompting Xue Zhi to withdraw.
• Xue Zhi overheard Su Shuanghe question his guest about the deployment at Ring Belt Lake, then heard him angrily demand to know what the guest was doing.

Su Shuanghe learned that the Heavenly Evasion Sect had targeted Cold Smoke, who was secretly the intelligence broker Baiyi, and discussed a new scheme with Elder Qing. Meanwhile, Yin Yang fought a seemingly unkillable Daoist for a full day and found that his sharpened sword intent still could not overcome him.

• Su Shuanghe demanded an explanation from Elder Qing about the failed assassination plan and the lack of warning.
• Elder Qing revealed that Cold Smoke was Baiyi and explained that the sect had planned to replace her with Yin Yang to approach the target.
• Elder Qing said Su Shuanghe's return and the sensitive circumstances made continuing the plan too risky, then proposed discussing another stratagem.
• Yin Yang fought a powerful Daoist who regenerated inside lotus flowers whenever Yin Yang cut him down.
• After a day of combat, Yin Yang reached a new height of sword intent but remained unable to defeat the Daoist.

Yu Ci’s avatar defeated Yin-Yang by breaking his resolve and then cast him into the Myriad Demon Pool. As Yin-Yang was consumed by the blood sea, Yu Ci departed with a shadow taking Yin-Yang’s familiar form.

• Yu Ci’s avatar struck Yin-Yang after calling him by his long-forgotten original name, Wang Mo, and shattering his composure.
• Yu Ci asked Yin-Yang to help steady the Heavenly Evasion Sect, but said Yin-Yang’s agreement would not change the outcome.
• Yu Ci transported Yin-Yang to the Myriad Demon Pool and told him he only needed to borrow his shadow.
• Yu Ci cut a shadow from Yin-Yang’s soul and led the increasingly human-shaped shadow toward the bright moon.
• Yin-Yang fell into the blood sea, where demons and baleful forces began destroying his body as he screamed and cursed.

Yu Ci reflected on his Inner Void and sent Yin Yang’s shadow away to act as a temporary stand-in. He and Baiyi then traveled to the lake banquet, where the four factions had surrounded Sky Beam Mountain Island with ships.

• Yu Ci sent the shadow, supported by Yin Yang’s memories and emotions, to impersonate him for a time.
• Yu Ci considered the limits of the Myriad Demon Pool and how the Human World Realm had become central to his Self-Created World.
• Baiyi prepared for the lake banquet while Yu Ci watched, and Xu Sheng reported that the Eight Extremes Sect’s reception boat had arrived.
• Yu Ci and Baiyi boarded the reception boat and headed to the lake banquet.
• They arrived to find performers and spectators gathered outside, while four great ships and a thousand linked boats encircled Sky Beam Mountain Island.

Yu Ci attended the Eight Extremes Sect’s gathering with Baiyi and observed the markedly different treatment given to him and the renowned talisman expert Mr. Tianjiao. As the four factions began forming a fighting ring, Sky Beam Mountain Island rose from the water, leaving the gathering on the brink of its central event.

• Yu Ci and Baiyi boarded the Eight Extremes Sect’s warship, where they were seated in the lower banquet hall despite being formally announced.
• Mr. Tianjiao arrived to great acclaim, and Young Master Meng Du personally welcomed him and escorted him upstairs.
• Young Master Meng Du greeted Yu Ci but explained that the invited guests upstairs had special duties, then continued making his rounds.
• Yu Ci asked Baiyi what she thought of Meng Du, and she called him double-dealing; Yu Ci said he found him interesting.
• Horns sounded from all four directions, and the surrounding waters churned as Sky Beam Mountain Island began to rise, sending shockwaves and lightning through the sky.

Yu Ci studied how the four sects had uprooted Sky Beam Mountain Island and learned the rules of their contest for the Heavenly Purple Bright Pills. He searched the gathering for a possible target, then heard a cultivator aboard the Chunyang Sect’s ship angrily protest his camp’s arrangements.

• The four camps uprooted Sky Beam Mountain Island with their colossal ships, disrupting its earth qi and triggering a tribulation that devastated the island and deterred onlookers.
• Yu Ci learned that three Heavenly Purple Bright Pills remained on the island, while two others had disappeared into the surrounding waters.
• Cultivators discussed the wager match, which would have each side combine at least three of pills, talismans, artifacts, and sword methods to create something that would fight on the island.
• Yu Ci recalled Lu Lian of the Buyun Society and searched the gathering with his divine consciousness, but found no sign of his uncertain target.
• A cultivator aboard the Chunyang Sect’s colossal ship shouted that his fellow camp members had promised to share the results, then complained that they now refused to let his side participate.

Yu Ci was mocked after revealing his connection to the obscure Siding Institute, but he kept his composure as the other cultivators judged and gossiped about him. He left the gathering with a deeper appreciation of the shifting emotions he could manipulate through the Demonic Path.

• Bai Min introduced himself to Yu Ci and introduced Daoist Lin, also known as Shuangmu, whose swordsmanship had earned him a place among Madam Xia’s Three Thousand Retainers.
• Yu Ci said he came from the southern lands and was associated with the Siding Institute, prompting the others to question the sect’s standing.
• A cultivator identified Head Yu as the institute’s leader and revealed that she was a beautiful woman, turning the group’s attention to Yu Ci’s connection with her.
• Yu Ci said he called Head Yu Senior Sister while the cultivators laughed and spread his background through the gathering.
• Yu Ci considered infecting the cultivators with demonic influence but refrained, reflecting instead on the complexity and appeal of human emotions.

Yu Ci and Baiyi witnessed Flying Soul City's chief great shaman Su Shuanghe arrive at the wager match aboard the Wuling Sun Crown Chariot. After asserting his authority and praising the event, Su Shuanghe demanded that Cold Smoke come upstairs to pay her respects, leaving Yu Ci under the crowd's watchful gaze.

• Yu Ci sensed a Calamity Law Grandmaster approaching as fierce winds swept across the lake and the Wuling Sun Crown Chariot arrived, drawn by two Golden Crows.
• Su Shuanghe descended from the chariot with Xue Zhi behind him, and the gathered sect leaders hurried to greet him aboard the Eight Extremes Sect's warship.
• Su Shuanghe told the leaders to continue the wager match and praised their decision to settle the Heavenly Purple Bright Pill's ownership through competition.
• Su Shuanghe asked Young Master Meng Du whether Cold Smoke had been invited, then openly praised her and asked if she was present.
• A formal message summoned Cold Smoke Lady upstairs to pay her respects while the crowd turned its attention toward Yu Ci.

At the Eight Extremes Sect’s gathering, Su Shuanghe proposed taking Cold Smoke as his goddaughter while Xue Zhi struggled with memories of their past. The arrival of Zhang Miaolin from the Siding Institute sparked a challenge to the four sects’ control of the pill contest, and the Panhuang Sword Sect joined his cause.

• Su Shuanghe suggested making Cold Smoke his goddaughter, and Xue Zhi concealed her distress as she accepted the proposed bond.
• A cultivator from the Azure Wave Water Mansion tried to summon Cold Smoke upstairs, but an uproar broke out when Zhang Miaolin fled their warship and denounced the sect.
• Yu Ci recognized Zhang Miaolin, who was drunk and evading the Azure Wave Water Mansion’s cultivators with talisman techniques.
• Zhang Miaolin invoked the Siding Institute’s inheritance from the Shangqing Sect and condemned the four sects’ monopoly over the White Crane's Leftover Elixir contest.
• Cultivators from across the lake demanded a chance to participate, and the Panhuang Sword Sect offered to join the Siding Institute as a touchstone.