Chapter Summaries

Su Shuanghe’s comments led the gathered cultivators to suspect the alliance was interested in a sword-dao secret treasury tied to the Hand-Cutting Token. He offered a spell to suppress evil qi on Sky Beam Mountain Island, just as Old Master Yu called for Cold Smoke to take a talisman onto the lake and summon a drunkard.

• A cultivator told Su Shuanghe that the Panhuang Sword Sect was the renamed Pan Huang Sect, which had recovered after acquiring a sword-dao secret treasury.
• The cultivators connected the rumored treasury to the Hand-Cutting Token and the Heavenly Purple Bright Pill, and wondered whether Su Shuanghe wanted to pursue it.
• Su Shuanghe urged everyone to act steadily, prompting a cultivator to ask why Cold Smoke Lady had not been brought upstairs.
• Young Master Meng Du told General Cheng to check whether anyone needed help at the Azure Wave Water Mansion.
• Su Shuanghe stopped Cheng Jishi and gave him a spell to place on Sky Beam Mountain Island to suppress its evil qi.
• Old Master Yu called to Cold Smoke and told her to take his talisman onto the lake and summon a drunkard.

Yu Ci challenged Su Shuanghe’s influence at the gathering and sent Baiyi toward the Azure Wave Water Mansion under the protection of a Great Luo Umbrella. The umbrella revealed a powerful dharma image that summoned Zhang Miaolin, while Yu Ci’s claim that he intended to take Cold Smoke as his disciple unsettled Xue Zhi.

• Yu Ci gave Baiyi a Jade Talisman that formed a Great Luo Umbrella, allowing her to cross the lake safely through the pressure surrounding the gathering.
• Cheng Jishi recognized the umbrella’s talismanic structure and flew toward the central floating island, while Mr. Tianjiao explained how the Great Luo Umbrella related to the Shangqing Sect.
• Young Master Meng Du invited Yu Ci upstairs, and Mr. Tianjiao offered him a seat beside himself.
• Yu Ci said he intended to take Cold Smoke as his disciple, provoking Xue Zhi’s confusion and renewed hatred.
• Baiyi’s umbrella transformed into a colored oil-paper umbrella and disoriented a cultivator who blocked her way.
• A towering dharma image appeared above the lake, called for Zhang Miaolin, and pulled him into its sleeve.

Yu Ci used the Great Luo Umbrella to make Zhang Miaolin disappear, triggering a confrontation between the Eight Extremes Sect and the Azure Wave Water Mansion. As Yu Ci watched the other cultivators’ reactions, Su Shuanghe revealed a witch curse that had gathered several hundred miles of lake into its view.

• Cold Smoke Lady used the Great Luo Umbrella to make Zhang Miaolin vanish, leaving the cultivators around the lake stunned.
• Cheng Jishi placed the shapeshifting witch curse on Sky Beam Mountain Island and then headed for the Azure Wave Water Mansion.
• Li Cavalryman confronted Cheng Jishi over Cold Smoke Lady, and the two prepared to settle their dispute by force.
• Mr. Tianjiao mistook Yu Ci’s Great Emperor Zhenwu manifestation for the result of preserving deities.
• Yu Ci noticed that Zhang Miaolin’s disappearance had paralyzed reactions across the lake and sensed a hidden power spread over them.
• Su Shuanghe showed Yu Ci a witch curse that revealed several hundred miles of lake, marked by several dozen red dots.

Yu Ci observed Su Shuanghe’s shamanic curse and praised the Crane Sorcerer’s skill, earning his approval. After Baiyi returned from crossing the lake with the Great Luo Umbrella, Su Shuanghe began probing Yu Ci about his origins and purpose in the Northern Lands.

• Su Shuanghe used a shamanic curse to mark the cultivators who had stirred up trouble and placed the curse on Sky Beam Mountain Island, where heavenly tribulation lightning could strike them.
• Yu Ci praised Su Shuanghe for suppressing his targets without taking on karmic burden, and Su Shuanghe warmed to him.
• Baiyi returned without the Great Luo Umbrella, joined Yu Ci in the main hall, and received praise from Young Master Meng Du for crossing the lake.
• Young Master Meng Du offered to send sobering soup for Zhang Miaolin, and Yu Ci brought his unconscious, drunken junior brother out of the Inner Void.
• Su Shuanghe asked Yu Ci about his sect and reasons for coming north, and Yu Ci said he had come to visit relatives and friends, travel, and pay his respects at the former site of the Shangqing Sect.

Yu Ci manipulated Su Shuanghe’s emotions and used the Siding Institute’s reputation as a pretext to enter the talisman contest, promising to surrender any gains to Su Shuanghe. He had Zhang Miaolin thrown overboard and left the gathered cultivators wondering how he planned to send the curse-marked participants to Sky Beam Mountain Island.

• Yu Ci discussed the Taixiao Divine Court with Su Shuanghe while studying which banquet guests appeared in the sorcery curse’s manifestation.
• Yu Ci sensed that he could influence Su Shuanghe’s emotions despite the barrier around the absent Grandmaster’s true body.
• Yu Ci declared that the Siding Institute would compete in the talisman contest to defend its reputation, then promised Su Shuanghe that the institute would keep none of the elixirs it won.
• Yu Ci told Young Master Meng Du to sober Zhang Miaolin and throw him off the vessel, and Meng Du carried out the order.
• The cultivators realized Yu Ci intended to send the people targeted by Su Shuanghe’s curse toward Sky Beam Mountain Island, though they could not understand how he would manage it.

Yu Ci and Su Shuanghe watched the four factions prepare their creations for the Pill Seizing Talisman Combat, while Young Master Meng Du learned more about Yu Ci’s identity. The contest began, and Su Shuanghe realized Yu Ci might be the man sought by the Heavenly Evasion Sect—and the bearer of the Xuan Huang Killing Sword.

• Su Shuanghe acknowledged Yu Ci’s Siding Institute as inheriting the Shangqing legacy, and the gathered cultivators began preparing for the wager.
• Mr. Tianjiao inspected the Eight Extremes Sect’s spider puppet, then guided Young Master Meng Du as it advanced from the second layer of heaven to the third.
• Young Master Meng Du announced that Yu Ci’s fellow disciples and assembled cultivators could join the wager, while Crane Sorcerer would decide who received the Heavenly Purple Bright Pill.
• The four factions sent their creations to Lu Lian for inspection, and Zhang Miaolin’s side entered at the last moment before the contest began on Sky Beam Mountain Island.
• Cheng Jishi gave Young Master Meng Du intelligence identifying Yu Ci, and Su Shuanghe recognized Yu Ci as the man pursued by the Heavenly Evasion Sect and connected him to the Xuan Huang Killing Sword.

Yu Ci and the others watched their creations enter Sky Beam Mountain Island, where trapped survivors turned the wager into a deadly fight for survival. As Yu Ci studied the Eight Extremes Sect’s talisman puppet, the Chunyang Sect’s sword shattered and triggered a mysterious force that spread through the island’s caverns.

• Su Shuanghe recognized orthodox Form Sword intent in the starlight creation and ordered Xue Zhi to investigate the Panhuang Sword Sect and its connection to Yu Ci.
• Su Shuanghe tested the starlight with a witchcraft curse, but a barrier blocked most of its power, and he decided to prevent others from claiming the Xuan Huang Killing Sword before him.
• Survivors hidden in Sky Beam Mountain Island attacked the creations, turning the contest into a struggle to escape, while treasure sightings stirred the lake’s spectators.
• Yu Ci praised Mr. Tianjiao’s Spirit Transformation Talisman and discussed the Nine Lives Phantom Spirit Talisman with him as they watched the Eight Extremes Sect’s spider puppet.
• A survivor trapped and destroyed the Chunyang Sect’s magical sword, then became immobilized and was consumed by light and flame that flickered through hundreds of caverns across the island.

A cultivator on Sky Beam Mountain Island used the Heavenly Purple Bright Pills to endure a tribulation, whose lightning devastated the island and destroyed the four sects’ creations. After the storm, Lu Lian found half of an iron pellet and a warped lump of gold in a hidden space, while someone accused the Eight Extremes Sect of shielding a thief.

• The blazing light on Sky Beam Mountain Island disrupted the four sects’ viewing screens, and Su Shuanghe warned Young Master Meng Du that a cultivator was undergoing tribulation.
• A purple sphere carrying the Heavenly Purple Bright Pill rose from the island, drew down lightning, and shattered as the island and tethering ships lurched.
• Heavenly tribulation lightning swept the island, killing its cultivators and destroying the Eight Extremes Sect’s spider puppet.
• After the lightning stopped, Lu Lian allowed the sects’ cultivators onto the unstable island and searched a collapsed cave with the Shadow Blade Mantis.
• Lu Lian recovered half an iron pellet and a warped lump of gold from a small hidden space, and the other cultivators recognized the pellet as the Heavenly Purple Bright Pill.
• Someone forcibly barged aboard the ship and accused the Eight Extremes Sect of shielding a thief.

Lu Lian presented the damaged Heavenly Purple Bright Pill and a strange gold nugget recovered from the floating island, while Li Cavalryman tried to blame Yu Ci for the disaster. Yu Ci used his Analysis Divine Ability to reconstruct the nugget’s original shape, recognizing it as something familiar.

• Li Cavalryman accused Yu Ci of causing the island’s destruction and appealed to Su Shuanghe to deliver justice, but Su Shuanghe refused to intervene in other matters.
• Lu Lian arrived with the Shadow Blade Mantis and summoned the leaders and important figures of the four sects to hear his findings.
• Lu Lian displayed a ruined Heavenly Purple Bright Pill, a gold nugget bearing traces of Buddhist power, and a pouch of dust, and apologized for failing to prevent the damage.
• Su Shuanghe confirmed that the gold nugget came from the Western Buddhist Kingdom, while Yu Ci examined it without sharing a conclusion.
• Yu Ci used his Analysis Divine Ability to reconstruct the gold nugget as a curved golden disc and recognized it as an old acquaintance.

Yu Ci recognized the remains of a Golden Bone Jade Disc as investigators reported that a Buddhist cultivator had likely died in the tribulation, while only Siding Institute’s creation survived. As Li Cavalryman accused Yu Ci and Siding Institute of collusion with the Sea Merchant Guild, Yu Ci ordered him seized and a giant enforcer carried him away.

• Yu Ci recognized the damaged disc as a Golden Bone Jade Disc and wondered whether it had belonged to Zheng Yan.
• Lu Lian reported that the tribulation site held traces of an annihilated body, that seven cultivators had survived, and that only Siding Institute’s creation remained intact.
• Li Cavalryman and Lu Taifeng raised suspicions about Yu Ci, while Young Master Meng Du defended him.
• Li Cavalryman accused Siding Institute’s head of having a murky relationship with the Sea Merchant Guild and called the institute its lackey.
• Yu Ci ordered Li Cavalryman sent to the Nether Prison Wind Execution Platform, and a towering enforcer seized him and vanished with him.

Yu Ci captured Li Cavalryman with a Yellow Turban Warrior and the Nether Prison Wind Execution Platform, drawing attention to his power and possible Shangqing Sect inheritance. The onlookers considered what his access to the Nine Nether Underworld could mean, while keeping their suspicions and ambitions in check beneath his presence.

• Le Chou protested that Yu Ci had harmed his peers, but the cultivators dismissed his challenge with quiet laughter.
• Lu Taifeng recognized Yu Ci’s giant as a Yellow Turban Warrior and suspected he had obtained remnants of the Shangqing Sect.
• Lu Taifeng and other cultivators considered reporting Yu Ci’s abilities and possible inheritance to their sects rather than confronting him.
• Su Shuanghe recognized Yu Ci’s use of the Nether Prison Wind Execution Platform and realized he might be able to access the Nine Nether Underworld.
• Su Shuanghe speculated that Yu Ci could use the Nine Nether Underworld as the foundation for a new sect, then wondered what that would mean for himself.

Yu Ci accepted Su Shuanghe’s invitation to stay at his courtyard after the pill-seizing and talisman contest ended, while Zhang Miaolin questioned the boatman about their allies and schemes. The chapter left Zhang Miaolin staring at a mysterious figure walking across the lake.

• Lu Lian declared that the contest had ended and left the main building, cooling the tension among the gathered cultivators.
• Su Shuanghe invited Yu Ci and Zhang Miaolin to stay at his separate courtyard, and Yu Ci agreed to visit after speaking with his junior brother.
• Le Chou resented Yu Ci’s growing favor with Su Shuanghe and suspected that Su Shuanghe would eventually harm him.
• Zhang Miaolin confronted the boatman about getting him drunk and provoking conflicts with the four sects, then demanded to see Steward Kou or Sect Master Tie.
• The boatman advised Zhang Miaolin to ask his own sect head about their allies, but stopped speaking when a mysterious person appeared walking across the lake.

Yu Ci’s sudden appearance nearly drove Li Shan into Qi Deviation, but Li Shan’s stubborn will let him regain control and subtly mutate his demon seed. Above the sinking Sky Beam Mountain Island, Su Shuanghe and Elder Qing argued over Yu Ci and the mobile treasure vault, leaving their cooperation unsettled.

• Li Shan recognized Yu Ci and nearly fell into Qi Deviation, but resisted the inner demons and regained control of his qi.
• Yu Ci realized that Li Shan’s attempt to suppress him as an inner demon had caused a backlash that subtly mutated Li Shan’s demon seed.
• Su Shuanghe and Elder Qing met above Sky Beam Mountain Island as the island sank beneath the lake.
• Elder Qing demanded that the Heavenly Evasion Sect take control of Yu Ci, while Su Shuanghe questioned the sect’s motives and its ability to stop him.
• Su Shuanghe proposed that the Heavenly Evasion Sect cooperate with him and the shamanic sects, but he suddenly froze before finishing his thought.

Su Shuanghe defended his plan to use Baiyi as bait and went to investigate strange activity around Sky Beam Mountain Island. Li Shan followed a purple serpent-like trace into the island’s depths, where an underwater current struck him and made him realize he had fallen into a trap.

• Su Shuanghe rejected Elder Qing’s proposal to change the assassination plan and insisted the Heavenly Evasion Sect use Baiyi to infiltrate Yu Ci’s circle.
• Su Shuanghe descended through the tribulation clouds and investigated lingering sorcery curses on Sky Beam Mountain Island.
• Li Shan remained near the island under orders and searched for the strange sensations disturbing his meditation.
• Li Shan followed a clear sensation through a fissure into the island and saw a purple, serpent-like light dart deeper inside.
• An underwater current slammed Li Shan against a cliff, and he realized he had fallen into a trap.

Li Shan fought a spiritual attack from the Longevity True Man, whose mind occupied a snake-shaped spirit-sending puppet, but blood-red tentacles overwhelmed them both before blue moonlight erased everything. Su Shuanghe and Elder Qing arrived afterward and found no traces of the vanished figures.

• Li Shan resisted the Longevity True Man’s black-flame assault with his heavenly serpent projection and the Death Demon Divine Ability seed Bao Yun had planted in his spirit.
• The Longevity True Man revealed himself from the pagoda in Li Shan’s sea of consciousness, and Li Shan recognized him as the survivor of the heavenly tribulation who was possessing Crimson Firmament Heaven.
• An external force pulled Li Shan’s consciousness back into the lake-bottom tunnel, where he identified the snake-shaped puppet and realized the Longevity True Man was weakened and attempting to possess him.
• Blood-red tentacles pierced Li Shan and attacked the puppet, draining his strength until a full moon’s blue radiance appeared and both Li Shan and the puppet vanished.
• Su Shuanghe and Elder Qing arrived, saw the blue moonlight’s effects, and found no trace of Li Shan, the puppet, or the tentacles.

Elder Qing and Su Shuanghe investigated the unseen force that had struck Su Shuanghe and considered whether Yu Ci could be responsible. Yu Ci listened from afar and realized that the pair’s discussion itself shielded his gaze by balancing their awareness against the resonance of his name.

• Elder Qing found no trace of the impact and concluded that the unseen attacker had mastered the surrounding environment over a vast area.
• Elder Qing asked how far the lake was from Su Shuanghe's estate, and Su Shuanghe confirmed that Yu Ci was there with Xue Zhi and Baiyi.
• Su Shuanghe argued that Yu Ci could have used an avatar to strike from a distance, while Elder Qing questioned whether such a feat was possible.
• Yu Ci finished his tea, left Xue Zhi and Baiyi, and listened as Su Shuanghe and Elder Qing discussed him from thousands of miles away.
• Yu Ci realized their conversation shielded his perception and connected the effect to his mastery of the Heaven and Earth Law System and the remote resonance of names.

Yu Ci studied how Li Shan’s growing self-awareness was changing their demonic-seed bond and considered a looser relationship model. At Sky Beam Mountain Island, a fish mysteriously exploded after Su Shuanghe sensed he was being watched, deepening the uncertainty surrounding the lake.

• Yu Ci observed that Li Shan’s self-awareness was weakening the master-servant bond and took the change as evidence that he was moving beyond the Primordial Demon Lord’s demonic-seeding method.
• Yu Ci weighed the potential benefits and risks of replacing the master-servant bond with an employer-employee relationship, then set the long-term problem aside.
• Su Shuanghe sensed he was being watched and unleashed the lakebed currents, killing a large fish that burst into a cloud of blood.
• Elder Qing and Su Shuanghe examined the remains and concluded that the fish had no ordinary capacity for self-destruction.
• Su Shuanghe sensed an untraced change beyond the fish’s body and found it familiar.

Yu Ci rescued Zhengyan’s remaining consciousness and learned that the monk had abandoned his body to escape control, though the Great Black Heavenly Buddha Mother Bodhisattva still pursued him. Yu Ci then received a handwritten letter from Madam Xia, delivered by Daoist Shuangmu.

• A hidden spirit serpent watched images of Su Shuanghe and Elder Qing and recognized Yu Ci’s name.
• Yu Ci drew Zhengyan’s consciousness out of Crimson Firmament Heaven’s damaged puppet and gave it shelter.
• Zhengyan revealed that he had abandoned his body to free himself from control, and Yu Ci recognized that the Great Black Heavenly Buddha Mother Bodhisattva still threatened him.
• A demon creature transformed into a large fish and self-destructed, confirming that Zhengyan remained a target.
• A maidservant told Yu Ci that Daoist Shuangmu had come ashore, and Yu Ci agreed to meet him.
• Daoist Shuangmu delivered Madam Xia’s handwritten letter to Yu Ci and departed.

Yu Ci read Madam Xia’s invitation to the Clear Sky Discourse, then heard Su Shuanghe condemn her influence in Flying Soul City. Su Shuanghe revealed that the gathering concerned newly opened void realms and hinted that a valuable realm left by the Shangqing Sect had reappeared.

• Yu Ci read Madam Xia’s letter, which praised his talent and invited him to the Clear Sky Discourse.
• Su Shuanghe called Yu Ci back and explained that Madam Xia had grown ambitious and was using the gathering to build her prestige.
• Yu Ci told Su Shuanghe that he had received Madam Xia’s invitation and questioned what the Clear Sky Discourse had to do with him.
• Su Shuanghe described the newly opened void realms and said that a valuable realm left by the Shangqing Sect had reappeared.

Yu Ci agreed to pursue the Shangqing legacy in a death-star world, while Baiyi returned to her boat and confronted a hidden yin entity. The entity’s handler fled after Baiyi’s light-born giant shattered his defenses, leaving him trapped in a hopeless fight.

• Su Shuanghe invited Yu Ci to seek a Shangqing legacy on a death star and urged him to visit Flying Soul City after Xi Yu Lake.
• Yu Ci agreed to pursue the legacy and accepted Su Shuanghe’s invitation to visit.
• Baiyi returned to her painted boat and told the managing matron she would accompany Elder Yu for a time.
• Baiyi exposed the yin entity behind the managing matron and drove it into the lake with blinding light.
• A Daoist retrieved the wounded entity in a gourd and tried to flee, but Baiyi’s light-born giant destroyed his gourd and shattered his Golden Armored Divine Being.