Chapter Summaries

He Qing broke the formation around the Illusion Demon Golden Pagoda and used the Heavenly Law Absolute Prison to capture and crush Monk Yi Xin. After finding him beaten and apparently lifeless, she accused him of being Lu Mingyue’s accomplice.

• Monk Yi Xin tried to escape while Hu Dan called for Gan Shizhen to take charge.
• He Qing used the Great Void Splitting Curse to crack the formation and free herself from its isolation.
• A stream of light struck the Illusion Demon Golden Pagoda, and the Heavenly Law Absolute Prison formed a vortex that contained the leaking Evil Yin Demon Qi.
• Gan Shizhen shielded Yu Ci and the others from the vortex as He Qing used ambient vital Qi to batter Monk Yi Xin into a deep crater.
• He Qing confronted the apparently lifeless Monk Yi Xin and declared that Lu Mingyue was his accomplice.

He Qing confronted Monk Yi Xin as he shed his disguise and raised his cultivation, while Gan Shizhen explained that his divine intent was distorting their perceptions. When black fiery snakes surged from the Jingshui Altar temple and merged with Yi Xin, Yu Ci saw through Bai Ri that something was happening there.

• He Qing bluffed that Yi Xin had killed Lu Mingyue, and Yi Xin admitted that Lu Mingyue had been a True Person’s Yang God in a Moon Demon puppet.
• Yi Xin began restoring his strength, and He Qing attacked his concealed position while he evaded her using a protective dharma artifact and divine intent.
• Gan Shizhen warned Yu Ci that Yi Xin’s divine intent interfered with primordial qi and their perceptions, then sensed something moving from the temple to join him.
• Black fire lines flew from the Jingshui Altar temple, and Gan Shizhen dispersed the one Dong Yan had struck with his sword radiance.
• Gan Shizhen decided to return to reinforce the temple as black fiery snakes rose from the soil and merged with Yi Xin, whose aura continued to climb.
• Yu Ci saw through Bai Ri’s stored starburst of divine intent what was happening at the temple.

Monk Yi Xin began using the monks of the Jingshui Altar as fuel to restore his golden body, unleashing black flames across the temple and wasteland. While He Qing watched for a chance to advance, Yu Ci organized efforts to restrain surviving monks, then discovered that Monk Zhengyan’s soul was unusually peculiar as the battle began.

• Monk Yi Xin explained that he had secretly prepared hundreds of monks as nutrients to rebuild his destroyed golden body, and his transformation unleashed a wave of black flames that devastated the temple and surrounding land.
• Gan Shizhen told Yu Ci that He Qing was holding back because she needed the encounter as a reference point for her impending breakthrough to the True Person realm.
• Yu Ci led the group back to the temple and ordered them to find surviving monks who practiced the Ignis Ardor Method and restrain their souls and blood-and-qi circulation.
• The cultivators rescued Monk Zhengyan and subdued more than forty surviving monks, preventing the fire serpents from killing the restrained survivors.
• Yu Ci and Gan Shizhen examined Zhengyan for clues about Yi Xin, and Yu Ci found that Zhengyan’s soul was in an unusual state as the battle began in the distance.

Yu Ci and the others witnessed Monk Yi Xin unleash his golden Kurukulla King Vajra Dharma Form against He Qing, while the battle’s shockwaves devastated Juebi City. As Gan Shizhen recognized that Yi Xin intended to massacre the city, Yu Ci was left facing a catastrophe already underway.

• Yu Ci failed to uncover Monk Yi Xin’s methods while probing the monks, but sensed a possible thought stirring within Monk Zhengyan’s sealed spiritual soul.
• He Qing struck Monk Yi Xin’s fireclouds with Cloud Peak Three Severances, but Yi Xin formed a massive golden Kurukulla King Vajra Dharma Form.
• Gan Shizhen ordered Yu Ci and the others to retreat while she stayed behind to protect the Illusion Demon Golden Pagoda’s barrier.
• A golden handprint destroyed the Bao Yan Pagoda ruins and the barrier, while its shockwaves killed cultivators and devastated Juebi City.
• Gan Shizhen realized the Three Thousand Yin Demons and the city’s wronged souls were part of Yi Xin’s plan to massacre the city.

Gan Shizhen and Yu Ci identified Blood Monk Tu Ling as the force behind the chaos in Juebi City, while Yi Xin’s Yin Demon Wheel Formation threatened the cultivators below. As the battle above intensified and Yu Ci adapted to its dangerous rhythms, a new combatant suddenly joined the fight.

• Gan Shizhen explained that the notorious Blood Monk Tu Ling had concealed himself in Juebi City and recognized Yi Xin’s methods as evidence of his identity.
• A cursed howl heralded Yin Demons possessing flesh-and-blood puppets, and Gan Shizhen led Yu Ci and Monk Zhengyan away from them.
• Shi Song recognized eighteen puppets and Three Thousand Yin Demons arranged in the Eighteen Yin Demon Wheel Formation.
• Gan Shizhen noticed that the battle’s rhythms were harming the cultivators below, while Yu Ci used breath regulation to resist their effects.
• Yu Ci sensed someone joining the battle, and a brilliant meteor shot through the dust toward the fighters above.

Yu Ci and Gan Shizhen faced the activated Eighteen Yin Demon Wheel Formation while a Rakshasa Sect expert intervened in the battle above. With the formation’s Yin Demons threatening the group, Yu Ci directed Gan Shizhen to move the sword circle northeast so he could lead an attempt to break the formation.

• A silver-gray-mist-covered newcomer used the Myriad Laws Devouring Light Barrier to swallow Khadirali King's blood-red radiance, and Gan Shizhen identified the art as a Rakshasa Sect divine technique.
• Gan Shizhen used her sword to create a protective circle for Yu Ci, Shi Song, and the others as the increased Domain pressure overwhelmed Yu Ci.
• Yu Ci sensed that the newcomer’s Domain rhythm had the scent of the Xuan Yin Sect, and Shan Jiao identified the expert as Master Ming.
• The Eighteen Yin Demon Wheel Formation activated, releasing Yin Demon ghosts, and Shi Song warned that destroying its puppets would unleash its full power and endanger the children.
• Gan Shizhen warned that her sword circle could not hold indefinitely, so Yu Ci ordered her to move half a li northeast and charged through the opening with a purple beam.

Yu Ci used the True Return Purple Smoke Warm Jade to weaken the Eighteen Yin Demon Wheel Formation, but the flesh-and-blood puppets regenerated and overwhelmed his plan. A vast silver-gray figure appeared from the sky, destroyed the puppets and extinguished the fire, while Gan Shizhen identified it as a Xuan Yin Clone.

• Yu Ci used brooding purple qi to weaken a flesh-and-blood puppet, allowing Gan Shizhen and the other cultivators to destroy it and disrupt the formation.
• Yu Ci and the cultivators destroyed three more puppets, but the puppets rose again from the ground, and Dong Yan suspected they were made from Juebi City's missing residents.
• Yu Ci retreated to Gan Shizhen as his supply of purple qi ran low and the formation's pressure surged.
• Starlines descended onto the puppets, while a silver-gray radiance merged with the light mist around Ming Lan and a bell sounded.
• A towering figure appeared beneath a silver-gray crane cloak, extinguished the fire, and caused all eighteen puppets to collapse into fleshy sludge.
• Master Shan Jiao and Incense Slave prostrated themselves, while Gan Shizhen identified the figure as a Xuan Yin Clone.

A Rakshasa Sect divine avatar projection overwhelmed Monk Yi Xin’s Khadirali King golden body, but it vanished before delivering a final victory. He Qing then appeared and sent the Xingtian Magic Sword plunging toward Yi Xin.

• Yu Ci and Gan Shizhen recognized the enormous figure as a projection of the Rakshasa Sect’s divine lord, summoned through Master Ming’s transformation into a divine attendant.
• The avatar projection distorted the sky and suppressed Monk Yi Xin’s golden body, then trapped it with illusionary arts and cut it in half.
• Monk Yi Xin’s golden body survived and counterattacked, but the avatar projection disintegrated his blood-red spear and remained dominant.
• The silver-gray avatar vanished as its thirty breaths expired, and Monk Yi Xin’s golden radiance surged again.
• A deep-blue light streaked down toward the golden body, and Yu Ci spotted He Qing as she invoked the Xingtian Magic Sword.

He Qing summoned the Li Chen Sect’s Xingtian Magic Sword, destroying the Mingwang golden body and carving a vast fissure through the land near Juebi City. As the survivors assessed the devastation, Ming Lan revealed her transformed Yang God and explained why she had intervened, leaving He Qing’s suspicions of the Xuan Yin Sect unresolved.

• He Qing’s Xingtian Magic Sword split the Mingwang golden body and tore a fissure through the ground, while Gan Shizhen pulled Yu Ci and the others out of its path.
• Yu Ci asked about the sword, and Gan Shizhen explained that it was a foundational treasure enshrined in the Li Chen Sect’s Ancestor Hall and could be summoned across tens of thousands of miles.
• He Qing, nearly exhausted from controlling the sword, confronted Blood Monk Tu Ling as Ming Lan emerged from the silver-gray mist in her youthful Yang God form.
• He Qing congratulated Ming Lan on gaining a divine attendant’s body, and Ming Lan said she would ascend to Li Huan Heaven within an hour or two.
• Ming Lan said she had intervened to protect Juebi City’s congregation, while He Qing made clear that she had delayed using the sword to judge the Xuan Yin Sect’s intentions.

Immortal He and Ming Lan captured Monk Yi Xin after the Xingtian Magic Sword struck him, but he sacrificed himself and destroyed both body and soul before he could be questioned about the Sky Rift. Afterward, Yu Ci joined Immortal He in paying respects to the Xingtian Magic Sword and unexpectedly drew a response from its Sword Qi.

• Immortal He used the Heavenly Law Absolute Prison to pursue Monk Yi Xin, and Ming Lan trapped him with the Five Elements Rings.
• Yu Ci and the others saw Monk Yi Xin bound and gravely wounded, while Immortal He identified him as Blood Monk Tu Ling and demanded answers about the Sky Rift.
• Monk Yi Xin withdrew the technique suppressing his injuries, unleashed bloody radiance, and destroyed himself before Immortal He and Ming Lan could preserve his Yang God.
• Immortal He withdrew her prison after confirming that Monk Yi Xin's body and soul were both destroyed, then summoned Yu Ci to pay respects to the Xingtian Magic Sword.
• Yu Ci's Sword Qi responded to the sword's vibration, and Immortal He told him that he had an affinity with the sect.

After Juebi City’s destruction, Yu Ci spoke with He Qing about his role and the meaning of true longevity as Master Ming Lan ascended to Li Huan Heaven. Yu Ci missed the ascension’s key moment while monitoring Monk Zhengyan’s strange consciousness, and he prepared to leave for the Mountain-Moving Cloud Boat dock after one final visit.

• He Qing praised Yu Ci’s part in exposing Blood Monk Tu Ling and advised him to avoid arrogance as the Juebi City matter ended.
• Yu Ci noticed Monk Zhengyan’s restrained soul contained an unusual current of consciousness and wondered whether the monk had awakened.
• Shan Jiao and Incense Slave prostrated themselves as Master Ming Lan gathered power to ascend to Li Huan Heaven.
• He Qing explained that Ming Lan’s divinely granted longevity differed from the self-fashioned longevity sought through orthodox cultivation.
• Yu Ci focused on Monk Zhengyan and missed Master Ming Lan’s ascension amid the illusions filling the sky.
• He Qing and Gan Shizhen returned to their sect, while Yu Ci prepared to return to the Mountain-Moving Cloud Boat dock after visiting someone.

Monk Zhengyan left Juebi City and traveled toward Sky Cleft Valley, where he discovered a remnant soul inside him and prepared to destroy it. Yu Ci interrupted his soul-seizing ritual, then reminded Zhengyan of a promise he had made during the cold wave.

• Yu Ci released Monk Zhengyan from Dan Cliff, and Zhengyan left Juebi City for the wilderness.
• After traveling more than ten thousand li, Zhengyan sensed a secondary soul inside him and decided to eradicate it.
• Zhengyan set up an array and began a soul-seizing ritual to destroy the vessel's remaining consciousness and inspect his body.
• Yu Ci arrived at Zhengyan's concealed ritual site, and Zhengyan questioned his suspicious appearance in the wilderness.
• Yu Ci asked whether Zhengyan was heading to Sky Cleft Valley and reminded him of a promise from the day the cold wave struck.

Yu Ci confronted Monk Zhengyan in the forest, revealed that he knew of Zhengyan’s hidden identity and past, and rejected his offer of cultivation guidance. As Zhengyan prepared to silence him, a sudden pain struck inside his brain palace.

• Yu Ci surprised Monk Zhengyan with a sword strike, but Zhengyan’s skull turned the blade aside.
• Yu Ci reminded Zhengyan that he had saved him in Sky Rift Valley, prompting Zhengyan to recall the incident and offer repayment.
• Monk Zhengyan weighed the danger of killing Yu Ci and tried to persuade him with promises of a path to immortality.
• Yu Ci rejected Zhengyan’s offer and accused him of belonging to a sect behind demonic chaos, body theft, and killings.
• As Monk Zhengyan watched Yu Ci and prepared a fatal blow, a violent pain erupted in his brain palace.

Yu Ci fought the monk, whose spiritual seed and searching techniques eventually exposed the remnant soul of Zhengyan in his mind. The monk revealed himself as Blood Monk Tu Ling and began using powerful Buddhist artifacts, while Yu Ci remained concealed in the forest.

• The monk endured Yu Ci's soul attack, defended against his sword, and activated a formation, but Yu Ci escaped its boundary and concealed his aura.
• The monk located a faint remnant soul in his mind and realized Zhengyan's soul was using strange starlight to erode his Primordial Spirit.
• The monk deduced that Yu Ci had allied with Zhengyan and revealed that he was Blood Monk Tu Ling, who had controlled Zhengyan through a spiritual seed and planned to escape under a new identity.
• Tu Ling attacked the hidden Yu Ci with the Jade Suppression Staff, but the strike missed and served as a prelude to activating the artifact's healing and soul-illuminating power.
• Yu Ci recognized the monk's technique as the Golden Bone Jade Disc as its radiance gathered into a luminous pearl above Tu Ling's head.

Yu Ci used the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror and Zhengyan’s residual soul to connect with the newly formed Sarira Dan Pearl and challenge Tu Ling. As Tu Ling attacked with the Jade Suppression Staff, Yu Ci recalled how the mirror’s cyan light had once killed a powerful Core Formation cultivator and unleashed it.

• Yu Ci recognized that the monk had formed a Sarira Dan Pearl and accused Tu Ling of taking the Golden Bone Jade Disc and the Profound Truth Condensing Void Pill.
• Yu Ci summoned the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror as Zhengyan’s residual soul struck at the Sarira Dan Pearl, allowing the mirror to connect with Tu Ling’s soul source.
• Yu Ci endured the pressure of the connection and used the Soul-Observing Dharma Eye to examine Tu Ling’s soul source and find a lingering trace of Zhengyan.
• Tu Ling attacked Yu Ci with the Sarira Dan Pearl’s power and the Jade Suppression Staff, forcing their soul sources into a direct collision.
• Yu Ci recalled the mirror’s past feat against a Core Formation cultivator and sent its cyan radiance through the golden light toward Tu Ling.

Yu Ci used the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror to disrupt Tu Ling’s control of the Yuan Suppressing Staff and attack Zhengyan’s lingering soul. After Yu Ci struck Tu Ling with Rakshasa Illusionary Sound, Tu Ling fell, and a sword-bearing figure raced toward the scene.

• Yu Ci endured the Yuan Suppressing Staff’s assault and linked his Yin spirit with the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror, gaining temporary control of its power.
• Yu Ci’s mirror disrupted Zhengyan’s lingering soul inside the Sarira Dan Pearl, throwing Tu Ling’s control of the Yuan Suppressing Staff into chaos and injuring him.
• Tu Ling burned Zhengyan’s lingering soul with demonic fire, nearly extinguishing the starlight connected to Yu Ci’s power.
• Yu Ci sent a gray-green whip across two miles and struck Tu Ling with Rakshasa Illusionary Sound, leaving him dazed as the mirror swallowed the Sarira Dan Pearl.
• Yu Ci stood as Tu Ling’s body fell silent, and a sword light flew toward them through the night sky.

Yu Ci saved Zhengyan’s remnant soul by sending it back into his body, then faced a scavenger who tried to claim the fallen treasures. The intruder fled injured when Uncle-Master Gan arrived, leaving Yu Ci and Zhengyan’s fate unresolved.

• Yu Ci discovered Zhengyan’s remnant soul surviving within the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror and sent it into Zhengyan’s body, giving him a chance to live.
• A tall, thin stranger emerged from the forest, took the Yuan Suppressing Staff, and turned his attention to Yu Ci’s mirror.
• The stranger’s Eight-Brocade Poison Dragon attacked Yu Ci, who killed it with the Xiguang Sword and guarded himself against the stranger.
• Zhengyan sat up and used the Yuan Suppressing Staff’s gravity to pin the stranger down after he tried to attack Yu Ci.
• Yu Ci signaled the approaching sword light and called for Uncle-Master Gan, prompting the stranger to flee as the Four-Dimensional Heavenly Sword descended.

After surviving Zuo Yan’s ambush, Yu Ci helped Monk Zhengyan recover and sent him away with the Yuan Suppressing Staff. Yu Ci then traveled to Feiyun Crossing, where Daoist Li welcomed him and offered to escort him to the Li Chen Sect’s mountain gate.

• Zhengyan regained his senses, bowed to Yu Ci in gratitude, and left with the Yuan Suppressing Staff.
• Gan Shizhen returned and identified the attacker as Zuo Yan of the Sect of Injustice, warning Yu Ci to be cautious.
• Yu Ci thanked Gan Shizhen for coming to his aid and learned that He Qing understood why he had sought help through her instead.
• Yu Ci arrived at Feiyun Crossing and asked a plump Daoist where the Tongtian River was.
• Daoist Li recognized Yu Ci as Junior Brother Yu of Zhixin Temple and said he had come to escort him back to the mountain gate.

Yu Ci traveled with Senior Brother Li from Feiyun Crossing toward the Li Chen Sect, learning that the Tongtian River was a current of clouds and mist in the mountains. When Yu Ci spotted a hidden route and sensed hostile presences, he struck at them and revealed two yin spirits disguised within the clouds.

• Yu Ci met Senior Brother Li at Feiyun Crossing and asked about the Tongtian River.
• Senior Brother Li carried Yu Ci aloft on his Yan Ze Sword and explained that the river appeared when cloud currents gathered among the mountains.
• Yu Ci noticed that Senior Brother Li’s flight was circling at low altitude and spotted a stele marked Jiyun Pass.
• Senior Brother Li sped into the cloud current, where a Mist Flow Beast charged at them and he dodged it.
• Yu Ci asked about the difference between entering through Feiyun Crossing and Jiyun Pass, then attacked two hidden figures with his Xiguang Sword.
• Two identical cloud figures appeared, and Yu Ci recognized the pure yin spirits at their cores and asked Senior Brother Li who they were.

Yu Ci encountered the Tu brothers, who resented his role in Bai Ri Mansion’s destruction, while Daoist Li revealed he had helped arrange a test for him. As they traveled through Li Chen Sect’s vast guardian array, Senior Brother Li You appeared and confronted Zhan over targeting Yu Ci.

• Daoist Li introduced Yu Ci to Tu Rilun and Tu Rifei, whose objections to Bai Ri Mansion’s destruction centered on Kuang Yanqi.
• Yu Ci told the Tu brothers that Bai Ri Mansion had brought about its own downfall and noted Kuang Yanqi had been missing when it fell.
• Daoist Li carried Yu Ci above the clouds and explained that the Tongtian River formed the Sky-Piercing Nine Bends, Li Chen Sect’s guardian array.
• Yu Ci and the others saw two sword cultivators battling in the distance, and the Tu brothers recognized Senior Brother Zhan and Senior Brother Li You.
• Li You shouted at Zhan for pursuing Yu Ci, while Daoist Li revealed that Zhan had secretly posted the Good Deeds message that drew him into the scheme.