Chapter Summaries

Plot summary

• After the Vermilion Bird’s apparent death, Song Wen—still posing as Gu Huang—reappears after using a death-substitution technique. He retreats because a wooden spike has poisoned his shoulder with Immortal-Eroding Powder, which threatens to block his meridians and destroy his cultivation.
• Song Wen rapidly purges the poison with a withered-yellow spiritual glow, then transforms into a Thunder Roc and charges Elder Xu. Jiang Wanyue intercepts him with a powerful ice shield. The Roc crashes into it and explodes, appearing to die.
• Jiang Wanyue realizes the apparent death is a feint: Song Wen has reappeared behind Elder Xu with his Bone Sword. Elder Xu counterattacks with poisonous blood, but Song Wen withstands it. Song then strikes Elder Xu with Nine Transparent Blades and runs him through with the sword.
• A mass of mercury-like blood engulfs Elder Xu and returns to Song Wen, leaving no body or soul. Jiang Wanyue is furious and grieves for him.
• Song Wen threatens to kill Jiang Wanyue as well. She offers to exchange Ji Jinglun and Corpse Daoist Yin for her son Xiao Yuankui’s soul. Song Wen rejects the offer and warns that if she flees, he will destroy the soul. Desperate to save her son, Jiang Wanyue offers to negotiate other terms.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Wen shows ruthless tactical skill: he uses a transformation and apparent self-sacrifice to distract his opponents, purges a lethal poison, and exploits the opening to kill Elder Xu. He remains focused on bargaining leverage and revenge.
• Jiang Wanyue shifts from combat confidence to alarm and desperation. Though she tries to protect Elder Xu and believes Song Wen may be dead, she recognizes his trick too late; afterward, her priority becomes saving her son.
• Elder Xu moves from triumph at the Thunder Roc’s apparent defeat to panic when Song Wen appears behind him. His poison attack delays Song Wen but cannot save him.
• The confrontation between Song Wen and Jiang Wanyue becomes a hostage negotiation: he holds Xiao Yuankui’s soul, while she offers prisoners and other concessions.

Significant themes

• Deception and misdirection: Song Wen repeatedly uses death-substitution and transformations to conceal his true position.
• Power and resourcefulness: Victory depends not only on strength, but on preparation, adaptability, and exploiting an opponent’s assumptions.
• Family and leverage: Jiang Wanyue’s willingness to bargain reflects her devotion to her son, while Song Wen uses the soul to control her choices.
• Irreversible violence: Elder Xu’s complete destruction raises the stakes and makes reconciliation increasingly unlikely.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Wanyue tries to persuade Song Wen (whom she calls Gu Huang) to spare her by offering herself and promising she can help him capture Ji Jinglun and Corpse Daoist Yin.
• Song Wen rejects her advances, revives the gravely wounded Qing Shuang, and decides to leave rather than continue fighting.
• Jiang Wanyue chases after him, warning that she still needs her son’s soul. When Song Wen threatens to destroy it, she offers to conceal her soul fluctuations—and then to seal her cultivation.
• Song Wen stops when she insists she is genuinely willing to make herself vulnerable. Jiang Wanyue explains that she wants both her son’s soul and information about the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art.
• She reveals she has long been stuck at the peak of the Lingxu Dao Immortal realm and suspects the art’s practitioners may hold a secret that could help her break through. Song Wen confirms she has guessed close to the truth but refuses to explain further.
• Jiang Wanyue activates a Soul-Concealing Talisman, which hides her soul fluctuations for a month, setting the terms of their next move.

Character developments

• Jiang Wanyue shifts from bargaining and seduction to a high-risk offer: she is willing to seal her cultivation to pursue her son’s soul and advance her own cultivation. Her ambition and desperation become clear.
• Song Wen remains skeptical and controlled. Though he intends to leave, Jiang Wanyue’s offer to relinquish her power—and her knowledge of the art’s significance—makes him reconsider.
• Qing Shuang survives Jiang Wanyue’s attack, is healed by Song Wen, and regains consciousness.

Significant themes

• Trust and calculated risk: Jiang Wanyue asks Song Wen to trust her while accepting that her vulnerability may leave her at his mercy.
• Love and ambition: Her concern for her son is genuine, but she also hopes to use the art’s secret to overcome her cultivation bottleneck.
• Power, reputation, and survival: Song Wen dismisses reputation as unimportant compared with life and strategic advantage.
• Hidden knowledge: The Corpse King Blood Refinement Art’s connection to breakthroughs remains unexplained, driving the negotiation.

Character interactions

• Jiang Wanyue repeatedly tries to negotiate with Song Wen, first through seduction, then through practical promises and personal sacrifice.
• Song Wen protects Qing Shuang and rejects Jiang Wanyue’s attempts to manipulate him, but pauses when she offers to seal her cultivation.
• Jiang Wanyue admits she had intended to capture Song Wen and force him to reveal the art’s secret; Song Wen recognizes her deduction and withholds the full truth.

Plot points

• Jiang Wanyue disperses her soul fluctuations and agrees to withdraw her immortal essence into her dantian, leaving herself briefly unable to respond. Song Wen accepts this show of trust and takes her aboard his flying ship, along with the injured Qing Shuang.
• Song Wen and Jiang Wanyue spend the next fifteen days together in the ship’s cabin. Meanwhile, the ship travels away from the Spirit-Devouring Mountains and settles in a valley.
• Song Wen checks on Qing Shuang’s recovery. She thanks him for helping her avenge her blood feud and giving her the Seven-Colored Lotus, which may allow her to restore her damaged foundation.
• Qing Shuang offers to attend to Song Wen, apparently hoping to ask him for help removing a soul remnant Jiang Wanyue had placed in her body.
• Jiang Wanyue arrives and agrees to remove the remnant, but first asks Qing Shuang to end her feud with Xiao Yuankui. Qing Shuang agrees, and Jiang Wanyue erases the mark without using immortal essence. Song Wen confirms it is gone.
• Jiang Wanyue then invites Song Wen back to the cabin, even suggesting Qing Shuang could join them.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Wen accepts Jiang Wanyue’s risky gesture but remains alert to the possibility that she has some hidden means of survival. He is confident and playful with her, yet visibly awkward when she turns her offer toward Qing Shuang.
• Jiang Wanyue shifts from wary uncertainty to apparent intimacy with Song Wen. She also shows control and restraint by removing Qing Shuang’s mark without a display of force, while seeking an end to the feud.
• Qing Shuang expresses gratitude and says she holds no resentment toward Song Wen for not protecting her earlier, framing their bond as a practical partnership. Her offer to serve him is a calculated attempt to secure help, though she also appears frightened of Jiang Wanyue. She accepts reconciliation once her revenge is complete.

Significant themes

• Trust and vulnerability: Jiang Wanyue’s temporary withdrawal of her power tests Song Wen’s intentions.
• Pragmatism and transactional loyalty: Qing Shuang views her relationship with Song Wen as mutual interest rather than personal obligation.
• Revenge and release: After avenging herself and gaining hope of restoring her foundation, Qing Shuang is willing to let the feud end.
• Power and control: Jiang Wanyue’s effortless removal of the soul remnant underscores her authority, while the interactions between the three characters mix gratitude, caution, and negotiation.

Song Wen and Jiang Wanyue planned to capture Ji Jinglun and Corpse Daoist Yin, while Jiang Wanyue prepared to leave for Ink Wind City. After she departed, Song Wen offered Qing Shuang a protected place to consume the Seven-Colored Lotus, and they chose a cave for her seclusion.

• Jiang Wanyue discussed two ways to capture Ji Jinglun and Corpse Daoist Yin, and Song Wen agreed to lure them out together.
• Jiang Wanyue gave Song Wen a communication Jade Slip and left for Ink Wind City, while Song Wen stayed behind with Qing Shuang.
• Qing Shuang revealed she had been awake and said she would leave, but Song Wen asked when she planned to consume the Seven-Colored Lotus.
• Song Wen offered to protect Qing Shuang in seclusion with an Immortal-Tier Concealment Formation, and she accepted.
• Song Wen put away the flying ship and chose a spacious natural cave in a valley for the formation.

Song Wen set up formations for Qing Shuang, then left her in the cave as part of a test of Jiang Wanyue’s intentions. While waiting in Ink Wind City, he learned that Corpse Daoist Yin was absent and that Jiang Wanyue had no immediate way to locate him.

• Song Wen placed Qing Shuang in a cave protected by a Spirit-Gathering Formation and a concealed defensive formation, warning her to wait until her injuries healed before taking the Seven-Colored Lotus.
• Song Wen revealed that he had marked Qing Shuang and altered the formation to keep her confined, using her safety to test whether Jiang Wanyue would bring the Xiao Household after him.
• Song Wen disguised himself as a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator and spent seven days in Ink Flight City without detecting trouble at Qing Shuang’s cave.
• Jiang Wanyue told Song Wen that Ji Jinglun was at the Xiao Household but Corpse Daoist Yin had been gone for half a month, so they agreed to wait rather than risk searching for his life tablet.
• Jiang Wanyue said Xiao Wenyan had shown little concern for her disappearance or their son’s death, and Song Wen declined to meet her in person.
• After ending the conversation, Song Wen looked at the Greenwood Spirit Liquid Jiang Wanyue had given him.

Song Wen tested the Greenwood Spirit Liquid by forcing Bai Jun to consume a diluted drop. Bai Jun suffered no apparent harm but was overwhelmed by arousal, and Song Wen resolved to confront Jiang Wanyue over her urging him to drink a whole bottle.

• Song Wen left Ink Wind City and intercepted Bai Jun, a mid Tribulation Transcendence cultivator, to test the Greenwood Spirit Liquid.
• Song Wen diluted the spirit liquid with Thousand-Year Spirit Marrow and ordered Bai Jun to swallow a drop while promising to intervene if anything went wrong.
• Bai Jun absorbed most of the ordinary spiritual qi and dispersed most of the immortal spiritual qi without suffering apparent injury.
• Bai Jun reported intense heat and an urgent need for release, leading Song Wen to conclude that the spirit liquid’s side effects were pronounced.
• Song Wen gripped the bottle and resolved to make Jiang Wanyue answer for urging him to drink an entire bottle.

Song Wen learned that Corpse Daoist Yin had gone to the newly emerged ruins in Withered Glory Valley and coordinated with Jiang Wanyue to pursue him. Jiang Wanyue confirmed Yin's location, lured Ji Jinglun into the expedition, and told Song Wen he would join them disguised as expendable cannon fodder.

• Song Wen gave Bai Jun a globule of mixed spiritual liquid and a thousand Supreme-grade Spirit Stones, and Bai Jun told him about the Elder Ancient Palace in Withered Glory Valley.
• Song Wen suspected Corpse Daoist Yin had suppressed news of the palace and might be inside, so he paid Bai Jun ten thousand Supreme-grade Spirit Stones to keep the information secret.
• Song Wen contacted Jiang Wanyue, who checked Corpse Daoist Yin's Life Token and confirmed he was headed toward Withered Glory Valley.
• Song Wen suggested luring Ji Jinglun to the ruins so they could target both him and Corpse Daoist Yin.
• Jiang Wanyue persuaded Ji Jinglun to join the expedition and told him Song Wen would come along as a rogue cultivator serving as cannon fodder.

Song Wen joined Jiang Wanyue and Ji Jinglun under the alias Gu Huang to search for Elder Ruins in Withered Glory Valley. The three reached the valley, where Song Wen warned Ji Jinglun not to enter recklessly and offered to scout ahead.

• Song Wen left the city and met Jiang Wanyue and Ji Jinglun outside it, concealing his face and aura.
• Ji Jinglun challenged Song Wen’s secrecy, but Jiang Wanyue persuaded them both to agree to cooperate in the ruins.
• Song Wen recognized that Jiang Wanyue and Ji Jinglun had staged their exchange to lower his guard, though he hid his suspicions.
• Ji Jinglun summoned a flying ship, and the three traveled to Withered Glory Valley in the Spirit-Devouring Mountains.
• The three found the rift valley filled with dense corpse qi, and Song Wen stopped Ji Jinglun from rushing in and offered to scout ahead.

Song Wen, Jiang Wanyue, and Ji Jinglun descended into a corpse-filled rift, where Gloom Vines and a Corpse Moth Swarm attacked them. After Ji Jinglun drove off the moths, the group found a cave that might contain the underground palace and sent Song Wen’s Golden Steel Corpse inside to scout.

• Song Wen sent his Golden Steel Corpse ahead as the three companions descended through the rift and avoided its corpse-feeding creatures.
• Gloom Vines attacked the Golden Steel Corpse, drawing out a swarm of poisonous Corpse Moths that threatened the three companions.
• Jiang Wanyue shielded the group with Taiyin Cold Qi, while Ji Jinglun used a Bone Banner’s black mist to kill the moths and drive the swarm away.
• Ji Jinglun remarked on the Golden Steel Corpse’s damage but refused to explain the killing intent in his black mist when Song Wen asked about it.
• Jiang Wanyue spotted a large cave entrance behind the severed Gloom Vines, and the companions suspected it led to the underground palace.
• Song Wen sent his Golden Steel Corpse into the cave to scout ahead.

Song Wen, Jiang Wanyue, and Ji Jinglun followed the Corpse Puppet through a cave and discovered signs that a corpse cultivator had passed ahead of them. They reached the Nether Womb Palace, where a powerful corpse-path restriction repelled Song Wen’s Golden Steel Corpse, leaving them to wonder what the palace was.

• Ji Jinglun found a fresh fissure in the cave wall and deduced that a corpse cultivator had recently passed through.
• Jiang Wanyue could not explain how she had learned about the Underground Palace, and Ji Jinglun suspected someone had deliberately lured them there.
• Ji Jinglun refused to retreat, and the three continued onward with Song Wen’s Corpse Puppet ahead of them.
• The group reached a sealed stone door marked Nether Womb Palace, and Song Wen’s Golden Steel Corpse was thrown back by its restriction.
• Jiang Wanyue asked whether they knew the palace’s name, and Song Wen speculated that someone might have buried themselves there to be reborn through a secret art.

Song Wen, Ji Jinglun, and Jiang Wanyue forced open the stone door and entered the Underground Palace, where murals revealed its connection to the underworld and a strange form of reincarnation. The chapter ended with Jiang Wanyue interpreting a sequence of images that showed a slain figure reborn as a child and later killing his former enemy.

• Ji Jinglun, Jiang Wanyue, and Song Wen agreed to break the stone door by striking it together.
• Jiang Wanyue froze the door's protective light, Ji Jinglun shattered the ice with his killing intent, and Song Wen's Golden Steel Corpse split the door with Startling Wind.
• Ji Jinglun, Song Wen, and Jiang Wanyue entered the passage and discussed its eroded murals of ghosts and underworld punishments.
• The three reached an empty circular chamber, where Jiang Wanyue noticed eight well-preserved ceiling murals depicting a yellow-robed figure's death, rebirth as a child, growth in power, and revenge.
• Jiang Wanyue suggested the murals showed that the figure gained great strength through reincarnation and rebirth.