Chapter Summaries

Ao Qing passed his Great Dao methods to Gold Horn and resolved to help him rise to Demon Lord status. Meanwhile, Jiang Shu joined an expedition into a dangerous battlefield ruin, where the group encountered lethal formations and discovered countless ancient Dao Lord and Demon Monarch corpses.

• Ao Qing gave Gold Horn the methods of the Great Dao he had comprehended, and Gold Horn vowed to honor the Dragon Race and avenge himself on Jiang Shu.
• Jiang Shu told Dao Venerable Tai Wu that the Demon Race had likely spared Old Ancestor Fentian because the battlefield ruin held a major opportunity, and agreed to explore it with Dao Venerables from three sects.
• Jiang Shu met the Sect Masters of the Heavenly Puppet Sect and Sword Concealment Sect and their Dao Venerable elders at the Chaotic Demon Sea, then traveled with them to the ruin.
• The expedition tested the ruin with a Puppet, which returned badly damaged, and the group entered despite the danger.
• The Sword Concealment Sect's Sect Master destroyed the killing intent that attacked them, and Jiang Shu saw Spatial Folds filled with imperishable corpses whose owners had been Dao Lords or Demon Monarchs.

Jiang Shu and the Dao Venerables opened the Bronze Ancient Gate and entered the strange world beyond it, despite sensing great danger. Inside, they found themselves unable to absorb heaven and earth Origin Qi and felt the world itself rejecting them.

• Jiang Shu cleared the ancient battlefield entrance with his Great Dao of Strength while the Heavenly Puppet Sect and Sword Concealment Sect experts advanced through the ruins.
• The two Sect Masters used the Heavenly Craft Silent Pivot and sword cries to pass through the Great Dao Heavenly Sound and reach the Bronze Ancient Gate.
• Three Dao Venerables approached the gate with sword qi Shape Shifting, pushed it open, and suffered shattered phantoms and injuries as Spatial Turbulence erupted.
• Jiang Shu and the two Sect Masters combined their abilities to break apart the Spatial Turbulence and Dao essences, fully opening the Bronze Ancient Gate.
• Jiang Shu entered first, followed by the Sect Masters and the other Dao Venerables, drawn onward despite the danger and the World Tree’s eagerness.
• Jiang Shu and the others felt hostile pressure in the world beyond and discovered that they could not absorb its heaven and earth Origin Qi.

Jiang Shu and the other Dao Venerables discovered that the world beyond the Bronze Ancient Gate rejected them and poisoned them with Black Undercurrents, forcing them to create a protected Cultivation Dojo. When a corrupted corpse attacked, Jiang Shu fought it with his physical strength while the others guarded their retreat.

• The Sword Concealment Sect Master and Heavenly Puppet Sect Master recognized the world’s rejection as Heaven’s Disfavor, and Jiang Shu explained that heaven and earth were rejecting them.
• The Heavenly Puppet Sect Master explained that the Black Undercurrents were this world’s Dao implications and Laws, harmless to its natives but poisonous to outsiders, especially powerful cultivators.
• Jiang Shu urged the group to secure their retreat, and the Heavenly Puppet Sect Master placed Puppets around the Bronze Ancient Gate while Dao Venerables took up guard positions.
• A corpse in shattered dark-red armor arrived through the howling wind and charged a True Martial Sect Dao Venerable, but Jiang Shu intercepted it and battered its body apart with his fists.
• Jiang Shu retreated from the corpse’s spreading Black Undercurrents, and the Sword Concealment Sect's Sect Master destroyed its head with a sword strike.

Jiang Shu and the Dao Venerables escaped a devastating Spatial Storm through the Bronze Ancient Gate, then saw the Demon Race Imperial Palace force its way into the strange world. Back in the Demon Domain, Ao Qing saw a golden Dragon Scale arrive before him.

• Jiang Shu and the other Dao Venerables fought off a Mid Primal Chaos Realm Dao corpse and endured the strange world's Black Undercurrents.
• A Spatial Storm struck, and Jiang Shu led the group through the Bronze Ancient Gate before it engulfed the entrance; they found the gate unharmed and the storm had weakened the world's rejection.
• Jiang Shu, the Heavenly Puppet Sect Leader, and the Sword Concealment Sect Leader saw the Demon Race Imperial Palace wedge open a rift into the world, drawing in countless Black Undercurrents.
• A Demon Lord's gaze fell on Jiang Shu and the two Sect Leaders before turning away, and Jiang Shu reasoned that the palace's arrival was likely driven by a coveted treasure.
• Several days earlier, Ao Qing and other Demon Venerables reinforced the seal on Old Ancestor Fentian, then Ao Qing witnessed a golden Dragon Scale tear through space and hover before him.

Ao Qing received the Demon Lord’s order to enter the Land of Annihilation and kill Jiang Shu, while Jiang Shu and the Heavenly Puppet Sect Leader continued investigating the ruins. The Sword Concealment Sect Leader returned to the War Islands with evidence, and Dao Venerable Tai Wu began examining the Black Undercurrents.

• Ao Qing accepted the Dragon Demon Lord’s decree and sensed that the Phoenix Race Demon Lord was also acting.
• Jiang Shu and the Heavenly Puppet Sect Leader pressed deeper into the Land of Annihilation after the Sword Concealment Sect Leader returned to warn the other sects.
• The Phoenix Demon Lord ordered Ao Qing and the other Demon Venerables to kill Jiang Shu, and Ao Qing promised them access to the Dragon Race treasury as a reward.
• The Sword Concealment Sect Leader ordered Dao Venerables to investigate the Demon Race’s defenses and carried the Black Undercurrents to the War Islands.
• Dao Venerable Tai Wu received the Sword Concealment Sect Leader’s memories and began examining the Black Undercurrents.

Dao Venerable Tai Wu learned that the Demon Race had withdrawn from its borders and ordered the Venerables to gather, while Jiang Shu and the Sect Leader of the Heavenly Puppet Sect discovered a fragment of a small world. Ao Kun, Li Yao, and four other Demon Venerables confronted them, and Jiang Shu began fighting the two Demon Venerables as the Sect Leader held off the others.

• Dao Venerable Tai Wu concluded that the Black Undercurrents were limited to their forbidden land and received reports that the Demon Race had emptied its borders and fortified another battlefield ruin.
• Dao Venerable Tai Wu ordered the Venerables to assemble and the other sect leaders to be notified.
• Jiang Shu followed the World Tree Sapling's pull through the forbidden land with the Sect Leader of the Heavenly Puppet Sect and found a fragment of heaven and earth.
• Ao Kun, Li Yao, and four Mid Stage Demon Venerables arrived, and Jiang Shu agreed to fight Ao Kun and Li Yao while the Sect Leader handled the other four.
• Ao Kun attacked Jiang Shu with spatial arts and lightning, but Jiang Shu sealed the space and struck with the Great Dao of Strength as the Sect Leader's four Puppets engaged the other Demon Venerables.
• Li Yao released a Great Sun at Jiang Shu, who charged upward and punched directly into it.

Jiang Shu used tiny Space Cracks to filter away some of the world’s repulsive force, allowing him to keep overwhelming Ao Kun and Li Yao. After they discovered his method, he gathered his Laws into a terrifying surge of power and charged to kill them.

• Jiang Shu battered Ao Kun and Li Yao with the Desolate Star Halberd, overpowering their combined lightning and fire attacks and leaving both Demon Venerables badly wounded.
• Ao Kun and Li Yao struggled to endure the world’s repulsive force as Jiang Shu continued fighting at full strength.
• Ao Kun and Li Yao discovered that Jiang Shu had covered himself in tiny Space Cracks to absorb and filter some of the repulsive force.
• Jiang Shu explained that he had learned to control the Space Cracks and mocked the Demon Venerables for being unable to copy his method during the battle.
• Jiang Shu unified the Laws within his body, raised the Desolate Star Halberd, and charged at Ao Kun and Li Yao with overwhelming killing intent.

Jiang Shu and the Heavenly Puppet Sect's sect master defeated the Demon Venerables and entered the Small World fragment after opening a stable passage. They found a ruined world without Black Undercurrents, where they could recover, and discovered skeletal remains scattered across the land.

• Jiang Shu's full-strength strike killed Li Yao, Ao Kun, and the four Demon Venerables caught in its aftermath, while the Heavenly Puppet Sect's sect master protected Jiang Shu from the shockwave.
• Jiang Shu expelled the force of worldly rejection and recovered with the sect master's help and several medicinal pills.
• Jiang Shu and the Heavenly Puppet Sect's sect master joined forces to open and stabilize a passage into the Small World fragment, using spatial techniques and the sect master's Puppets.
• The two entered the fragment and found a desolate ruin that rejected them but contained no Black Undercurrents.
• Jiang Shu examined the skeletal remains scattered across the ruined land and wondered how even a Dao Master's Small World could have suffered such a calamity.

Jiang Shu and the Heavenly Puppet Sect's Sect Master uncovered a hidden space containing the phantom of a mature Heaven-Connecting Jianmu, which revealed how the minor heaven fragment had survived. After the vision faded, they searched the ruins for what the World Tree sensed was still concealed there.

• Jiang Shu followed the World Tree's longing as he and the Heavenly Puppet Sect's Sect Master traveled deeper into the minor heaven fragment, while the Sect Master sent Puppets to collect rare materials.
• Jiang Shu discovered a hidden Spatial Fold, and the Heavenly Puppet Sect's Sect Master agreed to stand guard while Jiang Shu opened it.
• A colossal tree appeared from the fold, and the Heavenly Puppet Sect's Sect Master identified it as the legendary Heaven-Connecting Jianmu.
• Jiang Shu and the Sect Master witnessed a phantom vision of Jianmu burning and collapsing amid a great battle, then realized that the intact tree had fallen ages ago.
• The two searched the desolate ruins for remaining treasures, but found only ash until Jiang Shu suspected that something was concealed there.

Jiang Shu and the Heavenly Puppet Sect's sect master discovered a Heaven-Connecting Jianmu Sapling hidden in a pocket space and found that it could join with Jiang Shu's World Tree. As the Jianmu withdrew its roots and the pocket space began collapsing, the sect master held back the destructive rejection force while Jiang Shu continued the transfer.

• Jiang Shu used the World Tree to find a concealed pocket space, and he and the Heavenly Puppet Sect's sect master entered it.
• Jiang Shu and the sect master discovered a Heaven-Connecting Jianmu Sapling and realized they could not remove it by cutting away the space without risking damage to the tree and the surrounding world fragment.
• Jiang Shu extended the World Tree toward the Jianmu, and the sapling began withdrawing its roots and joining them to the World Tree.
• As the Jianmu's roots left the pocket space, the space began to collapse, so the sect master used his Venerable-level Puppets to stabilize it.
• The outside world's rejection force and Black Undercurrents surged into the area, and the sect master deployed more Puppets to reinforce the Grand Array while Jiang Shu continued the transfer.

Jiang Shu and the Sect Leader of the Heavenly Puppet Sect escaped a collapsing world fragment with Jianmu, while Ao Qing led the Demon Venerables into the ruins of an ancient battlefield palace. As the palace gates opened, the gathered demons saw a dazzling object inside.

• Jiang Shu used his power to help Jianmu withdraw its roots, then escaped with the Sect Leader of the Heavenly Puppet Sect as the world fragment collapsed.
• The Demon Lord of the Phoenix Race watched the destruction and wondered what the battlefield fragment had contained.
• Ao Qing led Gold Horn and the Demon Venerables to the battlefield’s palace ruins, where he warned them of the dangers and ordered Tong Bi to fold open the space before the gates.
• Ao Qing guided the group deeper into the palace and toward the golden Sun Palace, believed to have belonged to a fallen Demon Lord.
• The palace gates slowly opened, revealing a brilliantly shining object that shocked all the Demon Venerables.

Ao Qing and the Demon Venerables awakened the Golden Crow Demon Lord’s remnant while ordered to destroy it. Meanwhile, Jiang Shu returned with Jianmu, concealed the sapling from the other sects, and joined Dao Venerable Tai Wu’s expedition into the deadly world, where a Great Sun-like radiance suddenly appeared.

• Ao Qing led the Demon Venerables toward the golden feather, and it erupted into the flame-shaped form of the Golden Crow Demon Lord.
• Jiang Shu and the Sect Master of the Heavenly Puppet Sect returned through the bronze gate with Jianmu, and Jiang Shu secretly told Dao Venerable Tai Wu about the sapling.
• The Sword Concealment Sect’s Sect Master reported that the Demon Race had withdrawn from border territories to focus on the deadly place.
• Dao Venerable Tai Wu revealed the Profound Heaven Sundial and led more than ten Dao Venerables through the bronze gate, using a Five Elements Cultivation Dojo to resist the Black Undercurrents.
• Jiang Shu sensed the Demon Race’s direction of advance, but he and the other experts turned toward a sudden radiance that rose like a Great Sun.

Jiang Shu and the Human Race Dao Venerables followed a clash between the Golden Crow and True Dragon to a crucial Demon Race stronghold, where they ambushed Ape Venerable Tong Bi over a fallen Golden Crow feather. Ao Qing arrived to protect Tong Bi, recognized Jiang Shu, and declared him a threat to the entire Demon Race.

• Dao Venerable Tai Wu and the other Human Race leaders agreed to follow the blazing sun and dragon roar, and the Star Fighting Sect leader used his Star Chart to transport them there.
• Jiang Shu and the Dao Venerables witnessed Golden Crow and True Dragon phantoms exhaust themselves in battle and shatter, leaving a golden feather to fall from the sky.
• Ape Venerable Tong Bi tried to seize the feather, but the Human Race Dao Venerables attacked him, grievously wounding him as he struggled to defend himself.
• Ao Qing intervened to shield Ape Venerable Tong Bi from the Human Race attacks and recognized Jiang Shu among the ambushers.
• Ao Qing recalled how Jiang Shu had disrupted the Demon Race’s previous plans and vowed that Jiang Shu must die to prevent him from threatening the entire Demon Race.

Jiang Shu and Gold Horn fought while secretly exchanging information about the ruin’s true origins, as Human and Demon Race powerhouses battled over the Golden Crow Feather. The feather vanished through a Demon Lord’s hidden arrangement, and the Demon Race withdrew while Jiang Shu privately informed Dao Venerable Tai Wu of what he had learned.

• Ao Qing sent Gold Horn to challenge Jiang Shu, while the Human and Demon Race experts began fighting over the falling Golden Crow Feather.
• Feng Yuan Demon Venerable clashed with the Sect Leader of the Sword Concealment Sect, and Ao Qing fought Dao Venerable Tai Wu.
• Gold Horn confronted Jiang Shu, and the two exchanged information through their battle, revealing that the ruin’s commonly accepted history was wrong.
• Jiang Shu and Gold Horn unleashed powerful attacks and appeared evenly matched, prompting Ao Qing to boast that Gold Horn would surpass Jiang Shu.
• The Golden Crow Feather fell into a Black Hole and vanished amid golden flames, revealing that a Demon Lord had arranged for it to leave the ruin.
• Ao Qing ordered the Demon Race to withdraw, and Jiang Shu privately relayed what he had learned to Dao Venerable Tai Wu.

Jiang Shu and the Human Dao Venerables pieced together that the ruins were likely where the ancient Demon Race Heavenly Court fell, and that Old Ancestor Fentian may have devoured a fallen fire Demon Lord. They realized Fentian could be nearing the Demon Lord realm as it merged with the Heavenly Dao, while Jiang Shu suspected the ruins held another treasure that attracted his World Tree.

• Dao Venerable Tai Wu revealed a record suggesting the ruins were connected to the Demon Race Heavenly Court and its Golden Crow rulers.
• The Dao Venerables identified the Three Great Divine Woods as the Heavenly Court's supports and surmised that the scattered ruins were fragments of its fall.
• Jiang Shu and Dao Venerable Tai Wu connected Old Ancestor Fentian's madness and growing power to a fallen fire Demon Lord's remains, which Fentian may have swallowed.
• The Dao Venerables concluded that Fentian might keep growing stronger as it merged with the Heavenly Dao and could briefly reach the Demon Lord realm before being assimilated.
• When the others looked to Jiang Shu for a way forward, he realized that the World Tree may have sensed a treasure in the ruins other than Jianmu.

Ao Qing’s Demon Venerables abandoned their search for the Heavenly Court foundations and headed toward the Myriad Gods Cave, while Jiang Shu and Dao Venerable Tai Wu anticipated their move. A fallen Demon Lord’s will offered the Human Race Venerables a map and treasures in exchange for help killing the Dragon and Phoenix rebels, leaving them tempted by the bargain.

• Ao Qing concluded that their target was not at the Golden Feather site and led the Demon Venerables toward the Myriad Gods Cave.
• Jiang Shu told Dao Venerable Tai Wu that the demons might next search the Myriad Gods Cave, but the humans lacked a route and kept Gold Horn’s intelligence secret.
• A powerful aura isolated the Human Race experts, and a moonlit figure revealed itself as the lingering will of a fallen Demon Lord.
• The moonlit figure proposed that the humans help kill the rebels in exchange for hidden resources, and Dao Venerable Tai Wu negotiated for benefits.
• The figure revealed a map marking resources, dangers, and the humans’ and rebels’ locations, then offered the Golden Crow Feather, Ruo Mu remains, and Ancient Fusang Tree remains.

Empress Xi'e revealed that she was a remnant of the Taiyin Demon Lord and enlisted the Human Race Dao Venerables to fight the rebels, giving them a map and jade beads that could briefly resist the Five Decays Poison. Following the map, the group looted an ancient armory and then set their sights on Myriad Gods Cave, where the Demon Race group was also headed.

• Xi'e confirmed her identity as Empress Xi'e and explained that she could only strike once before the living Demon Lord intervened, so Dao Venerable Tai Wu agreed to cooperate with her.
• Xi'e gave the Dao Venerables jade beads containing a map and a means to briefly resist the Five Decays Poison, then used moonlight to conceal and relocate them.
• Dao Venerable Tai Wu activated the map, and the Human Race group followed it to a floating island protected by a damaged Grand Array that Dao Venerable Tian Ji dismantled.
• The Dao Venerables found an ancient armory containing over a thousand Demon Race treasures and divided them among their sects before discovering that a nearby pill chamber had been emptied.
• Dao Venerable Tai Wu identified the map's crimson point as Myriad Gods Cave, and the group noticed the Demon Race members were heading there too.

Jiang Shu and the Human Race Dao Venerables entered Myriad Gods Cave, where they encountered bizarre Dao corpses, a ghostly Demon Race city, and the ruins of a deadly battlefield. They found traces of a recent arrival and reached enormous scorched corpses that the Beast Taming Sect's sect master identified as belonging to the Long-Armed Ape Race.

• The Dao Venerables decided to explore Myriad Gods Cave, suspecting the Demon Race might seek their ancestors' bloodline origins there.
• Jiang Shu led the group to the cave, where they used Invisibility Grand Talismans to slip past Dao corpses and witnessed a five-colored halo trigger the corpses' violent frenzy.
• The group descended through the Second and Third Layers, where they found a burned landscape and a ghostly city whose Demon Race inhabitants turned into Dao corpses after leaving its mist.
• The Dao Venerables entered the Fourth Layer, recognized signs of a recent arrival, and sensed the Great Dao Heavenly Sound of a fallen Dao Master.
• The group found vast, scorched corpses, and the Beast Taming Sect's sect master identified them as members of the Long-Armed Ape Race.

Jiang Shu led the Human Race Dao Venerables across the shattered void with paths created by the Heaven-Connecting Jianmu and World Tree, reaching the Tomb of the Golden Crow with Empress Xi'e. Xi'e revealed that the tomb held the remains of her husband and that Ba Snake and the Demon Lord White Tiger had also fallen there, leaving an inheritance that Gold Horn might claim.

• The Beast Taming Sect Leader found that someone had removed Primordial Force from a Giant Arm Ape corpse, and Jiang Shu suspected Ape Venerable Tong Bi was using the battlefield to restore his cultivation.
• The Dao Venerables entered the Fifth Layer, found its dazzling resources unusable because their Great Daos were chaotic, and reached a shattered void separating it from the Sixth Layer.
• Jiang Shu rejected the Demon Race and moonlight paths and used the Heaven-Connecting Jianmu and World Tree to create a bridge across the void, leading the Dao Venerables onward.
• Empress Xi'e appeared and guided the Human Race powerhouses into one of three Small Worlds, identifying the destination as the Tomb of the Golden Crow and the burial place of her husband.
• Xi'e revealed that her husband had killed Ba Snake and the Demon Lord White Tiger before succumbing to Dao Transformation, and Jiang Shu realized Gold Horn had come to seek Ba Snake's inheritance.
• The Heavenly Puppet Sect's sect master warned Tai Xuan Dao Venerable that Gold Horn might gain Ba Snake's inheritance and become a Demon Lord, threatening the Human Race.

Jiang Shu and the Human Race Dao Venerables entered the Ba Snake Small World to seek or destroy its inheritance, while Gold Horn and the Demon Race reached the Ba Snake Great Tomb to claim it. As both sides prepared to fight, Ba Snake’s lingering will halted them with its Demon Lord aura.

• The Human Race leaders split into groups to pursue the Ba Snake and White Tiger inheritances, and Jiang Shu joined Dao Venerable Tai Wu’s group heading for the Ba Snake Small World.
• Jiang Shu defeated a giant snake that attacked them, and the Beast Taming Sect Leader subdued it as a mount.
• Ao Qing led Gold Horn and the Demon Race experts into the Ba Snake Great Tomb, where Ba Snake’s lingering will offered its True Transmission to those who endured being swallowed alive.
• Ape Venerable Tong Bi and the other Demon Venerables reacted warily to the trial, while Gold Horn eagerly prepared to attempt it.
• Jiang Shu’s group arrived at the tomb, and Ao Qing transformed to confront them as both sides readied for battle.
• Ba Snake’s lingering will released its Demon Lord aura and froze the Dao Venerables and Demon Venerables before they could fight.