Chapter Summaries

Plot and events

• Chen Yuan and Long Yao explore the Myriad Gu Hall, discussing why martial arts have eclipsed the increasingly rare Gu Path.
• As they approach the hall’s spiritually rich center, the gu insects disappear. Long Yao suspects that something powerful has driven them away and sends eye-bearing scouting insects ahead, but they detect no threat.
• At a beautiful, herb-filled cold pool, the scouts suddenly vanish. Chen Yuan pulls Long Yao clear just before a black, flower-shaped gu insect attacks with life-draining mist.
• Four exceptionally rare gu insects appear: the Black Slug Mandala, Blood Spirit Sky-Eyed Moth, Heavenly Star Golden Spider, and Frost-Congealing Immortal Butterfly. Their peaceful coexistence signals that something even more powerful is suppressing them.
• A figure rises from the pool: the former Myriad Gu Hall master, who has transformed himself into a living composite of gu insects. He declares that humans and gu are fundamentally alike and invites Long Yao to follow his path toward immortality.
• Chen Yuan concludes that the hall master is not truly alive in mind or spirit. His body persists through a pedestal of gu-insect remains that continually absorbs more insects, while only an obsession remains of his original self. He explains that the hall master’s pursuit of eternal life ultimately failed.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Yuan remains skeptical and clear-headed. He protects Long Yao from the first attack and interprets the hall master’s apparent longevity in light of other failed attempts at survival within the palace.
• Long Yao demonstrates expertise and caution as a Gu Path practitioner. Though thrilled by the rare insects—especially the Blood Spirit Sky-Eyed Moth—she is horrified by the hall master’s transformation and too intimidated to challenge him.
• The hall master presents himself as a visionary seeking to unite humans and gu, but his monstrous body and lingering obsession reveal the cost and failure of his experiment.
• Chen Yuan reassures Long Yao that the hall master is only a remnant, countering her fear with a practical explanation.

Significant themes

• The decline of the Gu Path: Gu insects are disappearing, while martial arts flourish because they are accessible and have nearly limitless potential.
• The danger of obsession and immortality: The hall master preserved his body but lost his true self, showing that physical endurance is not genuine survival.
• The boundaries between human and other life: The hall master’s claim that humans and gu can be refined together challenges the natural distinctions among living beings, but his transformation presents that ambition as horrific.
• Knowledge versus reverence: Long Yao’s devotion to the Gu Path gives way to disgust and fear, while Chen Yuan evaluates the hall master without being awed by his rank.

Summary

• Chen Yuan and Long Yao confront the Myriad Gu Hall Master, a decayed remnant driven by the obsession to find an heir for his method of sacrificially refining human Gu. When Long Yao fails to answer his demand, he attacks.
• The hall master’s strength depends on consuming Gu insects: he swallows Long Yao’s swarm and grows more vigorous. Chen Yuan warns her to stop using Gu and draw the four remaining top-tier insects away, including the Blood Spirit Sky-Eyed Moth, which they need alive.
• Long Yao accepts the dangerous task. She crushes an enticing pill that lures the Gu insects—and the hall master—toward her, then leads them away from Chen Yuan.
• Chen Yuan battles the hall master, whose body can command, consume, and produce enormous swarms of Gu. The enemy devours the power of Chen Yuan’s first arrow and counters with a flood of insects. Chen Yuan holds them back with the Blazing Flame Blood Fiend and Heavenly Flame, then carves through the swarm by wielding both Divine Firmament and Violet Firmament thunder arts at once.
• Chen Yuan follows with the Nine Hells State of the Maudgalyayana Hell-Piercing Arrow. It pierces the hall master and destroys the life core in his dantian, but the enemy begins repairing himself by absorbing the vitality of dead insects.
• Using the Son of Heaven Qi-Watching Art, Chen Yuan identifies the hall master’s four life cores. With the dantian core already destroyed, he channels Heaven-Burning Annihilation Sword Qi into the other three. The cores are shattered, leaving the hall master critically defeated.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Yuan demonstrates tactical judgment and formidable control, combining multiple powerful techniques despite their risks. He protects Long Yao by assigning her the task best suited to her while keeping the hall master occupied.
• Long Yao recognizes the danger, follows Chen Yuan’s warning, and accepts a difficult role rather than leaving him to face the threat alone.
• Their cooperation is built on trust: Long Yao risks facing the top-tier Gu insects, while Chen Yuan fights to prevent the hall master from reaching her.

Significant themes

• Power and sacrifice: The hall master’s strength comes from consuming Gu insects and transforming himself into something no longer fully human.
• Trust under pressure: Chen Yuan and Long Yao coordinate quickly and rely on each other in a life-threatening battle.
• Knowledge as a weapon: Understanding how the enemy’s vitality works—and locating his unusual life cores—makes it possible to overcome his otherwise overwhelming resilience.
• Mastery and risk: Chen Yuan’s ability to wield two supreme thunder arts at once reflects extraordinary skill, but also the danger of pushing power beyond conventional limits.

Key events

• Chen Yuan defeats the master of Myriad Gu Hall alone, though the fight leaves him badly drained and bleeding from the eyes.
• Long Yao returns after subduing four powerful Gu insects. She is shocked to find Chen Yuan has already killed their foe.
• Long Yao gives Chen Yuan the Blood Spirit Sky-Eyed Moth, explaining that a drop of his blood each month will keep it alive inside its cocoon. Chen Yuan gives her the defeated master’s corpse, which she can use as valuable Gu-refining material.
• Long Yao heals her injuries with a swarm of Gu insects. Chen Yuan reveals that he also possesses a Six-Winged Golden Cicada and hopes to combine it with the moth to refine the legendary Blood Spirit Heaven-Rending Gu.
• Long Yao explains that only her master, Granny Dragon Ghost, and Ma Jiuxian, leader of the Gu God Sect, can refine it. The sect is dangerous: Ma Jiuxian obtained the method by coercing Long Yao’s master and now seeks to seize the lineage’s other secrets and Gu.
• Long Yao recounts how the Gu God Sect grew powerful, captured her master’s son, and attacked her master. Her master sent Long Yao away to protect her and went alone to draw off the sect’s pursuers; Long Yao does not know what became of her.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Yuan’s victory and generosity impress Long Yao. Though she had grown distrustful of Central Plains people, she now sees him as honorable and vows to remember his kindness. Chen Yuan, however, treats the exchange as practical: the corpse is useless to him, while Long Yao’s help securing the moth mattered.
• Long Yao’s loyalty and sense of obligation are emphasized: despite her injuries and having already secured valuable Gu, she returned to help Chen Yuan rather than abandon him.
• Chen Yuan and Long Yao grow more candid with each other. He openly shares his plan, and she reveals her extraordinary heritage and personal history. Their interaction also includes a light comic beat as Chen Yuan steals glances at her after she heals.

Significant themes

• Trust and reciprocity: Long Yao’s distrust gives way to respect when Chen Yuan helps her without demanding anything in return.
• Power and exploitation: The Gu God Sect’s rise illustrates how force and political dominance can overwhelm older clan traditions and lineages.
• Inheritance and vulnerability: Long Yao carries a prestigious legacy, but ancestry alone cannot protect her family from stronger enemies.
• Loyalty and sacrifice: Long Yao’s return—and her master’s decision to send her to safety—underscore the costs of keeping faith with others.

Key plot points and events

• Long Yao explains that the Gu God Sect centralized Gu cultivation, replacing the old village-based lineages. She intends to find her missing master and eventually destroy the sect.
• Chen Yuan suspects Long Yao may become the future rebel leader who destroys the Gu God Sect. He welcomes the prospect of her growing power and maintains their alliance.
• Long Yao reveals that the Myriad Gu Hall’s Gu Refining Ground dramatically speeds up cultivation—roughly a hundredfold—by drawing on the cold pool’s spiritual energy.
• She stays outside to guard the site and tend the three top-tier Gu insects she captured, while Chen Yuan cultivates alone.
• Chen Yuan restores his strength, deepens his Violet Firmament Demon-Slaying Sword technique, and begins the complex Sumeru Freedom Visualization. With help from his other mental-cultivation methods, he constructs the Hidden Treasury Realm in his sea of consciousness.
• He then turns to forming a personal figure of contemplation by examining his martial arts, experiences, and insights. The process is progressing, but the pool’s spiritual energy is nearly exhausted.

Character developments

• Chen Yuan shows strategic foresight, recognizing Long Yao’s potential future importance. He also advances his mental cultivation, gaining a major foundation for greater mental power, though he has not yet completed the visualization.
• Long Yao remains devoted to her missing master and driven by revenge against the Gu God Sect. She demonstrates loyalty and generosity by giving Chen Yuan the best use of the training ground, while beginning to establish control over her captured Gu insects.

Themes

• Tradition versus centralization: The Gu God Sect’s larger system may strengthen the Gu Path, but it has displaced older local lineages.
• Ambition, revenge, and future power: Long Yao’s personal vendetta may shape the political upheaval to come.
• Cultivation through self-knowledge: Chen Yuan’s progress depends not only on physical power but on understanding and organizing his experiences and inner nature.
• Alliance and reciprocity: Both characters support each other, balancing trust with practical concerns.

Character interactions

• Long Yao explains the Gu Path’s history, her plans, and the training ground’s value; Chen Yuan responds supportively and treats her as a promising future ally.
• Long Yao refuses to cultivate alongside him so the scarce spiritual energy will not be wasted, choosing instead to guard him and work with her Gu insects.
• While Chen Yuan cultivates, Long Yao notices the mysterious quality of his power but accepts it as fitting for someone so formidable.

Key plot points and events

• Han Chang reaches Myriad Gu Hall after being trapped for nearly a day in a damaged palace. Finding Chen Yuan in seclusion, he sees an opportunity to attack him.
• He tries to recruit Long Yao with boasts about his status and supposed connections in the Gu God Sect. When he claims friendship with Ma Yougui, Long Yao reacts with immediate hostility and attacks him.
• Long Yao’s Scarlet Flame Celestial Crystal Gu burns Han Chang, but he counters with the Primordial Heavenly Demon Seal. He then turns his attack on Chen Yuan, breaking through Long Yao’s defensive Gu and wounding her.
• Han Chang overwhelms Long Yao’s Life Gu and her three newly subdued top-tier Gu, injuring the rare creatures while slowly closing in on her. Long Yao resolves to destroy her own Life Gu rather than let him capture her.
• Chen Yuan emerges from seclusion just in time. His presence has changed: his power seems more controlled and concealed, but also more formidable.
• Chen Yuan mocks Han Chang for preying on women. Han Chang dismisses morality in favor of survival and launches a direct assault.
• Chen Yuan counters Han Chang’s demonic shadows with Buddhist mantras. Han Chang escalates with the first transformation of the Primordial Demon Palace’s Nine Transformations of the Heavenly Demon, summoning a massive Scarlet Flame Heavenly Demon. Their powers collide, forcing Long Yao to retreat with the injured Gu.

Character developments

• Long Yao shows courage and resolve, attacking Han Chang without hesitation and refusing to surrender even when badly outmatched. She is also protective of the three top-tier Gu she has subdued.
• Han Chang is exposed as both calculating and predatory: he fabricates connections to manipulate Long Yao, then attacks her and Chen Yuan when persuasion fails. His confidence is backed by considerable combat skill.
• Chen Yuan returns from seclusion with a newly restrained, concealed aura that hints at increased power. He steps in to protect Long Yao and confront Han Chang directly.

Significant themes

• Power and exploitation: Han Chang treats strength as justification for any method, while his attempt to charm Long Yao quickly becomes violence.
• Courage against overwhelming odds: Long Yao keeps fighting despite the gap in power.
• Contrasting forms of power: Chen Yuan’s Buddhist techniques counter Han Chang’s demonic arts, setting up a clash between opposing traditions.

Character interactions

• Han Chang attempts to flatter and recruit Long Yao, but his false claim about Ma Yougui instead provokes her attack.
• Long Yao defends Chen Yuan while he is in seclusion, sacrificing her own safety to hold Han Chang back.
• Chen Yuan condemns Han Chang’s bullying and intervenes just as Long Yao is about to make a desperate sacrifice.
• Chen Yuan and Han Chang exchange blows through Buddhist and demonic techniques, while Long Yao withdraws from their escalating battle.

Chapter Summary: “Black Dragon Visualization”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Yuan and Han Chang clash in a fierce battle inside the Endless Immortal Palace. Both possess foundations far beyond ordinary martial artists at their level, with Han Chang’s strength enhanced by the Primordial Demon Pill implanted by his father, Demon Venerable Han Guang.
• Han Chang unleashes the Fifth-Turn Bloodshadow Heavenly Demon, summoning countless blood-colored demonic phantoms. Chen Yuan counters with the Divine Firmament Evil-Slaying Sword and the Violet Firmament Demon-Slaying Sword, destroying the phantoms.
• Han Chang realizes that Chen Yuan must have killed Zhang Xuanzhong to obtain the Violet Firmament Demon-Slaying Sword. This shocks him, since even Han Chang would not be confident of killing Zhang Xuanzhong.
• Han Chang uses the Second-Turn Frost Heavenly Demon to defend against Chen Yuan’s lightning swords, then burns his blood and qi to activate the powerful Eighth-Turn Essence-Devouring Heavenly Demon.
• The Essence-Devouring Heavenly Demon completely swallows Chen Yuan’s ordinary Maudgalyayana Hell-Piercing Arrow, briefly demonstrating overwhelming defensive and devouring power.
• Chen Yuan responds by manifesting the Black Dragon Visualization, created from his cultivation of the Sumeru Freedom Visualization. Unlike ordinary Buddhist visualizations, it fuses Daoist, Buddhist, and demonic power into a chaotic force centered on slaughter and destruction.
• The Black Dragon Visualization overpowers and tears apart the Essence-Devouring Heavenly Demon. Han Chang suffers severe backlash, losing blood and qi and injuring his internal organs.
• Realizing he cannot win, Han Chang decisively flees rather than continue fighting. Chen Yuan intends to pursue and kill him to obtain the Primordial Demon Pill, which could help him enter the Origin Pill Realm.
• Long Yao reveals that she marked Han Chang with a venomous insect. She gives the insect to Chen Yuan so he can track Han Chang, urging him to kill Han Chang for harming her insects.

Character Developments

• Chen Yuan: Demonstrates that his strength is not limited to inherited or conventional Daoist, Buddhist, or demonic techniques. His Black Dragon Visualization represents a unique path built from the fusion of multiple traditions, emphasizing combat, chaos, and ultimate destructive power. His determination to obtain Han Chang’s Primordial Demon Pill also reveals his ambitious pursuit of the Origin Pill Realm.
• Han Chang: Shows the terrifying power of the Primordial Demon Palace’s Nine Transformations of the Heavenly Demon, but also recognizes the limits of his current strength. After suffering a crushing defeat, he abandons pride and flees pragmatically, deciding that future advancement will give him another chance.
• Long Yao: Moves from frightened observer to active ally. She recognizes Chen Yuan’s superiority, uses her venomous insects strategically, and openly encourages him to avenge the harm done to them.

Significant Themes

• Unorthodox cultivation and synthesis: Chen Yuan’s strength comes from combining Daoist, Buddhist, and demonic principles without belonging fully to any one tradition.
• Foundation versus reputation: Han Chang’s high ranking and inherited demonic arts make him formidable, but Chen Yuan’s deeper and more versatile foundation allows him to overcome him.
• Pragmatism over pride: Han Chang accepts defeat and escapes rather than risking death, emphasizing survival and future advancement over honor.
• Power and opportunity: The Primordial Demon Pill is both a source of Han Chang’s strength and the opportunity Chen Yuan needs to break into the Origin Pill Realm.
• The path of destruction: The Black Dragon Visualization embodies Chen Yuan’s personal martial path—violent, chaotic, and focused on decisive killing rather than orthodox enlightenment or demonic domination.

Character Interactions

• Chen Yuan and Han Chang engage in a direct contest of increasingly powerful secret arts, with each escalating in response to the other.
• Han Chang’s shock at Chen Yuan’s possession of Zhang Xuanzhong’s sword technique reveals his growing fear and respect for Chen Yuan’s strength.
• Long Yao watches the battle and realizes that Chen Yuan and Han Chang represent the highest level of young martial talent.
• After Han Chang flees, Long Yao assists Chen Yuan by giving him a marked venomous insect, turning their shared hostility toward Han Chang into practical cooperation.

Plot points and events

• Chen Yuan asks Long Yao to keep his use of the Violet Firmament Demon-Slaying Sword and his killings of Zhang Xuanzhong and Han Chang secret. She agrees and offers to contact him through the Skywind Rain-Listening Tower after returning to the Miao Borderlands.
• Using a tracking gu insect Long Yao had placed on Han Chang, Chen Yuan pursues him into a maze of shattered space. Han Chang eventually stops, unable to keep fleeing while injured.
• Chen Yuan demands Han Chang’s Primordial Demon Pill. Han Chang realizes there will be no peaceful settlement and summons the Primordial Demon Palace’s Divine-Artifact Avatar, the Heaven-Devouring Demon Lotus.
• Chen Yuan’s Buddhist mantra briefly disorients Han Chang, but the Primordial Demon Pill’s origin demonic qi breaks its effect. Han Chang then unleashes the lotus’s overwhelming devouring power.
• Chen Yuan counters with the Nine Nether Demon Sword, opening a path through the lotus’s force. Though the sword shatters, he escapes the attack and fires the Maudgalyayana Hell-Piercing Arrow in its Nine Hells State.
• The arrow overwhelms Han Chang’s damaged shield and gravely wounds him. Chen Yuan finishes him with Bloodsea Tidecall, then extracts the Primordial Demon Pill.
• With the pill, Chen Yuan now has every ingredient needed to refine the Primordial Unity Divine Pill and reach the Origin Pill Realm. He must wait, however: forming it inside the Heaven-Piercing Tower would trigger the tower guardian to expel him.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Yuan remains strategic and prepared: he asks Long Yao for discretion, anticipates that his mantra may fail, and combines several costly weapons and techniques to defeat Han Chang. Despite his victory, the effort leaves him badly depleted, and he immediately takes pills to recover.
• Han Chang proves more decisive than Zhang Xuanzhong, quickly choosing to fight rather than submit when Chen Yuan demands the pill. His confidence in the Heaven-Devouring Demon Lotus is undermined by Chen Yuan’s counters, and he dies before reaching the Origin Pill Realm.
• Long Yao supports Chen Yuan by tracking Han Chang and promising to keep his secret, while offering a future channel of communication.
• Han Chang privately blames Shen Wugui, believing Shen’s failure to retain the Nine Nether Demon Sword has made Han Chang’s predicament worse.

Significant themes

• Power versus preparation: Han Chang has a superior artifact, but Chen Yuan survives by anticipating its strengths and using complementary techniques.
• The cost of victory: Chen Yuan wins, but deploying the sword and arrow severely drains him.
• Ambition and advancement: Han Chang’s unrealized future as a potential leader of the Primordial Demon Palace contrasts with Chen Yuan’s newly secured path to the Origin Pill Realm.
• Secrecy and consequences: Chen Yuan knows his growing collection of stolen weapons will eventually expose his actions, so he seeks to delay discovery.

Summary of “Demon Venerable” Han Guang

Key Plot Points and Events

• After gathering the sacred relics of the Daoist, Buddhist, and Demonic lineages, Chen Yuan prepares to refine the Primordial Demon Pill, completing the foundations needed to condense the Primordial Unity Divine Pill.
• As he begins refining it, a fragment of Primordial Spirit emerges from the pill and enters his sea of consciousness. The fragment belongs to Han Guang, master of the Primordial Demon Palace and a Peak Ninth-Realm Heavenly Profound expert.
• Han Guang demands that Chen Yuan return the pill, threatening to destroy his mind otherwise. Chen Yuan realizes that Han Guang is only using a detached fragment of his Primordial Spirit and therefore has no true advantage within Chen Yuan’s own consciousness.
• Chen Yuan draws Han Guang’s fragment into the Hidden Treasury Realm, where he controls the surrounding space. Using the Black Dragon Visualization formed from Chaos Power and the combined Dao-Buddhist-Demonic forces, he overwhelms and destroys the fragment.
• With the obstruction removed, Chen Yuan successfully refines the Primordial Demon Pill into his body. The three sacred relics are now complete, allowing him to enter the Origin Pill Realm whenever he chooses.
• Investigating Han Chang’s corpse, Chen Yuan discovers that the Primordial Demon Pill had been gradually transforming Han Chang’s body, meridians, and bones into a body suited to Han Guang.
• Chen Yuan concludes that Han Guang did not place the pill in Han Chang merely to strengthen him. Because Han Guang’s injuries have damaged his lifespan, he likely intended to possess Han Chang’s body and gain a new life.

Character Developments

• Chen Yuan: Demonstrates growing confidence and strategic intelligence. Rather than being intimidated by Han Guang’s reputation, he exploits the battle’s location within his own Hidden Treasury Realm and destroys the Primordial Spirit fragment. His investigation also reveals his ability to deduce Han Guang’s hidden plan.
• Han Guang: Is introduced as a terrifying demonic giant, but the encounter exposes his vulnerability. His severe injuries from Sword God Xie Kunwu have apparently damaged both his lifespan and physical condition. His willingness to sacrifice part of his Primordial Spirit suggests desperation and a determination to survive through possession.
• Han Chang: Though already dead, his role becomes more significant. His body was being prepared as a vessel for Han Guang, meaning he was likely being used rather than genuinely cultivated or valued as a son.

Significant Themes

• Power versus reputation: Han Guang’s status as a legendary Ninth-Realm expert means little inside Chen Yuan’s controlled spiritual domain.
• Survival and possession: The chapter explores the extreme lengths powerful cultivators may take to escape death, including sacrificing family members and replacing one body with another.
• Hidden motives and deception: Han Guang’s apparent concern over his son’s death conceals his greater obsession with recovering the Primordial Demon Pill.
• Integration of opposing paths: Chen Yuan’s spiritual techniques combine Daoist, Buddhist, and Demonic forces, symbolizing the fusion of traditions and giving him power beyond conventional techniques.
• The limits of immortality: Even a supreme expert such as Han Guang cannot escape injury, aging, and the threat of death.

Character Interactions

• Chen Yuan and Han Guang: Their confrontation begins with Han Guang threatening Chen Yuan, but the balance quickly shifts. Chen Yuan mocks Han Guang’s reduced state and ultimately destroys his spiritual fragment, establishing a personal enmity between them.
• Han Guang and Han Chang: Their relationship appears less filial than it initially seems. Han Guang’s actions imply that Han Chang was being cultivated as a vessel for his father’s rebirth rather than protected for his own sake.
• Chen Yuan and Han Chang’s corpse: Through examination rather than conversation, Chen Yuan uncovers the truth behind Han Guang’s scheme and gains crucial insight into his future enemy.

Chapter Summary: “A Tiger’s Venom Devours Its Young”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Yuan deduces the truth behind Han Guang’s plans: Han Chang was born after Han Guang’s defeat by Xie Kunwu and was deliberately altered so his body could eventually serve as Han Guang’s vessel.
• Han Guang’s Primordial Demon Pill was essential to this process, allowing him to reshape his son’s meridians, flesh, blood, and bones to match his own.
• Chen Yuan realizes that the future “Han Chang” who becomes master of the Primordial Demon Palace was actually Han Guang after possessing his son. Han Chang’s apparent rise was therefore a disguise for Han Guang’s continued rule.
• After killing Han Chang and devouring the Primordial Spirit within the Primordial Demon Pill, Chen Yuan burns the corpse and scatters the ashes into spatial rifts to erase all evidence.
• Rather than returning to the Myriad Gu Hall, Chen Yuan continues searching the Endless Immortal Palace for another exit, intending to reunite with Luo Lie and the others.
• At the Primordial Demon Palace, Han Guang senses that Han Chang has died and that his Primordial Spirit imprint in the Primordial Demon Pill has been destroyed. He is puzzled and angered but remains controlled.
• Han Guang summons his younger son, Han Yi, and announces that Han Chang’s death leaves the Primordial Demon Palace without an heir.
• Han Yi, who was raised in isolation and mistreated by Han Chang, secretly rejoices at his brother’s death. He pretends to grieve and promises to inherit Han Chang’s legacy.
• Han Guang presents Han Yi with another Primordial Demon Pill, claiming it will transform his cultivation and elevate him. However, he secretly implants a strand of his own Primordial Spirit along with it, clearly intending to possess Han Yi as well.

Character Developments

• Chen Yuan: Becomes more perceptive about Han Guang’s long-term schemes and recognizes the danger of having stolen the Primordial Demon Pill. He understands that Han Guang will likely seek revenge and acts cautiously by destroying Han Chang’s remains.
• Han Guang: Is revealed as utterly ruthless and calculating. He regards his sons not as heirs or family, but as prepared vessels for extending his own life and power. Even the loss of Han Chang is merely a setback, since he has already prepared Han Yi as a replacement.
• Han Chang: His arrogance and indulgence are recontextualized. His father’s refusal to discipline him was not affection but indifference—or possibly compensation for the miserable fate awaiting him as a vessel.
• Han Yi: Emerges as timid, envious, and deeply resentful after years of being suppressed by Han Chang. His apparent grief is an act; inwardly, he is delighted to inherit his brother’s status. However, he is unknowingly being placed into the same fate as Han Chang.

Significant Themes

• Parental exploitation and betrayal: Han Guang treats his sons as tools rather than children, sacrificing them to preserve his own power.
• The corruption of inheritance: The position of heir to the Primordial Demon Palace is not a genuine legacy but a mechanism for Han Guang to continue ruling through successive bodies.
• Appearance versus reality: Han Chang’s future identity, Han Yi’s false mourning, and Han Guang’s supposed gift all conceal darker truths.
• Greed and ambition: Han Yi longs for the power and status denied to him, yet his ambition blinds him to the danger behind Han Guang’s offer.
• Cruelty and survival: The chapter portrays the demonic path as one in which blood relations have no value when weighed against power and longevity.

Character Interactions

• Chen Yuan and Han Chang: Though Han Chang is already dead, Chen Yuan’s analysis exposes the hidden relationship between father and son and reveals Han Chang’s tragic role as a disposable vessel.
• Han Guang and Han Yi: Han Guang manipulates Han Yi by presenting his brother’s death as an opportunity and offering him the Primordial Demon Pill. Han Yi responds with feigned loyalty while secretly celebrating his brother’s demise.
• Han Chang and Han Yi: Their relationship was defined by Han Chang’s bullying and suppression. Han Chang’s death frees Han Yi from his brother’s control, but only to place him under their father’s far more dangerous domination.
• Han Guang and Xie Kunwu: Though Xie Kunwu does not appear directly, he remains Han Guang’s primary enemy—the man responsible for defeating and humiliating him in the past.

Summary

Plot and events

Chen Yuan explores two more spaces in the Endless Immortal Palace: a barren desert and a vast formation workshop, both abandoned and lifeless. In the latter, he discovers Jingyuan Daoist, Qingchenzi’s friend, gravely wounded and protected by a formation. Red threads have pierced his vital points.
Chen Yuan recognizes the threads as the weapons used by Meiniang, the disguised woman who accompanied Han Chang and stole the Life-Transmutation Pearl. He identifies their power as Red Lotus Wish Power, heals Jingyuan, and asks who attacked him.
Jingyuan explains that Meiniang and more than twenty cooperating accomplices ambushed him, Cui Xuanye, and Lu Chuanshan while they were exploring. Cui and Lu fled into the Hall of Ten Thousand Hells; Jingyuan escaped but was left badly injured. Chen Yuan rushes to the hall, intent on rescuing them and confronting Meiniang.
The hall proves to be a grotesque garden rather than a conventional medicinal storehouse. It is filled with blood-soaked, human-like plants, vines bearing eyeball-filled fruit, and monstrous flowers. The Human-Skin Evil Book explains that the Endless Immortal Palace tried to create immortality herbs by combining spiritual plants with human flesh and the power to turn death into life. Though the results produced potent Divine Pills, they did not grant immortality.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Yuan shows practical compassion by saving Jingyuan, despite their limited acquaintance. His suspicion of Meiniang deepens when he recognizes her techniques, and he becomes determined to pursue her.
• Jingyuan Daoist survives after making a desperate choice to trust Chen Yuan. His ordeal leaves him humbled: he realizes that even a respected young talent is comparatively weak among the Tower’s many powerful figures.
• Meiniang emerges as a powerful, well-disguised threat with a sizable group of collaborators. Her connection to the Red Lotus Sect is strongly suggested but not confirmed.
• The Human-Skin Evil Book provides the explanation for the Hall’s horrific plants and the palace’s failed pursuit of immortality.

Significant themes

• Ambition without moral limits: The palace’s experiments and Han Guang’s willingness to sacrifice his sons reflect the cruelty that can accompany the pursuit of power or immortality.
• The cost of immortality: The Hall’s “herbs” embody the grotesque human price of trying to overcome death.
• Trust and survival: Jingyuan’s appeal to Chen Yuan—and Chen Yuan’s decision to help him—offers a brief contrast to the chapter’s pervasive betrayal and violence.
• Humility before greater powers: Jingyuan’s reflection underscores how crowded and dangerous the world of exceptional fighters is.

Chapter Summary: “A Helping Hand”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Yuan explores the Hall of Ten Thousand Hells and becomes increasingly horrified by the Endless Immortal Palace’s experiments. The palace created Divine Pills from grotesque and forbidden spiritual medicines, then sold them to other sects without revealing their origins.
• In another part of the hall, Meiniang and members of the Holy Cult locate the Endless Divine Tree. Meiniang agrees to hand the tree over to a mysterious monk from a “righteous” sect in exchange for benefits, but plans to keep the tree’s ripe fruits for the Holy Cult.
• Meiniang explains that the righteous faction intends to use the Holy Cult to plunge the Central Plains into chaos and destroy the existing orthodox order. She intends to exploit their scheme to strengthen the Holy Cult in secret.
• Meiniang orders her followers to seize the tree while leaving four people behind to continue trapping Cui Xuanye and Lu Chuanshan in the Red Lotus Heart-Burning Formation.
• Chen Yuan hears the sounds of battle and finds Cui and Lu being attacked by four Red Lotus Sect martial artists. The formation burns their true qi and corrodes their minds, causing despair, anger, and suicidal thoughts.
• Cui attempts to decipher the formation, while Lu uses his physical strength to defend them. They discuss using Divine-Artifact Avatars, but Lu has exhausted his, while Cui’s Myriad Phenomena Arcana requires extensive preparation and cannot be used under their current conditions.
• Chen Yuan arrives and kills the four attackers. He first pierces one with the Maudgalyayana Hell-Piercing Arrow, then severely injures the others with Bloodsea Tidecall before destroying them with the Divine Firmament Evil-Slaying Sword.
• Chen Yuan attempts to destroy the Red Lotus Heart-Burning Formation, but even his greatly enhanced power fails to break it immediately.

Character Developments

• Chen Yuan: His strength has risen dramatically after obtaining the Netherworld Blood Fiend, cultivating spiritual power through Sumeru Freedom Visualization, refining the Primordial Demon Pill, and balancing Daoist, Buddhist, and demonic powers within his body. He demonstrates overwhelming combat ability but discovers that the Red Lotus formation is unusually resilient.
• Meiniang: She is revealed to be calculating, ruthless, and politically astute. Rather than trusting either the Holy Cult’s allies or the righteous sects, she intends to manipulate both sides for the Cult’s benefit.
• Cui Xuanye: Despite his normally calm and refined nature, the formation’s mental corruption makes him irritable and harsh. He displays considerable knowledge of formations and seeks a technical solution to their predicament.
• Lu Chuanshan: He relies on extraordinary physical strength to protect Cui but is nearing exhaustion. His reckless use of Divine-Artifact Avatars earns him Cui’s teasing criticism, though it also emphasizes his loyalty and willingness to risk himself.
• The Holy Cult: Its members are shown to be pragmatic and opportunistic, willing to cooperate with enemies when doing so advances their long-term goals.

Significant Themes

• Moral corruption and forbidden power: The Endless Immortal Palace’s immortality research has crossed every ethical boundary, blurring the distinction between medicine and cannibalism.
• Political manipulation: Both the righteous sects and the Holy Cult seek to use each other. Meiniang recognizes that alliances are temporary tools rather than bonds of trust.
• Power gained through transformation: Chen Yuan’s growth comes from combining multiple traditions and refining dangerous powers, suggesting that his strength increasingly depends on balancing forces that could otherwise conflict.
• Mental erosion and despair: The Red Lotus Heart-Burning Formation attacks the mind as much as the body, showing that psychological collapse can be more dangerous than physical injury.
• Friendship and mutual dependence: Cui and Lu bicker under pressure but continue relying on each other. Chen Yuan’s arrival reinforces the importance of allies in the dangerous palace.

Character Interactions

• Meiniang debates the Holy Cult’s strategy with her subordinate, explaining her willingness to cooperate with the righteous faction while secretly pursuing the Cult’s own agenda.
• Cui and Lu argue over their inability to escape the formation, but their exchange reveals familiarity, trust, and concern for one another.
• Chen Yuan’s arrival changes the battle immediately. His swift destruction of the Red Lotus Sect attackers astonishes Cui and Lu, who realize that his strength has advanced considerably.
• Chen Yuan reassures Cui and Lu that he will rescue them, but the chapter ends with his first attempt to break the formation failing, leaving their escape unresolved.

Chapter Summary: Red Lotus Saintess

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Yuan and Cui Xuanye confront the Red Lotus Sect’s Red Lotus Heart-Burning Formation, which is protecting their enemies.
• Cui Xuanye explains that finding the formation’s eye would normally require carefully analyzing its patterns. Chen Yuan instead uses the Son of Heaven Qi-Watching Art to see the formation’s energy flow directly, identifies its core, and destroys it with a single strike using his Netherworld Blood-Fiend Power.
• The group learns that the Red Lotus Sect warrior who previously attacked them is likely Meiniang, who is actually Su Mei, the Red Lotus Saintess Chen Yuan supposedly killed in Qinzhou.
• Su Mei’s survival shocks Lu Chuanshan and Cui Xuanye. Chen Yuan speculates that the Red Lotus Sect may possess secret arts capable of preserving a person’s Primordial Spirit and restoring their body.
• Cui Xuanye warns that the Red Lotus Sect has returned and could become a major threat. Through the use of believers’ sacrificial offerings, the sect obtains terrifying Red Lotus Wish Power and can create vast numbers of expendable martial artists.
• The group follows footprints through the damp ground to locate Su Mei and discovers that she has gone to seize the Endless Divine Tree.
• The Human-Skin Evil Book reveals that the tree was created from Life-and-Death Power and can be refined by Chen Yuan because his Netherworld Blood Fiend involves a similar transformation. Destroying the tree would release its enormous vitality for him to absorb.
• The group reaches a valley containing the grotesque Endless Divine Tree, whose roots grow through corpses and whose fruits resemble bluish-gray stillborn infants. The tree is surrounded by a deadly formation that launches bone spikes and weapons at intruders.
• Su Mei and more than twenty Red Lotus Sect disciples are attempting to break the formation. When she notices Chen Yuan’s arrival, she orders her followers to abandon the tree temporarily and attack him and his companions.
• Su Mei activates a powerful Red Lotus Secret Art, surrounding herself with blazing flames and manifesting a huge red lotus, suggesting that her strength is far greater than before. The chapter ends as the battle begins.

Character Developments

• Chen Yuan demonstrates an increasingly broad and powerful skill set. His ability to perceive formations directly makes him a natural counter to formation masters, and his confidence has grown after repeatedly rescuing his companions.
• He remains calm and pragmatic, showing little fear toward Su Mei despite her resurrection. He openly declares that he can kill her a second time.
• Cui Xuanye continues to act as the group’s knowledgeable strategist, explaining the formation, the Red Lotus Sect’s methods, and the Endless Divine Tree. He is impressed by Chen Yuan’s abilities and recognizes how valuable Chen Yuan is as an ally.
• Lu Chuanshan feels ashamed of repeatedly relying on Chen Yuan, but Chen Yuan reassures him by recalling that Lu once saved him as well, reinforcing their friendship.
• Su Mei returns as a more confident and dangerous antagonist. She blames Chen Yuan for her previous defeat, insists that he only won because she underestimated him, and claims that her reconstructed body has allowed her to master a stronger version of the Red Lotus Secret Art.

Significant Themes

• Resurrection and persistence: Su Mei’s return emphasizes the Red Lotus Sect’s unusual methods and the difficulty of permanently eliminating its members.
• The danger of unchecked fanaticism: The sect’s ability to use believers as sacrifices and mass-produce expendable fighters makes it a spreading, almost disease-like threat.
• Power through knowledge and technique: Chen Yuan’s ability to read the formation’s energy flow allows him to bypass the painstaking methods normally required by formation experts.
• Life and death: The Endless Divine Tree, Chen Yuan’s Netherworld Blood-Fiend Power, and the Red Lotus Sect’s sacrificial practices all connect to the transformation and exploitation of life force.
• The grotesque nature of power: The tree’s corpse-fed roots and infant-like fruits contrast immense vitality with disturbing imagery, suggesting that great power may be produced through morally horrifying means.
• Rivalry and unfinished conflict: Chen Yuan and Su Mei’s mutual hatred deepens, with each regarding the other as an enemy who must eventually be destroyed.

Important Character Interactions

• Chen Yuan and Cui Xuanye: They cooperate closely, with Chen Yuan handling the formation through his unique perception while Cui provides technical knowledge and historical context.
• Chen Yuan and Lu Chuanshan: Lu expresses guilt over being a burden, but Chen Yuan rejects the idea that their relationship is transactional and reminds him of his past assistance.
• Chen Yuan and Su Mei: Their confrontation is intensely personal. Su Mei accuses him of repeatedly obstructing her, while Chen Yuan treats her resurrection as another challenge he is prepared to overcome.
• Cui Xuanye and the group: Cui explains the Red Lotus Sect’s strategic threat, helping Chen Yuan understand that Su Mei’s appearance may signal a wider crisis.
• Su Mei and her followers: She commands the Red Lotus disciples decisively, showing that they function as disposable tools while she prioritizes her personal battle with Chen Yuan and her pursuit of the Endless Divine Tree.

Chapter Summary: “See You Once, Kill You Once!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Yuan confronts Su Mei of the Red Lotus Sect again. He understands that her power comes primarily from the Red Lotus Holy Mother’s blessings rather than her own cultivation, making her strength powerful but fundamentally unstable.
• Cui Xuanye and Lu Chuanshan attack the remaining Red Lotus Sect martial artists after the Red Lotus Heart-Burning Formation is destroyed. Freed from the formation’s restrictions, they quickly regain the upper hand.
  • Lu Chuanshan kills one enemy with a single devastating punch.
  • Cui Xuanye supports him by using formations to amplify his strength and defend against surrounding attackers.
• Su Mei unleashes the Descending Red Lotus Formation, covering Chen Yuan in destructive Red Lotus Wish Power that attacks both the body and the mind.
• Chen Yuan counters with his Black Dragon Visualization. The enormous black dragon tears apart the red lotus formation, absorbs its power, and charges directly at Su Mei.
• Su Mei summons the protection of the Red Lotus Holy Mother through Red Lotus Illuminates the World, creating a sacred red lotus and divine phantom to defend herself.
• The black dragon clashes with the sacred lotus, creating an explosion powerful enough to damage the formation surrounding the Endless Divine Tree. Su Mei is severely injured and thrown backward.
• Chen Yuan continues his assault with Bloodsea Tidecall, Netherworld Blood Fiend, and two powerful Seven-Kill Stele techniques:

Bloodslaughter Heaven-Calamity Hand

Gouli Bloodflame God-Burning Seal

• Su Mei uses red threads and Red Lotus Wish Power to defend herself, but Chen Yuan’s overwhelming force destroys her defenses and badly wounds her.
• Realizing Chen Yuan has obtained another Seven-Kill Stele Fragment, Su Mei becomes increasingly shocked by his rapid growth and unfamiliar powers.
• Su Mei attempts a spiritual attack using her Primordial Spirit and Red Lotus Wish Power, trapping Chen Yuan in a strange void filled with an eternal red lotus.
• Chen Yuan counters with Tara Guanyin’s Vow-Granting Seal and the Tara Mother Obstacle-Breaking Karma-Subduing Mantra, breaking the illusion and injuring Su Mei’s Primordial Spirit.
• Both fighters suffer spiritual exhaustion, but Chen Yuan retains more physical strength. He draws the Maudgalyayana Hell-Piercing Arrow in its Nine Hells state, locking Su Mei under an overwhelming aura of death and preparing to finish her permanently.

Character Developments

• Chen Yuan: Demonstrates extraordinary advancement in both martial and spiritual techniques. He can now use the Black Dragon Visualization, multiple Seven-Kill secret arts, Buddhist spiritual techniques, and the Nine Hells form of the Maudgalyayana Hell-Piercing Arrow. His confidence hardens into a clear resolve to kill Su Mei completely.
• Su Mei: Despite obtaining a stronger body and receiving greater empowerment from the Red Lotus Holy Mother, she is decisively outmatched. Her confidence and desire for revenge collapse into disbelief as Chen Yuan repeatedly destroys her strongest techniques. Her dependence on external divine power is exposed as a major weakness.
• Cui Xuanye and Lu Chuanshan: Once freed from Su Mei’s formation, they reveal their true strength as Hidden Dragon Ranking experts. Their cooperation shows their ability to fight effectively as a team.
• Red Lotus Holy Mother: Although not physically present, her influence remains central through Su Mei’s borrowed power. However, the chapter emphasizes that this empowerment cannot overcome Chen Yuan’s self-cultivated strength.

Significant Themes

• Borrowed power versus genuine cultivation: Su Mei’s strength comes from divine empowerment, while Chen Yuan’s power is the result of his own cultivation and accumulated techniques. The contrast suggests that external blessings lack the stability and adaptability of personally earned strength.
• Death and finality: Chen Yuan repeatedly emphasizes that killing Su Mei once means he can kill her again and again. Because she has previously survived death, he is determined to eliminate her completely.
• Rapid growth and hidden potential: Chen Yuan’s new techniques and Seven-Kill Stele Fragment reveal how quickly he is advancing, making him an increasingly abnormal and dangerous opponent.
• Conflict between divine and human power: Su Mei invokes a sacred, godlike figure, while Chen Yuan counters with the power of his own visualization, blood arts, Buddhist techniques, and spiritual will.
• Mind and body as battlegrounds: The fight involves physical destruction, spiritual erosion, Primordial Spirit attacks, and resistance to mental influence.

Important Character Interactions

• Chen Yuan and Su Mei’s confrontation is driven by their previous encounter: Su Mei seeks revenge, while Chen Yuan intends to prevent her from surviving again.
• Cui Xuanye and Lu Chuanshan fight side by side against the Red Lotus Sect, with Cui Xuanye’s formations enhancing Lu Chuanshan’s direct physical attacks.
• Su Mei recognizes that Chen Yuan has acquired new power, particularly another Seven-Kill Stele Fragment, but cannot understand how he has advanced so far.
• Chen Yuan’s Buddhist spiritual techniques directly oppose Su Mei’s Red Lotus Primordial Spirit attack, turning the battle into a contest of spiritual doctrines as well as martial strength.
• The chapter ends with Chen Yuan holding the decisive advantage and preparing to deliver the killing blow with his death-infused arrow.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Su Mei confronts Chen Yuan, expecting to avenge her earlier defeat, but discovers that he has grown much stronger. Despite her enhanced body and the Red Lotus Holy Mother’s blessing, she cannot match him.
• Chen Yuan’s Maudgalyayana Hell-Piercing Arrow forces Su Mei to expend her power defending herself. Fearing that another death would damage her Primordial Spirit beyond repair, she abandons the Divine Tree and her fellow Red Lotus Sect fighters and flees.
• Chen Yuan pursues her through a spatial passage into an open, barren valley. Cornered, Su Mei considers blowing herself up, then spots Chu Hongshang and tries to recruit her against Chen Yuan.
• Su Mei argues that Chu should hate Chen Yuan because he killed Xu Tianhong and took the Demon-Drinking Saber, while Chu herself killed Chen Yuan’s superior, Feng Wushang. Chu appears to agree—then attacks Su Mei instead.
• Chu’s Red Chain Blood Demon Seal wounds Su Mei and sends her flying. She reveals her true allegiance by warmly greeting Chen Yuan as her “benefactor.”
• Chen Yuan and Chu attack together. As Su Mei prepares to destroy herself, Chu uses the Red Chain Soul-Capturing Arrows to stun her.
• The Human-Skin Evil Book stirs, prompting Chen Yuan to spare Su Mei for the moment. He destroys her dantian and seals her meridians with Netherworld Blood-Fiend Power, leaving her powerless and captive.

Character developments

• Chen Yuan: Demonstrates how much he has advanced inside the Heaven-Piercing Tower, easily overpowering Su Mei. He also trusts the Human-Skin Evil Book’s unexplained prompting and chooses to disable rather than kill her.
• Su Mei: Her confidence and manipulative instincts collapse under pressure. Her fear of permanent spiritual damage drives her to abandon her allies, and her attempt to turn Chu against Chen Yuan backfires.
• Chu Hongshang: Reveals a warm, loyal side toward Chen Yuan that contrasts sharply with her initially cold demeanor. Her skill and quick intervention prove decisive in stopping Su Mei’s suicide attempt.

Significant themes and interactions

• Self-preservation versus loyalty: Su Mei abandons her sect’s fighters because she values her own survival and Primordial Spirit above their lives.
• Deception and misjudgment: Su Mei, accustomed to manipulating others, assumes Chu’s apparent agreement is genuine and is caught off guard when Chu attacks.
• Unexpected alliances and hidden debts: Chu’s “benefactor” relationship with Chen Yuan overturns Su Mei’s assumption that their past conflicts make them enemies.
• Interactions: Su Mei tries to persuade Chu to join her, but Chu deceives and attacks her; Chu then coordinates with Chen Yuan to subdue Su Mei, while Chen Yuan’s trust in the Evil Book changes the outcome from execution to capture.

Chapter Summary: Red Lotus True Spirit

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Yuan captures Su Mei, the Red Lotus Saintess, but does not kill her because her body is merely a vessel for a strand of the Red Lotus Holy Mother’s true spirit. Killing her would allow the true spirit to revive elsewhere.
• The Human-Skin Evil Book reveals that Su Mei’s true spirit can be extracted into Chen Yuan’s Hidden Treasury Realm. By destroying her memories and refining the remaining spirit, Chen Yuan can effectively eliminate her identity while preserving the spirit’s power.
• The book explains that the Red Lotus Holy Mother is an ancient, mysterious existence sustained by wish power. She does not directly exist in the mortal world but periodically manifests through believers and chosen vessels. The Red Lotus Sect is only one of several possible incarnations of her influence.
• Chen Yuan decides to refine the true spirit despite the risk of attracting the Red Lotus Holy Mother’s future retaliation. He reasons that he already carries the attention of other powerful beings, such as Demon Venerable Han Guang.
• Chen Yuan pulls Su Mei’s true spirit into his sea of consciousness. Su Mei attempts to self-destruct, but Chen Yuan’s Black Dragon Visualization destroys her Primordial Spirit, leaving behind only a pure crimson lotus.
• After inspecting the lotus and confirming that it is genuine, Chen Yuan refines it. His mental strength increases by roughly thirty percent, while the true spirit is also expected to aid his future breakthrough into the Eighth-Level Divine Altar Realm.
• The Human-Skin Evil Book asks for Su Mei’s physical body, claiming that it is a vessel made from Red Lotus wish power rather than a true human body. Chen Yuan agrees, partly as a reward for the book’s recent obedience.
• The book absorbs Su Mei’s skin, leaving behind a bloody corpse. Chen Yuan remains wary of the artifact’s sinister nature and immediately seals it away again.

Character Developments

• Chen Yuan becomes more decisive and pragmatic. He accepts the danger of opposing the Red Lotus Holy Mother in exchange for gaining the true spirit’s power and future cultivation benefits.
• He also demonstrates increased caution toward the Human-Skin Evil Book. Although he rewards its cooperation, he does not mistake temporary obedience for genuine loyalty.
• Su Mei is shown to be desperate and ruthless. Faced with the loss of her memories and identity, she attempts to destroy her own Primordial Spirit rather than submit to Chen Yuan’s control.
• The Human-Skin Evil Book continues to display intelligence, opportunism, and manipulation. It offers useful information but also schemes to obtain Su Mei’s body for its own growth.

Significant Themes

• Identity and the meaning of death: Erasing Su Mei’s memories would leave her alive only in a technical sense, raising the question of whether memory and identity constitute the true self.
• Power through sacrifice and risk: Chen Yuan willingly accepts the possibility of future divine retaliation to gain immediate strength and long-term cultivation advantages.
• The nature of faith and wish power: The Red Lotus Holy Mother survives through believers and manifestations rather than existing directly in the mortal world, emphasizing how religious belief can become a supernatural source of power.
• Trust and control: Chen Yuan must use the Human-Skin Evil Book while constantly suppressing and monitoring it, illustrating the danger of relying on evil or intelligent artifacts.
• Vessels versus true beings: Both Su Mei’s body and the Red Lotus Saintess’s existence are presented as constructed vessels, distinguishing physical form from the deeper spirit or power inhabiting it.

Character Interactions

• Chen Yuan and the Human-Skin Evil Book cooperate in analyzing Su Mei, but their exchange remains cautious and transactional.
• Chen Yuan dismisses Su Mei’s threat that the Red Lotus Holy Mother will avenge her, pointing out that her supposed protector has already allowed her to be captured.
• Su Mei and Chen Yuan engage in a final psychological confrontation inside the Hidden Treasury Realm, with Su Mei choosing self-destruction over memory erasure.
• The Human-Skin Evil Book ingratiates itself with Chen Yuan to obtain Su Mei’s body, while Chen Yuan uses the opportunity to reward it without relaxing his control.

Chapter Summary: “Reversing Life Force”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chu Hongshang witnesses Chen Yuan communicating with the Human-Skin Evil Book and watching it devour Su Mei’s skin. She warns him that the artifact is sinister, but Chen Yuan assures her that he intends to use it without ever trusting it.
• Chu Hongshang reports that Gu Linchuan and others have discovered the Longevity Hall, the core palace of the Endless Immortal Palace. The hall supposedly contains the ultimate secrets of longevity, prompting Chen Yuan to stop exploring lesser palaces and prepare to head there.
• Chu Hongshang leaves first to avoid exposing her connection with Chen Yuan and revealing his role in killing Feng Wushang.
• Chen Yuan returns to the Hall of Ten Thousand Hells, where Cui Xuanye and Lu Chuanshan have defeated the remaining Red Lotus Sect members.
• He confirms that Su Mei has been eliminated, but warns that the Red Lotus Sect will likely survive and continue growing during the current era of chaos. The Red Lotus Holy Mother cannot currently descend personally, and Chen Yuan believes any agents sent against him may meet the same fate as Su Mei.
• The three men dismantle the formations protecting the Endless Divine Tree. Chen Yuan explains that the tree was created through a life-and-death conversion technique: death energy from countless corpses was transformed into unstable vitality.
• Rather than consuming the tree’s grotesque fruits directly, which could turn into deadly poison, they topple the entire tree and expose the bone pit beneath it.
• Chen Yuan uses his Netherworld Blood-Fiend Power to purify and stabilize the tree’s mixed life-and-death energy. He absorbs much of it and allows Cui Xuanye and Lu Chuanshan to refine the remainder.
• Afterward, all three are saturated with immense vitality and resemble walking spiritual medicines.

Character Developments

• Chen Yuan demonstrates caution and control regarding the Human-Skin Evil Book. He recognizes its usefulness but remains determined not to trust it.
• His influence over Chu Hongshang has deepened into nearly absolute faith. After he killed Xu Tianhong and helped her enter the Hidden Dragon Ranking, she no longer merely trusts him; she believes he can accomplish anything he claims.
• Chen Yuan continues to act as a protector and benefactor, resolving the threat of Su Mei while also sharing the Endless Divine Tree’s power with Cui Xuanye and Lu Chuanshan.
• Chu Hongshang shows increased discernment and maturity. She recognizes the Human-Skin Evil Book’s danger, understands the importance of the Longevity Hall, and cooperates with Chen Yuan’s decision to conceal their association.
• Cui Xuanye and Lu Chuanshan prove reliable allies by guarding the Hall of Ten Thousand Hells, destroying the protective formations, and helping Chen Yuan topple the Endless Divine Tree.

Significant Themes

• Power without trust: Chen Yuan’s attitude toward the Human-Skin Evil Book reflects the need to exploit dangerous power while remaining wary of its motives.
• Life and death intertwined: The Endless Divine Tree embodies the unstable conversion of death into vitality. Chen Yuan’s mastery of the same principle through the Netherworld Blood-Fiend Power allows him to safely refine it.
• Loyalty and faith: Chu Hongshang’s relationship with Chen Yuan has evolved from gratitude into unwavering devotion, emphasizing the strength—and possible danger—of absolute faith in a powerful leader.
• Chaos enabling evil: The Red Lotus Sect thrives because disorder provides the Incense Wish Power it needs. The chapter suggests that destructive forces can persist even after individual enemies are defeated.
• Opportunity versus urgency: The discovery of the Longevity Hall forces Chen Yuan to prioritize the central opportunity over further exploration of secondary treasures.

Important Character Interactions

• Chu Hongshang warns Chen Yuan about the Human-Skin Evil Book, while Chen Yuan reassures her of his precautions.
• She gives Chen Yuan crucial information about Gu Linchuan and the Longevity Hall, influencing his next move.
• Chen Yuan reunites with Cui Xuanye and Lu Chuanshan after they defeat the Red Lotus Sect forces and explains Su Mei’s fate.
• The three cooperate to destroy the Endless Divine Tree and refine its purified vitality, with Chen Yuan generously allowing his companions to share in the benefits.

Plot points and events

• After absorbing vitality from the Endless Divine Tree, Chen Yuan, Cui Xuanye, and Lu Chuanshan stabilize their power and head to Longevity Hall.
• Far away, the Red Lotus Holy Mother senses that someone has devoured part of her true spirit. She briefly mistakes the power’s imprint for someone she believes dead, then realizes it is a coincidence. Enraged, she vows revenge and sends a petal of the red lotus toward an unknown destination.
• At Longevity Hall, the group finds martial artists battling powerful guards. Qingchenzi identifies them as Flesh Puppets—ancient creations combining many disciplines, powered by golden spirit jade fluid. Though their strength has dwindled over ten thousand years, the puppets remain deadly, and more are stored inside the hall.
• Qingchenzi proposes sealing the puppets’ storage doorway with Yellow Court Abbey’s Taiyi Sealing Formation. Gu Linchuan and Luo Lie will draw the guards’ attacks, Cui Xuanye will help establish the formation, and Chen Yuan and Ming Zhong will destroy any puppets that break through.
• The group agrees to cooperate despite the hostility between Chen Yuan and Ming Zhong. Qingchenzi and Cui Xuanye begin activating a massive formation disc.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Yuan remains unconcerned by the Red Lotus Holy Mother’s distant threats, believing she cannot harm him directly while absent from the realm.
• Qingchenzi demonstrates strategic leadership and reveals immense reserves of power, contributing several times more energy to the formation disc than Cui Xuanye.
• Ming Zhong still distrusts and resents Chen Yuan, but agrees to work with him. His attitude has softened after Han Chang’s betrayal, which he considers worse than Chen Yuan’s conduct.
• Chen Yuan makes clear that he does not seek conflict with Vajra Prajna Temple, while feeling the temple unjustly treats him as an enemy. Qingchenzi declines to mediate.
• The gathered allies’ combined strength makes Chen Yuan’s group the strongest force in Endless Immortal Palace.

Significant themes

• Ancient power and decline: The Flesh Puppets once rivaled Origin Pill grandmasters, but time has weakened them—though they remain formidable.
• Cooperation amid mistrust: The dangers at Longevity Hall compel former or potential enemies to work together.
• Vengeance and looming threats: The Red Lotus Holy Mother’s fury foreshadows consequences for Chen Yuan’s actions.
• Power concealed beneath appearances: Qingchenzi’s extraordinary reserves reveal that his capabilities exceed what he has shown.

Chapter Summary: “Divine-Demon Blood”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qingchenzi’s true potential is emphasized. Although ranked only sixth on the Hidden Dragon Ranking due to his limited battle record, his mastery of formations and deep cultivation foundation make him one of the most difficult geniuses for Chen Yuan to assess.
• As the group approaches the gateway producing Flesh Puppets, Gu Linchuan and Luo Lie lead the assault:
  • Gu Linchuan uses his six swords and Sword-Wielding Wisdom King inheritance to cut through the puppets.
  • Luo Lie demonstrates exceptional battlefield strength, becoming more formidable when surrounded and outnumbered.
• When the formation nears the gateway, the Flesh Puppets surge violently. Chen Yuan and Ming Zhong launch a combined attack:
  • Ming Zhong manifests a golden Demon-Subduing Vajra and crushes large numbers of puppets.
  • Chen Yuan fires a devastating arrow infused with Netherworld Blood Fiend, life force converted into death intent, and the power of the Maudgalyayana Hell-Piercing Arrow. His attack completely annihilates the remaining puppets.
• Qingchenzi and Cui Xuanye successfully deploy the Taiyi Sealing Formation, temporarily sealing the gateway for one day—enough time to investigate the Longevity Hall.
• The Longevity Hall’s doors open unexpectedly. Qingchenzi suspects this is abnormal, and his fears are confirmed when a nearby martial artist is instantly killed by golden light.
• Six enormous Hall-Guarding Divine Generals emerge. They are golden-armored Flesh Puppets with wings and powerful weapons, forged from the blood of Primordial Demon Gods. Their bodies contain diluted Divine-Demon Blood rather than ordinary spiritual fluid.
• The Divine Generals massacre many independent martial artists and overwhelm several Hidden Dragon Ranking geniuses. Cui Xuanye is badly injured when his formation is destroyed, and Lu Chuanshan, Luo Lie, and Yue Ling’er struggle together merely to survive.
• Chen Yuan discovers that the Seven Kill Stele is emotionally reacting to the Divine-Demon Blood. He realizes that the stele’s true blood-sacrifice requirement is not ordinary mortal blood, but the blood of ancient gods and demons.

Character Developments

• Chen Yuan: Demonstrates increasingly dangerous offensive power by combining his bow technique, Netherworld Blood Fiend, and transformed life force. He also gains a new understanding of the Seven Kill Stele and its connection to Divine-Demon Blood.
• Qingchenzi: Is established as an exceptionally mysterious and talented formation master whose abilities may exceed his ranking. He remains cautious and perceptive, immediately recognizing that the Longevity Hall’s opening is suspicious.
• Gu Linchuan: Reveals greatly improved combat strength after inheriting the Sword-Wielding Wisdom King’s sword Dao. He is portrayed as a warrior who becomes stronger under pressure and possesses enormous potential.
• Luo Lie: Proves especially effective in chaotic, large-scale combat. His strength lies in battlefield momentum and fighting surrounded by enemies rather than in formal one-on-one duels.
• Ming Zhong: Displays powerful Buddhist combat abilities, using the Demon-Subduing Vajra to clear the Flesh Puppets.
• Cui Xuanye: Although a formation specialist, he is badly outmatched by the Hall-Guarding Divine Generals and suffers injury when his formation is shattered.
• The Seven Kill Stele: Shows a previously unseen emotional response, revealing its hunger for Divine-Demon Blood and hinting at a deeper, more significant origin or function.

Significant Themes

• Hidden strength versus reputation: Rankings do not fully reflect true ability. Qingchenzi, Gu Linchuan, and Luo Lie all possess strengths that their public reputations fail to capture.
• The danger of ancient power: The Divine-Demon Blood of Primordial Demon Gods creates enemies far beyond ordinary Flesh Puppets or contemporary geniuses.
• Cooperation amid competition: Although the martial artists cannot all compete equally for the Longevity Hall, they temporarily cooperate against common threats.
• Artifacts with consciousness: The Seven Kill Stele’s reaction reinforces the idea that divine artifacts possess wills and desires of their own.
• The limits of human cultivation: Even powerful modern geniuses are nearly helpless against beings forged from ancient divine blood, emphasizing the vast gap between ordinary cultivators and Primordial Demon Gods.

Character Interactions

• Qingchenzi and Chen Yuan continue to cooperate as allies, with Chen Yuan choosing not to distrust or overanalyze Qingchenzi despite recognizing his hidden strength.
• Gu Linchuan and Luo Lie work together to clear a path, while Qingchenzi and Cui Xuanye coordinate the sealing formation.
• Chen Yuan and Ming Zhong synchronize their attacks, combining Buddhist suppression with Chen Yuan’s annihilating arrow.
• Cui Xuanye, Lu Chuanshan, Luo Lie, and Yue Ling’er jointly defend against a Hall-Guarding Divine General, but are forced into a desperate struggle.
• Qingchenzi explains the nature of the Hall-Guarding Divine Generals and their Divine-Demon Blood, giving the others crucial information about the new threat.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Yuan discovers that the Seven-Kill Stele Fragment can absorb Divine-Demon Blood, potentially strengthening his Blood Fiend Power.
• When the six Hall-Guarding Divine Generals begin attacking everyone indiscriminately, Chen Yuan fights one to protect a fleeing cultivator. He learns that their strength comes from a heart-shaped formation pumping Divine-Demon Blood through artificial meridians.
• Exploiting their lack of intelligence and defense, Chen Yuan breaks through a general’s armor and uses the Nine Deaths Netherworld Slash to expose its heart. He drains its Divine-Demon Blood, earning a stronger surge of Blood Fiend Power.
• Chen Yuan identifies the heart as the critical target and helps Gu Linchuan defeat another general. He then collects blood from additional fallen generals, even taking the one Ming Zhong has weakened.
• Ming Zhong destroys a general’s armor through sheer force, while Qingchenzi kills another with a palm strike—an outcome Chen Yuan regrets because it leaves the blood unavailable.
• The final general activates a dangerous self-destruct mechanism, drawing power from the Longevity Hall’s formations. Before Chen Yuan can stop it, two newcomers arrive: a powerful Daoist tears off its wings and armor, and a swordsman kills it with a single thrust.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Yuan proves both exceptionally strong and tactically perceptive. He shifts from testing the generals’ raw power to exploiting their artificial hearts, while concealing that his main goal is harvesting their Divine-Demon Blood.
• Gu Linchuan follows Chen Yuan’s advice immediately, committing all six swords to opening the general’s chest despite the danger.
• Ming Zhong responds to Chen Yuan’s rapid progress with competitive determination, fighting his own opponent more fiercely. He grows angry when Chen Yuan takes the weakened general, but cannot openly object without seeming petty.
• Qingchenzi contributes by swiftly destroying a general, though his method frustrates Chen Yuan because it wastes the valuable blood.
• Chen Yuan’s rescue of a Rogue Cultivator appears generous, but he acts mainly because the attacker is in his way.

Significant themes

• Power and ingenuity: The generals’ immense strength comes from sophisticated artificial anatomy, but their lack of intelligence makes them vulnerable.
• Pragmatism and concealed motives: Chen Yuan helps the group while also pursuing personal gains from the Divine-Demon Blood.
• Competition and cooperation: The cultivators must work together to survive, even as personal pride and differing interests shape their actions.
• Life, death, and transformation: Chen Yuan’s techniques turn vitality into deathly force, while the Stele’s absorption converts the generals’ blood into greater power.

Chapter Summary: The Overbearing Imperial Scion

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Yuan arrives at the Longevity Hall and finds that Zhongli of True Martial Temple and Ji Man of the Ji Clan have already claimed the area.
• Ji Man has brought more than thirty martial artists, most from factions subordinate to the Ji Clan, including Xiao Jing of the Xiao Clan.
• The chapter explains the historical relationship between the Ji and Xiao Clans: the Xiao Clan is nominally one of the Eight Great Clans but is effectively a vassal of the ancient imperial Ji Clan.
• The Longevity Hall contains a vast vitality-gathering formation and nine mysterious coffins placed at its cores. The coffins and formations suggest the hall contains extremely valuable or dangerous treasures.
• Ji Man’s forces block the entrance and prevent the others from entering. He claims that his clan had chosen the hall in advance because an elder connected to the Ji Clan wants something inside.
• Ji Man offers Qingchenzi information about three unexplored Daoist ruins as compensation for withdrawing.
• Zhongli supports Ji Man, explaining that the same senior figure has ties to True Martial Temple and that only the Ji Clan and he are permitted to explore the hall.
• Ming Zhong initially protests, but Ji Man manipulates him by revealing that Ji Yuanhai—the demon who murdered Ming Zhong’s beloved mentor, Xuanjing—is imprisoned by the Ji Clan.
• Prioritizing revenge over the treasures, Ming Zhong agrees to withdraw, warning that he will feud with the Ji Clan if Ji Yuanhai is not handed over afterward.
• Ji Man then orders Chen Yuan to leave, assuming Chen is too insignificant to challenge the Ji Clan.
• Chen Yuan openly mocks Ji Man’s arrogance and rejects the Ji Clan’s claim to the Longevity Hall. His words win the support of many independent martial artists who also resent Ji Man’s attempt to monopolize the hall.
• The chapter ends with Chen Yuan directly attacking the Ji Clan’s imperial pride, arguing that its ancient mandate and former dynasty no longer grant it authority or respect.

Character Developments

• Chen Yuan: Becomes openly confrontational rather than tolerating Ji Man’s dominance. He demonstrates confidence in his own strength and challenges the Ji Clan’s historical legitimacy, positioning himself as a spokesman for the oppressed independent martial artists.
• Ji Man: Is revealed as arrogant, politically calculating, and deeply convinced of the Ji Clan’s superiority. He uses promises, threats, and historical prestige to control others, but underestimates Chen Yuan.
• Ming Zhong: Shows the depth of his devotion to Xuanjing, whom he regarded as a father. His desire for vengeance overrides his interest in the Longevity Hall, making him vulnerable to Ji Man’s manipulation.
• Qingchenzi: Displays caution and political awareness. Unlike Ming Zhong, he recognizes that the alliance between the Ji Clan and True Martial Temple likely involves a powerful hidden figure and carefully assesses the danger.
• Zhongli: Acts as Ji Man’s powerful ally, confirming that the conflict is backed by connections between the Ji Clan and True Martial Temple.
• Xiao Jing: Appears among Ji Man’s supporters, reinforcing the Xiao Clan’s subordinate relationship to the Ji Clan.

Significant Themes

• Arrogance of inherited status: Ji Man relies on the Ji Clan’s ancient imperial lineage rather than acknowledging the contributions of those who opened the hall.
• Power versus legitimacy: The chapter questions whether historical authority or imperial ancestry still matters when a clan has lost its throne and influence.
• Manipulation and personal priorities: Ji Man controls Ming Zhong by exploiting his grief and desire for revenge.
• Class and factional hierarchy: The Ji Clan views other clans and grassroots forces as inferior, while the independent martial artists resent being treated as expendable.
• Revenge versus opportunity: Ming Zhong sacrifices access to potentially supreme treasures in exchange for the chance to confront his mentor’s killer.
• Resistance to oppression: Chen Yuan’s defiance gives voice to the wider resentment against the Ji Clan’s attempt to monopolize the Longevity Hall.

Character Interactions

• Ji Man and Zhongli: Work together to seize the hall, presenting a united front backed by powerful factions.
• Ji Man and Qingchenzi: Ji Man adopts a superficially respectful tone and attempts to buy Qingchenzi’s withdrawal with information about Daoist ruins.
• Ji Man and Ming Zhong: Ji Man exploits Ming Zhong’s emotional attachment to Xuanjing, offering Ji Yuanhai in exchange for Ming Zhong’s retreat.
• Ji Man and Chen Yuan: Their interaction becomes the chapter’s central confrontation. Ji Man dismisses Chen Yuan as insignificant, while Chen Yuan publicly ridicules the Ji Clan’s imperial pretensions.
• Chen Yuan and the independent martial artists: Chen Yuan’s criticism reflects their shared frustration and earns their support against Ji Man’s attempted monopoly.