Chapter Summaries

Yan Qing and Liu Qingcang fought with increasingly powerful attacks, until Liu Qingcang unleashed the Azure Dragon Lineage’s supreme art and Yan Qing answered with a final Karmic Flame strike. Their attacks collided in a crimson blaze, leaving the outcome uncertain.

• Yan Qing’s Karmic Flame spread across the battlefield, burning the dead Mystic Serpents and driving their surviving soldiers into a fanatical frenzy.
• Yan Qing wounded Liu Qingcang with his sword, but Liu Qingcang struck back and forced him onto the Command Platform.
• Liu Qingcang unleashed his vital blood to extinguish the surrounding flames, then rose into the air and revealed his grandmaster power to Chen Mu.
• Liu Qingcang used Azure Dragon Locks the Gate, smashing the Command Platform and tearing open Yan Qing’s face with the force of his blow.
• Yan Qing shattered his sword and unleashed Red Lotus Blood-Burning, Karmic Flame Scorches Heaven against Liu Qingcang’s attack, and the collision filled the sky with crimson fire.

Yan Qing survived Liu Qingcang’s killing blow, then rampaged through friend and foe as karmic flames consumed him. Martial artists mistook his apparent weakness for an opportunity, but Yan Qing slaughtered them and emerged in human form, challenging the battlefield.

• Yan Qing burst from the crater alive while Liu Qingcang, gravely weakened by his final strike, prepared to face death.
• Chen Mu and Li Huanzhen rushed to protect Liu Qingcang, but Yan Qing charged past them and indiscriminately attacked the demons of Blackwater Marsh’s Thirty-Six Water Mansions.
• As karmic flames engulfed Yan Qing, martial artists rushed to kill him, and Qian Sandao struck his exposed neck with a saber.
• Chen Mu sensed Yan Qing’s spiritual energy surging and warned the attackers to retreat, but nearly twenty martial artists were consumed by the flames before they could escape.
• Yan Qing shrank into a burned, white-robed human form, raised his cracked Red-Tassel Sword, and challenged anyone to kill him.

Chen Mu and Li Huanzhen fought Yan Qing together as his karmic flame overwhelmed them, until Li Huanzhen summoned heavenly lightning to strike the demon. The smoke cleared enough to reveal a staggering figure, leaving Yan Qing's fate uncertain.

• Li Huanzhen attacked Yan Qing, and Chen Mu helped him escape the demon's karmic flame sword-whips, though Li Huanzhen's arm was badly burned.
• Chen Mu and Li Huanzhen coordinated their attacks and wounded Yan Qing, but Yan Qing intensified his assault and scorched both fighters with karmic flame.
• Yan Qing's flame-whip caught Chen Mu's left arm, while Li Huanzhen began the Thunder-Calling Art and Chen Mu used lightning to hold Yan Qing in place.
• Yan Qing exploded his ruined sword into Karmic Fire Red Lotuses, and Li Huanzhen completed his ritual and called down three pillars of Purple Firmament Divine Thunder.
• The lightning struck Yan Qing, and the blast hurled Chen Mu away; through the smoke, the soldiers saw a staggering figure and wondered whether they had won.

Chen Mu faced the gravely wounded Yan Qing after Li Huanzhen withdrew from the fight. Chen Mu absorbed Yan Qing’s Karmic Flame with his Divine Lihuo Eyes and pressed his advantage, but Yan Qing began transforming into his true form as their battle continued.

• Li Huanzhen withdrew from the battlefield, leaving Chen Mu to face Yan Qing alone.
• Yan Qing ordered the surrounding demons to stand down, then attacked Chen Mu with his Karmic Flame.
• Yan Qing seized the Dragon-Slayer Saber and channeled Karmic Flame into it, snapping the blade and setting Chen Mu’s right arm ablaze.
• Chen Mu used his Divine Lihuo Eyes to absorb the Karmic Flame, advancing his divine power and healing his injured arm.
• Chen Mu and Yan Qing traded fierce attacks until their clash sent them both flying and Yan Qing crashed into a scorched pit.
• Yan Qing’s fallen body swelled and revealed snake scales as he began to transform into his true form.

As Yan Qing revealed his true body and gathered a city-destroying mass of karmic flame, Chen Mu stayed on the battlefield and used his vital blood and A Zhu’s power to summon a Hundred-Eyed Daoist and a divine general. The divine general charged Yan Qing with a Heaven-Splitting Divine Axe, and the chapter ended with the strike about to fall.

• Yan Qing revealed his battered giant-snake form, and the defenders on the gate tower feared his might.
• Liu Qingcang ordered the city abandoned but refused to retreat while Chen Mu remained below.
• Yan Qing gathered the deaths of the battlefield into a vast karmic-flame attack aimed at the city.
• Chen Mu retrieved his broken Dragon-Slayer Saber, offered his vital blood, and asked a senior spirit to help slay Yan Qing.
• A Zhu sent power through the Profound Thunder Cauldron, helping Chen Mu summon the Hundred-Eyed Daoist and a divine general who charged Yan Qing with a Heaven-Splitting Divine Axe.

Chen Mu killed Yan Qing with the Thunder General’s divine power, ending the siege and earning the Northern Lands’ admiration. After returning to A-Ning, he learned that a female Mystic Guard from the Youzhou Demon Suppression Bureau had arrived with orders to arrest him and take him north.

• Chen Mu gathered blood baleful intent to restore the Thunder General’s phantom, whose axe split Yan Qing’s karmic flames and severed the White-Scaled Giant Snake’s head.
• A Zhu recovered Yan Qing’s demon core, while the Water Manor’s Demon Soldiers fled and the defenders cheered Chen Mu’s victory.
• Liu Qingcang praised Chen Mu and ordered the survivors to clear the battlefield as Chen Mu returned to the city and asked Li Huanzhen to watch the walls.
• Chen Mu reunited with A-Ning at the Azure Dragon Martial Academy and stayed with her until she fell asleep.
• Li Huanzhen told Chen Mu that a female Mystic Guard had arrived from the north with verbal orders from the Bureau Chief to arrest him and take him north.

Qin Xiangjun visited Chen Mu with news that the northern front had won a decisive victory and that his senior brothers Qin Tieya and Yuan Hong were safe. She explained the defeat of the Sky Wolfers and Esoteric Sect forces, but warned Chen Mu that threats from demons in the region remained.

• Chen Mu met Qin Xiangjun, who revealed that the Beiliang Military Prefecture had routed the wolf cavalry on Sirius Plain and submitted a report of victory for the emperor.
• Qin Xiangjun told Chen Mu that Qin Tieya and Yuan Hong had helped repel the barbarian cavalry and that Xuanzhen, the White-Clad Asura, had been driven back from the Northern Sea.
• Qin Xiangjun said she would remain in Youzhou for seven days before returning to the capital, and promised to request rewards for Chen Mu and his senior brothers.
• Chuntang served tea and privately suspected Qin Xiangjun had come to pursue Chen Mu, while he remained focused on the military news.
• Qin Xiangjun explained that the Everlasting Prosperity Garrison Commander had been delayed by the mountain spirits and wild monsters of Fox Immortal Ridge, and warned Chen Mu to beware the tiger demon in Mangdang Mountain.

After the northern threat was defeated, Qin Xiangjun told Chen Mu about the demons who had intercepted reinforcements and urged him to seek a wider future beyond the Northern Lands. She left in anger when he failed to understand her feelings, while Chen Mu put thoughts of travel aside to handle the town’s affairs and his injured master.

• Qin Xiangjun explained that Su Yue'e's forces had been defeated, the Mountain Lord might seek revenge, and the danger to Everlasting Prosperity Town had passed.
• Qin Xiangjun waited for Chen Mu to say something before her departure, but he thanked her formally and told Chuntang to refill her tea and see her off.
• Qin Xiangjun questioned where Chen Mu had been and scolded him for prioritizing his wife, then urged him to meet her in Youzhou and return to the capital with her.
• Qin Xiangjun rode out of town, leaving Chen Mu to consider the Nine Domains and Eight Wastes before he set aside travel plans to attend to the town and his badly injured master.
• Chen Mu ordered Chuntang to summon the school's disciples so he could make important arrangements.

After returning victorious to the academy, Chen Mu learned that Liu Qingcang’s old injuries had returned and that he had little time left. Liu Qingcang entrusted the academy to his senior disciples and asked Chen Mu to find and protect Liu Qingluo, while preparing to spend his final days beside Shen Niang’s grave.

• Chen Mu planned to settle the academy’s affairs before traveling with A-Ning to search for her family and eventually go to the Capital.
• Liu Meng told Chen Mu that Qin Tieya and Yuan Hong had returned, and Chen Mu went to welcome them.
• Liu Qingcang told his disciples that the Blood-Burning Secret Art had revived his old injuries and that he did not have long to live.
• Liu Qingcang entrusted the academy’s affairs to Qin Tieya, Yuan Hong, and Xiao Wenbin, then asked Chen Mu to find and look after Liu Qingluo in Jiangnan.
• Liu Qingcang said he planned to return to Shen Niang, and Chen Mu bowed farewell before leaving the Founders’ Hall.