Recaps

Chu Bai met Xuanmingzi at the City Lord's Manor and learned that karmic backlash prevented cultivators from clearing the abyss, while breakthrough attempts provoked a deadly demonic tide. Chu Bai promised to absorb the karma and protect Xuanmingzi during his Purple Abode breakthrough, and Xuanmingzi pledged his life and Formless City to Chu Bai's cause.

• Chu Bai entered the City Lord's Manor alone and clashed with Xuanmingzi using his quasi-Purple Abode divine soul, earning the old city lord's respect.
• Chu Bai revealed the truth about the Heavenly Abyss Fragment Realm, its contamination, and the vengeful spirits to Xuanmingzi.
• Xuanmingzi explained that killing vengeful spirits transferred their karmic obstruction to their slayers, while a Purple Abode breakthrough would draw an overwhelming demonic tide.
• Chu Bai offered to bear the karma from the purification campaign and proposed using Xuanmingzi's breakthrough to lure the vengeful spirits out, promising to protect him and Formless City.
• Xuanmingzi pledged his life and allegiance to Chu Bai if he survived the breakthrough, then ordered Formless City to prepare for his attempt at Soul-Severing Ridge in three days.

Formless City prepared for Xuanmingzi’s attempt to attain the Purple Abode Dao, which threatened to draw an overwhelming demon tide. As Xuanmingzi and Chu Bai headed for Soul-Severing Ridge, the abyssal demons awoke and the great battle began to loom.

• Xuanmingzi announced his tribulation and sealed Formless City under the highest military alert, triggering panic that the guards violently suppressed.
• Li Qinglian ordered Medicine King Valley to fortify the city, while Zhao Panshi committed the Hundred Refinements Pavilion’s weapons and disciples to its defense.
• Lei Wu rallied Ironblood Hall behind Chu Bai, who spent three days cultivating the Great Luo Divine Refining Art and created the Soul-Slaying Blade.
• Xuanmingzi entrusted the City Lord’s Manor’s reserves to a guard commander for Chu Bai in case he died, then prepared to leave for the tribulation.
• As the Purple Abode tribulation gathered over Soul-Severing Ridge, Xuanmingzi and Chu Bai left the city, and the abyssal demon tide erupted in response to Xuanmingzi’s aura.

Chu Bai guarded Xuanmingzi as he broke through to Purple Abode, battling the abyssal demonic tide and its strongest fiends. Just as Xuanmingzi’s breakthrough neared completion, the Faceless Evil King fired an Extinction Light Pillar at him, and Chu Bai rushed to intercept it with his own body.

• Chu Bai carved a trench at Soul-Severing Ridge and vowed to stop any abyssal creature from reaching Xuanmingzi as he ascended.
• Xuanmingzi shattered his thirty-six seals and began breaking through while the heaven-and-earth karmic fire unleashed a vast demonic tide.
• Chu Bai used Great Luo Soul Refinement to destroy vengeful spirits and absorbed their karmic obstruction with the help of humanity’s fortune and his Black Baleful Crystal Core.
• When Foundation Establishment Perfection evil spirits charged, Chu Bai fought them with his physical strength and Great Five-Phase True Astral Force, holding the trench as Xuanmingzi forged Fallen Star River and opened his Purple Abode Space.
• The Faceless Evil King emerged from the abyss and fired an Extinction Light Pillar at the vulnerable Xuanmingzi, and Chu Bai raced into its path.

Chu Bai held off the Faceless Evil King until Xuanmingzi completed his breakthrough into the Purple Abode Realm and destroyed the fiend and the demonic tide. When the slaughter’s accumulated karma formed a catastrophic tribulation cloud, Chu Bai tried to absorb it, and Xuanmingzi intervened to help him refine it as his divine soul began transforming toward the Purple Abode Realm.

• Chu Bai crippled the Faceless Evil King’s assembled body with Soul-Slaying Blades and endured its attacks for a quarter of an hour to protect Xuanmingzi’s breakthrough.
• Xuanmingzi attained the Purple Abode Realm, used Starfall to obliterate the Faceless Evil King, and swept away the million-strong demonic tide with Falling Stars.
• The dead fiend and spirits’ accumulated karma gathered into a world-threatening tribulation cloud, and Chu Bai began drawing it into himself.
• Chu Bai’s divine soul began to tear under the karmic burden, so Xuanmingzi suppressed the corruption with Purple Abode spell power and urged Chu Bai to refine it.
• Chu Bai anchored himself with his vow and used the Origin-Opening Daoist Scripture and Fortune Golden Body to refine the karma, beginning a transformation toward a true Purple Abode divine soul.

Chu Bai purified the Heavenly Abyss Fragment Realm by absorbing its hundred-thousand-year karmic obstruction, then guided the collapsing fragment realm safely back into Great Zhou. The chapter ended with Chu Bai confronting Great Zhou’s arriving experts and declaring his return as Lord of Northern Peace.

• Chu Bai swallowed the Heavenly Abyss Fragment Realm’s karmic obstruction, purified the realm, and broke through to a transformed divine soul, though the burden left half his hair white and a Black-Purple Lotus mark on his brow.
• The people of Formless City sent Chu Bai a surge of faith, and Xuanmingzi bowed to him and acknowledged him as the Realm Lord.
• The Great Zhou Immortal Dynasty’s laws began forcibly drawing the fragment realm back, threatening to destroy it and everyone within during the collision.
• Chu Bai steered the realm with the Immortal Boundary-Stele while Xuanmingzi shielded Formless City, and they survived the crossing into Great Zhou.
• The Southern Pacification General, the Qingzhou Prefect, and other Great Zhou powerhouses arrived and recognized Chu Bai as the magistrate who had entered the fragment realm alone.
• Chu Bai introduced himself as Great Zhou’s Lord of Northern Peace and declared that he had brought the Heavenly Abyss Fragment Realm back into the fold.

Chu Bai led the Heavenly Abyss Fragment Realm into Qingzhou, revealed that he had absorbed its hundred thousand years of abyssal poison, and helped merge its territory with Great Zhou. The Qingzhou Prefect awarded Chu Bai first place in the Purple Register Heavenly Examination and recognized his sole authority over the newly named Heavenly Abyss District, as Chu Bai set his sights on Great Zhou’s heartland.

• The Southern Pacification General recoiled after probing the Black-Purple Lotus between Chu Bai’s brows, while the Qingzhou Prefect recognized Xuanmingzi as a Purple Abode Realm powerhouse serving Chu Bai.
• Chu Bai explained that the Heavenly Abyss Fragment Realm had been a prison for Extraterrestrial Demons and revealed he had swallowed its accumulated poison and karma into the lotus mark.
• When the fragment realm’s laws clashed with Qingzhou’s, the Qingzhou Prefect ordered the [Mountain-River Smelting Formation], and Chu Bai used the Immortal Boundary-Stele and his fortune golden body to align the earth veins and guide Great Zhou’s dragon vein into the realm.
• The Heavenly Abyss Fragment Realm merged with Qingzhou, its gray sky cleared, and spiritual rain restored the land and enabled cultivators to advance.
• The Qingzhou Prefect named Chu Bai first in the Purple Register Heavenly Examination, renamed the realm the Heavenly Abyss District, and granted Chu Bai sole authority over it pending the Human Emperor’s decree.
• After Qingzhou’s dignitaries departed, Chu Bai’s followers celebrated as he surveyed his new domain and turned his attention toward the heartland of Great Zhou.

Chu Bai returned from the Heavenly Abyss Fragment Realm and stunned Qingzhou by claiming first place in the Purple Register Heavenly Examination with achievements beyond anything the other prodigies could imagine. After receiving the Supreme Violet Ordination, he rejected the gathered elites’ offers and departed to cultivate in his own territory.

• Gu Yuan, Lin Tingfeng, and Su Qinghan emerged from their secret realms with prized achievements, while the prodigies assumed Chu Bai had died in the Heavenly Abyss Fragment Realm.
• The Qingzhou Prefect unveiled the Purple-Gold Ranking, naming Chu Bai first for cleansing the fragment realm, defeating the Faceless Evil King, gaining a Purple Abode cultivator’s allegiance, and bringing the realm under Great Zhou’s control.
• Gu Yuan and Lin Tingfeng challenged the ranking until Chu Bai tore open space and arrived, then overwhelmed the prodigies with his Purple Abode divine soul pressure.
• The Qingzhou Prefect and other mighty cultivators greeted Chu Bai as an equal and granted him the Supreme Violet Ordination, which also suppressed his volatile demonic mark.
• Chu Bai declined the clans’ invitations and marriage proposals, then departed for Heavenly Abyss to cultivate and establish his own Purple Abode Space.

After returning to Great Wall Prefecture with the Supreme Violet Ordination and a divine soul approaching the Purple Abode Realm, Chu Bai rejected offers of high office and chose to return to his territory to cultivate. He left to seal its passages and pursue a breakthrough that he intended to secure through his own strength.

• The Great Wall Prefect and Shen Xuance welcomed Chu Bai with the prefecture’s clans and sects after learning of his achievements in the Heavenly Abyss Fragment Realm.
• Chu Bai’s overwhelming divine soul pressure revealed that he had formed a Purple Abode Realm divine soul, and he assured the prefect that he held no grudge against Great Wall Prefecture.
• The Wang Household and Li Household patriarchs watched Chu Bai pass through the city, but he ignored their estates and former conflicts.
• In a secret chamber, the Great Wall Prefect offered to help Chu Bai obtain a high-ranking appointment, but Chu Bai rejected reliance on political office and authority.
• Chu Bai announced that he would return to his territory, seal it off, and cultivate until he could enter the Purple Abode Realm and claim dominion through his own power.
• The Great Wall Prefect and Shen Xuance pledged their support, and Chu Bai departed for the border between Anping County and the Heavenly Abyss New Territory.

Chu Bai returned to Anping County, where the people’s willing force soothed the Heavenly Abyss’s Karmic Obstruction within him. By refining that obstruction with the county’s faith, he broke through to the Purple Abode Realm and prepared to face the greater contest in the imperial capital.

• Chu Bai arrived in Anping County and was welcomed by its people, whose willing force eased the violence of the Karmic Obstruction in his soul.
• Chu Bai reunited with County Magistrate Ji Li, reassured him that governing Anping was valuable work, and chose his old residence as his place of seclusion.
• Chu Bai activated the Spirit-Gathering and Mind-Stabilizing Formation and used the people’s faith to contain and refine the Karmic Obstruction.
• As Chu Bai’s breakthrough began, golden clouds and purple-black thunder gathered above Anping County while he shielded its people from the upheaval.
• Chu Bai shattered his Foundation Establishment Dao Foundation and rebuilt it as he broke through to the Purple Abode Realm.
• Chu Bai emerged transformed, declared that he had taken control of the Karmic Obstruction, and invited Ji Li to share another cup of wine.

After a year of refining the Heavenly Abyss Fragment Realm’s world-poison, Chu Bai broke through to the Purple Abode Realm by surviving a massive karmic tribulation with help from Anping County’s people and his new divine ability. Three days later, he emerged from seclusion, having concealed his power and returned to an unassuming appearance.

• For a year, Chu Bai refined the world-poison in his secret chamber, formed a Divine Sense Golden Core, and comprehended the Great Rakshasa Realm divine ability.
• As Chu Bai began his breakthrough, a vast karmic obstruction tribulation gathered over Anping County, and Ji Li ordered the townspeople to seek shelter.
• Anping County’s people prayed for Chu Bai and sent their Humanity’s Willing Force to shield his residence, weakening the first thunder strike.
• Chu Bai sent out his divine soul and faced the tribulation, then used the Great Rakshasa Realm to annihilate the final sea of lightning and shatter the tribulation.
• Chu Bai established his Purple Abode, while purple qi spread three thousand miles and cultivators across Great Wall Prefecture bowed to welcome him as a True Person.
• Three days later, Chu Bai emerged from the old magistrate residence in a moon-white robe, with his demonic mark gone and his power concealed.

Chu Bai rejected the Qingzhou offices’ attempts to bring the Heavenly Abyss District under their control and forged an alliance with them through mutually profitable trade. With Qingzhou’s support secured, he set out to confront the Divine Capital’s investigation team as it advanced toward his territory.

• Ji Li welcomed the deputies of the Heavenly Patrol, Merit, and Grand Commander’s Offices, who each offered Chu Bai an official position in exchange for his allegiance.
• Chu Bai exposed the deputies’ motives and used his Divine Soul pressure to force them to negotiate as equals.
• Chu Bai kept the Heavenly Abyss District autonomous and proposed trading its rare resources and High-Purity Soul Crystals for Qingzhou’s infrastructure, arms, and intelligence support.
• The three deputies accepted Chu Bai’s alliance, pledging supplies, formation experts, weapons, and intelligence for first access to Heavenly Abyss resources.
• Chu Bai boarded a warship with Lei Wu, Ji Li, and the Black-Armored Guards and ordered them to sail toward the Heavenly Abyss Border to face the Divine Capital’s investigation team.

Chu Bai received a Purple-Gold Edict naming him Heavenly Abyss Grand Protector and granting him sole authority over the district, then returned to Formless City to establish his protectorate. With Qingzhou’s aid, he began rebuilding Heavenly Abyss, consolidating power and clearing the remaining threats as his new realm took shape.

• Chu Bai brought Zhang Cheng, Hu Hao, and Pang Song to Heavenly Abyss, where a Purple-Gold Edict appointed him Principal Third Rank Heavenly Abyss Grand Protector and granted him sweeping authority.
• Chu Bai returned to Formless City, presented the edict, and declared its people rightful citizens of the Great Zhou Immortal Dynasty.
• Chu Bai abolished the Three Great Clans’ joint rule and private armies, appointed his trusted followers and local leaders to protectorate posts, and declared Heavenly Abyss’s resources public property.
• Qingzhou’s officials sent formation masters, supplies, weapons, and materials to Formless City, while construction crews began rebuilding its walls and restoring its Spirit Veins.
• Chu Bai used his Divine Sense to find and kill the hidden high-level mutated monsters threatening the district.
• Chu Bai surveyed the thriving, fortified Heavenly Abyss District and concluded that his foundation was laid and his power had fully grown.

Chu Bai transformed Soul-Severing Ridge into Heavenly Abyss City, a fortified capital anchored by his Divine Ability and recognized by Great Zhou’s Fortune. As the city’s inauguration ended, Zhao Chong arrived with imperial gifts and proposed an alliance to face a growing calamity, and Chu Bai agreed to stand with Great Zhou.

• Chu Bai declared Formless City an outer satellite city and chose Soul-Severing Ridge as the site for a new Divine City.
• Chu Bai used his Purple Abode Realm power to flatten Soul-Severing Ridge, and Zhang Cheng organized more than a million workers and Great Zhou’s departments to build Heavenly Abyss City.
• Chu Bai anchored the city’s formation with the Immortal Boundary-Stele and his Great Rakshasa Realm, then named the completed fortress Heavenly Abyss City.
• At the inauguration, Chu Bai’s Five-Clawed Golden Dragon absorbed the people’s devotion and Great Zhou’s National Destiny, becoming a Fortune Cauldron above the city.
• Zhao Chong arrived on the Nine-Dragon Golden Boat, presented the Human Emperor’s edict and gifts, and asked Chu Bai to ally with Great Zhou against a coming Dark Current Calamity.
• Chu Bai accepted the alliance and promised that wherever he stood, the strongest Great Wall of the Great Zhou Immortal Dynasty would stand.

After three years of prosperity and cultivation, Chu Bai had purified the world poison and perfected the Great Rakshasa Realm. A dying Qingzhou envoy brought news that the demon calamity had overwhelmed the Northern Four Provinces and Qingzhou’s defenses, prompting Chu Bai to emerge.

• Heavenly Abyss City grew into a prosperous, heavily fortified refuge, while Zhang Cheng, Lei Wu, Zhao Panshi, Li Qinglian, Hu Hao, Pang Song, and Xuanmingzi strengthened its governance, army, weapons, and defenses.
• Chu Bai used three years of Humanity's Willing Force from the district’s people to purify and tame the Black-Purple Lotus, advance his cultivation to Early Purple Abode, and perfect the Great Rakshasa Realm.
• Chu Bai left the Spirit Tower in disguise and heard merchants discuss ancient demon tides in northern Great Zhou and growing unrest in the Divine Capital.
• A damaged Qingzhou Sky-Patrol Office ship crashed outside Heavenly Abyss City, and its dying chiliarch reported that the Northern Four Provinces had fallen and a vast demon tide had broken Qingzhou’s defensive line.
• Chu Bai arrived beside Lei Wu as the chiliarch died, then released his full Purple Abode pressure in response to the plea for help.

Chu Bai learned that a massive Demon Race uprising had erupted along Qingzhou’s border and that the Primordial Origin, Beneficent Waters True Spirit had joined the defense. Seeing a chance to repay his old debt and advance his cultivation, he sent an elite force toward Azure Cloud Gorge, intent on turning the demon tide into resources for Heavenly Abyss.

• A Qingzhou commandant told Chu Bai that a million Demon Beasts had broken through three defensive lines and requested troops and supplies for Azure Cloud Gorge.
• The commandant revealed that Qingzhou had reactivated the Primordial Origin, Beneficent Waters True Spirit, whose connection to Chu Bai’s Origin-Opening Daoist Scripture stirred his cultivation.
• Chu Bai agreed to send reinforcements and supplies, then ordered Heavenly Abyss onto wartime readiness and assigned Xuanmingzi to defend the city.
• Chu Bai ordered Lei Wu, Hu Hao, and Pang Song to lead thirty thousand Heavenly Abyss Mystic Guards to Azure Cloud Gorge and gather the demons’ resources.
• At dawn, Chu Bai rallied the troops and led them aboard ten armored warships bound for the Qingzhou battlefield, anticipating a reunion with the True Spirit.

At Azure Cloud Gorge, Chu Bai and the Heavenly Abyss Army rescued Qingzhou’s defenders and drove back the demon tide with overwhelming firepower. Chu Bai then sensed the Primordial Origin, Beneficent Waters True Spirit pleading for help at the main battlefield and demanded that the Three-Headed Azure Flood Dragon King explain what had happened there.

• Zhao Lie prepared to detonate his Golden Core after the Ironclad Demon Rhino shattered Azure Cloud Gorge’s gate and the demon tide poured through.
• Chu Bai arrived with ten armored warships and ordered them to fire, vaporizing the Ironclad Demon Rhino and tens of thousands of Demon Beasts.
• Hu Hao and Pang Song led thirty thousand Heavenly Abyss Mystic Guards in formation against the remaining demon tide, killing beasts and harvesting their materials.
• The Three-Headed Azure Flood Dragon King attacked the flagship with a tricolor beam, but Chu Bai blocked it with the Great Rakshasa Realm.
• Chu Bai sensed the Primordial Origin, Beneficent Waters True Spirit calling for help from Qingzhou’s main battlefield and suspected a trap there.
• Chu Bai demanded that the Three-Headed Azure Flood Dragon King reveal what had happened at the main battlefield within three breaths.

Chu Bai learned that a Divine Capital dignitary and the Hundred Thousand Mountains’ Demon Kings had plotted to drain Qingzhou’s guardian spirit and seize control of the province. He chose to wait until the plotters and defenders were weakened, then traveled in secret to Demon-Repelling Pass, where the True Spirit was trapped and the battlefield stood on the brink of defeat.

• The Three-Headed Azure Flood Dragon King attacked Chu Bai with its Purple Abode Demon Core, but Chu Bai subdued it with the Great Rakshasa Realm and destroyed its mind while searching its soul.
• Chu Bai discovered that a hidden Divine Capital mastermind had allied with the Demon Kings to trap and drain Primordial Origin, Beneficent Waters True Spirit, then take control of Qingzhou and the Heavenly Abyss District.
• Chu Bai ordered Lei Wu, Hu Hao, and Pang Song to encamp at Azure Cloud Gorge, defeat the remaining demons, and prepare a formation to trap the retreating demon army.
• Zhao Lie pledged his thirty thousand surviving troops to Chu Bai, who concealed his aura and set out alone for Demon-Repelling Pass.
• At Demon-Repelling Pass, the Heaven-Devouring Spirit-Locking Grand Formation drained the bound True Spirit as the Qingzhou Prefect and Southern Pacification General neared defeat.
• Chu Bai arrived near the formation in disguise and prepared to break the deadlock.

Chu Bai turned the Spirit-Severing Blood-Sacrifice Grand Formation against the three Great Demon Kings and destroyed them, lifting the siege of Qingzhou. The Primordial Origin, Beneficent Waters True Spirit bestowed its inheritance on him, while news of his victory raced toward the Divine Capital.

• The Three-Headed Azure Flood Dragon King returned gravely wounded and convinced the Demon Kings that Chu Bai and the Heavenly Abyss Army were trapped at Azure Cloud Gorge.
• The three Demon Kings entered the formation to devour the apparently dying True Spirit, and Chu Bai revealed that the flood dragon had been a decoy.
• Chu Bai seized control of the formation and transformed it into the Heaven-Locking Demon-Trapping Grand Formation, imprisoning the Demon Kings.
• With the True Spirit helping suppress them, Chu Bai used his Great Rakshasa Realm and Soul-Slaying Guillotines to kill the three Demon Kings and claim their cultivation materials.
• The demon tide fled after its leaders died, and the Qingzhou Prefect, the Southern Pacification General, and the surviving soldiers bowed to Chu Bai in gratitude.
• The True Spirit shared the Origin-Opening Daoist Scripture’s source knowledge with Chu Bai, while reports of his victory headed for the Divine Capital.

Chu Bai’s Heavenly Abyss Army defeated the demon tide at Azure Cloud Gorge, and he claimed control of the spoils and the territory west of the gorge. Back in Heavenly Abyss City, he learned that Qingzhou’s clans and Great Zhou’s Divine Capital were maneuvering around his growing power, and he welcomed the coming investigation.

• The Heavenly Abyss Mystic Guards harvested the demon beasts’ materials, and Chu Bai forced Qingzhou’s logistics officer to concede that the spoils belonged to Heavenly Abyss.
• The Qingzhou Prefect and Southern Pacification General thanked Chu Bai, then agreed to place Azure Cloud Gorge and the surrounding territory under the Protectorate Prefecture’s jurisdiction.
• Hu Hao led the Heavenly Abyss Mystic Guards back to camp aboard the warships, while Qingzhou’s soldiers watched Chu Bai depart with awe.
• Aboard the flagship, Chu Bai refined three Purple Abode demon cores as Xuanmingzi reported that Qingzhou’s clans were courting his support while also betting on the Divine Capital’s investigation team.
• Chu Bai dismissed the threat from the Divine Capital elites and said they could come to Heavenly Abyss to investigate.

After the Azure Cloud Gorge victory, Chu Bai used the spoils to expand Heavenly Abyss City's territory, arm its forces, and strengthen its cultivators. He then absorbed a True Spirit Dao Legacy Mark and three Purple Abode Great Demon Cores, breaking through to the Middle Purple Abode Realm before asking Xuanmingzi for news from the city.

• Zhang Cheng announced battle rewards, while Chu Bai confirmed the handover of five hundred li of wilderness and ordered the new territory thoroughly developed.
• Zhao Panshi pledged to upgrade the city's cannons and forge demon-slaying weapons from the slain demons' remains, while Li Qinglian refined Blood Breakthrough Pills for veteran Mystic Guards.
• More than sixty Mystic Guards used their rewards to reach Foundation Establishment, forming the Golden Armor Personal Guard Battalion.
• Chu Bai entered the ninth floor of the Heaven-Reaching Spirit Tower and absorbed the True Spirit Dao Legacy Mark, gaining insights into the Origin-Opening Daoist Scripture.
• Chu Bai devoured three Purple Abode Great Demon Cores, transformed his black lotus into the Merit-and-Karma Purple Gold Lotus, and broke through to the Middle Purple Abode Realm.
• Xuanmingzi congratulated Chu Bai on his breakthrough, and Chu Bai asked how things were going in the city.

Chu Bai received the hereditary title of Prince Who Quells the North and forged an alliance with the Human Emperor to protect Heavenly Abyss in exchange for imperial support and resources. After Zhao Chong departed and the city’s earth veins were strengthened, Chu Bai surveyed his fortified domain, ready to take part in the coming struggle across Great Zhou.

• Zhao Chong arrived in Heavenly Abyss City and was astonished by Chu Bai’s rapid advancement to the middle Purple Abode Realm.
• Zhao Chong read the Human Emperor’s decree investing Chu Bai as the hereditary Prince Who Quells the North, granting him command of the Heavenly Abyss District, a royal seal, an exemption certificate, cultivation resources, and spirit stones.
• In a private meeting, Zhao Chong revealed that the Human Emperor had rebuked aristocratic clans seeking control of Heavenly Abyss and offered Chu Bai imperial protection in exchange for the district’s annual quota of High-Purity Soul Crystals and Ancient Spirit Medicine.
• Chu Bai accepted the alliance and warned that he would enforce Great Zhou’s laws against any clans that reached into his territory; he and Zhao Chong finalized their agreement.
• Zhao Chong returned to the Divine Capital, and Xuanmingzi and hundreds of thousands of Formation Masters embedded fifth-rank earth-vein marrow beneath Heavenly Abyss City, greatly increasing its spiritual energy.
• Chu Bai surveyed the strengthened city, its Heavenly Abyss Mystic Guards and Divine Mechanism Heavy Cannons, and resolved to wield his power in the coming turmoil.

Chu Bai compelled Qingzhou’s prefectures to join the Heavenly Abyss Merchant Alliance and Qingzhou Joint Defense Pact, extending Heavenly Abyss City’s economic and military influence. The influx of fortune from the alliance strengthened his cultivation as a greater calamity gathered over the central battlefield.

• Envoys from Qingzhou’s prefectures gathered in Heavenly Abyss City to seek soul crystals and anti-demon equipment as demon attacks threatened their territories.
• Chu Bai demanded refugees, skilled practitioners, mining rights, and copies of public legacies in exchange for Heavenly Abyss City’s supplies, then offered the prefectures shares in the Heavenly Abyss Merchant Alliance.
• The envoys signed a joint defense pact that granted Heavenly Abyss forces control of city defenses during relief operations and all spoils from the battles they fought.
• Three days later, the alliance contracts entered the Immortal Boundary-Stele, drawing fortune from more than half of Qingzhou into Heavenly Abyss City and pushing Chu Bai’s cultivation close to the peak of the Middle Purple Abode Realm.
• Chu Bai watched supply ships depart for the allied prefectures and saw an ominous red glow gathering above the distant central battlefield.

Bloodbone Daoist infiltrated Heavenly Abyss City with a plan to defile the Immortal Boundary-Stele during the Blessing Ceremony, but Chu Bai detected his malice and laid a trap. Chu Bai killed the attackers, absorbed their Defiled God Blood, and left the city’s refugees with a stronger sense of safety and loyalty.

• Bloodbone Daoist disguised himself as a refugee and entered Heavenly Abyss City with four White Bone Church accomplices, intending to poison the Immortal Boundary-Stele during the Blessing Ceremony.
• Chu Bai sensed the infiltrators through his Merit-and-Karma Purple Gold Lotus and ordered Zhang Cheng to keep the ceremony on schedule while quietly weakening the visible defenses around the stele.
• Bloodbone Daoist and his accomplices attacked the stele at night, but Chu Bai trapped them in his Great Rakshasa Realm and killed all five with Soul-Slaying Blades.
• Chu Bai’s lotus consumed the Ten-Thousand-Year Defiled God Blood, refined its power, and released purifying spiritual rain over Heavenly Abyss City.
• Zhang Cheng displayed the attackers’ corpses and Chu Bai’s warning at the western gate, strengthening the refugees’ trust and causing the city’s fortune to rise.

After accepting command of Qingzhou, Chu Bai confronted the Demon Sage will Netherdark Raging Tide at the Nine Nether Springs and devoured it, advancing to the late Purple Abode Realm. Its memories revealed that powerful clans and ancient lineages were behind the demons’ awakening, and Chu Bai turned toward the remaining threats.

• Chu Bai traced the three awakened Demon Sage wills to Qingzhou’s earth vein nodes and learned they depended on the nodes for their manifestations.
• The Qingzhou Prefect transferred wartime command and the prefectural official seal to Chu Bai, who ordered a second defensive line and led his Golden-Armored Personal Guards to the Nine Nether Springs.
• Netherdark Raging Tide attacked Chu Bai with demonic energy and a devastating assault of ancient memories, but Chu Bai resisted with his divine sense and Great Rakshasa Realm.
• Chu Bai severed Netherdark Raging Tide’s connection to the earth vein and used the Merit-and-Karma Purple Gold Lotus to devour its will and law fragments.
• Refining the Demon Sage’s power expanded Chu Bai’s foundations and divine sense, breaking his bottleneck into the late Purple Abode Realm.
• Chu Bai discovered that powerful Great Zhou clans and ancient lineages had helped awaken the other Demon Sage wills, and vowed to destroy their schemes in Qingzhou.

Chu Bai secured his late purple abode cultivation and devised a trap for Ji Yun and the two ancient demon wills at Azure Cloud Gorge. As his forces feigned retreat, the Heavenly Abyss Merchant Alliance planted World-Suppressing Child Steles across southwestern Qingzhou, and Chu Bai accepted the imperial edict while preparing to control the battlefield.

• Chu Bai refined the ancient demon saint's weak-water laws, stabilized his late purple abode cultivation, and gained the Nether Yin Weakwater Realm.
• Zhang Cheng reported that the demon armies were converging on Azure Cloud Gorge and that Ji Yun was spreading rumors that Chu Bai had been crippled.
• Chu Bai ordered a staged retreat and planted false evidence of his injury to lure Ji Yun and the ancient demon wills into overconfidence.
• Wang Ting accepted Chu Bai's authority and planted a World-Suppressing Child Stele, while the Heavenly Abyss Merchant Alliance installed dozens of steles across southwestern Qingzhou.
• Ji Yun arrived with an imperial edict demanding control of Qingzhou, as the demon armies besieged Azure Cloud Gorge.
• Chu Bai accepted the edict and placed a black stone on the battlefield model, activating the earth-vein net around those gathered at Azure Cloud Gorge.