Recaps

Ao Ying confronted Ao Zhi and demanded she return to the East Sea, but Ao Zhi refused. The Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King then appeared before Zhang Yuan and demanded that he complete three tasks, which he rejected.

• Ao Ying offered to spare Ao Zhi if she surrendered the sword and returned to the East Sea, but Ao Zhi refused.
• The Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King appeared beside Zhang Yuan, effortlessly took and examined his Primordial Form-Converging Sword, then returned it.
• Zhang Yuan asked why the Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King had summoned him, and she asked him to take her outside, drive the goddess, Star Lord, and Immortal Lord from the Yin Netherworld Six Heavens, and restore the Six Heavens to the mortal world.
• Zhang Yuan refused the three tasks, and the Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King offered him a reward for agreeing.

Zhang Yuan accepted Solar True Qi and Lesser Yin Cold Qi from [the Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King] and learned that a Devil Lord in the Nether Bureau would try to kill him. He agreed to go to the Nether Bureau to investigate, while Ao Ying ordered Ao Zhi to accompany him.

• Zhang Yuan asked [the Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King] for Solar True Qi, Lesser Yin Cold Qi, and Mysterious Yang Life Qi, and she gave him the first two pearls.
• [The Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King] warned Zhang Yuan that the Devil Lord in the Nether Bureau had noticed him and would try to eliminate him.
• Zhang Yuan suspected the Devil Lord was the Ancient True Lord who had forbidden Lu Qingwu from realizing [Ketu Thorn], and asked [the Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King] for a plan.
• [The Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King] offered three strategies, and Zhang Yuan chose to go to the Nether Bureau to investigate.
• Ao Ying ordered Ao Zhi to go with Zhang Yuan, and Ao Zhi moved to stand beside him and Xie Jingxin.

Zhang Yuan asked [Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King] to contact Ye Xiangning for help against the Nether Bureau's Ancient True Lord, then jumped from Mount Great Mystery toward the Nether Bureau with Xie Jingxin and Ao Zhi. After they vanished, Ao Ying and [Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King] discussed Zhang Yuan and wondered whether Ye Xiangning was another of his lovers.

• Zhang Yuan asked [Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King] to contact Ye Xiangning, a Mysterious Court True Disciple, and tell her that he had sent her.
• Zhang Yuan learned that the route to the Nether Bureau was to jump from the cliff, then refused Xie Jingxin's offer to carry him by the collar in her teeth.
• Zhang Yuan, Xie Jingxin, and Ao Zhi jumped from Mount Great Mystery and disappeared when space rippled halfway down the mountain.
• Ao Ying questioned whether Zhang Yuan was truly a Seventh Sun-Eroding Demon King, and [Mysterious Calamity-Bearing Ominous Demon King] defended the possibility.
• Ao Ying joked that Ye Xiangning might be another of Zhang Yuan's lovers, and revealed that she had stolen a reclining chair from his Purple Mansion.

Zhang Yuan arrived at the Ashen Plain, learned it was a passage between the Ninefold Calamity-Dispelling Palace and the Nether Bureau, and obtained the two treasures needed to restore his Immortal Spirit Root. He prepared to continue toward the Nether Bureau while Chi Guanguan revealed that Ao Ying was only half-alive.

• Zhang Yuan landed beneath Xie Jingxin, Ao Zhi, and Ziluo, then recovered and recognized the gray expanse as the Ashen Plain.
• Ziluo explained that each Six Heavens Demon King Palace connected to the Nether Bureau and identified the Ashen Plain as the Ninefold Calamity-Dispelling Palace's passage.
• Zhang Yuan called to Mysterious Calamity for the Nine-Heavens Heavenly Dragon Fruit and Nine-Heavens Heavenly Heart Fire, and an earth lightning bolt delivered both treasures while narrowly missing him.
• Zhang Yuan pocketed the two treasures and blamed Ao Ying for the lightning strike.
• Chi Guanguan said Ao Ying was half-dead and claimed she had a Dragon-Trapping Immortal Formation that could help them deal with her.

After refining the Nine-Heavens Heavenly Dragon Fruit and Nine-Heavens Heavenly Heart Fire, Zhang Yuan’s Spirit Root rose to middle-grade, and he used his karmic connection to reach Clear Harmony City in the Nether Bureau. Finding the city guarded and suspecting he was wanted there, he accepted Ao Zhi’s plan to sneak underground with her Divine Ability.

• Zhang Yuan’s Spirit Root advanced to a middle-grade Five Elements Immortal Spirit Root, and he wondered whether his potential reached a higher grade.
• [Ziluo] explained two ways to enter the Nether Bureau, and Zhang Yuan’s karmic ties caused Clear Harmony City to appear on the Ashen Plain.
• Zhang Yuan led Xie Jingxin, Ao Zhi, and [Ziluo] to Clear Harmony City, where Ghost Deities guarded the gates.
• Zhang Yuan decided not to enter through the gates because the Nether Bureau might recognize him as a wanted person.
• Ao Zhi proposed taking the group underground while Zhang Yuan concealed their Qi signatures and Karma, then used her True Dragon Divine Ability to burrow beneath the city.

Zhang Yuan entered Clear Harmony City with his companions, but a citywide formation blocked their underground escape and forced them to consider the main gate. There, Yan Yangzhe accused Zhang Yuan of responsibility for his daughter’s death, and Zhang Yuan confirmed that Cui Zhaowei had killed her, suspecting someone was trying to sow discord.

• Ao Zhi burrowed Zhang Yuan and his companions into Clear Harmony City while Zhang Yuan concealed them from the Nether Bureau Ghost Deities.
• Zhang Yuan tried to summon his Great Grotto Yin-Scenery Immortal Domain from the Nether Bureau’s depths, but the attempt shook the realm and failed.
• A Day Patrol God searched Clear Harmony City and triggered a formation that sealed the city against underground travel and Skyflight, leaving the main gate as the only exit.
• Zhang Yuan disguised himself, Xie Jingxin, Ao Zhi, and Ziluo as wandering ghosts to evade the search, then encountered the candied-hawthorn seller Yan Yangzhe.
• Yan Yangzhe attacked Zhang Yuan, accusing him of helping Cui Zhaowei kill Yan Ruosi, but Zhang Yuan stopped Xie Jingxin from killing him and confirmed the accusation was true.