Chapter Summaries

Plot points

• Yuanshi’s evil-corpse incarnation offers Zhurong free access to rare innate spiritual roots on Mount Kunlun if he helps Yuanshi’s plan. Secretly, he intends to kill Zhurong and use his corpse as fertilizer.
• Zhurong accepts, privately planning to bring the other eleven Ancestral Witches—and entertain the possibility of wrecking Kunlun or killing Yuanshi.
• The evil corpse asks Zhurong to abduct Lin Tian and keep the other Ancestral Witches from accompanying Houtu when she searches for him. Yuanshi wants Houtu to transform alone, allowing him to seize control of the nascent Earthly Dao.
• Zhurong senses Houtu’s mounting killing intent toward the evil corpse. He considers sacrificing his consciousness form to strike first, but Houtu tells him to stall while the siblings plan how to kill a Saint.
• Zhurong then berates the evil corpse for demanding immediate action, claiming the abduction and diversion require careful planning.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhurong outwardly plays along with Yuanshi’s bargain but is actually protecting Houtu and preparing for a confrontation. His anger gives way to eager anticipation when Houtu proposes fighting a Saint.
• Yuanshi’s evil corpse grows increasingly frustrated and suspicious, yet remains oblivious to the danger he faces and mistakes Zhurong’s delay for incompetence.
• Houtu reveals she is close to attacking and takes charge of the next move, urging Zhurong to buy time so the siblings can coordinate.
• Their exchanges are steeped in false courtesy and mutual misreading: Yuanshi believes he has secured Zhurong’s cooperation, while Zhurong and Houtu are plotting against him.

Significant themes

• Deception and dramatic irony: Both sides conceal their real intentions, but Yuanshi’s confidence leaves him unaware that his own plan is turning against him.
• Family loyalty: Zhurong’s apparent cooperation is driven by his desire to protect Houtu and the other Ancestral Witches.
• Power and greed: Yuanshi seeks to monopolize the Earthly Dao, while Zhurong is tempted by the prospect of a direct battle with a Saint.
• Comic menace: Polite promises, outrageous private thoughts, and Zhurong’s blunt insults contrast with the looming threat of a deadly confrontation.

Chapter summary

• Zhurong tricks Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse into remaining in his cave by claiming he needs to refine a dangerous Witch Artifact. He orders the Zhurong Tribe to relocate toward Mount Buzhou, as a precaution. Privately, he delights in having insulted the incarnation—calling him a brute and an idiot—by throwing the Three Pure Ones’ usual contempt for the Witches back at them.
• Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse nearly attacks Zhurong, furious at the insults. Yuanshi’s original self intervenes through divine sense and takes control of the incarnation, preventing him from acting. Although Yuanshi is equally enraged, he suppresses his anger because he is focused on a larger plan: using three Earthly Dao treasures and Houtu’s future transformation into earthly-dao reincarnation to seize control of the Earthly Dao.
• The Evil Corpse regains his composure and waits in Zhurong’s cave, privately resolving to kill Zhurong once Houtu transforms. He dismisses the relocating Witches and humans as insignificant, believing Zhurong’s bloodline oath will keep his presence secret.
• Zhurong returns to Pan Gu Hall, where the other Ancestral Witches are gathered with Lin Tian, whom Houtu has brought along. He reports that Yuanshi’s incarnation has been kept occupied and asks Houtu what to do next.
• The other Witches, especially Dijiang and Zhu Jiuyin, look to Houtu with confidence, impressed by her past strategic thinking. Houtu, however, turns to Lin Tian instead, leaving him confused about why she expects him to direct the plan.
• Lin Tian privately imagines a straightforward scheme: let Zhurong hand him over to Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse, then have Houtu rescue him from the Netherworld Blood Sea, defeat Patriarch Minghe, eliminate Yuanshi’s arrangements there, and claim the Sea of Blood’s Earthly Dao power. Houtu hears his thoughts but resists following his plan, including the prospect of a dramatic rescue.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhurong is buoyed by his rare chance to verbally humiliate Yuanshi, but his apparent recklessness is part of a deliberate deception.
• Yuanshi reveals that ambition outweighs pride: he tolerates personal insults to protect his plan to become Lord of the Earthly Dao. His Evil Corpse, by contrast, remains consumed by resentment and targets Zhurong for revenge.
• Houtu is treated by the other Witches as their emerging strategist, yet she looks to Lin Tian for guidance—and then refuses to accept his imagined plan.
• Lin Tian expects Houtu to follow a clear, high-stakes rescue strategy, but his thoughts only prompt her to push back.

Significant themes

The chapter contrasts pride with long-term ambition, as Yuanshi restrains his anger for power, while his incarnation struggles to do the same. It also explores changing perceptions of the Witches: Zhurong turns their stereotype of being thoughtless brutes against their enemies, and Houtu earns her kin’s respect as a strategist. Control and independence recur in Yuanshi’s command over his incarnation and Houtu’s refusal to let Lin Tian dictate her choices.

Plot points and events

• Houtu rejects the idea of putting Lin Tian in danger, worrying that Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse might use him as leverage. The other Ancestral Witches agree.
• Lin Tian is relieved that Houtu is thinking protectively, though he still sees himself as a safeguard against Hongjun rather than someone who needs rescuing.
• Houtu’s proposed “scheme” is to tell Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse that she and Lin Tian will visit the Netherworld Blood Sea to enjoy the scenery. Lin Tian immediately recognizes this as a flimsy excuse.
• Zhurong suggests a direct attack on Mount Kunlun, using Lin Tian’s Chaos Bell to hide their plans and kill the Primordial Heavenly Venerable. Dijiang rebukes him for speaking too freely.
• Houtu explains that she suspects the Netherworld Blood Sea contains the origin of the Earthly Dao. She intends to use the invitation as bait, then openly attack Mount Kunlun and kill another Saint.
• Zhurong claims to understand, though the others know he does not. He eagerly leaves to deceive Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse.
• The chapter ends with Zhurong reaching his tribe, where he spots Yuanshi’s concealed Evil Corpse watching the relocation.

Character developments

• Houtu shows concern for Lin Tian and takes charge of the plan, but her reasoning remains impulsive and her cover story unconvincing.
• Lin Tian remains calm and protective of the Ancestral Witches, privately amused by Houtu’s supposed growth and still hoping they will become strong enough to let him live lazily.
• Zhurong is rash and easily confused, yet eager to act. His resentment at being expected to face a Saint fades when he realizes the group has already fought one successfully.
• Dijiang takes a practical, teasingly critical role, trying to curb Zhurong’s impulsiveness.

Significant themes

• Protection and loyalty: Houtu and the other witches refuse to expose Lin Tian to needless danger.
• Deception versus direct action: Houtu plans to lure the enemy with a weak pretext, while Zhurong favors an immediate assault.
• Comedic undercutting: The characters discuss Saint-level threats with casual confidence, while Lin Tian privately mocks Houtu’s reasoning and the others recognize Zhurong’s feigned understanding.
• Power and growth: Lin Tian hopes the Ancestral Witches will grow stronger by facing powerful opponents, even as he remains ready to intervene if Hongjun acts.

Character interactions

• Houtu reassures the group that Lin Tian must be kept safe; the witches support her.
• Lin Tian privately judges Houtu’s plan while remaining committed to backing the group.
• Zhurong’s blunt suggestion earns Dijiang’s mild rebuke and the others’ silent disapproval.
• The witches humor Zhurong’s claim that he understands, then watch him rush off to carry out Houtu’s plan.

Key plot points and events

• Zhurong returns to Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse empty-handed. He says Lin Tian and Houtu will soon visit the Netherworld Blood Sea, but refuses to explain further and leaves.
• Frustrated by Zhurong’s cryptic message—and feeling his gifts and efforts were wasted—the Evil Corpse nearly succumbs to murderous thoughts.
• From Jade Void Palace, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable senses the danger and uses the All-Heavens Celebratory Cloud to purge the Evil Corpse’s dark impulses.
• The Primordial Heavenly Venerable recognizes that something is wrong with his Slaying the Three Corpses technique: the Evil Corpse has nearly lost control twice, contrary to what the technique should have achieved.
• He orders the Evil Corpse to wait at the Netherworld Blood Sea. He plans to force Houtu into becoming the Earthly Dao’s reincarnation and use the event to gain power.
• Using Zhurong’s information and his Saintly divination, Yuanshi confirms that Lin Tian and Houtu will go there. He interprets Zhurong’s abrupt departure as evidence that the other Ancestral Witches will be kept away.
• Confident that events favor him, Yuanshi reflects on the powerful spiritual treasures Lin Tian possesses, many taken from the Saints or given to him by Houtu and the Ancestral Witches.

Character developments

• Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse becomes increasingly volatile, revealing the instability of Yuanshi’s severed incarnation despite its intended purpose.
• The Primordial Heavenly Venerable remains ambitious and self-assured, but his concern over the Evil Corpse’s repeated near-collapse hints that his cultivation method has a serious flaw. He nevertheless believes he can turn the coming visit into an opportunity to rise above the other Saints.
• Zhurong is blunt and dismissive toward the Evil Corpse. He knows more than he says, but follows Dijiang’s instructions and leaves before the Evil Corpse can question him.

Significant themes

• Ambition and overconfidence: Yuanshi treats Houtu’s transformation and the Earthly Dao as means to greater power, while assuming his plans are destined to succeed.
• Instability beneath power: The Evil Corpse’s loss of control exposes a weakness in Yuanshi’s technique and suggests that even a Saint’s plans can conceal dangerous flaws.
• Miscommunication and interpretation: Zhurong’s brief, truthful remark is treated as a taunt, while Yuanshi builds an elaborate explanation around Zhurong’s behavior.
• Power and possession: Lin Tian’s accumulation of valuable spiritual treasures underscores how resources and their transfer shape the balance between powerful figures.

Character interactions

• Zhurong and Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse exchange hostile, sarcastic remarks; Zhurong mocks the Evil Corpse’s disbelief and withholds further details.
• The Primordial Heavenly Venerable intervenes indirectly to calm his incarnation, then directs it toward the Blood Sea.
• Yuanshi reasons from Zhurong’s message and behavior, confidently assuming that the Ancestral Witches will not accompany Houtu and Lin Tian.

Plot points and events

• The Primordial Heavenly Venerable plans to use Houtu’s transformation into the Earthly Dao Reincarnation to eliminate Lin Tian and eventually kill the remaining Ancestral Witches. This would let him avoid the karma of taking the Earthly Dao’s position, destroy the source of his Evil Corpse’s demonic thoughts, and reclaim treasures entrusted to Zhurong.
• He is still struggling to refine the three Earthly Dao Supreme Treasures given to him by Dao Ancestor Hongjun; their core restrictions resist him.
• In the Netherworld Blood Sea, Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse has waited nearly three hundred years for Lin Tian and Houtu. Daoist Ran Deng and Patriarch Minghe wait with him, uneasy under the Evil Corpse’s oppressive killing intent.
• Minghe reflects on how his great strength and near-indestructibility have not protected him from bad decisions. He joined first Di Jun’s failed Demon Celestial Court and then Yuanshi’s Chan Sect, hoping to gain power and perhaps become a Saint through the scheme involving Houtu.
• The Evil Corpse has taken over Minghe’s Blood God Palace and slaughtered the female Asuras Minghe sent to serve him, including several promising future Quasi-Saints. Minghe dares not object and blames Lin Tian and Houtu for his humiliation.
• Minghe resolves to kill Lin Tian as soon as he and Houtu arrive.

Character developments and interactions

• Yuanshi: His ambition is revealed as broader than gaining control of the Earthly Dao: he also wants Lin Tian’s treasures and plans to wipe out the Witch Clan afterward. He maintains outward discipline while pursuing this elaborate scheme.
• Minghe: Though powerful, resourceful, and exceptionally difficult to kill, he is opportunistic and repeatedly suffers consequences for joining losing causes. Fear of Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse keeps him submissive, while resentment turns into a determination to attack Lin Tian.
• Daoist Ran Deng: He remains alongside Minghe and the Evil Corpse, having helped persuade Minghe to join the plan.
• Interactions: Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse dominates the Blood Sea and treats Minghe’s territory and followers as disposable. Minghe responds with forced obedience rather than open resistance, while privately directing his anger at the expected visitors.

Significant themes

• Ambition and greed: Yuanshi and Minghe both pursue greater power, but their schemes carry danger and cost.
• Power and vulnerability: Even Minghe’s formidable defenses cannot protect him from a Saint’s authority or from the consequences of his choices.
• Manipulation and blame: Minghe accepts Yuanshi’s plan for promised rewards, then shifts his frustration onto Lin Tian and Houtu.
• The limits of immortality: Minghe’s many safeguards make him hard to kill, but they do not spare him humiliation, loss, or fear.

Plot and events

• For three hundred years, Patriarch Minghe has helped Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse pursue a plan involving Houtu and the earthly dao. The Evil Corpse has repeatedly lashed out at Zhurong, whose past actions have left it furious.
• Minghe receives word that Houtu and Lin Tian are approaching the Netherworld Blood Sea. He reports this to the Evil Corpse, which orders Minghe and Daoist Ran Deng to capture Houtu or drive her deeper into the Sea of Blood. They may deal with Lin Tian as they wish, but must surrender his innate spiritual treasures.
• Minghe and Ran Deng eagerly accept, expecting the task to be easy. The Evil Corpse intends to use Houtu to help its original self claim authority over the earthly dao.
• On the way, Houtu theatrically pretends to be terrified of a weak vengeful spirit, clinging to Lin Tian. Lin Tian recognizes the act and privately mocks her exaggerated performance.
• The eleven other Ancestral Witches are secretly concealed in a mustard-seed space attached to Lin Tian’s jade pendant. Zhurong wonders whether Houtu truly fears ghosts and proposes wiping out the Ghost Race. Dijiang explains that Houtu is only acting frightened and that the real danger is for ghosts, not Houtu.

Character developments and interactions

• Minghe is increasingly confident and opportunistic: he hopes to win Yuanshi’s favor by later killing Zhurong.
• Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse reveals its intense grudge against Zhurong and its plan to seize earthly dao power through Houtu.
• Houtu uses playful, exaggerated fear to conceal her intentions and stay close to Lin Tian.
• Lin Tian sees through Houtu’s act but remains beside her; the moment also highlights their physical closeness.
• Zhurong remains blunt and literal-minded, misunderstanding Dijiang’s subtle explanation. The other Ancestral Witches understand the subtext and let him puzzle over it.

Significant themes

• Deception and hidden intentions: Houtu’s apparent fear masks her strength, while Yuanshi’s faction disguises its ambitions as a simple capture mission.
• Power and overconfidence: Minghe and Ran Deng dismiss Lin Tian and underestimate the situation.
• Family loyalty and comic contrast: The Ancestral Witches are ready to protect Houtu, while their confusion and teasing interactions add humor to the chapter.

Plot points and events

• Houtu hears Lin Tian privately criticize her attempt to look frightened and delicate. Her irritation leaks out as baleful energy, instantly destroying nearby wraiths and evil spirits and killing some Asuras.
• Patriarch Minghe witnesses the destruction and seizes on it as an excuse to attack Houtu. He insults her and summons his twin swords, Yuantu and A Bi. Daoist Ran Deng hangs back, quietly preparing his weapons and keeping an escape route open.
• Lin Tian recognizes Ran Deng and recalls his future reputation for opportunistic, underhanded tactics. Houtu notices Ran Deng’s presence and studies him, making him unexpectedly nervous.
• Minghe attacks Houtu. She combines her earth-law power with her thought-intent dharma form, briefly reaching quasi-saint consummation. She immobilizes Minghe and his weapons, then smashes him apart with a single blow, despite his protective Karmic Fire Red Lotus.
• Minghe revives through his blood-sea immortality and decides to target Lin Tian, hoping to provoke Houtu into following him into the Blood Sea, where the Primordial Heavenly Venerable’s Evil Corpse could intervene. Ran Deng prepares to help hold Houtu back.
• Lin Tian calmly challenges Minghe over his insult to Houtu. When Minghe attacks, Lin Tian releases the Chaos Bell, which rapidly expands into a colossal phantom. The chapter ends as Lin Tian begins using “Thought-Borne Blossoms.”

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu shifts from playful uncertainty about how she should appear to formidable, decisive action. Her strength rises dramatically when she combines two powers of her own, and she quickly overcomes Minghe.
• Lin Tian remains composed and irreverent, privately assessing others and then confronting Minghe directly. His confidence suggests he is ready to reveal the Chaos Bell’s power.
• Minghe is arrogant and opportunistic: he uses Houtu’s accidental destruction as a pretext, then turns to revenge and strategy after she defeats him. His immortality lets him return, but not without humiliation.
• Ran Deng acts cautiously and covertly, preparing to assist Minghe while positioning himself to retreat. Lin Tian’s thoughts prompt Houtu to scrutinize him, unsettling him.
• The central interaction is the contrast between Minghe’s aggression and Houtu’s overwhelming response; the conflict then shifts toward Lin Tian, whose next move is left unresolved.

Significant themes

• Thought and power: Houtu’s emotional reaction and her thought-intent dharma form both have tangible force, reflecting the chapter’s emphasis on thought as a foundation.
• Arrogance versus restraint: Minghe’s boastful confidence contrasts with Ran Deng’s cautious scheming and Lin Tian’s unruffled composure.
• Strength and vulnerability: Minghe can resurrect from the Blood Sea, yet Houtu can still overpower him; immortality does not prevent defeat or humiliation.
• Fate and foreknowledge: Lin Tian’s knowledge of future events shapes how he and Houtu interpret Ran Deng and the likely course of history.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Tian rings the Chaos Bell, suppressing heavenly secrets and karma across the Netherworld Blood Sea. Patriarch Minghe assumes Lin has made a foolish tactical choice and attacks with his swords, Yuantu and A Bi.
• While Daoist Ran Deng uses the Heaven-and-Earth Ruler to trap Houtu in layers of space, Houtu tears through them with ease. She is not concerned for Lin: eleven other Ancestral Witches are concealed in his Mustard Seed Space and can protect him.
• Lin calmly points at Minghe and begins a strange power: crimson flowers repeatedly bloom and wither on Minghe’s body, draining his cultivation. Minghe cannot sense any spell or law behind it, which makes the effect especially terrifying.
• Minghe repeatedly kills himself with Yuantu and A Bi to escape, relying on his Blood Sea Undying Body to revive. The flowers follow him through each resurrection. He then shifts his true spirit into a Blood God Child, but the flowers follow that incarnation too.
• Lin completes his phrase—“Reign over all beneath heaven…”—and flowers spread throughout the Blood Sea. Minghe’s asuras also sprout flowers and become their fertilizer. Trapped in an apparently inescapable cycle, Minghe keeps reincarnating in desperation.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Tian reveals a calm, seemingly effortless power capable of pursuing Minghe through repeated deaths and spreading across the Blood Sea.
• Minghe shifts from contemptuous confidence to terror, despair, and madness as his usual means of survival fail.
• Houtu remains confident in Lin’s safety and quickly breaks through Ran Deng’s spatial barriers.
• Ran Deng desperately tries to buy Minghe time, unaware that his efforts are futile. His plan depends on Minghe drawing Houtu away.
• Lin and Minghe’s encounter becomes an extreme contest of survival, while Houtu and Ran Deng’s confrontation is briefly shaped by Ran Deng’s attempt to delay her.

Significant themes

• Good and evil, life and death: The recurring cycle of blooming and withering turns destruction into a relentless natural process.
• The limits of immortality: Minghe’s ability to revive is useless when the force pursuing him persists across bodies and reincarnations.
• Hidden power and hubris: Minghe underestimates Lin, whose quiet action proves more dangerous than conventional combat.
• Inevitability: Lin’s power feels less like an attack than an unavoidable law of nature, deepening Minghe’s fear.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Tian’s secret Divine Ability causes crimson Otherworld Flowers to bloom from every being parasitized by Minghe’s Blood God Children. The phenomenon reaches across the Primordial World, and no one can divine its cause.
• Even Minghe’s final Blood God Child, hidden in an Innate Spiritual Root, is overcome. Minghe dies as the flowers cycle through life and death.
• At the Netherworld Blood Sea, Houtu defeats Daoist Ran Deng with one punch. Lin Tian explains that the flowers are Otherworld Flowers, which he brought forth to adorn the Blood Sea.
• Lin Tian and Houtu share a romantic, intimate moment while the other Ancestral Witches watch from a concealed space, feeling awkwardly unnecessary. Zhurong asks Dijiang whether they should interrupt; Dijiang praises him for being clever, but using his cleverness in the wrong place.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Tian remains calm and teasing, displaying immense power while turning the deadly aftermath into a courtship with Houtu.
• Houtu shifts from formidable warrior—having effortlessly defeated Ran Deng—to shy and flustered around Lin Tian. She tries to regain her queenly composure, but Lin Tian playfully draws her into a kiss.
• The Ancestral Witches are prepared to fight, but find Lin Tian and Houtu have already handled their opponents and are now occupied with each other. Zhurong voices their predicament, and Dijiang responds with affectionate, wry humor.
• Minghe is destroyed by the very parasitic network he had established, while Ran Deng is defeated and his remains are buried by Houtu.

Significant themes

• Power and reversal: Minghe’s hidden strategy becomes the means of his destruction, while Houtu’s battlefield dominance contrasts with her tenderness around Lin Tian.
• Life, death, and beauty: The flowers’ repeated blooming and fading make the scene both beautiful and lethal.
• Romance amid conflict: Lin Tian and Houtu’s intimacy interrupts a serious confrontation, creating comedy through the gap between their private moment and the Witches’ expectations.
• Uncertainty and hidden forces: The Primordial World’s diviners cannot explain the supernatural event, emphasizing Lin Tian’s mysterious power.

Key plot points and events

• Dijiang warns Zhurong to speak sparingly, and Zhurong obeys—partly out of trust in his brother and partly because his instincts warn him that speaking could be disastrous.
• After Lin Tian releases Houtu from a kiss, Houtu awkwardly redirects everyone toward collecting the spiritual treasures left behind by the defeated Ran Deng and Minghe, then continuing into the Netherworld Blood Sea.
• Lin Tian claims he is only a vulnerable Great Encompassing Golden Immortal and asks Houtu to protect him. Houtu assumes he is actually a newly advanced Quasi-Saint concealing his strength and offers him affectionate protection.
• Xuanming, intrigued by the changes in Houtu since her wedding to Lin Tian, privately considers arranging a wedding of her own—by knocking Lin Tian unconscious and taking him to her cave.
• In the Blood God Palace, Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse notices crimson flowers linked to the earthly Dao and concludes that Houtu is destined to become its incarnation. He tries to contact Minghe and Ran Deng to advance his plan, but gets no reply.
• Realizing he cannot remember what happened to them, the Evil Corpse investigates and discovers that both quasi-saints have perished. Heavenly secrets misleadingly show Houtu killing them with one punch, while the Evil Corp suspects a hidden Saint-level power erased their traces.

Character developments and interactions

• Dijiang and Zhurong: Dijiang’s warning reinforces his protective authority; Zhurong follows his lead despite not fully understanding.
• Houtu and Lin Tian: Their playful intimacy continues. Houtu is shy around Lin Tian, while misreading his strength and motives as a desire to hide a recent breakthrough.
• Xuanming: Her curiosity about Houtu’s marriage turns into a bold, possessive interest in Lin Tian.
• Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse: His confidence in his plan gives way to alarm as he discovers that his agents are dead and their existence has been erased.

Significant themes

• Misunderstanding and dramatic irony: Houtu believes Lin Tian is a concealing Quasi-Saint, while the Evil Corpse attributes the deaths to Houtu; both misunderstandings obscure the true power at work.
• Hidden strength and deception: Lin Tian maintains a weak persona, and the unseen erasure of Minghe and Ran Deng reveals a power beyond the characters’ expectations.
• Fate and the earthly Dao: The blooming flowers suggest Houtu’s connection to the earthly Dao and foreshadow the Evil Corpse’s attempt to force her into its role.

Key events

• Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse peers into the Heavenly Secrets surrounding Daoist Ran Deng’s death. He sees Houtu’s Ancestral Witch True Form destroy Ran Deng despite his full use of the Heaven-and-Earth Ruler and Coffin Lamp.
• The circumstances of Patriarch Minghe’s final defeat remain hidden. Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse assumes Houtu used a powerful Earthly Dao Divine Ability and is now weakened, with Lin Tian using the Chaos Bell to conceal the truth.
• Convinced he has a rare chance, Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse heads for the Netherworld Blood Sea. He intends to ambush Houtu and use a fragment of Earthly Dao Laws to force her into becoming Earthly Dao Reincarnation.
• Meanwhile, Lin Tian absorbs the Twelfth-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus. Seeing it resonate with other treasures from the same origin, he wonders whether collecting the related relics could recreate the Thirty-Sixth-Grade Creation Green Lotus—and perhaps help awaken his Pangu heritage.
• Houtu gives Lin Tian Ran Deng’s Heaven-and-Earth Ruler and Coffin Lamp. She explains that the Ancestral Witches can refine spiritual treasures, but prefer relying on their formidable bodies and Divine Abilities.

Character developments and interactions

• Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse grows overconfident: he mistakes his incomplete glimpse of the Heavenly Secrets for proof that Houtu is weakened, and acts on that assumption.
• Lin Tian continues collecting powerful treasures and speculating about their origins, while his irreverent thoughts about gaining Pangu’s power highlight his playful, cheeky personality.
• Houtu shows a rare hint of bashfulness as she explains why she is giving Lin Tian the treasures. Her blunt preference for physical combat reflects the Ancestral Witches’ values.
• Lin Tian questions Houtu directly about why she does not keep the treasures for herself; she answers that they are less useful to the Ancestral Witches than their own strength.

Significant themes

• Misread knowledge and concealed truth: Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse believes he understands what happened, but the suppressed Heavenly Secrets leave him dangerously mistaken.
• Different forms of power: Spiritual treasures matter greatly to many cultivators, yet the Ancestral Witches favor innate physical strength and direct force.
• Ambition and possibility: Lin Tian’s collection of related treasures prompts speculation about restoring an ancient Chaos Supreme Treasure, though he recognizes the difficulty.
• Hubris and opportunity: Yuanshi’s confidence turns his assumptions into a plan, setting up a potential confrontation.

Key plot points and events

• Houtu explains her actions, and Lin Tian quietly accepts two Innate Spiritual Treasures. Though he privately worries that Houtu is too generous, she senses his affection and happily recalls the sea of Otherworld Flowers he created for her.
• Yuanshi’s evil corpse incarnation arrives and launches a devastating attack on Houtu, wielding sword qi infused with death and nirvana laws. The strike destroys a swath of the flower sea.
• Enraged, Houtu calls for Zhurong and her other brothers. Zhurong appears, revealing that Yuanshi’s incarnation has been lured into a trap.
• The remaining Ancestral Witches emerge from a concealed space, confirming that the entire group is present. Yuanshi realizes Zhurong’s apparent betrayal and isolation were part of the deception.
• Furious at being tricked, Yuanshi’s incarnation swears a Dao oath not to advance his cultivation until he kills Zhurong. Zhurong mocks him, provoking him into coughing up blood from rage.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu moves from contented affection toward fierce anger when Yuanshi damages the flower sea. She confidently summons her brothers, showing she anticipated the confrontation.
• Lin Tian remains outwardly quiet but feels protective concern for Houtu; her warm response suggests she understands his feelings.
• Zhurong reveals unexpected cunning beneath his reputation for being simple-minded. He openly taunts Yuanshi, claiming his deception was meant to teach him not to trust others.
• Yuanshi’s evil corpse shifts from arrogant certainty to shock, humiliation, and uncontrollable rage as the full ambush is revealed.
• Dijiang recognizes the danger of Zhurong’s sharp insults and privately worries that he may provoke Yuanshi further.

Significant themes

• Deception and overconfidence: Yuanshi’s certainty that he has outmaneuvered the Ancestral Witches blinds him to their counterplan.
• Loyalty and protection: Houtu’s brothers appear together to defend her, while Lin Tian’s private concern reflects his care for her.
• Affection amid conflict: The flower sea symbolizes Lin Tian and Houtu’s bond, making its destruction a personal provocation.
• Humiliation and pride: Yuanshi’s wounded pride drives him to make a binding oath, while Zhurong’s mockery turns his defeat into a public embarrassment.

Key plot points and events

• Houtu, furious at Yuanshi’s evil corpse incarnation, crushes his Boundless Sword Qi. The Twelve Ancestral Witches decide to destroy him and surround him with the Twelve-All-Heaven Baleful God Formation, but hold back from summoning Pangu’s phantom because doing so consumes their essence blood.
• The formation combines the Witches’ otherwise incompatible laws, suppressing Yuanshi while strengthening the Twelve. He recognizes that Houtu is its weak point: he plans to force a fragment of earthly-dao law into her, trigger her reincarnation, and break the formation.
• Yuanshi summons the supreme-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure Heaven-Burying Coffin, whose death-and-nirvana power disperses the formation’s earth-sha energy and forms a law domain. He merges with it, seemingly staking everything on a desperate counterattack.
• The coffin awakens uncanny runes and eerie dao murmurs. Zhurong attacks before its transformation is complete, briefly disrupting it, but the murmurs return and begin clouding his consciousness.
• Dijiang warns Zhurong and tries to banish the coffin through a spatial rift. The other Witches move to rescue him as the chapter ends.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu is shown in a berserk, protective state; her siblings resolve never to damage the Vine Dao Venerable’s gifts to her.
• The Twelve Ancestral Witches act in coordinated formation, balancing their confidence in their array against the cost of summoning Pangu’s phantom.
• Yuanshi’s evil corpse shifts from anger and apparent entrapment to cunning, targeting Houtu, then making a desperate stand with the coffin.
• Zhurong is impulsive and aggressive, striking the coffin immediately; Dijiang responds as a vigilant leader, warning him and coordinating the rescue.
• Lin Tian, observing while concealing the region’s heavenly secrets and handling the Chaos Bell, takes interest in the coffin’s strange power.

Significant themes

• Unity versus individual weakness: the Witches’ combined formation can neutralize a powerful foe, but Yuanshi seeks to exploit its reliance on Houtu.
• Power and its cost: Pangu’s phantom is a formidable trump card, but sustaining it drains the Witches’ essence blood.
• Cunning under pressure: Yuanshi turns a losing position into a possible threat by identifying the formation’s vulnerability and using an unusual treasure.
• Uncanny danger: the coffin’s eerie influence affects consciousness, suggesting that brute force alone may not be enough.

Key plot points and events

• Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse, merged with the Heaven-Burying Coffin, releases a fragment of Earthly Dao Laws as a surprise attack aimed at Houtu.
• The fragment ignores Houtu and flies to Lin Tian, settling into his hand before merging into him. Yuanshi’s plan fails, leaving him stunned.
• Lin Tian recognizes the fragment’s power. He already possesses three much larger Earthly Dao fragments, which previously made him Lord of the Earthly Dao.
• Houtu interprets the fragment’s approach as a deadly threat and believes Lin Tian has taken the danger meant for her. She resolves to destroy the Evil Corpse and later find a way to heal Lin Tian.
• Houtu orders the Ancestral Witches to kill. Their Twelve-All-Heaven Baleful God Formation suppresses the Heaven-Burying Coffin, while the Witches attack it with their law powers.

Character developments

• Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse shifts from confidence in his carefully planned attack to confusion and vulnerability when the fragment rejects Houtu and chooses Lin Tian.
• Lin Tian remains calm enough to accept the fragment and understands its significance, though its unexpected arrival surprises him.
• Houtu becomes fiercely protective of Lin Tian, convinced he has sacrificed himself for her. Her grief and anger turn into an immediate determination to retaliate.
• The Twelve Ancestral Witches treat Lin Tian as family and respond to the threat against him with even greater fury than they showed when Houtu was targeted.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and chosen family: The Witches’ bond with Lin Tian is strong enough that an attack on him provokes their fiercest response.
• Fate and unexpected allegiance: The law fragment does not follow Yuanshi’s plan, instead choosing Lin Tian for reasons that remain unexplained.
• Misunderstanding and perception: Houtu assumes the fragment is harmful, while Lin Tian knows it can benefit its bearer—though she has no time to learn this before ordering the attack.
• Retribution: The Witches’ belief that grudges must be settled immediately drives the chapter’s abrupt turn to violence.

Key plot points and events

• Believing Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse incarnation has harmed Lin Tian, the Twelve Ancestral Witches unleash their full strength against the Heaven-Burying Coffin.
• Their combined attacks break the coffin’s protection, destroy the incarnation’s body, and leave only his divine soul.
• Houtu is about to destroy the soul when Lin Tian’s mocking inner commentary alerts her that killing it would return its origin to Yuanshi’s true self. He suggests that making it a sacrificial offering would be more useful.
• The Evil Corpse tries to self-detonate after Zhurong taunts him, but Houtu’s Earth Law, followed by the time and space laws of other Ancestral Witches, immobilizes him.
• Zhurong prepares to finish the helpless soul, but Houtu stops him and reveals that Lin Tian is unharmed.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu shifts from furious vengeance to controlled calculation after hearing Lin Tian’s insight. Her intervention surprises both Zhurong and the Evil Corpse.
• Zhurong remains impulsive and gleefully taunts the defeated enemy, but Houtu restrains him before he can act.
• The Evil Corpse incarnation is frustrated that the Witches misunderstand his intentions, then becomes enraged by Zhurong’s mockery. He hopes to die and revive through Yuanshi’s origin, imagining that he and the other Saints will later destroy the Witch Clan.
• Lin Tian remains offstage but influences events through his inner commentary, which Houtu can hear and use to guide her decision.
• The Twelve Witches’ coordinated attack demonstrates their greatly increased power: together, they can overwhelm even a formidable spiritual treasure and its protected occupant.

Significant themes

• Perspective and misunderstanding: The Witches attack because they believe Lin Tian has been harmed, while the Evil Corpse’s actual plan was different.
• Power guided by judgment: Lin Tian’s insight helps Houtu avoid a rash killing and consider a more strategic outcome.
• Vengeance versus strategy: Zhurong seeks immediate destruction; Houtu chooses restraint.
• Humiliation and pride: The Evil Corpse’s anger at Zhurong’s taunts fuels his desperate attempt to self-detonate and his fantasies of future revenge.

Key plot points and events

• Houtu claims Lin Tian is unharmed by Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse incarnation and argues that, because the Three Pure Ones are connected to Pangu, the Witches should let Father God decide whether the incarnation should die.
• Houtu’s real motive is to exploit what she remembers of the Three Corpses technique: destroying an incarnation conventionally would simply return it to its original self. Instead, she proposes refining it completely so it cannot revive.
• The Ancestral Witches confirm that Lin Tian is safe. Zhurong initially interprets Houtu’s words as a plan to beat the incarnation to death, but Dijiang realizes she means offering it to Pangu as a sacrifice.
• Houtu proposes that all Twelve Ancestral Witches combine their origin laws to ignite the sacrificial fire and destroy the Evil Corpse permanently. This would also leave the Primordial Heavenly Venerable with an incomplete Three Corpses technique.
• At Mount Kunlun, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable senses danger and divines toward the Netherworld Blood Sea. He sees signs connected to the Earthly Dao, but the rest of the Heavenly Secrets are obscured.
• He wrongly concludes that his plan succeeded, that Houtu has become the Earthly Dao reincarnation, and that the Earthly Dao is being born. Believing his Evil Corpse’s disappearance is expected, he resumes refining three Earthly Dao treasures to claim the position of its Lord.
• The chapter ends with Taishang Laozi opening his eyes and looking toward the Netherworld Blood Sea.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu shows quick thinking and strategic ruthlessness, disguising her plan as a respectful sacrifice to Pangu while aiming to eliminate the Evil Corpse for good.
• Dijiang sees through the implication of Houtu’s explanation and earns her acknowledgment.
• Zhurong is blunt and literal, misunderstanding the plan before Dijiang clarifies it.
• The Ancestral Witches shift from concern for Lin Tian to unity behind Houtu’s proposal, drawing on their old custom of offering defeated enemies to Pangu.
• The Primordial Heavenly Venerable remains confident but misreads the signs, leaving him unaware of the danger to his Evil Corpse.

Significant themes

• Strategy over brute force: Houtu avoids a straightforward killing that would let the Evil Corpse return to its original self.
• Tradition repurposed: The Witches’ ancient sacrificial custom becomes a method for dealing with a powerful enemy.
• Hubris and misjudgment: The Primordial Heavenly Venerable interprets incomplete evidence in the way most favorable to himself.
• Ancestral reverence and remembrance: The chapter links the Witches’ offerings to Pangu with later human rites for fallen heroes and ancestors.

Key events

• The transformation of the Netherworld Blood Sea into an immense Otherworld Flower Sea becomes visible across the Primordial World. The flowers’ cycle of blooming and withering embodies life and death, captivating Nuwa, who recognizes the laws of creation within them.
• The Chaos Bell is revealed in Lin Tian’s hands, explaining how the area’s Heavenly Secrets were concealed. Observers realize the Twelve Ancestral Witches are present and have captured Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse Incarnation.
• Yuanshi discovers that his scheme to isolate Houtu and turn her into Earthly Dao Reincarnation has failed. Zhurong had misled his Evil Corpse into believing the Ancestral Witches were divided, while the sisters and brothers secretly acted together.
• Yuanshi considers intervening, but recalls that the Twelve-All-Heaven Baleful God Formation can summon Pan Gu’s phantom and a phantom of the World-Opening Axe—the same force that killed Zhunti and Jieyin. Confident that his Evil Corpse will return if killed, he decides to wait and later use its resurrection to humiliate the Witches.
• The Witches dismantle their formation, take their Ancestral Witch True Forms, and prepare a ritual. Houtu raises a great sacrificial altar and places Yuanshi’s imprisoned Evil Corpse upon it.

Character developments and interactions

• Yuanshi shifts from confidence in his plan to furious humiliation when he realizes he was deceived. His pride and desire to restore the Saints’ authority lead him to underestimate the Witches and treat the Evil Corpse’s capture as temporary.
• The Twelve Ancestral Witches reveal their unity and strategic cunning, overturning Yuanshi’s assumptions—especially through Zhurong’s deception. They now appear poised to make a public statement through the ritual.
• Houtu is unharmed and takes the central role in raising the altar, directly thwarting Yuanshi’s plan to use her as the means of establishing Earthly Dao Reincarnation.
• Nuwa responds to the flowers with genuine wonder, interpreting their life-and-death cycle through her understanding of the Creation Great Dao.
• Taishang Laozi dismisses the unusual signs as part of Yuanshi’s expected success and returns to contemplation, showing how poorly informed the Saints are about events at the Blood Sea.
• Lin Tian is revealed as the holder of the Chaos Bell, which had concealed the site from divination.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Yuanshi mistakes the Witches’ apparent divisions for genuine weakness and is outmaneuvered.
• Life, death, and renewal: The Otherworld Flower Sea makes mortality and cyclical renewal visible, while Yuanshi’s belief that his Evil Corpse cannot truly die sets up a contrast between survival and defeat.
• Pride and miscalculation: Yuanshi’s confidence in his status and power blinds him to the Witches’ coordination and the danger of their formation.
• Power and spectacle: Both sides seek to shape how the wider world sees them—the Witches through their ritual, and Yuanshi through his imagined counterattack.

Key plot points and events

• The Twelve Ancestral Witches reveal that the altar is meant for a sacrifice to Pan Gu, not Heaven. They burn Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse Incarnation with their twelve Law-origin flames and ask their Father God to judge whether he deserves death.
• As the incarnation suffers, the altar reveals his memories to the Primordial World. The images expose Yuanshi’s scheme: he sent the incarnation to manipulate Houtu into becoming the Earthly Dao’s reincarnation, hoping to claim its power, weaken the Witches, and establish the dominance of the Heavenly Dao Saints.
• The memories also show Zhurong repeatedly overpowering and exploiting the incarnation, taking spiritual treasures and extracting a promise of an innate spiritual root.
• The observers are baffled by the scheme’s failure. Zhurong had sworn a bloodline oath that should have kept him from telling the other Witches, yet all twelve are now united against Yuanshi’s plan. The chapter ends as they begin to suspect Zhurong’s apparent recklessness conceals deliberate calculation.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu takes the lead in naming the sacrifice and appealing to Pan Gu for judgment; the other Witches echo her.
• Zhurong is revealed as both forceful and unexpectedly influential: he humiliated Yuanshi’s incarnation, while his role in the scheme’s collapse makes observers reconsider him as a strategist.
• Yuanshi is exposed before the world, and his Original Self reacts angrily from Mount Kunlun as the incarnation’s actions are displayed.
• The Twelve Ancestral Witches act as a united front, turning Yuanshi’s own plot against him.
• The Primordial World’s powerful beings first relish the spectacle of Zhurong’s dominance, then grow wary as they recognize the Witches’ coordinated reversal.

Significant themes

• Public judgment and exposure: the sacrifice makes hidden actions visible to all.
• Power and humiliation: even a Saint’s incarnation can be brought low by the Witches.
• Strategy beneath appearances: Zhurong’s seeming lack of subtlety may mask deeper planning.
• The struggle among the Three Daos: Yuanshi’s ambition to control the Earthly Dao threatens the balance of the Primordial World.

Key plot points

• Yuanshi’s Evil Corpse is burned away by the Twelve Ancestral Witches’ twelve law-origin fires and sacrificed to Pangu. The ritual receives no visible response, but the Witches take the absence of punishment as tacit approval.
• The sacrifice destroys the Evil Corpse and costs Primordial Heavenly Venerable a quarter of his Saint origin, leaving him unable to reach perfection. The public revelations of his schemes also humiliate him before the Primordial World.
• Convinced that the real target of the plot was Yuanshi himself, the Witches plan to attack Mount Kunlun and kill him rather than settle for destroying his incarnation. They intend to use his death to establish their power.
• Houtu ascends the transformed altar, which now resembles luminous innate yellow jade and produces Dao-like sounds. As she climbs, twenty-seven rings of law surround it, leaving observers unsure what the Witches intend.
• The chapter ends with both Yuanshi and the watching powers wondering what Houtu’s dramatic ritual signals.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhurong is mistakenly celebrated by observers as a hidden mastermind who outwitted Yuanshi and secretly guided the Witches. Their elaborate theory—including that his earlier beating was staged—is entirely their own projection; Zhurong is actually distracted by thoughts of food.
• Yuanshi burns with hatred for Zhurong and wants to retaliate, but fear of the Pangu sacrifice keeps him from acting. He can only watch his incarnation perish and his secrets become public.
• Houtu takes a prominent role as chief officiant and initiates the next, unexplained phase at the altar.
• Taishang Laozi and Fuxi are impressed by the imagined cleverness of Zhurong and revise their low opinions of the Ancestral Witches. The Witches, meanwhile, are united in pursuing revenge against Yuanshi.

Significant themes

• Appearances and misinterpretation: Zhurong’s ordinary behavior is read as evidence of extraordinary cunning, showing how little outsiders truly understand the Witches.
• Revenge and deterrence: The Witches see killing Yuanshi himself—not merely defeating his schemes—as the only adequate answer.
• Faith and uncertainty: Though Pangu gives no sign, the Witches interpret the lack of punishment as approval, while observers fear what the sacrifice may have set in motion.

Key plot points and events

• Houtu publicly declares war on the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, accusing him of plotting against the Ancestral Witches. She announces that they will attack Mount Kunlun and kill him as a warning to others.
• The declaration frightens many powerful beings into abandoning thoughts of opposing the Witch Clan. Bai Ze decides instead to join the Human Race, planning to earn their acceptance by compiling the Demon Race’s weaknesses.
• The Primordial Heavenly Venerable takes Houtu’s challenge as an opportunity to restore his reputation. He returns to Jade Void Palace, summons his disciples, and prepares to meet the Twelve Ancestral Witches at Mount Kunlun, confident in the stronghold’s power and his Chaos Banner.
• At the Netherworld Blood Sea, Houtu and the other Ancestral Witches form a strengthened Twelve-All-Heaven Baleful God Formation, summoning the Pangu true body phantom.
• Houtu raises the sea of Otherworld Flowers into a crimson cloak for the phantom. Lin Tian joins the procession, reclining on its shoulder while the Chaos Bell shields him from the wind. The enormous figure sets off for Mount Kunlun, leaving a trail of flowers and inspiring awe among those who witness it.

Character developments

• Houtu acts decisively as the Witch Clan’s spokesperson and commander. She is determined to defeat the Primordial Heavenly Venerable and appears quietly pleased when Lin Tian joins the march.
• The Primordial Heavenly Venerable shifts from preparing his own offensive to a defiant defensive stand at Mount Kunlun. He believes victory will erase the humiliation he has suffered.
• Bai Ze abandons the idea of surrendering to the Witches and instead chooses the Human Race, using his knowledge of the Demon Race as leverage.
• Lin Tian remains characteristically relaxed amid the looming conflict, but his presence comforts Houtu and recalls their previous campaign.

Significant themes

• Power and reputation: Characters believe overwhelming strength can erase past disgrace and silence criticism.
• Deterrence and fear: Houtu’s blunt declaration makes other powers reconsider challenging the Witch Clan.
• Unity and loyalty: The Twelve Witches combine their laws to summon Pangu, while Lin Tian’s voluntary presence reinforces his bond with Houtu.
• Spectacle and awe: The flower-cloaked Pangu phantom turns the march into a legendary display that affects even distant observers.

Character interactions

• Houtu challenges the Primordial Heavenly Venerable publicly, prompting his preparations for battle.
• Bai Ze weighs the dangers of aligning with the Witches before choosing to approach the Human Race.
• Houtu senses Lin Tian settling on Pangu’s shoulder; her private determination is accompanied by a faint smile.
• The Twelve Ancestral Witches act in concert, combining their powers to create the formation and carry their campaign toward Mount Kunlun.