Chapter Summaries

A failed attempt to subdue Zhen'er revealed two distinct consciousnesses within her, and one took control of the bald elder's body. The newcomer left the chamber asking for the Demonic Path's founder, unaware of where he was or how much time had passed.

• The bald elder used demonic qi on Zhen'er, but she began absorbing his power and resisting his control.
• A phantom separated from Zhen'er, and the bald elder realized that two different consciousnesses inhabited her.
• Zhen'er touched the phantom, absorbed it, and took control of the elder's body, forcing him to beg the onlookers to kill her.
• Zhen'er vanished into the elder, who emerged into the courtyard and marveled that he had finally returned.
• The junior overseer in gray told the elder he was in the Northern Ju Royal Capital, but the elder asked where the Master who founded the Demonic Path was.

A bald elder possessing Zhen'er’s body learned that the Devil Ancestor Yin had been dead for ages and that the Demonic Path had fallen into decline. After overpowering and binding his captors, he learned more about the world and ordered them to return him to the Heavenforging Sect.

• The bald elder identified Yin as his master, the Devil Ancestor, and demanded that the gray-robed junior minister take him to pay his respects.
• After learning that Yin had died long ago and the Demonic Path had declined, the bald elder seized a passerby, questioned him, and killed him.
• The bald elder drained one of the experts with eerie pink threads, then bound the remaining three and forced the gray-robed junior minister to explain the state of the Demonic Path and the world.
• The bald elder exposed the junior minister as Gong Yuanzhi, whom Ju Shihong recognized as someone presumed dead after Blazing Fire Island.
• The bald elder placed Gong Yuanzhi and the other two captives under the Heartbinding Curse and ordered them to return him to the Heavenforging Sect.

Zhen'er returned to the Heavenforging Sect with Ju Shihong after subduing her captors and disguising her return as a kidnapping. At Dong Wenshu’s celebration, several unexpected discipleship ties formed, while Shi Chun stayed behind and told Situ Gu he could not yet appear in public.

• Zhen'er damaged the bald elder’s mind, compelled Gong Yuanzhi and the others to obey her, and took Ju Shihong back toward the Heavenforging Sect.
• Zhen'er learned that her original self had been affectionate with Shi Chun and felt reluctant, though curious, to meet him.
• Heavenforging Sect members verified Zhen'er and Ju Shihong at the Xun Gate, and the pair claimed they had been abducted and released.
• At Dong Wenshu’s celebration, Situ Gu accepted Dong Liangying as a disciple, Fu Que offered to take Dong Liangze as one, and Li Hongjiu’s connection to Dong Liangying surprised Li Xianghong.
• Li Xianghong told Situ Gu that Zhen'er had returned safely and asked for Jiang You'er, but Situ Gu claimed Jiang You'er had killed himself and discarded his body.
• Shi Chun refused to leave with Situ Gu because he could not appear publicly yet, and promised to meet him at the Heavenforging Sect after settling his affairs.

Shi Chun persuaded Li Hongjiu to strike him with the Heaven-Shaking Thunder Sword again so he could pursue insights into creating a cultivation method, and the two secretly left the city. Their departure drew the attention of Wei Mo and the Red-Clad Woman, who ordered Li Hongjiu killed.

• Situ Gu left the Book Hall to return to his sect, while Sword Saint Fu Que assessed Dong Liangze's foundations.
• Shi Chun asked Li Hongjiu to strike him again, claiming the previous blow had inspired him to seek a cultivation method, and promised to help Li Hongjiu in return.
• Shi Chun arranged a disguised carriage departure, and he and Li Hongjiu left Morning Moon Hall for the road out of the city.
• Wei Mo learned that Li Hongjiu had left and ordered his people to follow the carriage and prepare to capture Shi Chun if he appeared.
• A-Lan reported Li Hongjiu's departure to the Red-Clad Woman, who ordered an ambush to finish him off.

Shi Chun and Li Hongjiu fled by air while concealing their auras, but Wei Mo’s group and the Red-Clad Woman’s pursuers both tried to track them. The chapter ended with the Red-Clad Woman ordering her people to seize Li Hongjiu if they found him and prevent him from leaving Gathering Grotto Continent.

• A-Lan reported that a Demon Eye user had been sent to track Li Hongjiu, while Bai Qiru suspected that the force behind her repeated arrests disregarded the Bai Clan.
• Yin Fei visited Granny Qi in the Divine Mountain prison and spoke with her about arranging food, while an unseen watcher followed him afterward.
• Shi Chun abandoned the carriage with Li Hongjiu and flew away using the Wind Scales while concealing both their auras from the Demon Eye.
• Wei Mo used the Sky-Gazing Mirror to follow the pair and questioned Young Master Nan about whether the coachman was Shi Chun; Young Master Nan sent Shi Chun a message, but Shi Chun did not check it.
• Wei Mo suspected the coachman was Shi Chun and ordered two more experts to stand by, while the Red-Clad Woman’s pursuers lost Li Hongjiu’s trail near the abandoned carriage.
• The Red-Clad Woman ordered her people to follow the flight trails and told their force at the Xun Gate to seize Li Hongjiu if they found him.

Yin Xu passed along a covert delivery lead while Situ Gu returned to the Heavenforging Sect and reclaimed Zhen'er, who claimed she had given up on Shi Chun. Shi Chun and Li Hongjiu reached an isolated sea islet to form a Thunder Sword, while Wei Mo and Young Master Nan watched Shi Chun through a Mirror Projection and tried to contact him.

• Yin Xu received an anonymous letter about completed goods and tried to contact Shi Chun, while A-Lan reported that a suspected Death-Defying Incense delivery had been buried near Barrier Slope.
• The Red-Clad Woman ordered A-Lan to arrange Demon Sixteen's secret capture if nobody met him within three days, and Situ Gu departed through the Xun Gates for the Heavenforging Sect.
• Situ Gu asked Luo Yan to release Zhen'er and said Shi Chun had told him the Demonic Path was behind her abduction; Luo Yan warned him not to get entangled with the Demonic Path.
• Situ Gu took Zhen'er back to Twin Hills Mountain, where she said she had put Shi Chun behind her and would focus on cultivation, leaving Situ Gu puzzled by her sudden change.
• Shi Chun and Li Hongjiu arrived at a rocky islet in the Jieluo Sea to prepare a Thunder Sword, while Wei Mo and Young Master Nan watched them through a Mirror Projection and Young Master Nan messaged Shi Chun.

Shi Chun and Li Hongjiu raised a massive whirlwind around a small island, while Wei Mo ordered agents to approach after suspecting Shi Chun’s identity. A dozen figures pierced the storm and arrived before them, leaving Shi Chun and Li Hongjiu facing the newcomers.

• Shi Chun ignored Young Master Nan’s message but read Yin Xu’s note that Granny Qi’s Death-Defying Incense was ready for collection.
• Wei Mo ordered his agents to confirm Shi Chun’s identity in person, then sent them to the island despite Young Master Nan’s doubts.
• Li Hongjiu conjured a growing tornado around the island, obscuring the Sky-Gazing Mirror’s view.
• Shi Chun spotted approaching figures and checked that Wu Jinliang was safe and had not seen anyone follow them.
• Li Hongjiu opened a gap in the storm and saw more than a dozen figures hovering nearby.
• The newcomers probed the wind pillar, charged through it, and arrived before Shi Chun and Li Hongjiu.

Shi Chun was cornered by powerful pursuers who demanded that he remove his disguise, while Li Hongjiu tried to leave after Shi Chun secured his release. A second group of mostly demon cultivators arrived, and as Li Hongjiu flew out, they all fixed their attention on him.

• A group led by three Heavenly Immortal Realm experts confronted Shi Chun and demanded that he reveal his face.
• Shi Chun realized the group had tracked him through the Sky-Gazing Mirror and tried to persuade Li Hongjiu to help him escape.
• Shi Chun claimed Li Hongjiu was not their target and urged the pursuers to let him go, then asked him to warn the Book Hall.
• The leader allowed Li Hongjiu to leave because of his ties to the Treasure-Evolving Sect, and Li Hongjiu dispersed the tornado before flying away.
• Wei Mo's group spotted unfamiliar newcomers outside the tornado, sent a warning to their people, and watched as the mist scattered.
• A second group, mostly demon cultivators, arrived, and its members turned to stare at Li Hongjiu as he emerged from the tornado.

Li Hongjiu and Shi Chun were pursued by demon cultivators who tried to kill Li Hongjiu, while another group sought Shi Chun. Li Hongjiu used a blinding technique to escape with Shi Chun, but their pursuers caught up, leaving Li Hongjiu to prepare another technique.

• Li Hongjiu sensed several demon cultivators intended to kill him, and Shi Chun warned him to come closer for protection.
• After A-Lan ordered the demon cultivators to kill Li Hongjiu, one attacked him, but Li Hongjiu blocked the strike and countered with his swords.
• Shi Chun tried to shield Li Hongjiu and escape with him, using the Black Lotus Treasure, the Boundless Banner, and an Immobilizing Talisman against their pursuers.
• Li Hongjiu used “Borrow the Light” to blind the pursuers, then carried Shi Chun down to the sea to evade them.
• When the pursuing groups found them again, Li Hongjiu faced them and began casting “Borrow a Tide.”

Li Hongjiu overturned a heavenly immortal Demon Cultivator’s devastating attack by harnessing the sea’s falling tide, saving Shi Chun from certain death. As the Demon Cultivators gathered to face him, Li Hongjiu launched a counterattack, while A-Lan and others watched through the Mirror Projection.

• A-Lan recognized the inn where Wei Mo and the others were staying and hurried there with several dark figures.
• A Demon Cultivator attacked Li Hongjiu and Shi Chun with a mountain-sized silver axe, while observers at the inn believed Shi Chun was doomed.
• A-Lan broke into the inn and joined Wei Mo, Young Master Nan, and the others in watching the Mirror Projection.
• Li Hongjiu used the sea’s suppressed, falling tide to break the axe’s force, blast the treasure away, and injure its wielder.
• Li Hongjiu challenged the Demon Cultivators and struck at them with a palm, sending an even greater surge of force upward.

Li Hongjiu used the sea’s power to destroy nearly all the demons sent against him, leaving only Ice Owl alive. Ice Owl joined forces with the Eastern Victory experts and began testing whether they could sever Li Hongjiu’s connection to the sea.

• Ice Owl shielded the demons from Li Hongjiu’s first strike with the Cold Moon Shield, but the attack shattered its light and wounded those behind him.
• Li Hongjiu struck again, killing the demons around Ice Owl while Shi Chun sheltered behind him; an unnoticed spatial rift briefly appeared as Shi Chun felt terror and despair.
• Her Ladyship watched the battle through the mirror projection, while the Eastern Victory party hesitated to approach Li Hongjiu and Shi Chun taunted them from behind his protector.
• Ice Owl proposed joining forces with the Eastern Victory experts to cut Li Hongjiu off from the sea, and they sent three heavenly immortal experts to surround him.
• Ice Owl broke through the sea’s resilient barrier and cleaved a deep trench through the seabed.

Li Hongjiu and Shi Chun escaped the Heavenly Immortal experts’ combined attack, and Li Hongjiu began borrowing the power of the sea and storm to counter them. The chapter ended as his tornado summoned vast black clouds and Ten-Thousand-Jun Thunder, leaving the experts and onlookers stunned.

• The three Heavenly Immortal experts carved triangular trenches in the sea and joined forces to break Li Hongjiu’s connection to its power.
• The experts redirected their attack toward Li Hongjiu, forcing him and Shi Chun to flee as the enclosed sea erupted into towering sprays.
• Li Hongjiu blocked the blast and Shi Chun used the Boundless Banner and Black Lotus Avatar to survive the waves.
• Li Hongjiu scattered Red Flame divine fire through the spray, then began gathering wind and lightning while the experts attacked them again.
• Li Hongjiu turned the mist into a massive tornado that resisted the experts’ strikes and drew up seawater as black storm clouds and Ten-Thousand-Jun Thunder spread across the sky.

As three Heavenly Immortal experts attacked Li Hongjiu inside the tornado, Shi Chun seized the white-haired old man’s damaged Cold Moon Shield. Li Hongjiu unleashed three thunder swords against the attackers’ stone mountains, destroying them as the battle reached its turning point.

• Shi Chun warned Wu Jinliang to hide while the white-haired old man and the two Eastern Victory experts tried to break the tornado.
• The white-haired old man sent his Cold Moon Shield into the tornado, where Shi Chun used the Boundless Banner and lightning to take it for himself.
• The white-haired old man returned with three rocky mountains, and the three experts hid inside them to attack Li Hongjiu at close range.
• The black-robed and gray-robed men secretly agreed to kill the white-haired old man after their attack if they got the chance.
• The three experts charged their mountains into the tornado, and Li Hongjiu summoned three enormous thunder swords that blasted the mountains apart.

Shi Chun and Li Hongjiu fought off three Heavenly Immortal experts, but Li Hongjiu was gravely wounded and lost an arm. Shi Chun killed the attackers, rescued Li Hongjiu, and fled as the observers discovered they had lost contact with their forces.

• The three Heavenly Immortal experts attacked Li Hongjiu and Shi Chun with rubble, leaving Li Hongjiu badly wounded as he trapped them in a storm of lightning.
• Shi Chun emerged from the Boundless Banner and killed the white-haired, black-robed, and gray-robed experts with his spear while Li Hongjiu sustained the lightning.
• Li Hongjiu collapsed after the lightning vanished, and Shi Chun caught him, stopped his bleeding, and gave him a valuable pill.
• Shi Chun wrapped himself and Li Hongjiu in the Wind Scales and fled upward from the dispersing tornado.
• Wei Mo and A-Lan saw Shi Chun carrying the injured Li Hongjiu in the Sky-Gazing Mirror projection and tried to contact their forces.
• A-Lan lost contact with her people and asked the Red-Clad Woman to let her go investigate.

Shi Chun fled with the badly wounded Li Hongjiu while Wei Mo tracked them with the Sky-Gazing Mirror and sent Eastern Victory pursuers to intercept them. As Shi Chun prepared to fight rather than abandon Li Hongjiu, the Red-Clad Woman learned that the pursuers had orders to capture Shi Chun alive.

• Wei Mo ordered the Eastern Victory contingent to pursue Shi Chun and Li Hongjiu, while Shi Chun headed toward a rendezvous with Wu Jinliang to seek shelter and treatment for Li Hongjiu.
• Wei Mo used the Sky-Gazing Mirror to track Shi Chun and redirected pursuers to intercept him before he reached the rendezvous.
• Shi Chun tied Li Hongjiu to his back and promised not to abandon his brother, while Li Hongjiu doubted his words but was moved by them.
• Shi Chun recognized the waiting pursuers as Eastern Victory forces and prepared to fight with his weapons and Black Lotus Avatar, while the Mirror Projection audience watched.
• The Red-Clad Woman asked A-Lan whether the pursuers wanted Shi Chun alive, and A-Lan confirmed that Ice Owl had reported orders to capture him.

Shi Chun fought through the Eastern Victory forces while carrying the gravely wounded Li Hongjiu, then escaped with Wu Jinliang through a passage to the Nether Realm. He collapsed the passage’s underground chamber behind them, leaving their pursuers on the surface.

• After learning that three of his experts had died, Wei Mo watched the Eastern Victory forces attack Shi Chun and Li Hongjiu.
• Shi Chun used the Black Lotus Avatar, Flying Dragon Sword, Three Corpses Mirror, and Soul-Severing Bell to kill an Earth Immortal Realm attacker and break through the encirclement.
• Shi Chun reached Wu Jinliang at their rendezvous point and used the Soul-Scattering Mace to raise a sand tornado before they escaped underground.
• Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang opened a Two-Realm Passage with Death-Defying Incense, and Wu Jinliang carried the unconscious Li Hongjiu through it.
• Shi Chun entered the Nether Realm after destroying the corpse and collapsing the underground chamber behind them.

Shi Chun brought the gravely injured Li Hongjiu to safety in Qiangyu City, then decided to recruit Yu Xuanbing personally to protect their future movements and recover the Death-Defying Incense. The chapter ended with Shi Chun preparing to write a letter at the Yin-Yang Boundary while Wu Jinliang watched skeptically.

• Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang escaped with Li Hongjiu, while the Red-Clad Woman searched the excavation site and sent Shi Chun a message that received no reply.
• A physician stabilized Li Hongjiu in Qiangyu City, but Shi Chun declined to pay for regenerating his severed arm and left him in Lao Changhai's care.
• Shi Chun told Lao Changhai to keep Li Hongjiu unconscious and concealed from the Nether Realm, then decided to invite Yu Xuanbing himself after Chu Jingtang failed to get a response.
• Shi Chun explained that they needed an expert because their whereabouts had leaked and their remaining Death-Defying Incense could be watched or stolen.
• Chu Jingtang led Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang to Zhuyong City, where Shi Chun prepared to write a letter to the Yin-Yang Boundary.

Shi Chun submitted a request to the assassin Yu Xuanbing by tossing a letter bearing only the words “A favor to ask” into the Yin-Yang Boundary. After inspecting the dangerous mist, he left with Wu Jinliang and Chu Jingtang to wait for a response.

• Chu Jingtang explained how to submit a letter to the Yin-Yang Boundary, and Shi Chun wrote “A favor to ask” with their address on white cloth.
• Shi Chun, Wu Jinliang, and Chu Jingtang flew beyond Zhuyong City to the Yin-Yang Boundary, where Shi Chun examined the chaotic yin-yang power in the mist.
• Chu Jingtang led the group to the submission site and explained that Yu Xuanbing checked the deep pit for letters.
• Shi Chun wrapped a ten-thousand-liang note and two dead insects in the cloth, then tossed the letter into the mist.
• Shi Chun said they should return and wait for news, leaving Wu Jinliang and Chu Jingtang astonished and doubtful that his brief request would work.

Shi Chun waited in Zhuyong City for a response to his letter while the Red-Clad Woman searched for him and released Wei Mo’s people. The letter reached Shi Wushuang, who left his stone-carving shop to meditate, and the chapter ended as Shi Chun noticed something while using his right-eye ability.

• Chu Jingtang carried Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang back to Zhuyong City, where Shi Chun hung a sign asking for a favor and waited for the assassin’s response.
• The Red-Clad Woman learned her search had found no trace of Shi Chun, ordered Wei Mo and his people released, and sent Shi Chun another message saying she missed him.
• A half-human mist found Shi Chun’s letter and carried it from the Yin-Yang Boundary to Shi Wushuang, who examined its contents and traveled to Zhuyong City.
• Shi Wushuang returned to his stone-carving shop, exchanged quiet greetings with his wife Nian Xiu, then went upstairs to meditate after sensing something unusual.
• Lao Xi visited Shi Chun, arranged to supply more death-row prisoners for the Soul-Seizing business, and left to fetch two as a gift.
• After Lao Xi’s visit reminded him to check the surroundings, Shi Chun activated his right-eye ability and abruptly fixed his gaze on something.

Shi Chun tracked a mysterious red mist to Stone Story and suspected it belonged to the assassin Yu Xuanbing, who had been spying on him. After luring Yu Xuanbing into revealing himself, Shi Chun began negotiating for his help outside the Nether Realm.

• Shi Chun saw a red thread and misty flower appear when Lao Xi visited, then followed the thread to Stone Story and learned the woman in the shop was Boss Shi's wife.
• Shi Chun suspected Yu Xuanbing had overheard his conversation with Lao Xi and was investigating his secret business.
• When the red mist returned to the courtyard, Shi Chun announced that he and his companions were leaving, prompting the hidden visitor to materialize.
• The half-human mist asked who Shi Chun wanted killed, and Shi Chun explained that he wanted protection and help retrieving his belongings.
• Shi Chun offered to pay Yu Xuanbing for assistance outside the Nether Realm and invited him to name his terms.