Chapter Summaries

Xu Xuan and Liu Xiaowen learned that Liu Xiaowen could use Zhang Yu’s Azure Jade Fragment to sense his missing wife, and they agreed to help search the Eastern Sea. The chapter then followed Bai Xuan as she negotiated with Dongfang Guanji, while she and Qing Ling discussed the dragons’ schemes and the possible opening of Eastern Radiance Heaven.

• Liu Xiaowen activated the Azure Jade Fragment with his Greater Yang nature, and Zhang Yu realized it was responding to his wife’s distant location.
• Zhang Yu pleaded for Liu Xiaowen’s help, and Liu Xiaowen volunteered to search the Eastern Sea despite Xu Xuan’s warning about the dangers.
• Xu Xuan agreed to let Liu Xiaowen go after a few days and rode away, reflecting on how much his eldest disciple had grown.
• Dongfang Guanji confronted Bai Xuan at White Azure Cavern and asked her to release his colleague; Bai Xuan returned the frozen man after hearing that Dragon Prince Guangyu had died and accepting compensation.
• Bai Xuan and Qing Ling discussed Dongfang Guanji’s visit, the responding Silk Scripture, and the possibility that Eastern Radiance Heaven might open.
• Qing Ling asked whether Bai Xuan had chosen someone to help refine her immortal pill, but Bai Xuan avoided answering and entered seclusion.

Dongfang Guanji and Pidan fled east after sensing the Li Kingdom’s protective treasure, while Liu Xiaowen decided to travel to the Eastern Sea for the sect’s sake. As Liu prepared to leave, his fellow disciples and Xu Xuan offered support and worried over what his departure would mean for the sect.

• Dongfang Guanji explained that Bai Xuan had subdued Pidan, then sensed unusual lineages and fortunes around Red Cloud Commandery before a mysterious yellow scroll appeared and drove them east.
• Liu Xiaowen resolved to leave for the Eastern Sea to seek a future for his sect, and Wang Qiyun tried unsuccessfully to dissuade him before promising to prepare his equipment.
• Zhang Gaoxia gave Liu six healing herbs as a loan and asked him to return after reaching Foundation Establishment.
• Wen Si'an worried about Liu’s journey, while Xu Xuan explained that the sect needed him and had prepared talismans and supplies for his departure.
• Xu Xuan and Wen Si'an agreed to visit Liu together before he left the day after tomorrow.

Xu Xuan prepared supplies and gifts for Liu Xiaowen, who left Green Luo with Zhang Yu to search the Eastern Sea for Zhang Yu's wife. After Xu Fayan learned of Liu Xiaowen’s departure, he began considering who would take over his senior brother’s duties in the sect.

• Xu Xuan reviewed the talismans, spirit pearls, cultivation method, and travel supplies he had prepared for Liu Xiaowen.
• Liu Xiaowen accepted Wang Qiyun’s Fire Tiger Fang, said goodbye to the sect, and left Green Luo to join Zhang Yu on the journey east.
• Liu Xiaowen remembered his aged grandfather and parents’ graves before setting off with Zhang Yu toward the Eastern Sea.
• Xu Fayan sensed something amiss, returned to Green Luo, and learned from Zhang Gaoxia that Liu Xiaowen had left for an uncertain length of time.
• Xu Fayan asked whether anyone would take over Liu Xiaowen’s duties, angering Zhang Gaoxia, then left and considered the sect’s future.

Xu Xuan witnessed Liang Yong forge his Immortal Foundation and learned about his pursuit of a Blood River Sect remnant hiding in the Plainlands. Meanwhile, Liu Xiaowen rescued a young girl from barbarians attacking her village.

• Xu Xuan congratulated Liang Yong on forging his Immortal Foundation and learned that his art combined immortal and Buddhist teachings.
• Xu Xuan used the [Mother-Child Blood River] to trace a Foundation Establishment Blood River Sect remnant to the Plainlands, where the remnant's trail was being concealed.
• Liang Yong revealed that the remnant had killed a woman he liked at Plum Studio and warned Xu Xuan about the risks of dual cultivation.
• Zhang Yu and Liu Xiaowen traveled by boat through a devastated region, where the boatman said immortals had failed to protect the common people.
• When barbarians attacked the boatman's village, Liu Xiaowen rushed in and killed them, then carried the boatman's young granddaughter to safety.

Zhang Yu and Liu Xiaowen stopped at an isolated inn with Boatman He and Zhi Ting, where Shen Baoxiang confronted Yin Yuanlu and the Listening Rain Gate cultivators over a treasure. After Shen Baoxiang’s men killed mortals who tried to leave, he challenged a seemingly unfamiliar youth in a pale yellow robe.

• Zhang Yu brought Boatman He and Zhi Ting to the inn, where Liu Xiaowen noticed the unusual cultivators and warned Zhang Yu against eating or drinking there.
• Zhang Yu ordered Mountain Delicacies and wine, while Liu Xiaowen abstained from the food and drink.
• Shen Baoxiang entered the inn and accused Yin Yuanlu and the Listening Rain Gate of planning to attack the Shen Household.
• Shen Baoxiang revealed that his forces had surrounded the inn and let several mortals leave, but they were killed outside.
• Shen Baoxiang approached the youth in the pale yellow robe and struck his table; the youth raised his head, and Liu Xiaowen suspected he was not from the Li Kingdom.

Liu Xiaowen and the others were trapped in an inn as a deadly darkness and an unseen creature killed people around them. The Liao youth finally drew his saber against the man possessed by a shadow, while Liu Xiaowen prepared to act.

• A wounded man and then another arrived at the inn, warning of danger outside, while Yin Yuanlu and Shen Baoxiang argued over the Listening Rain Gate's stolen Foundation Establishment artifact.
• A creature killed Shen Baoxiang and emptied his body, then a strange darkness swallowed the inn's light and senses.
• A Listening Rain Gate disciple fled through the doorway and was cut in half, but a black shadow repaired his body and returned him to his seat.
• The Liao youth headed toward the door, turned back for his belongings, and stopped beside the possessed disciple.
• The Liao youth drew his saber and slashed at the possessed man as Liu Xiaowen readied his sword and held Zhi Ting's hand.

Liu Xiaowen, Zhang Yu, and their companions escaped the inn with Li Jinzhi after fighting Shen Dezheng, but the Shen Household’s sacrifice left them marked and tied to its pursuit. They hid near the Wilderness of Witches, where Li Jinzhi proposed using the surviving Listening Rain Gate disciple to turn the situation around.

• Li Jinzhi and Liu Xiaowen joined forces to defeat the black vapor creatures attacking the inn, then left with Zhang Yu, He Chuan, and Zhi Ting.
• Shen Dezheng blocked their escape with a Bronze God Statue, but Li Jinzhi used Invocation of Descent while Liu Xiaowen and Zhang Yu restrained the statue, forcing Shen Dezheng to flee.
• The group escaped to a cave near Witch South Commandery, where Liu Xiaowen treated Li Jinzhi after his secret art badly injured him.
• Li Jinzhi explained that the Shen Household worshipped the wild god [Abyssal Radiance Aspect] and that the sacrifice had marked everyone, allowing the Shen Household to track them.
• Li Jinzhi suggested exploiting the surviving Listening Rain Gate disciple, and Liu Xiaowen realized he could sense the Foundation Establishment-level evil creature’s location.

Liu Xiaowen and his companions hid from the Shen Household’s blockade while waiting for the Listening Rain Gate’s unstable evil entity to erupt and create a chance to escape. Li Jinzhi revealed his Cloud Dew Gate heritage and explained the origins of the Shen Household’s spirit thunder and Abyssal Radiance Aspect, deepening Liu Xiaowen’s suspicions about their connection to the Eastern Sea.

• A patrol of Witch South barbarians searched an empty cavern and left, allowing Liu Xiaowen’s group to emerge from their formation and rest.
• Liu Xiaowen told his companions that the Listening Rain Gate’s evil entity was nearing an eruption, which could distract the Shen Household and let them escape north along the Li River.
• Li Jinzhi explained that he had cultivated a greater yang method and revealed that his mother had belonged to the Cloud Dew Gate.
• Li Jinzhi said the Cloud Dew Gate cultivated gui water, while the Shen Household had received permission to cultivate spirit thunder from Rain Master Heavenly Rain.
• Li Jinzhi identified the Shen Household’s Abyssal Radiance Aspect as a likely incense-nurtured remnant of a fallen purple mansion cultivator, originally sustained by the Cloud Dew Gate.
• Liu Xiaowen considered his companions’ unusual backgrounds and resolved to wait for the evil entity’s eruption rather than flee alone with his Azure Cloud Escape Talisman.

Shen Dezheng used the [Abyssal Radiance Aspect] to sacrifice mortals and discussed the wild god and the Listening Rain Gate’s survivors with Shen Baoshi. In the Great Void, Dongfang Guanji and Pidan examined the rift, its trapped wild god, and Yin Luze, while Dongfang Guanji agreed to protect Li Jinzhi.

• Shen Dezheng sacrificed several hundred mortals into the rift and sensed images of Li Jinzhi, Yin Luze, and Yin Yuanchen.
• Shen Dezheng told Shen Baoshi that the Shen Household was capturing escaped Liao people to complete a sacrifice that would extend their ancestor’s lifespan.
• Shen Dezheng explained that the [Abyssal Radiance Aspect] likely came from a Purple Mansion cultivator’s [Abyss of Grinding Light] and had been transformed using the Liao people’s secret method.
• An [ancestral spirit] worshipped by the Liao Kingdom asked Dongfang Guanji to protect Li Jinzhi, and Dongfang Guanji identified Li Jinzhi’s Greater Yang inheritance as a gift from Great Feng.
• Dongfang Guanji and Pidan observed that [Primordial Form Manifesting Light] pinned the wild god inside the rift and that Yin Luze’s Shangyang remnant husk had clouded her mind.

Yin Luze and Yin Yuanchen faced the Shen Household after the Listening Rain Gate’s destruction, and Yin Luze fought them while her borrowed Shangyang power consumed her. Though the Shen Household’s Bronze God Statue destroyed her body, her immortal foundation survived as an azure bird and pursued Shen Dezheng toward the Wilderness of Witches.

• Yin Yuanchen reminded Yin Luze that the Shen Household remained their enemy, and she briefly regained enough reason to continue attacking them.
• Shen Dezheng arrived with the Bronze God Statue and trapped Yin Luze and Yin Yuanchen in a formation maintained by Shen Household cultivators.
• Yin Luze fought the statue while its baleful energy killed Yin Yuanchen, who lost the Rain Master Codex to a streak of crimson light before he died.
• The Bronze God Statue overwhelmed Yin Luze, but Shen Dezheng withdrew the formation when he heard that his kinsman Deguan was in trouble near the Wilderness of Witches.
• Yin Luze’s azure-bird immortal foundation emerged from the statue’s dark energy and chased Shen Dezheng east toward the Wilderness of Witches.

Liu Xiaowen, Zhang Yu, and Li Jinzhi fought Shen Deguan while protecting Zhi Ting and old boatman He, then fled toward the Li River after Shen Deguan fell. At the riverbank, the Shen Household Head appeared with Shen Deguan and Shen Dezheng’s heads and trapped the group in Divine Chains.

• Liu Xiaowen and Zhang Yu combined the Essence-Burning Talisman and heavenly fire to burn Shen Deguan while Zhang Yu and Li Jinzhi broke his lightning net.
• Shen Deguan abducted Zhi Ting and threatened to kill her, but Liu Xiaowen stalled him while waiting for the approaching evil creature.
• Shen Dezheng arrived half-eaten by an azure bird, giving Liu Xiaowen the chance to sever Shen Deguan’s hand and trap him in the sacrificed Ren Water Orb.
• Liu Xiaowen, Zhang Yu, Li Jinzhi, old boatman He, and Zhi Ting fled north toward the Li River, with Liu Xiaowen badly wounded.
• As the group reached the riverbank, the Shen Household Head appeared carrying Shen Deguan and Shen Dezheng’s heads and bound them with Divine Chains.

Liu Xiaowen entered the abyss under Shen Zhushi’s orders, discovered the old cultivator intended to possess a baleful god, and sabotaged the process by disrupting the radiance restraining it. He fled toward the abyss’s entrance as the enraged serpent surged after him.

• Shen Zhushi sacrificed two Qi Refining cultivators and an azure bird, then bound Liu Xiaowen and his companions and demanded Liu submit to a restraining seal.
• Liu Xiaowen let Shen Zhushi plant the seal, knowing the seal script in his Consciousness Sea would block it, and agreed to carry the Bronze God Statue into the abyss.
• Liu Xiaowen recognized that Shen Zhushi planned to possess the imprisoned baleful god, and he placed the statue within the pure-white mysterious radiance as ordered.
• Shen Zhushi sent his divine soul along an incense-offering bridge to enter the baleful god, while Liu Xiaowen endured the radiance and escaped his bindings.
• Liu Xiaowen cast Solar Flame into the radiance, disrupting its balance and making the baleful serpent surge upward as Shen Zhushi cried out in terror.
• Liu Xiaowen burned his vital blood essence and fled upward, with the enraged serpent rapidly closing in behind him.

Liu Xiaowen, Li Jinzhi, and Zhang Yu escaped Shen Zhushi’s divine ability, then destroyed the Shen Household and divided its treasures. With the Shen Household eliminated and the Cloud Dew Gate gone, Zhang Yu invited Li Jinzhi to travel with them to the Eastern Sea.

• Liu Xiaowen rescued Zhang Yu and Li Jinzhi from the Shen Household, but Shen Zhushi pursued them in the form of a baleful snake.
• The snake’s baleful energy collapsed under the light of the Three Luminaries, and the resulting divine ability killed Shen Zhushi and devastated northern Jiangyang; Zhang Yu’s old companion He Chuan died in the aftermath.
• Liu Xiaowen and Li Jinzhi returned to the Shen Household, killed its cultivators, and plundered its Spirit Mountain while Zhang Yu cared for Zhi Ting and dealt with He Chuan’s remains.
• The companions reunited and divided the Shen Household’s spirit treasures, cultivation methods, artifacts, and other spoils, including a Purple Mansion Spirit Treasure that Zhang Yu gave to Liu Xiaowen.
• Zhang Yu invited Li Jinzhi to travel with them to the Eastern Sea, and Li Jinzhi accepted.

Xu Xuan planned to secure the Nether Poison Fire Pool and expand his school’s foothold in the Wilderness of Witches while preparing to visit the newly Foundation Establishment Duan Chengsi. The chapter ended with Xu Xuan resolving to enter the wilderness after the visit, despite his shortage of funds.

• Xu Xuan learned that Zhu Yucheng had entered the Wilderness of Witches, occupied a spiritual site, and that Luo He now commanded the witchfolk along Eastern Secret’s border.
• Xu Xuan instructed Xu Fayan to investigate Xiong Youqi and warned him to stay vigilant while overseeing affairs in Eastern Secret.
• Liu Xingfang reported that Attendant Fan’s spiritual peak showed ominous signs and told Xu Xuan that Duan Chengsi had emerged from seclusion at Foundation Establishment.
• Xu Xuan agreed to visit Duan Chengsi with Liu Qiuqi and gave Liu Xingfang a letter to deliver, letting him see his parents on the way.
• Xu Xuan reviewed the school’s cultivation records and considered his artifacts, deciding that the Vast Water Pearl would be a suitable congratulatory gift for Duan Chengsi.
• Xu Xuan resolved to secure the Nether Poison Fire Pool after visiting the Duan Clan and lamented how little money he had.

Liu Xingfang returned to the Liu Household, where Liu Qiuqi gave him a comprehension pill and urged him to continue the Liu bloodline. Meanwhile, an unseen thief returned stolen belongings across Du Wang City and humiliated Foundation Establishment attendant Jiang Chi before escaping.

• Liu Xingfang arrived at the Liu Household and gave Liu Qiuqi his master's confidential letter, which the household head agreed to act on.
• Liu Qiuqi presented Liu Xingfang with a Clear Karma Broad Heart Pill to help him comprehend spells and urged him to cultivate Sword Qi and start a family.
• Mei Niang tracked her stolen jade hairpin through several guests at the Plum Studio, only for it to reappear in her hair as the thief returned the studio's missing garments and ornaments.
• Jiang Chi used his Immortal Foundation to search Du Wang City for the thief, but found no trace while stolen valuables appeared overhead.
• Chen Changyun spotted a woman's undergarment hanging from Jiang Chi's armor, and Jiang Chi flew out of the city in a fury.

Xu Xuan and Liu Qiuqi visited the Duan Clan, where Duan Chengsi proposed a joint campaign to seize spirit mountains in the Wilderness of Witches and warned that Zhu Yucheng planned to subjugate the southern families. After agreeing to coordinate, Xu Xuan left to investigate the powerful witch near Eastern Secret and planned to seek Dust Accumulation Sand for Fa Yan.

• Duan Chengsi welcomed Xu Xuan and Liu Qiuqi to the Duan Clan and explained the ancestral painting depicting the clan's lineage.
• Liu Qiuqi and Xu Xuan presented congratulatory gifts, and Duan Chengsi proposed that their three families capture and divide spirit mountains in the Wilderness of Witches.
• Duan Chengsi warned that Zhu Yucheng intended to unite Red Cloud South and urged the families to prepare for conflict, while noting the Wu Clan's ties to Heavenly Poison Mountain and the Hollow Sword Gate.
• Xu Xuan and Liu Qiuqi agreed to occupy border spiritual sites and coordinate their preparations before leaving the Duan Clan.
• Liu Qiuqi advised Xu Xuan to watch for Hanging Thunder Peak and offered help against the late-stage Foundation Establishment witch near Eastern Secret.
• Xu Xuan asked about Dust Accumulation Sand for Fa Yan, and Liu Qiuqi said Xu Xuan would have to retrieve it during their campaign in the Wilderness of Witches.

Xu Xuan learned that Luo He had been weakened and decided to seize his territory, but he returned to the sect when Fan Qingzhu's breakthrough went awry. He stabilized Fan Qingzhu's immortal foundation, leaving Fan Qingzhu newly established at Foundation Establishment and indebted to the sect.

• Xu Xuan questioned Zhao Que, who confirmed that Xiong Youqi had fled to the Great Li Kingdom and revealed that Luo He had been gravely injured by Zhu Yucheng's divine mountain of origin magnetism.
• Xu Xuan agreed with Liang Yong that they should take Luo He's territory while he was weakened, but Xu Fayan arrived with news that Fan Qingzhu's breakthrough was in danger.
• Xu Xuan found blood-tainted phenomena around Fan Qingzhu's cave and used a water transformation pearl and jade flower jade water to stabilize the Compassion Heart Vase.
• Fan Qingzhu emerged safely at Foundation Establishment and thanked Xu Xuan, who urged him to recover and help with the coming campaign in the Wilderness of Witches.
• Fan Qingzhu worried about his growing debt to the sect and discussed his duty to restore the Long Cloud Gate with Fan Huayan.

Jin Zhong and Luo He planned to recover their strength by gathering blood qi and incense offerings and targeting the Great Red Abbey, while Xu Xuan prepared an expedition to confront Luo He. At the center of the Wilderness of Witches, Zhu Yucheng secretly perceived divine thrones formed from incense offerings and waited beside the spirit mountain he had seized.

• Jin Zhong tortured a barbarian guard and fed captured slaves into Luo He's blood pool, while Luo He ordered him to pursue the Great Red Abbey and its offerings.
• Xu Xuan, Wen Si'an, Liang Yong, and Fan Qingzhu planned to occupy the area around Foolish Heart Mountain and test Luo He's strength.
• Xu Xuan examined his sword cultivation and artifacts, then combined a visualized heavenly soldier with thunder essences to create a new combat aid.
• Zhu Yucheng refused Zhu Yuanyun's suggestion to move the clan from Chongxi Mountain and secretly saw golden divine thrones receiving incense offerings in Heavenly Poison Mountain's former territory.

Xu Fayan and Guarding the Azure Camp attacked the Barbarian stockade at Foolish Heart Mountain, while Wen Si'an defeated an eighth-level qi refining witch. Jin Zhong, a foundation establishment cultivator serving Witch King [Luo He], challenged Great Red Abbey, but Liang Yong drove him into retreat as Cinnabar Thunder pursued him.

• Xu Fayan used Swiftwing Gnats and Flameglow Talismans to disrupt the Barbarian stockade, and Liu Xingfang destroyed its formation disk.
• Guarding the Azure Camp joined the assault, and Xu Fayan killed a qi refining Barbarian who tried to ambush him.
• Wen Si'an killed the old witch with Rainthought after a foundation establishment talisman restrained his blood river.
• Jin Zhong arrived with his Golden Silkworm and challenged Great Red Abbey, then fought Liang Yong in the sky.
• Liang Yong used the Ninefold Bone Pagoda to suppress Jin Zhong's Golden Silkworm, and Jin Zhong fled east as Cinnabar Thunder pursued him.

Xu Xuan defeated Luo He's forces at Foolish Heart Mountain and claimed the territory, but Luo He challenged him to a later confrontation. After learning about the region's poison-path resources and Luo He's curse arts, Xu Xuan prepared to attack Luo He's secluded residence the next day.

• Cinnabar Thunder wounded Jin Zhong despite Luo He's curse-script defenses, and Luo He withdrew after Xu Xuan demanded that he surrender the mountain.
• Xu Xuan examined the Corrupt Saliva Pool and considered using the Wilderness of Witches' resources to support a disciple cultivating the Red-Fighting Centipede immortal foundation.
• Wen Si'an reported that Luo He was a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator whose Disordered Spirit Speech commanded ghosts and monsters, and warned that he was gathering incense offerings.
• Xu Xuan praised Liu Xingfang's performance and ordered him to return home, take a cultivation pill, and prepare to break through.
• Xu Xuan told Xu Fayan to remain at Foolish Heart Mountain and strengthen his cultivation, then warned Liang Yong and Fan Qingzhu to prepare for Luo He's curse arts.
• Xu Xuan ordered an attack on Luo He's cave abode for the next day, hoping to exploit Jin Zhong's injuries.