Chapter Summaries

Su Jiu entered the Secret Realm with Jin Chen and the others, then found the forest inside filled with strangely behaving demon beasts. Lu Shuangshuang was hunted by a Foundation Establishment cultivator until an unknown person killed him with sword qi and asked if she was all right.

• Su Jiu and her companion met the monk from outside Azure City, who said his master had taken away the young monk to cultivate.
• Su Jiu arrived at the Secret Realm with Jin Chen, Lie Wushuang, Gu Ningyun, Qin Ming, Liu Zhiyan, Wei Qian, and Wei Xin, and suspected Wei Qian and Wei Xin were concealing their identities.
• The Secret Realm opened at noon, and Su Jiu's group was scattered upon entering its forest.
• Su Jiu detected numerous sixth-tier demon beasts acting unusually peacefully and hid before setting off to search for her companions.
• Lu Shuangshuang fled from a Foundation Establishment cultivator pursuing her, but an unseen attacker killed him with sword qi.
• A gentle, refined voice asked Lu Shuangshuang whether she was all right.

Liu Zhiyan saved Lu Shuangshuang and learned that she had entered the secret realm seeking a rumored treasure, while the Wei siblings encountered a strange sixth-tier demon beast. The siblings left the beast unharmed but remained committed to opposing Jin Chen over the treasure, and Wei Qian began guarding against his sister’s doubts.

• Liu Zhiyan saved Lu Shuangshuang, asked whether she had seen a black-clad swordsman, and learned she was searching for a treasure said to cure poisons and extend life.
• Liu Zhiyan realized Lu Shuangshuang’s rumored treasure might be the object Jin Chen needed from the secret realm to trade for a flower to save Su Mianmian.
• Liu Zhiyan invited Lu Shuangshuang to travel with him after learning she had not found her companions.
• Wei Xin and Wei Qian waited as a sixth-tier demon beast watched them without attacking, then saw it leave.
• Wei Xin questioned whether they should fight Jin Chen for the treasure, but Wei Qian reminded her of their mission and the person who had given them their lives.
• Wei Xin suppressed her doubts, while Wei Qian quietly became wary that she might interfere with the mission.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen encountered demon beasts imbued with Buddha nature and suspected a Buddhist treasure was affecting the region. They then came upon Shu Wugui fleeing pursuers led by Shu Li, whose attack on Su Jiu and Chu Luohen began with Shu Wugui being bound by a Spirit-Binding Chain.

• Su Jiu found Chu Luohen meditating among peaceful sixth-tier demon beasts, and Little Pearl sensed that they were imbued with Buddha nature.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen suspected a treasure connected to Jin Chen’s search was influencing the demon beasts, then left to find the others.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen encountered a bloodied Shu Wugui being pursued and decided not to interfere.
• Shu Wugui called for Su Jiu’s help, drawing the attention of Shu Li, who ordered his men to seize Su Jiu and kill Chu Luohen.
• As the confrontation began, a Spirit-Binding Chain bound Shu Wugui before he could escape.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen defeated Shu Wugui’s group, and Su Jiu revealed she knew Shu Wugui had schemed against her and was involved in Lu Chuchu’s death. She left Shu Wugui and Shu Li bound and wounded, setting them against each other, then accepted Chu Luohen’s reminder that she could rely on her sect.

• Chu Luohen nearly killed Shu Li, but Su Jiu stopped him and said she still had a use for Shu Li.
• Su Jiu confronted Shu Wugui about Lu Chuchu and implied he had brought her to Jade Sun City intending harm.
• Su Jiu left Shu Wugui and the others bound as their spiritual qi began to recover, while Shu Wugui realized Shu Li now knew of his role in Lu Chuchu’s death.
• Chu Luohen asked whether Shu Wugui had schemed against Su Jiu before, and she confirmed he had caused trouble in Jade Sun City.
• Chu Luohen urged Su Jiu to rely on her masters, fellow disciples, and sect, and Su Jiu thanked him and them.

Su Jiu, Chu Luohen, and Si Lin encountered injured cultivators whose leader had tried to poison them and abandon his companions. Su Jiu condemned the leader’s selfishness, while Chu Luohen silently acknowledged that he knew how difficult her own upbringing had been.

• Si Lin joined Su Jiu and Chu Luohen after following them through the woods, and explained that cultivators had died after provoking sixth-tier demon beasts.
• Su Jiu's group found four injured survivors beside three dead companions, and the leader ordered his men to attack the approaching cultivators with Meridian-Sealing Powder and Five-Poison Powder.
• Su Jiu redirected the powders toward the attackers while the leader tried to flee, but a blue sword blocked his escape.
• The leader accused Su Jiu's group of targeting his injured companions, and Su Jiu and Si Lin challenged him for using his brothers as a shield.
• The leader defended his actions as a way to survive, and Su Jiu told him that trading the lives of family and friends for his own was wrong.
• Chu Luohen looked at Su Jiu with apology, knowing more than anyone there about the hardship she had endured.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen killed Liu Ge after he attacked them, then spared his three underlings when Brother Chen admitted they had been in the wrong. After Brother Chen described a terrifying battlefield beyond a dividing line in the forest, Su Jiu, Chu Luohen, and Si Lin set out to investigate it.

• Chu Luohen killed Liu Ge with a single sword strike, and Brother Chen stopped his brothers from retaliating.
• Brother Chen offered his life to spare his two younger brothers, but Su Jiu and Chu Luohen chose to let all three live.
• Su Jiu asked Brother Chen about unusual places, and he described a boundary beyond which severed human and beast limbs covered a bloodless battlefield.
• Su Jiu invited Si Lin to visit the battlefield, and he reluctantly went with her and Chu Luohen.
• Brother Chen watched them leave and realized that Si Lin was the Si Family's young master, while his companions were likely important figures too.

Gu Ningyun killed a sixth-tier giant python in the demon forest, but its venom left her unconscious and close to death. A monk who seemed to care for her saved her and fought off the surrounding demonic beasts, and the chapter ended as Gu Ningyun awakened.

• Gu Ningyun was struck by a sixth-tier giant python, which fractured her right forearm and poisoned her.
• Gu Ningyun used Wind Blades and her konghou to kill the python after an hour-long battle.
• The venom overwhelmed Gu Ningyun, and she collapsed despite taking a Detoxification Pill.
• A monk arrived, gave Gu Ningyun a pill, and protected her from the demonic beasts gathering around them.
• The monk annihilated the attacking beasts with golden light and guarded Gu Ningyun until she awakened.

Gu Ningyun confronted Si Que after he saved her, demanding an explanation for their past, and he told her that Kongran did not love her. She left him and later met Lie Wushuang in the Withered Wood Grove, where they searched a corpse for Dust-Cleansing Talismans.

• Gu Ningyun woke to find Si Que, now Master Ziyin, beside her and challenged him about why he had saved her.
• Si Que told Gu Ningyun that Kongran did not love her, and she thanked Master Ziyin before leaving; he secretly followed her.
• Gu Ningyun fought demonized Demon Beasts for two days before encountering Lie Wushuang, who teased her disheveled appearance.
• After learning they had both run out of Dust-Cleansing Talismans, Lie Wushuang led Gu Ningyun to search a corpse’s Storage Bag.
• Lie Wushuang discovered that Gu Ningyun had never looted a corpse, explaining that Gu Ningyun’s cleanliness had fueled the rumor that she disdained the practice.

Su Jiu identified the two regions of the Secret Realm as the yin and yang poles of a formation governed by a powerful treasure, and proposed finding their lesser yin and lesser yang points. The group learned where to search next, though they had not yet found a way to reunite the two sides.

• Gu Ningyun stopped Lie Wushuang from crossing a golden boundary, and a demonic beast they threw at it was destroyed by the barrier.
• Su Jiu explained that the barrier was likely controlled by an object and suspected the forest resembled a Yin-Yang Formation Disk.
• Jin Chen, the Wei Qian Siblings, and other cultivators gathered along the boundary, and Su Jiu described their regions as the yin and yang poles.
• Su Jiu said they needed to find the lesser yin and lesser yang points before they could bring the separated groups together.
• Si Lin said Su Jiu's observations placed lesser yin a few days ahead on the yang side and lesser yang north along the golden line in the deadwood forest.

Su Jiu and the others continued through the Secret Realm, where Zhu Jie’s pursuit of Si Lin caused friction. At the Azure Tide Sect, Ning Fan reported mysterious demon seeds linked to the Demon-Subduing Land, leaving Xia Jue concerned that an ancient threat had awakened.

• Su Jiu noticed Si Que hiding behind a tree, and he followed Gu Ningyun’s group after they left.
• Zhu Jie insisted that she would make the Si Family agree to her wishes, while Si Lin scorned her and recalled how his eldest brother had become a monk.
• Xia Jue reviewed the many factions trying to keep Su Jiu on the Shangyin Continent and learned that the spirit-draining stone vein might soon yield results.
• Ning Fan told Xia Jue that two cultivators had been infected by strange demon seeds during a mission to the Demon-Subduing Land; one had died and the other was half-demonized.
• Ning Fan reported similar cases across several continents, while the Vast Righteousness Sect and Jade Sword Sect had begun investigations.
• Xia Jue suspected the seeds were ancient true demon seeds and concluded that the elders on Cloudmist Peak might need to intervene.

Xia Jue and Ning Fan discussed how demon seeds could spread and decided to consult their Master and visit Cloudmist Peak. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Secret Sect’s Yun Huanling wanted to seek out Zheng Qilong, but Hongguang confined him to the sect; Zheng Qilong was revealed to be inside a Sealed Space with a corrupted Fortune-Transferring Pearl above him.

• Xia Jue learned that the demon seeds in two Azure Tide Sect disciples were the detectable first type and asked where their former host had died and who had been nearby.
• Ning Fan told Xia Jue that the infected people had been found and confined separately, and Xia Jue proposed discussing the matter with their Master before visiting Cloudmist Peak.
• Hongguang and Yun Huanling studied the celestial signs and concluded that the world might have at most twenty years before a catastrophe.
• Yun Huanling told Hongguang that his divination had identified Zheng Qilong as a person from beyond this world and asked to seek him out.
• Hongguang forbade Yun Huanling from approaching Zheng Qilong and confined him to the Heavenly Secret Sect.
• Zheng Qilong remained inside a Sealed Space in the Demon-Subduing Land as a blood-red Fortune-Transferring Pearl sent rays into his head.

Su Jiu’s group reached the Lesser Yin area and found the demonic qi sealed inside a well. When local cultivators demanded that Su Jiu guarantee the seal could be broken, she drew Frost Chill and confronted them.

• Wei Qian and Wei Xin joined the group, and Wei Xin greeted Jin Chen, who responded coolly; Su Jiu warned him through Secret Voice Transmission that Wei Xin might be an ill-fated peach blossom.
• The group reached the Lesser Yin area and discovered that its demonic qi was sealed inside a dry well; Si Lin said breaking the seal would connect the two sides, and Su Jiu confirmed him.
• Local cultivators questioned who would take responsibility if the seal-breaking went wrong and demanded that Su Jiu guarantee the outcome.
• Wei Qian backed the demand and invoked Mian Mian to pressure Su Jiu, while Jin Chen regretted allowing the siblings to join the group.
• A nascent soul late stage cultivator demanded a formation disk contract, and Su Jiu unsheathed Frost Chill against him as Chu Luohen’s killing intent forced the crowd back.

Su Jiu challenged a nascent soul late stage cultivator who had insulted her and overwhelmed him in their fight. When he attacked with yin fire, she survived it and sent the weakened flames back to him, leaving him demanding to know what she had done.

• Su Jiu challenged the nascent soul late stage cultivator to fight and demanded that he swear to take responsibility for anything that went wrong.
• Su Jiu wounded the man with a swift sword strike and continued beating him while Wei Qian watched and assessed her strength.
• The man grew angry and attacked Su Jiu with scattered yin fire, intending to kill her.
• Su Jiu let the flames land on her, then brushed them away unharmed and returned the weakened yin fire to the man.
• The man stared at his diminished Heavenly Flame and demanded to know what Su Jiu had done to it.

Su Jiu killed the Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivator who had tried to kill her, then opened the Lesser Yin site as Gu Ningyun and Lie Wushuang opened the Lesser Yang site. The boundary between the two regions collapsed, and Su Jiu and her companions entered a mysterious golden six-pointed star.

• Su Jiu refused to let the provocation go unanswered, and Chu Luohen wounded a man who challenged her before she killed the fleeing Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivator with ice spikes.
• Su Jiu warned Wei Qian that she had seen through his schemes, then cut open the Lesser Yin site's well and released its demonic qi.
• Gu Ningyun and Lie Wushuang opened the Lesser Yang site, causing the boundary between the Yang Extremity and Yin Extremity to weaken and the land to shake for about two hours.
• A golden six-pointed star appeared at the former Lesser Yin site after the shaking stopped, and Su Jiu and her companions stepped into it and vanished.
• After a youth rebuked a complainer, several other cultivators followed Su Jiu into the six-pointed star.

Su Jiu and the others entered a teleportation array and found three ancient bronze doors bearing images of a Seven-Colored Flower, a star map, and the Profound Flame Immortal Sword. When a cultivator struck one door with his saber, the attack rebounded and injured him, while Su Jiu wondered about the spirit in her Frost-Cold Purple Ultimate Sword.

• Half of Su Jiu's group and half of Lie Wushuang's group chose to enter the teleportation array, while the rest stayed behind.
• Su Jiu and the others arrived in a dim chamber containing three bronze doors, whose images showed a Seven-Colored Flower, a star map, and a sword identified as the Profound Flame Immortal Sword.
• Jin Chen admired the sword without coveting it, while Chu Luohen noticed others watching their group and Su Jiu sensed danger in the growing tension.
• Two rogue cultivators examined the doors, but no mechanism appeared, and attempts to push them failed.
• A Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivator struck the right-hand door with his life-bound saber, but the force rebounded and injured him and nearby cultivators.
• Su Jiu considered whether Frost-Cold Purple Ultimate's spirit had developed fully, unaware that it had already appeared in the Far North Secret Realm to save her.

Su Jiu exposed Wei Qian’s greed and forced him to choose between entering the immortal sword door and losing his chance, while the others continued through the middle door. Jin Chen rejected Wei Xin’s hopes of being more than a sister to him, leaving the group’s relationships strained as they prepared to proceed.

• Su Jiu opened the middle door with an illusory talisman, and Wei Qian and Wei Xin followed the group inside after hesitating over the other doors.
• Su Jiu deliberately revealed that she could open the other doors, prompting Wei Qian to demand access to their treasures and causing Jin Chen to see his greed.
• Su Jiu explained that the doors would soon close and that the group could not return, so Wei Qian demanded that she open the other two doors immediately.
• Su Jiu opened the doors, and Wei Qian entered the one containing the immortal sword as others rushed in to compete for it.
• Jin Chen asked Su Jiu whether he was ridiculous for befriending Wei Qian, and she said she had made similar mistakes with Qiao Zirong and Mo Qi.
• Zhu Jie accused Wei Xin of caring more about Jin Chen than her brother, but Jin Chen declared that Wei Xin was only an older sister to him and warned Zhu Jie not to continue.

Su Jiu discovered that hidden Void Talismans in the other doors magnified people’s desires, then became trapped as a powerless observer inside the painting of a sacrificial ritual. After a sword opened a rift in the sky, unnatural eyes appeared within it and drove her out of the painting.

• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen discussed replacing Wei Qian with Si Lin, while Su Jiu decided she would keep Wei Xin away from the thing they sought.
• Su Jiu’s group entered the middle corridor with several unfamiliar cultivators, whose leader chose to follow them to stay safe rather than pursue the other doors’ rumored treasures.
• Su Jiu realized that the Void Talismans hidden in the other doors’ paintings were influencing people by magnifying their desires.
• Su Jiu studied the corridor paintings and was drawn into the left painting, where black-cloaked figures performed a ritual at an altar.
• A sword pierced the heavens and opened a widening black slash, revealing strange eyes that inflicted pain on Su Jiu’s divine soul and expelled her from the painting.

Su Jiu was injured after a pair of strange eyes inside a painting attacked her divine soul, and the painting vanished before she could investigate further. While Su Jiu recovered, Chu Luohen revealed that Si Lin could replace Wei Qian as someone with an earth spirit root, and Wei Qian searched for a way out of a sealed secret chamber.

• Su Jiu's divine soul entered the painting, where a pair of eerie eyes injured her before a gentle force returned her to her body.
• Su Jiu told Chu Luohen about the eyes, and the painting depicting the Heavenly Demons vanished while the opposing painting remained.
• Su Jiu studied the surviving painting's account of the catastrophe ten thousand years earlier, then took a Spirit-Replenishing Pill and began recovering.
• Chu Luohen told Jin Chen that Si Lin had an earth spirit root and could take Wei Qian's place.
• Wei Qian and the other cultivators found the secret chamber sealed and their attacks swallowed by its walls, while Wei Qian searched for a mechanism in the darkness.

Wei Qian and the other cultivators tried to open the enormous Sword Casket in the Secret Chamber, but its patterns trapped their spiritual qi and began draining them to death. As more cultivators collapsed, some searched for a way to escape while others waited for the casket to open.

• The Secret Chamber lit up, revealing a huge Sword Casket that Wei Qian and the other cultivators could not probe with divine sense.
• Wei Qian proposed that the cultivators work together to open the casket, and they examined its patterns before agreeing to pour spiritual qi into them.
• The patterns lit up and trapped the cultivators' spiritual qi, draining one low-level rogue cultivator until he died.
• The others blamed Wei Qian, who mocked their hypocrisy and greed; a furious cultivator punched him but could not use spiritual qi.
• As more cultivators died from the casket's drain, one man urged the others to search for a way out, while a high-level cultivator suggested waiting for the casket to open.

Su Jiu and her companions found a deadly chamber with three doors, but Chu Luohen discovered they could pass through the middle door one at a time without sacrificing anyone. After the others left, Su Jiu asked Jin Chen about his feelings for Su Mianmian and warned him that she disapproved of how he showed them.

• Su Jiu and her companions found two murdered cultivators and ancient bones beyond the corridor, then discovered three doors with different conditions for passage.
• Chu Luohen examined the middle door and confirmed that the group could pass through it one person at a time without killing anyone.
• Su Jiu sent the others through individually, warning that destroying the sealing talisman would collapse the entire space.
• After the others left, Su Jiu asked Jin Chen whether he understood his feelings for Su Mianmian, and Jin Chen admitted that he liked her.
• Su Jiu told Jin Chen she could not approve of how he expressed his feelings for Su Mianmian, leaving him stricken.