Chapter Summaries

Su Jiu defeated and bound the Old Fox after the demon seed drained his life force, and the Fox Tribe clansmen arrived to witness his betrayal. Silver Snow pretended to be dying to ask Su Jiu for a hug, while Chu Luohen guarded her from him.

• The demon seed devoured the Old Fox's life force after losing much of its energy, leaving him weakened and aged.
• Su Jiu condemned the Old Fox for sacrificing his clansmen, but he showed no remorse.
• Su Jiu froze the Old Fox with the Ice Silk Net, also freezing the demon seed inside him.
• Silver Snow pretended to be near death and asked Su Jiu to hold him, while Chu Luohen blocked his view of her.
• Ning Fan returned with Yin Ze and the other clansmen, who saw the Old Fox bound and recognized the black markings as evidence of his demonic corruption.

After resolving the Nine-Tailed Tribe’s crisis, Su Jiu and her companions set out for Netherworld Mountain with Silver Snow in fox form. At the boundary with Thousand Fox Mountain, Su Jiu sensed hidden attackers and prepared to face them.

• Yin Ze imprisoned the former Chieftain in the Qi-Severing Formation, and Su Jiu placed a restriction around it to intercept the demon seed after his death.
• Silver Snow cured Yin Sang, then returned with dozens of sick Nine-Tailed Tribe members he had secretly rescued and treated.
• Silver Snow revealed that he had been sent to the Demon-Subduing Land, while Su Jiu and the others departed for Netherworld Mountain with him in the form of a tiny fox.
• On the journey, Silver Snow said the clansmen sent to the Demon-Subduing Land probably could not be saved and might become their enemies.
• At the border between the Netherworld Mountain range and Thousand Fox Mountain, Su Jiu sensed people hiding nearby with killing intent and drew the Frostbound Purple Ultimate Sword.

Su Jiu and her companions fought a group of Soulguiding Sect disciples who had come to kill them, then trapped the three survivors in her domain. The wounded leader tried to bargain and escape, but Su Jiu showed him that she controlled whether he lived or died.

• Su Jiu recognized the approaching black-hooded group as members of the Soulguiding Sect, and their red-hooded leader confirmed their hostility by ordering an attack.
• Su Jiu identified the enemies’ Crystal Soul-Condensing Tablets and sensed the resentful qi sealed inside them.
• Su Jiu, Ning Fan, and Chu Luohen fought together and killed most of the more than a dozen Nascent Soul Cultivators.
• Su Jiu withdrew with her companions when only three enemies remained, revealing that the survivors were trapped inside her silvery-white domain.
• The red-hooded leader tried to bargain with Su Jiu, but she wounded him with a sharpened snowflake and left him unable to escape.

Su Jiu trapped the Soulguiding Sect leader and his two junior disciples in her Snowfall domain, where poisonous snowflakes left him freezing and desperate. She forced him to reveal the location of the sect’s spirit-draining stone vein and learned that another team had already gone there before the auction.

• The leader realized that a poisonous snowflake had turned his face greenish-blue and left his body growing colder, while his injury had disappeared.
• Su Jiu appeared in her Snowfall domain and asked the leader whether he understood his position; he demanded his life and an antidote in exchange for information.
• Su Jiu pressured the leader until he agreed to answer, then asked for the exact location of the Soulguiding Sect’s spirit-draining stone mineral vein.
• The leader revealed that the vein lay between Red Blossom Mountain and Lion King Mountain, and that another team had left before the auction and was likely already there.
• Su Jiu sent a Message Talisman and told the leader she could use it because the domain was hers, then sent three pills flying toward him.

Su Jiu tricked the Soulguiding Sect men into swallowing Nascent Soul Dissolution Pills, then learned who was involved in the spirit-draining stone trade. Feng Qi received the location of the vein and led the Enforcement Hall toward it, while the three departing disciples began to feel the pills’ effects.

• Su Jiu questioned the Soulguiding Sect leader, who named the Ghost Market, the Zheng Household, the Zhu Household, and the Enchanting Demon Sect as trading partners, and said only the sect master and supreme elder knew the other supply route.
• Su Jiu revealed that the pills were Nascent Soul Dissolution Pills, and Chu Luohen objected to letting the three men go; she said they had at most ten years left.
• Feng Qi’s compass failed to locate the spirit-draining stone vein, but a Message Talisman gave him its location at the boundary between Lion King Mountain and Red Blossom Mountain.
• Feng Qi put away his Spirit-Moving Light Banner and ordered the Enforcement Hall to move out.
• The three Soulguiding Sect disciples stopped to rest after leaving Thousand Fox Mountain, and their leader wondered what Su Jiu had made them swallow as they felt exhausted.

Three Soulguiding Sect disciples were ambushed by Shadow Pavilion assassins, who killed them and reported the mission complete. Yi Feng Chen emerged from the Heavenly Origin Lock and was taken prisoner by the Azure Tide Sect, where he confronted Xia Jue.

• Two Shadow Pavilion assassins attacked the weakened Soulguiding Sect disciples as they traveled toward the Yin River Continent Teleportation Array.
• The leader used one disciple as a shield and fled, leaving the assassins to kill the remaining disciple and pursue him.
• A Shadow Pavilion assassin killed the fleeing leader with a throwing dart, and another assassin criticized his companion's blood-soaked whip before they reported the mission complete.
• Yi Feng Chen emerged from the Heavenly Origin Lock, was fitted with a Spirit-Locking Chain, and was taken to a dark prison in the Azure Tide Sect.
• Xia Jue taunted Yi Feng Chen, who claimed A Jiu knew Xia Jue's true character; Xia Jue identified him as the former chief Senior Disciple of the Mystic Dharma Immortal Sect.

Xia Jue confronted Yi Feng Chen over his past crimes and ordered him tortured while kept alive, but Yi Feng Chen refused to speak except to ask for Su Jiu. Meanwhile, Su Jiu’s group entered Netherworld Mountain, where Ning Fan revealed he was seeking Darkness Stones and showed Silver Snow a jade box designed to contain them.

• Xia Jue accused Yi Feng Chen of murdering a sect disciple for the Skyglaze Stone, and Yi Feng Chen challenged Xia Jue to question his own nature and loyalty to the Xia Household.
• Xia Jue wounded Yi Feng Chen, silenced him, and ordered the Enforcement Hall to use its highest level of torture while keeping him alive.
• Yi Feng Chen remained tight-lipped during the interrogation and repeatedly said he wanted to see Su Jiu.
• Su Jiu, Ning Fan, and Silver Snow entered Netherworld Mountain with a Fox Demon, and Ning Fan asked Silver Snow about the Darkness Stones that had infected his clansmen.
• Ning Fan explained that he sought Darkness Stones to reinforce the Nightfall Cold Pool and isolated barriers, then showed Silver Snow a jade box that Silver Snow recognized as Glazed Moon.

Silver Snow revealed that the Chieftain had brought a darkness stone from Netherworld Mountain and helped cause the tribespeople’s disappearances. As Su Jiu’s group searched the mountain for the stones, a powerful wraith appeared and vanished after Su Jiu struck at it, leaving the danger unresolved.

• Silver Snow explained that he had discovered a darkness stone in the Chieftain’s house while investigating the missing tribespeople, and Su Jiu realized the Chieftain had used the stone to mislead them.
• Ning Fan asked where the stone had been found and said they needed forty-nine pieces, but he refused to explain the reason.
• Silver Snow asked to ride on Su Jiu’s shoulder, while Chu Luohen warned him to behave himself.
• As Su Jiu, Chu Luohen, and Ning Fan ventured deeper into Netherworld Mountain, Su Jiu’s mark grew hot and Little Gift and Silver Snow warned her to flee.
• A red-robed Early Out-of-Body wraith approached the group, but vanished when Su Jiu slashed at it with the Frostbound Purple Ultimate Sword.
• Su Jiu signaled Chu Luohen and Ning Fan, and they moved apart after losing the wraith’s presence.

Su Jiu, Chu Luohen, and Ning Fan destroyed a wraith with a Three Talents Formation and the Nine-Star World-Cleansing Pearl. Despite Silver Snow’s warning that more wraiths and a powerful threat waited near Netherworld Mountain’s summit, Su Jiu decided to continue searching for the Netherworld Flower, and someone urged her to go.

• Su Jiu, Chu Luohen, and Ning Fan used a Three Talents Formation and the Nine-Star World-Cleansing Pearl to destroy the wraith, leaving Su Jiu drained.
• Little Gift warned Su Jiu that many wraiths lurked nearby, while the Nine-Star World-Cleansing Pearl and the Painting Spirit discussed the cost of using its power.
• Silver Snow warned Chu Luohen and Ning Fan that Netherworld Mountain held more wraiths and an overwhelming danger at its summit.
• Silver Snow explained that the mountain’s newly heavy baleful qi might have been deliberately caused and that the Netherworld Flower might already have been picked.
• Su Jiu recovered, resolved to search for the flower anyway, and stood silently until a cool hand patted her shoulder and told her to go.

Su Jiu and her companions climbed Netherworld Mountain and learned that ghost cultivators were risking corruption by absorbing baleful qi to raise their cultivation. When four ghosts tried to lure a pursuing wraith toward them, Su Jiu’s sacred artifact drove the wraith past the group, and she realized the ghosts had taken something important from it.

• Su Jiu heard ghost cultivators discussing a fast cultivation method and learned from Silver Snow and Chu Luohen that they used baleful qi despite the risk of becoming wraiths.
• Su Jiu and her companions saw a wraith kill one of five ghost cultivators and chase the four survivors.
• The four fleeing ghosts ran toward Su Jiu and her companions, hoping to draw the wraith onto them.
• Su Jiu activated the Nine-Star World-Cleansing Pearl, whose Golden Light kept the ghosts and wraith at bay.
• Xinxin begged Chu Luohen to save her, but Silver Snow accused the four ghosts of trying to use them as bait.
• After the wraith passed by, Su Jiu deduced that the four ghosts had taken something important from it and let them continue fleeing.

Su Jiu and her companions discovered A-Yu leading a demonic ritual on Netherworld Mountain and fought to stop it before it unleashed wraiths across the Yin River Continent. As the battle continued, Su Jiu exposed doubts about the rogue ghosts’ leader, and one ghost realized he could no longer remember that person’s face.

• Su Jiu, Chu Luohen, Ning Fan, and Silver Snow found a sacrificial altar where Shu Wugui, Bai Su, and others were bound, while A-Yu chanted at its center.
• Su Jiu recognized the ritual as a combination of the Demon Feeding Curse and the Ghost Sacrifice Curse, and the group attacked the altar, but a red barrier blocked them.
• The ghost cultivators surged at the group after one of them accused them of trying to stop the ghosts from gaining power.
• Su Jiu restrained a rogue ghost with Ice Silk, warned him that the ritual would turn them into wraiths, and questioned why he trusted a demonic cultivator instead of the Ghost Market.
• The ghost reconsidered what Su Jiu had said and realized the face of the person who had recruited him was blurred beyond recognition.

Su Jiu used the Nine-Star World-Cleansing Pearl to disrupt A-Yu’s ritual and learned that A-Yu was trying to change the world to revive Yin Yin. A powerful demonic presence took A-Yu away, leaving Su Jiu and her companions worried about the seals at several dangerous locations as they freed the captives.

• Su Jiu purified the area with the Nine-Star World-Cleansing Pearl, weakening the flags and the red shield while A-Yu struggled to continue her ritual.
• A-Yu told Su Jiu that her lord had promised Yin Yin would return if she changed the world, and Su Jiu warned that the ritual would unleash wraiths and kill many people.
• A voice called A-Yu back, and demonic qi carried her away just after Su Jiu shattered the weakened shield.
• Ning Fan sent a Message Talisman to the sect, while Su Jiu learned from Little Gift that the danger it had sensed had disappeared.
• Silver Snow refused to tell Su Jiu what he had noticed, and Su Jiu suspected the demonic presence was connected to the Phantom Blood Demon and possibly a broken seal.
• Su Jiu, Chu Luohen, and Ning Fan freed those bound to the crosses, including Shu Wugui and Bai Su.

Su Jiu left Bai Su on peaceful terms, then departed with her companions without investigating the dangerous houses near the altar. The chapter recounted Gu Ningyun’s search for the truth about her family’s massacre, which led her from the Zhu Household to a map marking the Netherworld Mountain, while Si Que stayed by her side.

• Su Jiu left Bai Su after they accepted that becoming strangers was the best outcome.
• Ning Fan considered opening the houses behind the altar to find clues about the demonic qi that had taken A-Yu, but Silver Snow warned him of danger, so he gave up and the group departed.
• Gu Ningyun discovered a blood connection to a man from the Gu Household and learned from its elderly ancestor that her family had been massacred by people in dark red robes bearing ghost spirit flowers.
• Gu Ningyun spent ten years investigating the ghost spirit flowers and identified the Zhu Household as a possible lead, but she hesitated because she suspected she had overlooked something.
• After the Gu elder died, Gu Ningyun received a spirit-artifact handkerchief that revealed a map marking the Zhu Household and Netherworld Mountain on the Yin River Continent.
• Gu Ningyun resolved to keep investigating without harming the innocent, while Si Que remained with her and joked that they would marry once she learned the truth.

Gu Ningyun and Lie Wushuang followed clues about the Gu family massacre to a sacrificial altar on Netherworld Mountain. After they arrived, Su Jiu and her companions discussed the sealed houses and learned that Shu Wugui had been captured as a sacrifice for raising a powerful wraith.

• Gu Ningyun recalled Si Que becoming a monk and described how Lie Wushuang had gradually become her companion despite their hostile first meeting.
• The Ghost Market’s investigation led Gu Ningyun to Netherworld Mountain, where she and Lie Wushuang found a huge altar and scattered Black Flags.
• Su Jiu noticed that one of the three seals on the nearby houses appeared damaged, while Silver Snow warned that the remaining seals would be difficult to break.
• Shu Wugui said masked captors had brought him to the mountain with seven others to serve as sacrifices for raising a powerful wraith.
• Su Jiu inferred that the captors used the victims’ essence blood to consecrate flags and their resentful qi to feed ghosts.

Su Jiu and the others discovered that the stream leading to Netherworld Ravine drained spiritual qi from anyone who approached it. After Chu Luohen recovered, they identified the stream as undead water, but Ning Fan warned that crossing it was beyond what Nascent Soul Cultivators could manage.

• Su Jiu and the others found that the cliffs concealed an unseen abyss and that eerie mist gathered into the stream below.
• Chu Luohen flew toward Netherworld Ravine, but the stream drained his spiritual qi and sent his flying sword falling.
• Su Jiu pulled Chu Luohen back with a hooked rope and replenished his spiritual qi by guiding Jade Moisture, Ice Clarity through him.
• Ning Fan asked what had drained Chu Luohen, and Su Jiu and Ning Fan identified the stream as undead water.
• Silver Snow said they might find a way across, but Ning Fan warned that even the strongest Nascent Soul Cultivators could not cross safely.

Su Jiu and her companions found Huang Kuo, who revealed that the Soulguiding Sect was pursuing him over a spirit-draining stone vein. They asked him to help pour Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water into the undead stream, and the chapter ended as Huang Kuo prepared to fly over the cliff, nervously checking Su Jiu’s Ice Silk.

• Chu Luohen and Su Jiu realized they could use a demon’s aura to get Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water into the undead stream, but Silver Snow said he could not fly.
• Su Jiu and the others found Huang Kuo being attacked by a wraith and rescued him.
• Huang Kuo told them he had discovered a sealed spirit-draining stone vein near Lion King Mountain and that the Soulguiding Sect’s people had pursued him into Netherworld Mountain.
• Su Jiu gave Huang Kuo pills and asked him to help deliver Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water into the undead stream, and Huang Kuo agreed.
• At the cliff, Huang Kuo used demonic power to send up a flying boat, and Su Jiu secured it with Ice Silk before he set out.

Su Jiu and her companions subdued the spirit guarding the Netherworld Flower after Huang Kuo poured Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water into the Undead Water. The spirit agreed to trade the flower for a chance to leave the mountain, provided Su Jiu regularly gave her Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water to suppress her dangerous ability.

• Su Jiu sent Huang Kuo across the cliff with the Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water, then realized she had lost control of the Ice Silk inside the Undead Water's range.
• The Undead Water attacked Huang Kuo, but Su Jiu struck him with a talisman and the Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water stopped the attack.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen trapped the Undead Water, and Su Jiu took the Netherworld Flower before the water broke through the Ice Wall and attacked her.
• Su Jiu repelled the Undead Water with Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water, while Chu Luohen trapped it in a formation.
• Su Jiu discovered the Undead Water was a little girl spirit and negotiated to keep the Netherworld Flower in exchange for helping her leave the mountain.
• The spirit asked Su Jiu to provide regular bottles of Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water so she could suppress her ability outside.

Ning Fan and his companions discovered that darkness stones could restore a wraith's awareness and increase its bloodlust as they encountered a swift, intelligent wraith on Netherworld Mountain. They destroyed it and obtained the darkness stone Ning Fan needed, while Ning Fan suspected the formation suppressing the summit's wraiths had broken.

• The Undead Water attached itself to Ning Fan's Command Token, and Su Jiu gave him a bottle of Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water before they set off from Netherworld Ravine.
• Ning Fan asked the Undead Water about a darkness stone, and it said that many could be found at the summit.
• A fast wraith ambushed the group, and Silver Snow explained that darkness stones could restore a wraith's awareness and intensify its bloodlust.
• The wraith targeted Huang Kuo and Shu Wugui, but Su Jiu struck it with a talisman infused with Spirit-Cleansing Pool Water, slowing it down.
• Su Jiu, Chu Luohen, and Ning Fan used their magic treasures to destroy the wraith, and Ning Fan collected the darkness stone it left behind.
• Ning Fan suspected the formation suppressing the little houses at the summit had shattered, and Su Jiu worried that many more wraiths might escape.

Su Jiu and her companions discovered a sealed underground passage beneath the ruined altar and followed it toward the source of the darkness stone. At the passage’s end, they encountered the surviving man and woman from the group of four, and the woman threatened to collapse the place with a Thunderstorm Talisman.

• Su Jiu found traces suggesting that powerful wind- and fire-root cultivators had destroyed the formation, then discovered a cavern beneath the altar with her companions.
• Ning Fan, Su Jiu, Silver Snow, and Chu Luohen entered the cavern; Huang Kuo accidentally pulled Shu Wugui in after them as a wraith lingered outside.
• The group crossed a barrier that allowed entry but not escape and followed a narrow passage whose stone walls blocked divine sense.
• Silver Snow made a suggestive remark, prompting Chu Luohen to warn Su Jiu through divine sense to keep her distance from him.
• The passage opened into a chamber covered with paintings, where the surviving man and woman confronted the group.
• The woman threatened to use a Thunderstorm Talisman to bring down the chamber if they came any closer.

Su Jiu stopped a woman from using a Thunderstorm Talisman and learned that two other women had passed through, but left without agreeing to help her. The woman’s Dao companion confronted her about her affair with the boss and, after she threatened him with their contract, agreed to follow Su Jiu’s group in exchange for its dissolution.

• Su Jiu froze the woman’s Thunderstorm Talisman and asked whether two other women had come down the path.
• The woman admitted seeing them and demanded that Su Jiu take her and her injured companion out in exchange for the information.
• Su Jiu dismissed the woman’s attempt to bargain and led her group away.
• The woman’s Dao companion revealed that he had heard her offer their friends’ lives and accused her of having an affair with the boss.
• The woman threatened him with their Dao Companion Contract, then offered to dissolve it if he followed Su Jiu’s group and helped her escape.