Chapter Summaries

Su Jiu protected Millet Village from the Tiger-Head Fish Demon by placing the villagers inside a formation and rescuing Yaya from the sacrifice. The demon returned to attack, but the formation shielded the villagers as Su Jiu prepared to fight it.

• Su Jiu set up a golden formation beneath the altar and warned the villagers that leaving would destroy it, while Yun Huanling sustained it as its core.
• The villagers offered Yaya to the Tiger-Head Fish Demon, but golden light from her body drove the demon back, and Su Jiu rescued her.
• Yun Huanling rebuked the Feng Household man for wanting to leave, and Yaya exposed his resentment over Su Jiu interfering with his plans.
• The Feng Household man tried to step outside the formation just as the Tiger-Head Fish Demon returned and sent a torrent toward the villagers.
• The formation blocked the water attack, frightening the villagers into staying inside as Su Jiu prepared to confront the demon.

Su Jiu fought the Tiger-Head Fish Demon and discovered demonic qi controlling it. After the qi dragged her underwater, she killed the demon and retrieved its inner core, while the villagers waited anxiously above.

• Su Jiu battled the Tiger-Head Fish Demon, whose strength seemed greater than its cultivation level suggested, and Yun Huanling watched as she fought.
• An old woman questioned Yun Huanling about Su Jiu and the Azure Tide Sect, revealing her knowledge of the cultivation world.
• Su Jiu trapped the demon with an Ice Binding Talisman and struck its weakness, releasing demonic qi that dragged her and the demon underwater.
• Su Jiu broke free of the demonic qi and fought the demon underwater, using Ice Spikes to purify the qi before killing it.
• Su Jiu retrieved the demon's inner core and realized it could let her hold her breath underwater for eight hours.

Su Jiu returned to Millet Village and found it massacred, then discovered that Xu Hui had slaughtered the villagers while she was away. After the survivors blamed and drove her and Yun Huanling out, an old woman invited them to rest at her home, while Xu Hui remained a threat they could not yet face.

• Su Jiu realized the Tiger-Head Fish Demon's death and the demonic qi surrounding it were suspicious, then rushed back to Millet Village.
• Su Jiu found the village filled with corpses, including Yaya, and vowed to avenge the dead.
• Su Jiu entered the cellar and found Yun Huanling protecting the surviving villagers with formations.
• The villagers blamed Su Jiu for the massacre, and Yun Huanling defended her before deciding to leave with her.
• An old woman asked them to help against Xu Hui, but Yun Huanling said Su Jiu was too shaken and he could not defeat Xu Hui.
• The old woman invited Su Jiu and Yun Huanling to rest at her home.

Yun Huanling explained how a demonic cultivator impersonating Su Jiu lured the villagers of Millet Village out of safety, possessed Xu Hui, and slaughtered the village. Su Jiu accepted that the villagers’ greed was mainly to blame but still felt responsible for failing to notice the demon’s escape.

• The demonic cultivator took Su Jiu’s appearance, used treasure to make the villagers abandon Yun Huanling’s warning, and broke their formation.
• Yun Huanling escaped with nearby villagers using a flag, while the demonic cultivator killed villagers and possessed Xu Hui.
• After taking over Xu Hui’s body, the demonic cultivator began hunting the villagers and turned Millet Village into a slaughterhouse.
• Yun Huanling hid the remaining villagers in a cellar behind a second-tier Concealment Formation and later found that everyone outside had died.
• Yun Huanling told Su Jiu that she was not responsible, but Su Jiu acknowledged her carelessness while maintaining that she did not regret helping.

Su Jiu learned how the old woman had been framed by her senior sister in the Heavenly Dawn Sect and accepted the Cold Pool Secret Key she had kept for decades. With the Nightfall Cold Pool opening in five years, Su Jiu planned to use the key against the Heavenly Dawn Sect, though she later found their shamelessness exceeded even her expectations.

• Su Jiu explained that a demonic cultivator had likely hidden inside the Tiger-Head Fish Demon and asked Yun Huanling to divine his location.
• The old woman gave Su Jiu the Cold Pool Secret Key and revealed that she had once been a Heavenly Dawn Sect cultivator.
• The old woman recounted how her senior sister framed her for stealing the key, then helped her escape at the cost of her cultivation.
• The old woman explained that the Nightfall Cold Pool would open in five years and that she had meant to give the key to the Azure Tide Sect Grand Elder.
• Su Jiu recalled the Heavenly Dawn Sect's underhanded tactics at the previous Grand Tournament and resolved to challenge its claim to the Cold Pool places with the key.

Su Jiu pressed Yun Huanling to explain how they had first met, then punished him for admitting he had used her to satisfy his curiosity. While he hid inside a formation, she broke it from outside for the first time, revealing a talent for formations alongside her ice spiritual root.

• Yun Huanling told Su Jiu that the demonic cultivator's soul had headed west after abandoning Xu Hui's body and possessing another cultivator, so Su Jiu asked him to help track it.
• Su Jiu confronted Yun Huanling about their first meeting, and he confessed that he had used a scrap of her clothing to divine her location and followed her because he found her destiny extraordinary.
• Yun Huanling admitted that he had acted cowardly around Su Jiu because he feared her strength, and she drew Purple Ultimate and trapped him with an Ice Binding Talisman.
• Yun Huanling used a second-tier formation to protect himself, but Su Jiu began breaking it from outside, astonishing him with her talent.
• Su Jiu successfully unraveled the formation and warned Yun Huanling not to deceive her again.

After leaving Millet Village, Su Jiu and Yun Huanling left the old woman to confront the villagers’ blame and witnessed the aftermath of the disaster. At the Azure Tide Sect, Hua Rong and Ma Jian’s Soul Lamps went out, and Xia Jue sought help identifying what had happened to them.

• Su Jiu and Yun Huanling found Xu Hui’s corpse in the grove as the villagers demanded answers from the old woman.
• The old woman denounced the villagers for blaming their rescuers and shut herself inside; she later died alone in her home.
• The chapter recounted the deaths of Wang Donggou, Chen Ya, Yaya, and other Millet Village residents during Xu Hui’s attack.
• Two guards found Hua Rong and Ma Jian’s Soul Lamps extinguished and reported their deaths to the Enforcement Hall.
• Xia Jue asked True Person Ning Shan to examine the lamps, but neither disciple had left a recording of their final moments.
• Xia Jue said he would ask his master whether he could discover what had happened to Hua Rong and Ma Jian.

Hongguang and Ning Hai traced a danger to Azure Fall City, where Yun Huanling and Su Jiu discovered that Demonic Cultivators had occupied the city and trapped the local sect. Su Jiu learned that the two late Golden Core Demonic Cultivators had prevented anyone from escaping, and she reacted with cold resolve.

• Hongguang divined that Yun Huanling was in danger and asked Ning Hai to intercept him and bring him back before he reached Azure Fall City.
• Ning Hai learned that two deceased disciples had died in Azure Fall City and sent True Person Ning Shan with Foundation Establishment disciples to investigate and retrieve Yun Huanling.
• Yun Huanling confirmed that the Demonic Cultivator had fled into Azure Fall City, and he and Su Jiu found the city shrouded in demonic qi.
• Two disciples of the Azure Fall Sect told Su Jiu and Yun Huanling that two late Golden Core Demonic Cultivators had seized the city ten years earlier and devastated the sect.
• The Azure Fall Sect disciples revealed that visitors could enter Azure Fall City but were killed if they tried to leave, and Su Jiu's eyes flashed coldly.

Su Jiu and Yun Huanling visited the impoverished Azure Fall Sect and learned that two powerful Demonic Cultivators terrorized the nearby city. After seeing two murdered Azure Tide Sect disciples, Su Jiu demanded detailed information about Azure Fall City.

• Yun Huanling advised the Azure Fall Sect disciples to ask the Azure Tide Sect for help, then discovered they had no Thousand-Mile Message Talismans.
• Su Jiu and Yun Huanling arrived at the dilapidated Azure Fall Sect and met its Sect Leader and two senior members.
• The Azure Fall Sect leaders warned that two Golden Core cultivators in Azure Fall City trapped and abused people, while the Sect Leader hoped powerful sects might challenge them.
• A disciple reported that two bodies in fine clothes had been thrown out of the city, and Su Jiu recognized the dead as Azure Tide Sect disciples.
• Su Jiu examined the pair’s brutal injuries, closed their eyes, and demanded detailed information about Azure Fall City.

Ning Shan and his companions were trapped in Jade Net City while its Young City Lord investigated his father’s poisoning. Ning Shan identified the killer and exposed the conspiracy behind the murder, and the group left the next day as the Young City Lord disappeared.

• Ning Shan identified the poison in the City Lord’s wine and explained how to find someone who had handled its ingredients.
• Ning Shan identified an ordinary-looking man as the killer after three suspects were found carrying the scent of the poison’s herbs.
• Ning Shan bound the man with a Spirit-Locking Chain, and the killer revealed that the Young City Lord’s stepmother had arranged the murder to hide her pregnancy by another man.
• The Young City Lord learned that the woman had framed his father’s former concubine and planned to kill him to secure the city for her unborn child.
• The Young City Lord arranged for the city gates to open, and Ning Shan and his companions left the next day after hearing that the City Lord’s wife had died and the Young City Lord had disappeared.

Azure Fall City’s starving residents suffered under the Demonic Cultivators while Mei Mei and her companions awaited two incoming cultivators. Gong Hao arrived with Bai Su, killed Xiao Yi’s lover for failing to show him proper respect, and warned Bai Su to obey him.

• The rice shop owner gave a starving boy a handful of rice, but several people stole most of it before the boy could get home.
• Mei Mei watched the boy gather and eat fallen grains, then complained that Azure Fall City offered too few people to feed on.
• Mei Mei learned that two cultivators were outside the city, and Xiao Yi promised to capture them for her.
• Gong Hao and Bai Su appeared at the City Lord’s Residence, where Xiao Yi and Sun Dong knelt to greet the Young Palace Master.
• Gong Hao ordered Xiao Yi to deal with Mei Mei, and Xiao Yi snapped her neck while Bai Su pleaded for her life.
• Gong Hao comforted the terrified Bai Su and warned her that she would suffer the same fate if she disobeyed.

Gong Hao gave Sun Dong a demonic Formation-Breaking Axe and ordered him and Xiao Yi to destroy the Azure Fall Sect. As Su Jiu waited for help at the besieged sect, she discovered the Sect Leader was hiding a possible demonic infection.

• Gong Hao gave Sun Dong and Xiao Yi the Formation-Breaking Axe and demanded they leave no Azure Fall Sect disciples alive.
• The Azure Tide Sect elders discussed messages from Su Jiu and Yun Huanling, and Chu Mojin left to find his disciple.
• Su Jiu asked how long the Mountain-Guarding Grand Formation could hold and learned it might last only half a month.
• Su Jiu saw demonic qi enter the Sect Leader's body, while he denied being seriously unwell and Wen Ruyi appeared to conceal her concern.
• Su Jiu learned that the Azure Fall Sect had suffered heavy casualties in the battle that forced the Sect Leader to activate its protective formation.

Su Jiu learned that the Azure Fall Sect leader had made a life-binding contract with a demon’s remnant soul to save the sect’s disciples. When demonic cultivators attacked the sect’s formation with a demonized Formation-Breaking Axe, Wen Ruyi led the disciples away while the sect leader prepared to face the threat.

• Su Jiu questioned Wen Ruyi about the Azure Fall Sect leader and learned that he had contracted with a demon’s remnant soul to rescue the disciples during an earlier battle.
• Su Jiu worried that the demon might seize the sect leader’s body and that the contract could bring trouble upon the Azure Fall Sect.
• A disciple reported that demonic cultivators were attacking the Mountain-Guarding Grand Formation with a black axe, and the sect leader estimated it could hold for only four more hours.
• Wen Ruyi ordered the disciples, Su Jiu, and Yun Huanling to leave as the formation came under attack.
• The sect leader watched the disciples depart, touched the black mark on his arm, and prepared to make his final stand for the Azure Fall Sect.

Xiao Yi and Sun Dong broke the Azure Fall Sect's Mountain-Guarding Grand Formation, only to be stopped by a Demon-Exorcising Formation. Sun Dong recognized the formation master's mark as belonging to Azure Tide Sect's Ice Veil Peak and suspected one of the outside cultivators was the talented disciple he had heard about.

• Xiao Yi questioned Sun Dong about nearly being possessed, and Sun Dong recalled how a wisp of a Demon Soul had invaded his sea of consciousness before Xiao Yi's demonic qi helped drive it away.
• Sun Dong remembered that the Demon Soul later resurfaced during his life-binding contract with the Azure Fall Sect's sect leader, leaving both sides injured and tainting the sect leader's dantian with demonic qi.
• Xiao Yi repeatedly struck the Mountain-Guarding Grand Formation with the Formation-Breaking Axe until it shattered after four hours.
• Xiao Yi and Sun Dong sent monsters formed from demonic qi into the sect, but a Demon-Exorcising Formation burned Xiao Yi and destroyed many of the monsters.
• Sun Dong identified the formation's seven-Ice-Cone emblem as the unique mark of Azure Tide Sect's Ice Veil Peak and suspected one of the outside cultivators was its gifted young disciple.

Su Jiu and the Azure Fall Sect disciples escaped through a secret passage but were cornered by Sun Dong and Xiao Yi. Sun Dong tried to recruit Su Jiu into demonic cultivation, but she refused to betray her master or sect and defended the group as the attackers broke at her formation.

• Wen Ruyi led the disciples through the ancient escape passage beneath the Azure Fall Sect and explained why their ancestor had ordered it built.
• Sun Dong and Xiao Yi blocked the passage entrance, and Sun Dong recognized Su Jiu’s exceptional talent and targeted her.
• Sun Dong offered to spare Su Jiu if she joined demonic cultivation, but she refused and declared that her master and sect were the line she would never cross.
• Sun Dong attacked, and Su Jiu raised a third tier formation around the disciples while Yun Huanling and Wen Ruyi helped sustain it.

True Person Ning Shan and Chu Mojin arrived at the Azure Fall Sect after demonic cultivators had devastated it, but Chu Mojin learned that Su Jiu had been taken toward Azure Fall City. Su Jiu fought the attackers until she was gravely weakened, and Sun Dong carried her away while Yun Huanling’s fate remained unknown.

• True Person Ning Shan found the Azure Fall Sect nearly deserted and joined Wen Ruyi in fighting Xiao Yi, whom Chu Mojin killed when he arrived.
• Chu Mojin searched for Su Jiu, learned that another Golden Core demonic cultivator had taken her toward Azure Fall City, and immediately left to pursue them.
• True Person Ning Shan found Yun Huanling unconscious, revived him, and learned from Wen Ruyi how Su Jiu had fought the demonic cultivators.
• Su Jiu helped battle Sun Dong and Xiao Yi, then detonated more than a dozen Treasure Artifacts and severely injured them at the cost of her own strength.
• Yun Huanling charged Sun Dong but was knocked into a pillar, while Sun Dong carried the unconscious Su Jiu toward Azure Fall City.

Su Jiu awoke chained in a dark water prison, stripped of her spiritual energy and suffering from a damaged Divine Sense. Her captor, the Azure Tide Sect traitor Sun Dong, left her to die, and she remained imprisoned as her strength faded.

• Su Jiu woke in a water prison with Spirit-Locking Chains binding her and her left leg numb.
• Sun Dong entered the prison and revealed himself as the former Azure Tide Sect disciple Su Jiu recognized as Sun Dongdong.
• Sun Dong choked Su Jiu after she called him a traitor, then left while threatening to let the sect grieve her death.
• Sun Dong never returned, and Su Jiu spent an unknown length of time alone in the darkness, growing weaker and longing for Mian Mian, her Master, and her Junior Granduncle.

Chu Luohen entered the linked formation trapping Su Jiu and began dismantling its formations after identifying their layout and effects. He broke the fourth-tier mist formation, but a third-tier formation immediately covered the area.

• Chu Mojin discovered that a fifth-tier linked formation surrounded the City Lord's Residence and sent the Seventh Elder a message asking for help rescuing his trapped disciple.
• The sect leaders learned of demonic cultivators attacking cities across continents and agreed to watch for further disasters and alert other sects.
• The Seventh Elder set out for Azure Fall City, and the Fourth Elder joined him after sensing that something would happen on the journey.
• Chu Luohen entered the linked formation, identified its fifth-tier Killing Array core and four subsidiary formations, and calculated how to break them safely.
• Chu Luohen broke the fourth-tier mist trapping formation, and a third-tier formation immediately spread across the area it had occupied.

Chu Luohen broke through the linked formations and entered the deadly Main Killing Array with little spiritual energy left. Outside, Chu Mojin learned Sun Dong had created the formation, while the Seventh Elder warned that sending anyone else inside would undo Chu Luohen’s progress.

• Chu Luohen destroyed the illusion and size formations, then broke the time formation and reached the Main Killing Array with only a third of his spiritual energy remaining.
• The Seventh Elder and Fourth Elder arrived and learned that Su Jiu’s Soul Tablet had developed a widening crack while Chu Luohen’s remained intact.
• The Seventh Elder recognized the formation as one he had given the Fourth Elder, and Sun Dong appeared in a Demonic Shadow Clone.
• Sun Dong taunted the elders instead of revealing where Su Jiu and Chu Luohen were, while the Seventh Elder identified the linked formation’s main Killing Array.
• The Seventh Elder told Chu Mojin that the formation could be broken but warned that another person entering would reset it and erase Chu Luohen’s progress.

Chu Luohen broke Sun Dong’s linked formations, defeated him, and rescued Su Jiu from a time-accelerated dungeon. He flew back toward the sect with the unconscious Su Jiu, while Sun Dong remained captive and the elders faced the damage his betrayal had caused.

• Sun Dong taunted the elders and blamed the Fourth Elder for his betrayal, before Chu Mojin destroyed his avatar.
• Badly wounded, Chu Luohen broke the final formation eye, causing Sun Dong’s five linked formations to collapse.
• Chu Mojin captured Sun Dong with a Demon-Sealing Chain, and the elders learned Su Jiu might still be alive when her Soul Tablet began healing.
• Chu Luohen found Su Jiu bound in a dungeon, freed her, and gave her a Great Restoration Pill.
• Chu Luohen tried to kill Sun Dong, but Chu Mojin intercepted his sword and insisted the sect decide the traitor’s punishment.
• Chu Luohen flew away with Su Jiu to get her treated, while Sun Dong realized she had survived the time formation.