Chapter Summaries

Su Jiu silenced a cultivator who insulted the Enforcement Hall, then continued searching for an exit with Yun Huanling. Meanwhile, Nan Xun led a group away, hiding how little he knew about the Death Star Map as he struggled to identify stars one by one.

• Su Jiu slapped a cultivator from a distance and warned him not to provoke the Enforcement Hall, leaving Feng Qi startled and Yun Huanling impressed.
• Su Jiu and Yun Huanling led the group through the stars, while two cultivators disagreed and parted ways over whether to follow them.
• Nan Xun led the group that had left earlier, though he knew little about the Death Star Map and had departed mainly to protect his pride.
• Nan Xun's fellow disciples praised his abilities as he examined stars, while the rest of the group paid little attention to his work.
• Nan Xun identified a star that was not a Fate Star, then explained that they would have to test the candidates one by one to find the exit.

A cultivator who had left Xia Jue's group told Nan Xun's party that Su Jiu could identify exits, unsettling their confidence and leaving them divided. Su Jiu then found an unusually large star that seemed to have been visited before, and Xia Jue chose to enter it despite objections from rogue cultivators.

• A male cultivator regretted joining Nan Xun's group and argued with them about their slow, risky approach to searching the stars.
• After Nan Xun's senior brother and fellow disciples mocked him, the male cultivator revealed that Su Jiu could identify exits and that Yun Huanling could discern stars at a glance.
• Nan Xun's group doubted the man's claims but followed Nan Xun into a fate star to learn more about the non-fate stars.
• Su Jiu detected that one star contained a much larger space than the others and sensed someone had entered it before, so she wanted to investigate.
• Xia Jue agreed to enter the unusual star, while rogue cultivators objected and one tried to turn the Enforcement Hall disciples against him and pressure Su Jiu to reconsider.

Su Jiu and Xia Jue left a group of cultivators behind and entered a deserted city, where they found a bloodstained scrap of Azure Tide Sect robes and were attacked by two demonic banners. Su Jiu trapped the damaged artifacts in icy mist so they could investigate the courtyard and seek answers about what had happened there.

• Su Jiu rejected a middle-aged cultivator's attempt to morally pressure the Enforcement Hall and followed Xia Jue into the stars with the other disciples, while Feng Qi stayed behind briefly to laugh at the man's predicament.
• The remaining cultivators decided to wait seven days for Su Jiu and the others, and the middle-aged cultivator sat apart, secretly wishing they would die.
• Su Jiu and Xia Jue arrived in an empty city, where Xia Jue used Feng Qi to shield himself from a dust-filled gust before the group began searching the orderly streets.
• At the fourth house in the fourth row, Xia Jue found a bloodstained scrap of Azure Tide Sect and Enforcement Hall robes hanging from a stone lion, and the Buddha Child urged everyone to enter the courtyard.
• Su Jiu warned the group to fall back when two demonic banners attacked, then fought them and trapped them in icy mist rather than destroy them, hoping to learn what had happened in the city.
• Xia Jue decided that the group should investigate the courtyard before questioning the damaged banners.

Su Jiu and Yun Huanling investigated a ninth-tier formation that concealed a white banner and interfered with divine sense. After completing a hidden emblem in a room, they opened a passage beneath the floor, and Su Jiu descended into it.

• Su Jiu explained that the ninth-tier formation could affect things beyond its boundaries, while Feng Qi wondered whether it was connected to the vanished Azure Tide Sect formation arts artist.
• Su Jiu teased Yun Huanling about the limits of his knowledge, then searched the courtyard with him and found an incomplete Orange-Segment Emblem engraved on a low table.
• Su Jiu reasoned that demonic qi could power the formation and explained how a demonic artifact could let cultivators use demonic qi in their work.
• At Yun Huanling's suggestion, Su Jiu completed the emblem from memory, awakening its power and triggering a mechanism beneath the table.
• The floor sank to reveal a dark underground passage, and Su Jiu flew down into it.

Su Jiu and Yun Huanling discovered a miniature star map that revealed the exit from the Death Star Map, using its eight-trigram arrangement to identify a celestial body hidden in a nebula. After they found the others, Xia Jue showed Su Jiu the remains of their trapped seniors and gave her a Storage Ring before leading the group back to the front hall.

• Su Jiu brought Yun Huanling into a chamber covered in painted star maps, and he recorded them with a Recording Stone.
• Su Jiu realized the star maps were divided into eight sections corresponding to the eight trigrams and identified a nebula-hidden celestial body as the likely exit.
• Su Jiu and Yun Huanling returned to the courtyard and discovered that the others had disappeared, then followed Yun Chao to the northern courtyard.
• Su Jiu found a circle of skeletal remains belonging to their seniors, and Xia Jue asked her to pay her respects.
• Xia Jue gave Su Jiu a Storage Ring that had belonged to the seniors, then led the group back to the front hall.

Su Jiu and Xia Jue learned that a former Enforcement Hall Leader and his team had once been trapped in the city, while a demonic beast waited beyond the protective formation. Su Jiu went outside to confront it, as Feng Qi realized Xia Jue had misled her about the beast’s strength to keep her from hesitating.

• Su Jiu forced the White Cloth Banner’s spirit to reveal that the missing person was a former Enforcement Hall Hall Master, then destroyed the demonic artifact.
• Xia Jue explained that the damaged Storage Ring had once imprisoned the artifact and that the Ninth-Tier Formation had protected the former Hall Master’s subordinates from demons outside the courtyard.
• Xia Jue revealed that the former Hall Master and his team had disappeared after being unable to leave because of a demonic beast in the forest beyond the city.
• Demonic qi approached the gate, and Su Jiu prepared to face the beast while Xia Jue claimed it was a later creature and no stronger than she was.
• After Su Jiu left the courtyard, Feng Qi accused Xia Jue of inventing details about the beast, but Xia Jue defended his choice and told Feng Qi to improve his intelligence.

Su Jiu used her innate origin qi and blood-drawn talisman to destroy a demonic beast, surprising the cultivators who witnessed her strength. Two days later, as her group remained inside the celestial body, cultivators waiting outside began spreading rumors that they had died, while others defended the Enforcement Hall.

• Su Jiu fought the demonic beast, shattered its demonic-qi chains with a blood-drawn Void Talisman, froze it with Thousand-Mile Ice Seal, and purified it with innate origin qi.
• Feng Qi, Xia Jue, Yun Chao, and the other cultivators watched Su Jiu's victory; Xia Jue warned her not to tell anyone that her blood had helped defeat the beast.
• Su Jiu and her group left the courtyard, and two days passed while they continued searching for clues inside the celestial body.
• Cultivators waiting outside argued over whether Su Jiu's group had met with danger, found a clue, or discovered an exit.
• A group of cultivators mocked Su Jiu and Xia Jue, speculating crudely about their relationship and declaring them dead, while another cultivator objected.

Feng Qi punished cultivators who had slandered Su Jiu and her companions by leaving them behind in the Star River, while Su Jiu and Yun Huanling followed clues toward the exit. Outside, the Vast Righteousness Sect expanded its influence as the Heavenly Secret Sect and Yun Household anticipated an approaching upheaval.

• Feng Qi and Su Jiu immobilized the cultivators who had gossiped about them and left them behind, after which the five split into two groups and searched in different directions.
• Su Jiu told Xia Jue about the secret chamber, and they reasoned that Senior Duanmu may have found the exit after the other seniors had died.
• Su Jiu and Yun Huanling found the nebula shown in the mural and searched its stars until both reached a result.
• A month passed outside the Star River as the Vast Righteousness Sect expanded under Xia Yun, sealed off the Windforest Star River, and the Demon-Subduing Land fell quiet.
• Yun Jing told Hongguang that the Yun Household was preparing to emerge from seclusion and that someone suited to set the Chessboard right would take part in the coming turmoil; he judged Su Jiu too inexperienced for that burden.

Azure Tide Sect’s leaders argued over whether to punish the Vast Righteousness Sect’s Shadow Hall disciples or release them to preserve relations, while Ning Hai withheld his decision. The debate was interrupted when Shadow Hall master Xia Yun arrived at Heavenly Origin Hall with his disciples, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Hong Ling, the Fifth Elder, and Xie Ying accused the Vast Righteousness Sect’s Shadow Hall of provoking the Azure Tide Sect, while the Grand Elder urged them to treat the incident as a misunderstanding and release the detained disciples.
• Hong Ling and the Grand Elder exchanged insults, but Ning Hai stopped their argument before the Grand Elder could covertly strike her.
• The Grand Elder urged Ning Hai to prioritize relations with the Vast Righteousness Sect, while Long Aotian restrained Hong Ling and Jin Chen stopped Su Mianmian from confronting him.
• The Grand Elder finished his lengthy proposal, and Ning Hai began to give his decision.
• A commotion interrupted Ning Hai as Xia Yun and more than a dozen Shadow Hall disciples arrived at Heavenly Origin Hall, with the two guards beaten and bloodied.

Xia Yun came to the Azure Tide Sect demanding the release of three Shadow Hall disciples, but Ning Hai exposed their scheme to provoke trouble and force the continent into chaos. Xia Yun apologized and retrieved the Recording Stone, then had to apologize to the Enforcement Hall disciples he had injured before leaving.

• Xia Yun demanded that Ning Hai release the three detained disciples and argued that the Azure Tide Sect was mistreating them.
• Ning Hai revealed a Recording Stone showing the three Vast Righteousness Sect disciples plotting to stir up trouble and attacking innocent rogue cultivators.
• Xia Yun realized the recording could expose the Vast Righteousness Sect’s plans, apologized to the Azure Tide Sect, and received the three disciples back.
• Xia Yun slapped one disciple for boasting, then ordered all three to apologize to the Azure Tide Sect’s seniors.
• Ning Hai made Xia Yun apologize to the two Enforcement Hall Disciples he had injured before returning the Recording Stone, which Xia Yun crushed as he left.
• After Xia Yun’s group departed, Ning Hai told Long Aotian that the recording was of little use because people had already guessed the Vast Righteousness Sect’s intentions.

Ning Hai and Chu Mojin discussed their secret plans while Chu Luohen opened the jade bottle meant to address his troubled Heartless Dao. Meanwhile, three senior cultivators entered the Windforest Star River undetected, and Su Jiu’s group emerged into a barrier-filled region shrouded in demonic qi.

• Xia Yun killed the three disciples who had followed him after descending the mountain, then warned his remaining followers that the Shadow Hall had no use for troublemakers.
• Ning Hai and Chu Mojin agreed they had to leave Xia Yun alive to keep the Vast Righteousness Sect’s attention dispersed, and they discussed the secret actions of several sects.
• Chu Mojin said Chu Luohen needed a setback, while Chu Luohen opened the cold jade bottle during his seclusion on Ice Veil Peak.
• Li Ergou and his friend guarded the Nightfall Star River entrance as several white streaks slipped past them unnoticed.
• Chu Qianqiu, True Lord Yuxiu, and True Lord Cao Yin entered the Windforest Star River and departed after discussing the Flowing Radiance Sword Sect.
• Su Jiu and Yun Huanling led their group out of the true Star River into a barrier blanketed in demonic qi, and Xia Jue concluded that another hidden world lay within the Windforest Star River.

Su Jiu, Xia Jue, and their companions descended into a cavern filled with dense demonic qi, where they fought a swarm of Demon-Born Bats and discovered that the qi had liquefied along the walls. As they continued deeper, Su Jiu and Xia Jue sensed something the others could not hear, leaving the group on alert.

• After finding the cavern, the cultivators debated whether to enter, and Su Jiu and Xia Jue led the Enforcement Hall and their companions inside to investigate signs of life.
• The group descended through gathering demonic qi and fought a swarm of Demon-Born Bats; Su Jiu froze and shattered bats while the Buddha Child used his Buddhist Prayer Beads to bathe the area in purifying golden light.
• At the bottom, the cultivators found sticky liquid demonic qi coating the walls, and Su Jiu explained that it repelled spiritual qi and warned them not to touch anything carelessly.
• As the group walked deeper, Yun Huanling argued with A Huan in his sea of consciousness while Su Jiu noticed a sound that the others could not hear.
• Xia Jue confirmed that Su Jiu had noticed it too, while Feng Qi realized that neither he nor the other cultivators had detected anything.

Su Jiu and the others were attacked by demonic thorns controlled by a chained winged creature hidden deeper in the cavern. After helping protect the Heavenly Music Pavilion disciples, Su Jiu proposed approaching the creature to stop the seemingly endless assault.

• Su Jiu’s Otherworldly Eyes failed to reveal the source of eerie cries, and probing it with her divine sense injured her.
• Xia Jue warned the group that the hidden creature could attack divine sense, then the demonic qi on the cavern walls formed spikes and attacked them.
• Yun Huanling dodged the first spikes, while Gu Ningyun struggled to defend the two Heavenly Music Pavilion disciples and received help from a familiar stranger.
• Su Jiu awoke and used Void Talisman Drawing to protect the Heavenly Music Pavilion disciples, then reasoned that the Buddha Child’s prayer beads had limited uses.
• Su Jiu recalled glimpsing a chained, enormous-winged creature and suggested to Xia Jue that they approach it to stop wasting strength on its attacks.

Su Jiu and her companions reached the cage holding a Four-Aspect Demon and learned that the Vast Righteousness Sect had imprisoned it. Xia Jue subdued the demon with his flute, allowing the group to pass a hidden door that Su Jiu opened with a key given to her by a dying rogue cultivator, and they entered the darkness beyond.

• Su Jue and her companions reached the cage and identified its prisoner as a Four-Aspect Demon, while the group suspected the Vast Righteousness Sect had concealed its presence.
• Su Jiu explained that opening the cage would release much of the demon's power, leaving the group unable to kill it safely.
• Xia Jue played his Green Jade Flute, putting the Four-Aspect Demon to sleep and stopping the black slime's attacks.
• Su Jue and the others found a hidden door blocking the passage, and Xia Jue warned Feng Qi that destroying it could wake the demon.
• Su Jiu recognized the door's totem, produced a key given to her by a dying rogue cultivator, and opened the door.
• Su Jiu and her companions passed through into the deeper darkness, uncertain what awaited them.

Su Jiu and the others discovered that the Vast Righteousness Sect had used the Four-Aspect Demon to assimilate captured cultivators into magic beasts and had hidden the truth of Windforest Star River. As Su Jiu considered how to free the prisoners, the sinister wind announced the arrival of the place’s master.

• Su Jiu recognized the Four-Aspect Demon’s aura in the imprisoned magic beasts, and Li Zirang revealed that the Vast Righteousness Sect had captured him and held him for a year.
• Li Zirang explained that the sect assimilated cultivators into magic beasts, controlled them with contracts, and sacrificed Spirit Transformation cultivators to the Four-Aspect Demon every ten-odd years.
• Su Jiu and the others realized that many magic beasts they had encountered were transformed people, while Li Zirang explained that his nine yang body had prevented his assimilation.
• Li Zirang said the Vast Righteousness Sect had brought the Four-Aspect Demon out of the rift passage, and Yang Guo vowed to expose the sect.
• Su Jiu and Xia Jue considered whether Senior Duanmu might have passed through the rift, while Su Jiu examined the lock on Li Zirang’s cage.
• Feng Qi sensed the sinister wind and warned that the master of the place had arrived.

Xia Jue and Su Jiu confronted Ming Shan and Scarface, two demonic cultivators tied to the Vast Righteousness Sect’s secrets, while their companions fought the beasts they unleashed. Su Jiu defeated Ming Shan but stopped short of killing him after Scarface warned that his death would endanger the seal, and Xia Jue disabled Scarface.

• Ming Shan and Scarface arrived, and Xia Jue tested them about Duanmu and the rift before identifying the two cultivators.
• Su Jiu discovered that Ming Shan and Scarface carried both demonic and spiritual qi, while Ming Shan revealed that Cheng Beiluo had been captured and turned into a controlled beast.
• Yun Chao erupted in rage over Cheng Beiluo, so Su Jiu knocked him unconscious and protected him from charging into battle.
• Ming Shan and Scarface attacked as magic beasts flooded the dungeon, but Su Jiu expanded the space with a formation disk and fought Ming Shan while Xia Jue held off Scarface.
• Su Jiu provoked Ming Shan into cultivation deviation and defeated him, but Scarface warned that killing Ming Shan would destroy the seal.
• Su Jiu bound Ming Shan with an Ice Binding Talisman, while Xia Jue sealed Scarface’s meridians with his sword and techniques.

Su Jiu and Xia Jue captured Ming Shan and Scarface, learning that the ten cultivators had bound themselves to the Rift Passage and would cause it to rupture if they died. As the battle ended, a captured woman warned Thirteen that other cultivators controlled the magic beasts, while Yun Chao faced Cheng Beiluo and heard him ask if he remembered his teaching.

• Scarface revealed that the ten cultivators were bound to the Rift Passage and that any of their deaths would open another rupture.
• Xia Jue comforted Su Jiu, then intimidated Ming Shan and Scarface into answering questions about their scheme.
• Su Jiu deduced that the other two cultivators had been intended as sacrifices to the Four-Aspect Demon and asked who was helping the plotters behind the scenes.
• The battle subsided, and the Enforcement Hall disciples bound the magic beasts; one captured woman warned Thirteen to beware of other cultivators controlling them.
• Thirteen apologized when a captured magic beast asked whether she could be saved, knowing that purification would effectively kill someone demonized so completely.
• Yun Chao approached Cheng Beiluo, who asked whether Yun Chao still remembered what he had taught him.

Su Jiu and the others escaped the Four-Aspect Demon’s cavern, freed Li Zirang, and decided to confront the Vast Righteousness Sect’s cultivators rather than try to flee. Cheng Beiluo revealed that the strongest of the twelve was controlling him, while Xia Jue stayed behind with Ming Shan and Scarface to question them.

• Cheng Beiluo urged Yun Chao to keep his pride and warned him that Xia Jue was concealing his true strength.
• The Four-Aspect Demon awakened, and Feng Qi led the group in retreat as the black thorns and magic beasts turned dangerous.
• Xia Jue forced Ming Shan to hand over the cell key, allowing Su Jiu to free Li Zirang before Xia Jue remained behind with Ming Shan and Scarface.
• Su Jiu and the others found the Star River cultivators dead outside the cavern and concluded that Ming Shan and Scarface had killed them.
• Su Jiu proposed taking the initiative against the Vast Righteous Sect, and Feng Qi agreed to support her plan.
• Su Jiu learned from Cheng Beiluo that the strongest of the twelve cultivators was controlling him.

Su Jiu and Xia Jue left after Xia Jue dealt with Ming Shan and Scarface, while the Heavenly Secret Sect divined that a rising fate star would help stabilize the Windforest Star River. At the secret realm entrance, the Vast Righteousness Sect blocked the Flowing Radiance Sword Sect from searching for Yun Chao, and the confrontation ended with the sword cultivators trapped in a formation.

• Su Jiu discovered that Xia Jue had severed every meridian in Ming Shan and Scarface, and Xia Jue told her it was time to leave.
• The Heavenly Secret Sect's elders saw a previously dim fate star flare up, and the Grand Elder said it would help stabilize the Windforest Star River for about a hundred years.
• Flowing Radiance Sword Sect cultivators fought their way past the Vast Righteousness Sect's disciples, then demanded entry to search for Yun Chao.
• The Vast Righteousness Sect's leaders refused entry, while Wei Yu joined the Flowing Radiance Sword Sect's delegation and challenged their refusal.
• The Vast Righteousness Sect activated a golden formation that trapped the Flowing Radiance Sword Sect cultivators.

Wei Yu shattered the Vast Righteousness Sect’s seventh-tier formation, allowing the Flowing Radiance Sword Sect to enter the Windforest Star River. Su Jiu and Xia Jue uncovered the likely demon bargain behind the sect’s sacrifices, but their group fell into chaos when the magic beasts traveling with them began attacking.

• Wei Yu broke the Vast Righteousness Sect’s formation with repeated sword strikes, and the sect master let the Flowing Radiance Sword Sect pass through the secret realm entrance.
• Su Jiu and Xia Jue reasoned that the Vast Righteousness Sect’s Spirit Transformation cultivators had made a bargain with a demon and that their second sacrifice might summon something beyond the Four-Aspect Demon.
• Su Jiu noticed the unusually bright crescent moon as Yun Huanling failed to divine the road ahead and admitted he felt uneasy.
• The magic beasts traveling with Su Jiu’s group attacked the cultivators, while Cheng Beiluo explained that demonic qi from their controller was stirring inside him and controlling them.