Chapter Summaries

Su Jiu questioned Su Qingqing and Yan about the Nightmare Demon and the forces that had driven them to the Azure Mist Continent. When a red scar appeared across the sky, Yun Huanling woke from a two-month unconsciousness and decided it was time to visit the Demon-Subduing Land.

• Su Jiu told Su Qingqing that the Nightmare Demon had slaughtered many Azure Tide Sect disciples, and Su Qingqing struggled to reconcile this with its kindness toward Meng'er.
• Su Jiu questioned whether Yan had chosen her escape route, and Su Qingqing realized a demonic beast had deliberately driven them toward the Azure Mist Continent.
• Yan said a hidden force in the Demon-Subduing Land had sent the beast after them because they had stolen the Soul-Suppressing Pearl, while Su Jiu remained wary of treating the claim as proof.
• Before Su Jiu could recover for a year, a red scar stretched across the sky, prompting cultivators from several great sects to emerge from seclusion.
• Yun Huanling received no reply to his Message Talismans, returned to his sect, and later fell unconscious for nearly two months when his chest attacks worsened.
• Yun Huanling woke with a consciousness Su Jiu had protected and, after seeing the red scar and divining its meaning, said it was time to visit the Demon-Subduing Land.

Sect leaders debated the red streak, with the Heavenly Dawn Sect challenging the warnings while Hong Ling spoke with her amnesiac companion. Su Jiu prepared to travel to the Demon-Subduing Land with Dao Lord Qing Ci, whose distant gaze left her wondering what he saw.

• A Heavenly Dawn Sect disciple denounced the warnings about the sky splitting, while Hong Ling learned he was the Grand Elder's second disciple and discussed A Qi and the Enforcement Hall with her companion.
• Hong Ling comforted her companion over his forgotten origins, and he promised they would never part before a figure flashed past behind them.
• The gathering ended after the Heavenly Dawn Sect and some other sects rejected the warnings, though many cultivators recognized the danger and gained time to prepare.
• Su Jiu set out for the Demon-Subduing Land with Enforcement Hall and Shadow Hall disciples, Ning Fan, and Dao Lord Qing Ci.
• Su Jiu observed Dao Lord Qing Ci's subtle power keeping approaching cultivators at a distance, then bowed and introduced herself to him, but he offered no response.

Su Jiu led a growing procession toward the Demon-Subduing Land as her companions debated the hidden motives behind the journey and Meng’er’s illness. Dao Lord Qing Ci noticed Chu Luohen had quietly joined them, and Chu Luohen watched Su Jiu from the rear without approaching.

• Su Jiu allowed other sects to follow her procession, while Ning Fan explained they hoped to investigate the red scar and the Demon-Subduing Land.
• Xiao Lu argued that Su Qingqing’s warning about Meng’er and the events that brought her to the Azure Tide Sect suggested a hidden force was targeting Su Jiu.
• Yang Guo worried about Su Jiu and questioned whether Meng’er truly needed the Soul-Suppressing Pearl, but Su Jiu said they might learn more upon reaching the Demon-Subduing Land.
• Dao Lord Qing Ci noticed Chu Luohen had appeared among the procession and recognized him as a fellow member of Ice Veil Peak.
• Chu Luohen bowed slightly to Dao Lord Qing Ci, then kept his gaze on Su Jiu from the rear of the procession.

As demonic qi spread across the Nine Provinces Continent, a Zen Sound Temple monk investigated a disturbance near the Taiji Secret Realm and returned with a dangerous aura. A junior monk suspected Eldest Senior Brother was no longer alive and persuaded him to return to the temple, while the truth remained uncertain.

• The Demon-Subduing Land expanded and released demonic qi that purification talismans struggled to clear, making Buddhist cultivators especially sought after.
• Three monks guarding the Taiji Secret Realm sensed a disturbance in a nearby abyss, and Eldest Senior Brother went to investigate.
• Eldest Senior Brother returned after nearly half a day and claimed he had purified a mass of demonic qi, but the smallest monk sensed a dangerous aura coming from him.
• The smallest monk lied that the Buddha Child had summoned him and Eldest Senior Brother back to the Zen Sound Temple.
• Eldest Senior Brother agreed to leave with the junior monk, while one of the remaining monks wondered whether the pair had acted strangely.

A young Zen Sound Temple monk was lured away by a powerful demonic beast that impersonated his eldest senior brother and trapped him beyond the reach of help. As the monk faced death, the Buddha Child arrived and broke through the beast’s black miasma with the phantom flowers of the Buddha-Heart Lotus.

• The young monk realized his eldest senior brother was a demonic beast that had blocked his divine sense and isolated him from Zen Sound Temple.
• The demonic beast snatched the monk’s Buddhist Prayer Beads, broke their string, and recounted how it had survived for over ten thousand years by hiding its Demon Core.
• The demonic beast attacked, corroding the monk’s defensive screen and knocking his Life-Bound Treasure away.
• The young monk began gathering spiritual qi to detonate himself, but a heart-rending howl and bright light interrupted him.
• The Buddha Child descended through the darkness, scattering golden phantom flowers that tore glowing holes through the black miasma.

The Buddha Child destroyed the demonic beast and confirmed that the eldest senior brother’s soul had dispersed. On the journey toward the Demon-Subduing Land, Su Jiu’s party encountered unusually dense demonic qi near a village and prepared to investigate.

• The Buddha Child used the World-Cleansing Liuli Pagoda to destroy the demonic beast after rescuing the young monk, who reported how his eldest senior brother had died.
• The Buddha Child revealed that he had found the demon core in the Abyssal Lands and that the eldest senior brother’s soul had already dispersed, then left to attend to other matters.
• After two months of travel, Su Jiu’s party crossed the Vast Heaven Continent and noticed demonic qi in the air and murkiness in the sky.
• Su Jiu sensed that the demonic qi resembled that of the beast from the Demon-Subduing Land and sent message talismans to the sect while continuing toward her waiting senior brother.
• Ning Fan noticed that a village to the north had denser demonic qi than the surrounding area, and Su Jiu agreed to investigate after the group rested.

Su Jiu led the remaining Azure Tide Sect, Enforcement Hall, and Shadow Pavilion disciples toward the village after four disciples vanished there. As the group approached, they found unusually dense demonic qi but no trace of the missing disciples, while Ning Fan watched Dao Lord Qing Ci for signs that he knew more.

• Su Jiu learned that two Shadow Pavilion disciples and two Enforcement Hall disciples had gone into the village and failed to return.
• Dao Lord Qing Ci rejected Su Jiu’s plan to leave the group and investigate alone, and Hu Yucheng proposed splitting the parties.
• Hu Yucheng led most of the other sects onward, while Su Jiu stayed with the Enforcement Hall and Shadow Pavilion members.
• Su Jiu pointed out that the red scar in the sky had grown more vivid as her group set off for the village.
• Near the village, Su Jiu could detect neither the four disciples nor any trace of their auras, despite the abnormally dense demonic qi.
• Ning Fan watched Dao Lord Qing Ci, wondering why he had insisted that Su Jiu bring people to the village.

A hidden being formed itself into an old man and welcomed the arriving cultivators into its world. At the village entrance, Su Jiu and the others were attacked by ordinary-looking plants that resisted their abilities, and Su Jiu struggled to find their source.

• A black mass gathered in a village corner and transformed into an old man, who sensed the guests arriving.
• Su Jiu and Ning Fan examined the two ancient trees at the village entrance and shared their uneasy impressions.
• As the group approached the village, plants suddenly grew and attacked them, resisting their arts and forcing them to fight with swords.
• Su Jiu concluded that someone was probably controlling the plants, while the pill refining master said they were ordinary weeds untouched by demonic qi.
• Su Jiu searched for the source with her Otherworldly Eyes but saw nothing unusual, and a blade of grass cut her cheek.

Su Jiu realized the frenzied plants were responding to two motionless giant trees and joined Chu Luohen in attacking them. After the disciples felled both trees, the vegetation stopped attacking, and Su Jiu examined a fallen blade of grass.

• Su Jiu spread out her divine sense while fighting the vines and noticed that the two giant trees were the only plants that had not moved.
• Chu Luohen appeared and cut away a vine that was about to pierce Su Jiu.
• Su Jiu struck one giant tree with her sword while Chu Luohen attacked the other, provoking the vegetation to redirect its attacks toward them.
• Su Jiu ordered the disciples to attack the giant trees, and they felled both of them.
• The surrounding vegetation stopped moving and fell to the ground, and Su Jiu infused a blade of grass with ice spiritual qi.

Su Jiu and the others discovered that the ordinary-looking vegetation around the village entrance was the villagers’ protective barrier, which the group had destroyed while defending themselves. As the villagers accused them and demanded they leave, Yang Guo offered gold for information about their four missing companions and heard conflicting reports about people seen in the village.

• Su Jiu cut down a giant tree but found nothing unusual in its trunk, branches, or leaves.
• Villagers confronted Su Jiu and the others, claiming the vegetation was their village’s barrier and that the newcomers had destroyed it.
• Su Jiu explained that the barrier’s vegetation had attacked them first, but the villagers accused the group of trying to destroy the village.
• Yang Guo offered gold and silver to anyone who could provide information about their four missing companions.
• Villagers whispered that they had seen different numbers of people wearing dark blue or black clothing, and the disciples overheard them.

Su Jiu and her companions entered the Village after Yang Guo paid the villagers and offered the rest of her valuables as a reward for finding the four missing disciples. Their search found no trace of the disciples, so Su Jiu learned about the Village’s protective deity and headed toward the village chief’s home to investigate.

• Yang Guo gave the villagers half her valuables to gain entry, then promised the remainder to whoever found the four disciples first.
• The villagers searched the Village, but Su Jiu and the others found no trace or aura of the missing disciples.
• Su Jiu learned that a temple in the Village supposedly housed a living immortal and that its deity had created the barrier to protect the villagers.
• Su Jiu concluded that ordinary outsiders could enter safely and that the barrier had deliberately targeted her group.
• Su Jiu noticed the villagers’ leader watching her with bewilderment, then followed Ning Fan’s suggestion to visit the village chief and investigate the temple.

Su Jiu and the disciples investigated the strange villagers and visited the village chief, whose ancient couplets hinted at a desire for eternal life. The chief admitted he knew where their four missing companions were, but Yang Guo's Heart Discernment failed to make him reveal anything.

• Su Jiu and the disciples noticed that the villagers seemed conscious while speaking to them but became unaware once they left, though Su Jiu's Otherworldly Eyes showed they were ordinary living people.
• The group reached the village chief's home, where Su Jiu read ancient couplets about eternal life and wondered whether the chief sought it.
• Chu Luohen entered the chief's home ahead of Su Jiu, then told her to come inside.
• Inside the courtyard, the disciples noticed an enormous tree they had not seen from outside, while the light dimmed and the temperature dropped.
• The village chief dismissed Su Jiu's apology and admitted he knew where the four missing companions were, but refused to say more.
• Yang Guo used her Heart Discernment on the chief, but her Innate Art failed against him.

Su Jiu and the others confronted the village chief about the villagers’ god, but an unseen force strangled him when he praised it. After he repented toward the temple, he warned them that the god could decide whether they lived or died.

• Yang Guo’s Heart Inquiry and Su Jiu’s Otherworldly Eyes failed to reveal anything about the village chief or the Village’s protections.
• The village chief declared that their god protected the villagers and granted them eternal life, then an unseen force seized his throat.
• Su Jiu suspected the attack was triggered by something in the village chief’s speech, but her Otherworldly Eyes could not identify the force.
• The village chief recovered, turned toward the temple, and repented in an ancient language that Chu Luohen recognized.
• The village chief told Su Jiu and the others that the god could decide whether they lived or died, then stopped speaking warily.

Su Jiu and the others left the village chief and went to the temple to search for their missing companions, but the temple boy claimed no one had entered for a month. They discovered the boy spoke an ancient language they could not hear, and he expected them to read the plaque naming the temple the Hall of Eternal Life.

• Su Jiu sensed a fleeting power of a contract as she left the village chief's home, while Chu Luohen noticed the giant tree could not be seen from there.
• Su Jiu and the others arrived at the temple and asked the boy guarding its entrance about their missing companions.
• The boy said no one had come or gone from the temple in the past month, and Yang Guo judged that he was probably telling the truth.
• Su Jiu realized the boy was speaking without producing any sound that she and the others could hear, then asked Ning Fan to read his lips.
• Ning Fan and Su Jiu understood that the boy expected them to recognize the ancient characters on the plaque as “Hall of Eternal Life.”

Su Jiu questioned a village boy about the Hall of Eternal Life and uncovered strange inconsistencies in the villagers’ knowledge, language, and beliefs. The boy refused to let the group enter the temple, offered them lodging, and warned them not to wander around the village at night.

• Su Jiu noticed that the boy’s voice seemed to vanish when he tried to speak about the village’s writing and wondered whether the deity was silencing him.
• The boy defended the Hall of Eternal Life and said its deity had kept the village chief alive for thirty years after an incurable illness.
• Su Jiu tested the boy with modern writing, and he claimed the characters she wrote matched the temple plaque exactly before losing his voice again.
• The boy said he had been abandoned as a child, explained that his adoptive parents had died in an accident, and refused to let outsiders enter the temple.
• The boy led Su Jiu and the others to his unusually spacious, well-kept home and warned them not to wander around the village at night.

Su Jiu and the Enforcement Hall disciples waited for night to search for their missing companions, then heard a lead from a village couple who demanded payment. Su Jiu refused to pay, and the woman threatened to summon the villagers as the chapter ended.

• The village boy warned Su Jiu and the others that the god would revoke granted lifespan if anyone watched for him, and Yang Guo urged them to wait until night to leave without alarming the villagers.
• A middle-aged couple arrived and claimed they had seen the four missing outsiders leave through another village entrance.
• The couple demanded ten silver ingots for the information, but Su Jiu told them to leave without paying.
• The woman accused Su Jiu of breaking her word and threatened to call the villagers and village chief, while Su Jiu warned her not to.

Su Jiu confronted a village couple who had tried to cheat her group, then questioned them about the Hall of Eternal Life. The man described the deity’s blessings and a temple legend about a sealed treasure, leaving Su Jiu suspicious that the legend concealed something stranger than an illusion.

• Su Jiu exposed the couple’s false clues, and the middle-aged man admitted their scheme while asking to continue the deal.
• Su Jiu gave the man a Night-Luminescent Pearl and asked him to explain the Hall of Eternal Life.
• The man said the deity extended villagers’ lives but did not cure their illnesses, and claimed the village chief had endured his suffering for thirty years.
• The man described a sealed temple room and a rumored treasure that could bring a person’s innermost beloved into the world to stay with them.
• Su Jiu noticed the man’s strange moment of bewilderment and concluded that something was wrong with the legend.

Su Jiu and Ning Fan led the Enforcement Hall and Shadow Pavilion disciples through the darkness to the Temple, where four lanterns appeared and the doors opened. Su Jiu entered the unknown darkness first, followed by the others.

• After the husband and wife left with their Night-Luminescent Pearls, Ning Fan removed his Hood and explained that his eyes changed because his innate talent could not bear light.
• Su Jiu and Ning Fan led the group out of the Courtyard and toward the Temple as the gale weakened and stopped behind them.
• Four red lanterns lit beneath the Temple eaves, and Su Jiu questioned whether they had been there earlier.
• Su Jiu concluded that the Temple's Deity had noticed them and stepped through the open doors into the darkness.
• Da Shen stopped Yang Guo from intervening, and Ning Fan and the rest of the group followed Su Jiu inside.

Su Jiu, Ning Fan, and Chu Luohen entered a darkness-filled temple formation that only they could see and identified it as the Four-Nine Exquisite Formation. They prepared to break it, with the Snow Sprite helping Su Jiu take on a second position.

• The temple gate closed behind the group, and Su Jiu and Ning Fan spotted a red ring of light leading through the darkness.
• Ning Fan touched the ring, breaking it into fragments that revealed thirty-six red rings and exposed the formation.
• Su Jiu recognized the Four-Nine Exquisite Formation and agreed with Ning Fan to break it directly.
• Chu Luohen stepped forward and revealed that he could see the formation, so Su Jiu included him in the plan.
• Su Jiu arranged to handle two positions with help from the Snow Sprite, which grew back to full size.

Su Jiu and the others split up to break the Four-Nine Exquisite Formation’s light circles, with each relying on special abilities to see through its blindness. After clearing her assigned circles, Su Jiu followed a shaft of light into a picturesque courtyard and entered a quiet house.

• Su Jiu sent the Snow Sprite to handle one direction while she, her Junior Granduncle, and Senior Brother flew toward their assigned areas.
• Su Jiu used blue ice blades to break the red light circles in her direction, weakening each one until it vanished.
• Su Jiu destroyed the largest final circle with the Frostbound Purple Ultimate Sword, then noticed light appearing along the path back.
• Su Jiu emerged into a beautiful courtyard with no Enforcement Hall or Shadow Pavilion disciples in sight.
• Su Jiu pushed open the house door and stepped inside.