Chapter Summaries

Su Jiu witnessed Little Green merge with the Vermilion Bird and disappear, then left the Sacred Spirit Palace without accepting the Vermilion Bird’s offer to send her out of the Demon-Subduing Land. The chapter ended with the Vermilion Bird sensing that Little Green’s consciousness might still linger, possibly because of the Immortal Spring.

• Su Jiu learned that Little Green had completed the plan to merge with the Vermilion Bird and accepted that Little Green would lose their consciousness.
• Little Green urged Su Jiu to believe in herself and never give up before vanishing from her sea of consciousness.
• Su Jiu questioned the Vermilion Bird about her heart demon, then ended their conversation and prepared to leave the Demon-Subduing Land.
• Su Jiu awoke beside Yun Huanling and Chu Luohen as the spirit source returned to its place and the Vermilion Bird became a stone carving.
• The Vermilion Bird offered to send Su Jiu out of the Demon-Subduing Land, but Su Jiu refused and left with Yun Huanling and Chu Luohen.
• The Vermilion Bird wondered whether Little Green’s consciousness remained because of the Immortal Spring in the Palace inside the rift passage.

Su Jiu and her companions followed a path from the Red Maple Forest into a strangely quiet area of the Demon-Subduing Land, where the demonic qi had grown denser and the plants had mutated. When the plants attacked, Yun Huanling was struck by a paralyzing chill, leaving Su Jiu to fight them while seeking to free him.

• Su Jiu and her companions left the Red Maple Forest by a newly appeared path, which the Vermilion Bird had likely revealed using Little Green's memories and the spirit source.
• After passing beyond the spirit source's reach, Su Jiu and her companions entered the Demon-Subduing Land and noticed its dense demonic qi, mutated plants, and eerie silence.
• Su Jiu summoned the Frostbound Purple Ultimate Sword and learned that Purple Ultimate had advanced by a minor stage.
• The demonic plants attacked the group, and Yun Huanling was cut; a sinister chill spread through him until he could no longer move or speak.
• Su Jiu recognized that Yun Huanling's body had been restrained and promised to free him after destroying the plants, which quickly regrew even when severed.

Su Jiu and her companions defeated the demonic plants by destroying their roots, then rescued Yun Huanling from a stealthy vine and expelled the demonic qi from his body. The group left the battle safe, though Chu Luohen and Yun Huanling resumed bickering while the Buddha Child made an oddly suggestive remark.

• Su Jiu focused the group on breaking through the demonic plants' defenses and destroying their roots while she held off the attackers.
• A concealed vine wrapped around Yun Huanling and dragged him away, but Su Jiu pinned it with the Ice Cloud Hairpin.
• Chu Luohen pierced the demonic plants' roots with the Scarless Sword, causing them to wither and lose their ability to regenerate.
• Su Jiu killed the vine and used Ice Spiritual Qi and Innate Origin Qi to clear the demonic qi from Yun Huanling's body.
• Chu Luohen argued with Yun Huanling over the danger of leaving Ice Spiritual Qi inside him, and the Buddha Child suggested Chu Luohen was worried about him.

Su Jiu and her companions followed drag marks through the Dense Forest, hoping to learn what had happened to the people taken by the demonic plants. They found a wounded Jade Sword Sect disciple who said his fellow disciples were dead and asked them to help him leave.

• Su Jiu noticed drag marks beyond Yun Huanling’s and led the others into the Dense Forest to follow them.
• The group tracked the marks to a place where they vanished, then found scattered footprints bearing traces of both demonic qi and spiritual qi.
• They heard a cry for help and found a badly wounded Jade Sword Sect disciple beside a tree.
• Su Jiu gave the disciple a Minor Restoration Pill and stopped him from taking a second one before he meditated.
• The disciple told Su Jiu and her companions that his fellow disciples were all dead and asked them to take him out of the Dense Forest.

Su Jiu and her companions met Fellow Daoist Lu, who claimed to know a way out of the desolate place but warned of monsters in a vast swamp. After discovering the mire dissolved a stone and concealed a demonic tentacle, Su Jiu decided they should wait for the humanoid monsters to emerge before attempting to cross.

• Su Jiu asked Fellow Daoist Lu how long he had been trapped, and he said he had spent a little over two months there and knew a route out.
• Fellow Daoist Lu warned Su Jiu and her companions that humanoid monsters inhabited a swamp along the route and that he feared he could not defeat them.
• Su Jiu led the group toward the swamp, where Fellow Daoist Lu warned them to avoid its poisonous marsh gas.
• Su Jiu threw a stone toward the opposite bank, and a black tentacle seized it and dragged it into the corrosive mire.
• Su Jiu suspected the tentacle belonged to the humanoid monsters and decided the group should wait for them to emerge before choosing how to cross.

Su Jiu and her companions waited at the marsh while discussing the monsters’ defenses and preparing to counter their corrosive abilities. When humanoid creatures finally emerged, Su Jiu recognized them as demonic beasts made from transformed humans and identified one as a once-powerful cultivator.

• Su Jiu reasoned that the marsh creatures could resist poison and corrosion, while Chu Luohen and Yun Huanling noted their possible abilities and tentacles.
• Little Pearl and the Snow Sprite argued over who would help fight, and Su Jiu told them neither would be allowed out if they kept arguing.
• After a long wait, Su Jiu noticed a demonic plant move and warned the others that the creatures were coming.
• Black hands and long, boneless-looking arms emerged from the marsh, dragging humanoid monsters onto its edge.
• Su Jiu identified the creatures as humanoid demonic beasts created from humans by a Forbidden Art and noted that one still wore a High-Rank Robe of Protection.

Su Jiu and the Buddha Child used the Nine-Star World-Cleansing Pearl and the World-Cleansing Glazed Pagoda to fight the demonic beasts emerging from the swamp. As the sacred treasures destroyed the beasts, Su Jiu realized they had once been sect disciples, while Fellow Daoist Lu recognized the Pearl and wondered why the Azure Tide Sect had entrusted it to her.

• Su Jiu and the Buddha Child leapt from the tree and surrounded themselves with golden halos that repelled the demonic qi.
• Chu Luohen stopped Yun Huanling from joining the fight, and Fellow Daoist Lu explained that expanding Su Jiu’s protection would consume more spiritual power.
• Su Jiu observed that the demonic beasts wore sect robes and had been transformed so completely that their former identities and human consciousness were gone.
• Su Jiu and the Buddha Child’s sacred treasures annihilated waves of demonic beasts, which could regenerate lost limbs from the surrounding demonic qi.
• Fellow Daoist Lu recognized the Nine-Star World-Cleansing Pearl and questioned why the Azure Tide Sect had entrusted the sacred treasure to Su Jiu.

Su Jiu and the Buddha Child continued battling the demonic beasts with their sacred artifacts while Yun Huanling and Chu Luohen questioned the surviving cultivator surnamed Lu. The beasts’ numbers dwindled, but they could neither reach the pair nor escape the swamp.

• Yun Huanling refused to reveal Su Jiu and the others’ identities to the cultivator surnamed Lu, who explained that he had come to the Demon-Subduing Land with a friend and was the sole survivor of their group.
• Yun Huanling told the cultivator surnamed Lu that only Su Jiu could use the Nine-Star World-Cleansing Pearl, while the World-Cleansing Glazed Pagoda could be touched by others if its spirit approved.
• Su Jiu and the Buddha Child kept fighting as some demonic beasts exhausted their vitality, though both fighters were tiring from the prolonged battle.
• The demonic beasts charged at Su Jiu and the Buddha Child, but the sacred artifacts’ purifying qi dissolved their reaching tentacles before they could make contact.
• Some demonic beasts tried to flee into the swamp but found an invisible wall blocking their escape.

Su Jiu and her companions eliminated the demonic beasts in the swamp and crossed to the opposite shore, where Lu claimed he knew the way to a teleportation array. Su Jiu exposed his inconsistent story and challenged him to stop pretending.

• Su Jiu and the Buddha Child purified the remaining demonic beasts while Chu Luohen, Yun Huanling, and Lu watched over them.
• After recovering, Su Jiu suspected demonic plants had dragged the swamp’s victims there and agreed the group should leave quickly.
• The group flew across the vast swamp and found that demonic qi was even denser on the opposite shore.
• Lu excitedly claimed a nearby cave held the Teleportation Array out of the Demon-Subduing Land, then contradicted himself about being a Dao cultivator before claiming he was a sword cultivator.
• Su Jiu told Lu that his act was pointless and confronted him about his deception.

Su Jiu exposed the cultivator surnamed Lu as an impostor who had led them through the dangerous swamp and helped turn cultivators into demonic beasts. When she confronted him about his former friend, his hatred awakened his heart demon, and he revealed his jealousy over the friend’s success.

• Su Jiu pointed out that the cultivator surnamed Lu’s robe did not fit and challenged his claim to be a Jade Sword Sect disciple.
• Yun Huanling questioned Lu’s proposed route, and Su Jiu stopped him from leaving with her sword at his neck.
• Su Jiu identified herself and explained that Lu’s ignorance of her and her companions exposed his false identity.
• Su Jiu accused Lu of helping the demonic plants transform cultivators and said his former Jade Sword Sect friend had died after trusting him.
• Lu erupted in anger, his heart demon surfaced, and he confessed that he had envied his friend for entering the Jade Sword Sect.

Su Jiu exposed the cultivator surnamed Lu’s deception, but he trapped her and her companions in a demonic formation that transported them to a cave. There they met the Sword Demon, whose transformation was linked to Crimson Thread and the upheaval threatening the Azure Realm.

• Su Jiu explained how the cultivator surnamed Lu’s jealousy, ordinary divine sense, and knowledge of the swamp revealed his lies and the hidden master behind him.
• The cultivator surnamed Lu summoned a demonic formation, which trapped Su Jiu, Yun Huanling, and the others and transported them to an unfamiliar cave.
• A demon emerged and greeted Su Jiu, who recognized his aura and facial patterns as belonging to the Demonic Sword from the Nightfall Cold Pool.
• The Sword Demon revealed that Zheng Qilong had brought him to the Demon-Subduing Land and that the clash between Heavenly Daos and Crimson Thread’s descent had helped him transform.
• Su Jiu realized Crimson Thread’s red scar in the sky was connected to the rise of monsters and demons and feared a repeat of the Azure Realm’s ancient catastrophe.

Su Jiu learned that her Senior Brother had been badly hurt after trying to kill Zheng Qilong and was now somewhere nearby. Sword Demon held Yun Huanling and Buddha Child hostage and forced Su Jiu to retrieve two Demonic Swords from Xia Jue within three months.

• Sword Demon told Su Jiu that her Senior Brother had suffered a backlash from his attempt to kill Zheng Qilong, while Sword Demon escaped after the Demon Spirit broke free.
• Sword Demon asked Su Jiu to obtain the other two swords from Xia Jue and restrained Yun Huanling and Buddha Child with black vines.
• Su Jiu accepted the bargain after Sword Demon offered information about her Senior Brother's whereabouts.
• Sword Demon showed Su Jiu Bamboo Slips marking a conspicuous tree near the area where her Senior Brother had stayed.
• Sword Demon promised to spare Su Jiu's friends and escort them out of the Demon-Subduing Land if she returned with both swords within three months.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen left the Sword Demon and continued through the Demon-Subduing Land, avoiding a mysterious clearing as they searched for her Senior Brother and the others. After they passed the clearing, faint rings of light appeared there, while a woman elsewhere saw her bracelet light up and anticipated the coming revelation.

• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen concluded that the Sword Demon wanted the other two Demonic Swords to restore his power, but Su Jiu doubted he wanted to summon the Demon Realm and warned that the swords must not be reunited.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen followed the map through woods filled with Demonic Plants, finding no Demonic Beasts and sensing that the demonic qi had reached its deepest concentration.
• Su Jiu noticed a clearing with thinner demonic qi and no creatures, but she and Chu Luohen chose to find her Senior Brother and the others instead of investigating it.
• Chu Luohen admitted that the Demon-Subduing Land was affecting him, then watched Su Jiu as she hurried onward and wondered whether he should have let something return.
• Faint rings of light appeared in the clearing after Su Jiu and Chu Luohen left, and a woman elsewhere saw her bracelet light up and said the show was about to begin.

Su Jiu and Chu Luohen followed the Sword Demon's route to the giant tree and discovered it was the supposedly extinct Life-and-Death Tree, the source of all demon seeds. Chu Luohen revealed that it had been sealed rather than destroyed and that its seal had broken, leaving Su Jiu demanding to know when.

• Su Jiu recognized the footprints from Feng Qi's Message Talisman and told Chu Luohen they were nearing the giant tree.
• Su Jiu and Chu Luohen reached the tree, where Su Jiu used her otherworldly eyes to see its opposing life and death energies.
• Chu Luohen identified the tree as the Life-and-Death Tree, also known as the Demon Seed Tree.
• Su Jiu recalled that ancient texts said the Azure Realm's only Demon Seed Tree had been destroyed ten thousand years earlier, but Chu Luohen explained it had only been sealed.
• Chu Luohen said the seal had now been broken and that his master, Chu Qianqiu, had told him; Su Jiu asked when it happened.

Su Jiu learned that the Life-and-Death Tree had once grown light seeds before demon king's blood changed it, while Chu Luohen withheld what he knew about the Demon King. As the Azure Realm’s defenses weakened under demonic attacks, Ning Hai considered whether to admit the beleaguered Medicine Gate into the Alliance.

• Su Jiu asked how the Life-and-Death Tree could be destroyed, but Chu Luohen told her to focus on finding Xia Jue and leave the tree alone.
• Su Jiu noticed demon seeds hanging from the tree’s deathly side and learned from Chu Luohen that its life-filled side once grew light seeds until it was watered with demon king's blood.
• Demonic cultivators seized the Spiritflight Continent, while sects recalled experts from secret realms and the Taiji Secret Realm and Windforest Star River seals began to fail.
• The Medicine Gate Master sent Ning Hai a message asking to discuss a matter, and Chu Mojin guessed the Medicine Gate was seeking Alliance membership because it could no longer withstand attacks.
• Ning Hai argued that the Medicine Gate’s healing skills would make it valuable logistical support, while Chu Mojin questioned why Ning Hai was willing to accept it into the Alliance.

Yang Guo traveled to the Medicine Gate to negotiate on behalf of the alliance, leaving her fellow disciples behind to guard their sect. At the Medicine Gate’s foot, she found the town’s defensive formation near collapse and offered to repair it, but a local youth questioned why a cultivator would help.

• Chu Mojin admitted that he hated the Medicine Gate, and Ning Hai summoned Yang Guo to the Heavenly Origin Hall.
• Ning Hai gained the other sect masters’ agreement to negotiate with the Medicine Gate, and representatives from four sects set out while Zen Sound Temple entrusted its alliance authority to the Azure Tide Sect.
• Yang Guo recalled the hardships in the Demon-Subduing Land and prepared to travel alone, but an Enforcement Hall disciple challenged her plan; she explained that a small delegation would be safer and left the disciple to help guard the sect.
• After twelve days of travel, Yang Guo reached the town beneath the Medicine Gate and found its defensive formation badly weakened.
• Yang Guo began examining the formation to repair it, and a local youth asked why cultivators were meddling in the townspeople’s affairs.

Yang Guo learned that the town had been left vulnerable amid widespread attacks and activated a formation to protect it. She left without learning the strange youth’s story, while he revealed that he had lost all his cultivation.

• Yang Guo told the youth she belonged to the Azure Tide Sect, and he explained that sects across the Azure Mist Continent had been attacked and many towns were left to fend for themselves.
• The youth doubted that Yang Guo’s efforts would matter, saying the townspeople feared and resented cultivators and that the Medicine Gate might abandon them.
• Yang Guo activated her Enforcement Hall formation, spreading golden light over the town and strengthening its protection.
• The youth questioned why Yang Guo would help without seeking fame, and she challenged his view of cultivators before vanishing.
• After Yang Guo left town to continue her mission, the youth also faded from sight and remarked that he had lost his cultivation.

Yang Guo arrived near the Medicine Gate and intervened when its disciples attacked Yao Yan, a Demonic Cultivator she recognized as non-bloodthirsty. She stopped the fight and insisted Yao Yan explain why he had entered Medicine Gate territory, and he said he had only come to wander and had killed no one since leaving the Savage Wilderness Land.

• Yang Guo saw the devastation outside the town and killed the Demon Beasts circling overhead.
• Yang Guo sensed a fight and recognized the combatants as five Medicine Gate Disciples and Yao Yan, whom she remembered from Su Qingqing’s portrait.
• Yang Guo drew her sword to halt the fight and warned the Medicine Gate Disciples that they were no match for Yao Yan.
• Yang Guo identified herself as a member of the Azure Tide Sect’s Enforcement Hall, and Yao Yan tried to leave.
• Yang Guo stopped Yao Yan and demanded an explanation for his presence on Medicine Gate territory, and he said he had come to wander and had not killed anyone since leaving the Savage Wilderness Land.

Yang Guo let Yao Yan leave after he promised not to harm Dao cultivators, then confronted the Medicine Gate disciples when their leader accused her of colluding with him. The leader’s heart demon drove him to attack Yang Guo, who knocked him aside and left the other disciples apologizing.

• The leading Medicine Gate disciple demanded that Yang Guo prove her loyalty by killing Yao Yan, while Yao Yan mocked his arrogance.
• Yao Yan left after Yang Guo warned him to suppress his demonic nature and repay his debt for saving Su Qingqing.
• Yang Guo recognized that the leading Medicine Gate disciple had developed a heart demon and warned the others to knock him unconscious.
• The heart-demon-stricken disciple broke free, charged Yang Guo, and was sent flying by her sweep of the sleeve.
• The four junior disciples checked their senior brother, found his injuries superficial, and bowed to Yang Guo to thank her for showing mercy.

Yang Guo helped the Azure Tide Sect and other upright sects finalize an alliance with the Medicine Gate, whose master hesitated to abandon the medicinal fields despite the danger. She and the others went to defend the Medicine Gate, where Yang Guo realized the demonic cultivators seemed to be deliberately prolonging the fighting.

• The Medicine Gate Master apologized to Yang Guo, and the sects finalized an alliance in one day.
• Yun Chao, Qin Ming, and Lan Fang Ziyi urged the Medicine Gate Master to relocate, warning that reinforcements might not arrive in time to protect the sect.
• Tang Wuchen reported another demonic cultivator attack, and the Medicine Gate Master sent him to guide Yang Guo and the others to the battle.
• After they left, the Medicine Gate Master decided not to pursue a demonic cultivator released by the Enforcement Hall, while his disciples questioned his submissive response.
• Lan Fang Ziyi went to repair the Medicine Gate's damaged defensive formation as Yang Guo and the others headed to the battlefield.
• Yang Guo used Mind Reading and discovered that the demonic cultivators intended to kill only a few disciples before calling off their attack.