Chapter Summaries

Jiang Jiuxuan appeared to thread the Old Woman’s needle, but he damaged it and triggered the Blood Mist Formation’s attack. He and his companions escaped with a teleportation talisman, while the projection shifted to a gathering of Chenglong Heaven’s great clans considering a joint attempt to enter Blood Mist Village.

• Jiang Jiuxuan used his Wind-Riding Technique to force the hemp thread through the needle, delighting his companions and impressing spectators.
• The Old Woman revealed that Jiang Jiuxuan had ruined her needle and transformed into a Blood Bone, while the villagers became Blood Ghosts and attacked the Jiang Clan group.
• Jiang Jiuxuan and his three companions were struck by the Blood Ghosts, but Jiang Li used a teleportation talisman to take them away.
• The projection shifted to a gathering of clan elders, and Zhang Moyan recognized representatives of nearly all of Chenglong Heaven’s ten highest-ranked aristocratic clans.
• Xiahou Qingyuan said the clans had likely gathered to join forces and enter Blood Mist Village.

The Jiang Household blamed Xu Taiping’s team for their failure in the Blood Mist Formation, turning many cultivators against them despite the spectators knowing the Jiang team had plotted against Xu earlier. The Fu and Chu Households then proposed that seventeen teams unite to storm Blood Mist Village, leaving Xu Taiping’s team outside the alliance.

• Jiang Jiuxuan accused Xu Taiping and his companions of stealing the Jiang team’s fortuitous opportunity, and most Dragon-Slaying Persons in the illusory image sided with the Jiang Household.
• Chu Yu proposed that seventeen teams force their way into Blood Mist Village because dismantling the Blood Mist Formation normally would take too long to save the imprisoned teams.
• Fu De promised to divide any treasures exchanged for battle merit equally among the seventeen teams, and Chu Yu presented an Immortal Talisman-level Soul Contract Talisman to bind them to the agreement.
• Zhu Huai and Jiang Cuicui suspected that the Fu and Chu Households intended to unite the teams under their influence and keep the Nine Abysses from claiming the chief’s seat.
• Duan Xiaoyu and Chu Xiaoxiao realized that Xu Taiping’s team was being excluded from the alliance, while Zhu Huai and Jiang Cuicui said the coalition could benefit the Shangqing Cultivation World.

The seventeen teams of Dragon-Slaying Persons formed a Soul Contract alliance and charged into Blood Mist Village to hunt Yuanlingzi. They swept through the first three checkpoints, but at the fourth, blood-colored thunder struck and afflicted many of them with ghost power, leaving the alliance’s fate dependent on the three great households’ promised countermeasure.

• The Dragon-Slaying Persons from seventeen households signed the Soul Contract Talisman, and Fu De promised it would become void after the Dragon-Slaying Assembly.
• The seventeen teams gathered outside Blood Mist Village, where Fu De and Chu Yu urged them to follow the three great households through the village while they handled the ghost power.
• Jiang Li led the charge, and the allied cultivators tore through the blood mist and defeated the blood ghosts at the first three checkpoints before the ghost power could descend.
• At the fourth checkpoint, the teams killed the childlike blood ghost, but stronger blood ghosts delayed them until blood-colored thunder struck and afflicted at least half the Dragon-Slaying Persons with drowsiness and sealed powers.
• Zhu Huai and Jiang Cuicui wondered whether the Chu Household, Fu Household, and Jiang Household could dispel the ghost power before the entire force was wiped out.

Fu De and the other cultivators broke through the blood mist formation’s checkpoints and reached the hillside Land God Temple, where Yuanlingzi’s ghost power trapped and weighed them down. Chu Yu and Jiang Jiuxuan cleared a path, and the Five Great Aristocratic Clans joined forces to restrain Yuanlingzi as the Beiguo Household prepared its Five-Thunder Ghost-Burning Art.

• Fu De used an Immortal Talisman and a tiger roar to suppress the ghost power long enough for the seventeen teams to break through the fourth checkpoint.
• The Dragon-Slaying Persons and Dragon Catchers charged up the hillside toward the Land God Temple and the great elm tree where Yuanlingzi was hiding.
• Jiang Li shattered the clay land god statue, unleashing blood mist that pressed down on the cultivators as ghost hands dragged them into the hillside.
• Chu Yu lifted the mountain-spirit-like blood mist with his Heaven and Earth Manifestation, and Jiang Jiuxuan's gale swept the cultivators toward the great elm tree.
• Yuanlingzi appeared as an enormous blood-robed ghost, and the Five Great Aristocratic Clans attacked together; Qiyun Mountain bound him with a rope while Xiao Weinan trapped him inside a golden bell phantom.
• A Beiguo Household Clan Elder began casting the Five-Thunder Ghost-Burning Art against the trapped Yuanlingzi.

The Dragon-Slaying Persons appeared to destroy Yuanlingzi, but his blood body survived and he unleashed divine intent-level ghost wax. The revelation that the Blood Ancestor or its origin blood might be in the Immortal Burial Ruins left the pavilion stunned as Yuanlingzi’s elm tree sprouted blood-colored leaves.

• Jiang Li and the other cultivators struck Yuanlingzi with their full strength, while the Beiguo Clan Elder blasted his ghostly figure with lightning.
• Fu De and Chu Yu warned the cultivators to stay alert and prepare another attack, while Zhang Moyan explained that Yuanlingzi’s ghost power should be limited without the Blood Ancestor’s aid.
• A cultivator used a bronze mirror to pin Yuanlingzi’s blood body to the ground, and Xiao Weinan burned it away with Pure Yang Golden Flame.
• Bloody hands dragged Xiao Weinan, Chu Yu, and others underground as Yuanlingzi reappeared and engulfed the cultivators in ghost wax that disabled their powers.
• Zhu Huai and the Xiahou siblings identified the ghost wax as divine intent-level power and suspected the Blood Ancestor or its origin blood was hidden in the Immortal Burial Ruins.
• Yuanlingzi mocked the Upper Realm cultivators as the old elm behind him sprouted blood-colored leaves.

The spectators realized Yuanlingzi had lured the Dragon-Slaying Persons to feed the Blood Ancestor and watched as the Blood Ancestor awakened. Yuanlingzi trapped and killed the cultivators in Blood Mist Village, while the Dragon-Slaying Ranking revealed that Dongfang Yuejian, Xu Taiping, and Xuanzhi had accepted the bounty.

• Xiahou Qingyuan identified the old elm tree as the Blood Ancestor, who was drawing power from the Dragon-Slaying Persons to awaken.
• Chu Yu, Fu De, Xiao Weinan, Qiyun Mountain, and Du He escaped from underground and attacked Yuanlingzi, briefly making his ghostly figure disappear.
• Yuanlingzi invoked Ghost Domain, Blood Rain and summoned blood rain that transformed Fu De into a burning red candle.
• Yuanlingzi captured Qiyun Mountain and the other fleeing cultivators as humanoid candles, despite Fu De's attempt to shield them.
• The Dragon-Slaying Ranking announced that Dongfang Yuejian, Xu Taiping, and Xuanzhi had accepted the bounty.

After Xu Taiping accepted the bounty and headed for Blood Mist Village, Nine Abysses offered to help the trapped cultivators escape the Blood Rain Ghost Domain. Li Yezhu demonstrated that he could survive its curse through a strange reincarnation power, leaving Xiahou Qingyuan to identify it as his fourth-tier Origin Demon Seed Power.

• Zhu Huai, Duan Xiaoyu, and the others worried that Xu Taiping had accepted the bounty before gaining another fortuitous opportunity, but Xiahou You showed them that his party was already heading to Blood Mist Village.
• Heartless Demon Emperor offered the trapped cultivators Nine Abysses' help in exchange for a condition, provoking anger and distrust among the Dragon-Slaying Persons and spectators.
• Li Yezhu entered the Ghost Domain Blood Rain, became a burning red candle, then burst into blood mist and reappeared as a scarred man while his original figure returned to the goshawk.
• Xiahou Qingyuan identified Li Yezhu's ability as his fourth-tier Origin Demon Seed Power: life-borrowing rebirth and reincarnation, following Steal Heaven and Swap Sun.

Xiahou Qingyuan revealed that Li Yezhu’s Life-Borrowing Reincarnation power could make him a Sky Demon Thousand Faces, prompting the observers to see him as a major threat. In Blood Mist Village, the Nine Abysses exploited the Dragon-Slaying Ranking’s rules and offered to rescue the trapped cultivators if they swore to withdraw, while the ghost candles burned their divine souls.

• Xiahou Qingyuan explained that Li Yezhu’s Life-Borrowing Reincarnation power was derived directly from Thousand Faces and could advance into the origin power, making him a potential Sky Demon Thousand Faces.
• Zhu Huai recalled the terrifying origin Sky Demon he had seen, and Xiahou Qingyuan insisted that Li Yezhu had to be destroyed after the Dragon-Slaying Assembly.
• Duan Xiaoyu questioned whether the blood rain ghost domain violated the ranking’s ban on killing commoners, but Lü Tie declared he was willing to die for Li Yezhu and transformed into a burning candle.
• Xiahou You concluded that the willing sacrifices did not violate the rules, while the Heartless Demon Emperor offered rescue in exchange for a blood oath to withdraw from the assembly.
• As the ghost candles scorched their divine souls, Jiang Cheng agreed to the Heartless Demon Emperor’s terms, and an elder from his clan angrily warned him against it.

Xu Taiping arrived at the Dragon-Slaying Assembly and struck the Qing He Demon Emperor with a punch that sent him crashing into a distant hill. With True Fire Talismans placed on the Heartless Demon Emperor, Li Yezhu, and Pang Zhong, Xu Taiping faced Li Yezhu’s threat of summoning the Demon Mother’s Edict.

• The cultivators in the Immortal Burial Ruins endured the burning of their divine souls, while Zhu Huai explained why the Dragon Catchers were less affected.
• A young disciple agreed to swear a blood oath to withdraw from the Dragon-Slaying Assembly, but a flying sword interrupted him before he could identify his family.
• The Qing He Demon Emperor intercepted the flying sword, but Xu Taiping appeared and punched through his chest, then struck him again and sent him flying into a hill.
• Xu Taiping’s arrival thrilled the onlookers, who marveled at his fist technique and his ability to drive back a Demon Emperor.
• Dongfang Yuejian placed True Fire Talismans on the Heartless Demon Emperor, Li Yezhu, and Pang Zhong, and Li Yezhu threatened to summon the Demon Mother’s Edict.

Xu Taiping subdued the Nine Abysses demons with his overwhelming aura and ordered them to remain on a hillside while he prepared to rescue the cultivators trapped in the Ghost Domain Blood Rain. He kept the demons nearby as a safeguard and instructed Master Xuanzhi to prepare the ghost horde, leaving the rescue about to begin.

• Xu Taiping revealed his immense aura, frightening Li Yezhu and making the Heartless Demon Emperor admit that the three demons could not defeat him.
• Xu Taiping asked the Ranking Spirit whether he could kill one demon, and the Ranking Spirit agreed to bear the backlash from the Demon Mother's Edict.
• The Heartless Demon Emperor, Li Yezhu, and Qing He Demon Emperor went to the hillside Xu Taiping had designated.
• Xu Taiping explained to Dongfang Yuejian that keeping the demons nearby would let them watch these potential threats and rely on the Ranking Spirit if necessary.
• Xu Taiping sent Master Xuanzhi a voice transmission to prepare the ghost horde for delivery within the Ghost Domain Blood Rain.

Xu Taiping faced Yuanlingzi’s blood rain ghost domain while spectators realized his strength rivaled a Demon Emperor’s in the Lower Realm. Master Xuanzhi raised his golden body Dharma Aspect and sealed the domain, but Yuanlingzi’s blood infants began draining the barrier as he prepared the trapped cultivators as sacrifices for the Blood Ancestor.

• Spectators at the Profound Elixir Palace discussed Xu Taiping’s strength after he drove back a Demon Emperor and made the Nine Abysses cultivators withdraw.
• A young clan scion begged to withdraw from the Dragon-Slaying Assembly, but Xu Taiping told the clan elder to ask him to endure because the ghost domain would soon be broken.
• Master Xuanzhi struck his wooden fish, summoned his golden body Dharma Aspect, and surrounded the blood rain ghost domain and village with his Vajra Demon-Subduing Circle.
• Yuanlingzi sent blood-mist ghosts against the circle, then created blood infants from his tears that began devouring its spiritual power.
• Yuanlingzi revealed that the trapped cultivators were sacrifices meant to restore the Blood Ancestor’s combat strength, and Chu Xiaoxiao warned that Xuanzhi’s barrier was being drained.

Master Xuanzhi used a powerful Buddhist Divine Ability to ease the suffering of the cultivators trapped in Yuanlingzi's Blood Rain Ghost Domain. As the Blood Ancestor urged Yuanlingzi to destroy Xuanzhi's Dharma Aspect, Xu Taiping attacked the domain, and Xuanzhi revealed the Six Paths of Reincarnation Spell.

• Master Xuanzhi sent Buddha Light into the Blood Rain Ghost Domain, easing the pain of the human candles and bathing the ghost creatures in its light.
• Xuanzhi's Golden Body Dharma Aspect grew stronger as bells and beams of Buddha Light descended from the heavens, prompting Yuanlingzi to land and suppress the ripples of light.
• Xuanzhi formed a lotus with his six arms, unsettling Yuanlingzi and drawing an urgent warning from the Blood Ancestor to destroy the Dharma Aspect.
• Xu Taiping slashed at the Blood Rain Ghost Domain, forcing Yuanlingzi to block his blade force.
• Xuanzhi invoked six golden vortexes, and the Xiahou siblings identified the spell as Buddhism's Origin Law, the Six Paths of Reincarnation Spell.

Master Xuanzhi used the Six Paths of Reincarnation Spell to destroy Yuanlingzi’s Blood Rain Ghost Domain and banish its vengeful ghosts. The Blood Ancestor then empowered Yuanlingzi as a Blood Duke and ordered him to seize the four, leaving Zhu Huai alarmed by the threat.

• Xiahou You identified Master Xuanzhi’s golden-light ability as the Six Paths of Reincarnation Spell, an inheritance from Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva that had formed Avici Hell.
• Yuanlingzi attacked Master Xuanzhi with his Blood Blade, but Xuanzhi used the Six Paths of Reincarnation Spell to destroy the Blood Rain Ghost Domain and draw its vengeful ghosts into the six gates.
• The cultivators watching the projection realized that Xuanzhi had dispelled the ghost power afflicting the villagers and defeated the Ghost Domain on his own.
• The Great Elm Tree awakened as the Blood Ancestor, who drove branches into Yuanlingzi and bestowed on him the power of a Blood Duke.
• Yuanlingzi erupted with power as the Blood Ancestor ordered him to seize the four, and Zhu Huai warned that they were in danger.

Zhu Huai and the others watched as Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Gu Yu confronted Yuanlingzi, whom the Blood Ancestor had raised to grand duke level. Yuanlingzi revealed that his blade force doubled whenever it was blocked or shattered, and dozens of renewed blade shadows descended on Xu Taiping and his companions.

• Zhu Huai explained that a blood demon grand duke could reach Heaven Shocking Realm strength and potentially approach Dao Integration Realm, while Xiahou Qingyuan estimated the Blood Ancestor had recovered at least sixty percent of its power.
• Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Gu Yu landed before Yuanlingzi, who immediately slashed at them with a blood-qi saber.
• Xu Taiping's eighteen layers of blade defense shattered, and Dongfang Yuejian used the Mountain-Suppressing Talisman to shield him, but Yuanlingzi's slash broke through and grew stronger.
• Xu Taiping drew his saber and countered with the power of five divine manifestations and a Baxia-enhanced punch, shattering Yuanlingzi's blade shadow.
• Yuanlingzi's blade shadow returned twice as strong, and he explained that the Blood Ancestor had bestowed undying and imperishable power on him before dozens of blade shadows descended on Xu Taiping and his companions.

Xu Taiping destroyed Yuanlingzi with his complete Ultimate Realm Burning Blade Style, then used its Dragon Roar to burn the great elm tree to ashes. The Blood Ancestor revealed that its true body had been hiding in the tree’s shadow and trapped Xu Taiping, who calmly showed it a talisman.

• Xu Taiping unleashed the Ultimate Realm Burning Blade Style and burned Yuanlingzi’s blade force and body to ashes.
• Xu Taiping rode a fire dragon toward the great elm tree and used Dragon Roar to destroy it.
• The watching cultivators marveled at Xu Taiping’s complete technique, but Zhu Huai realized the Blood Ancestor’s true body was the tree’s shadow.
• The Blood Ancestor’s shadow rose up, engulfed Xu Taiping, and declared him a delicious offering.
• Xu Taiping calmly unfolded a talisman and asked the Blood Ancestor if it recognized it.

Xu Taiping, Master Xuanzhi, Dongfang Yuejian, and Gu Yu used Demon-Dispelling Talismans and coordinated attacks to overwhelm the Blood Ancestor. As the spectators questioned whether the Blood Ancestor had truly been defeated, Xiahou You explained that the fighters had prepared carefully and found the talismans, prompting Zhu Huai to ask whether they were the legendary Demon-Dispelling Talismans.

• The Blood Ancestor tried to flee after spotting Xu Taiping's Demon-Dispelling Talisman, but Master Xuanzhi struck him with another one and damaged his true body.
• The Blood Ancestor ordered Yuanlingzi to stop the fighters, but Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi cut through Yuanlingzi's ghost shadows and pressed on.
• The Blood Ancestor attacked Gu Yu, who used his own Demon-Dispelling Talisman to hold the Blood Ancestor back long enough for the others to catch up.
• Xu Taiping shattered much of the Blood Ancestor's tree-shadow body, while Dongfang Yuejian trapped it in the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation and Master Xuanzhi struck it with his Vajra Pestle.
• Xiahou You explained that the fighters had prepared for the Blood Ancestor and found the Demon-Dispelling Talismans, and Zhu Huai asked whether the talismans they carried were the legendary ones.

As Xu Taiping prepared to finish off the Blood Demon Ancestor, a silver dragon phantom descended and shattered Master Xuanzhi’s Vajra Demon-Subduing Circle. The phantom merged with the Blood Ancestor’s remains and Yuanlingzi’s true body, producing a monster that demanded Xu Taiping’s Demon-Dispelling Talismans.

• Xiahou Qingyuan explained that the Demon-Dispelling Talismans suppressed the Blood Ancestor and made Xu Taiping and his companions’ power seem greater than expected.
• The Blood Ancestor called out to Ao Yan as Xu Taiping prepared to finish him, and a silver dragon phantom descended from the sky.
• Dongfang Yuejian summoned a divine being of the Houyi Clan and fired an arrow at the dragon phantom, but it shattered the arrow and broke through Master Xuanzhi’s Vajra Demon-Subduing Circle.
• Xiahou Qingyuan and Zhu Huai recognized the dragon as a clone of the demon dragon trapped in the Immortal Burial Ruins.
• The dragon phantom merged with the Blood Ancestor’s remains and Yuanlingzi’s true body, forming a monster that demanded Xu Taiping hand over his Demon-Dispelling Talismans.

Xu Taiping fought the monster formed from the dragon shadow, Yuanlingzi, and the Blood Ancestor, after it trapped the weakened cultivators in its Dragon Clan domain. As the monster’s strength overwhelmed his Ancestral Sage Fist, Xu Taiping began using a special qi and blood circulation method he had learned from the Primordial Antiquity Beasts.

• The monster crushed the cultivators with mountain spirit power, but Xu Taiping used his blade domain to let them breathe again.
• The monster shattered Xu Taiping’s domain and suspended the weakened cultivators from dragon pillars, declaring that they could only be saved by defeating it with martial dao techniques.
• Xu Taiping sent Dongfang Yuejian, Gu Yu, and Xuanzhi farther back, then raised his dragon whale physique to the Great Sage Realm and challenged the monster.
• Xu Taiping traded blows with the monster using the Ancestral Sage Fist, but the monster’s golden-haloed fist broke through his attack and struck his chest.
• As the monster’s next golden-haloed kick shattered his Heaven-Bearing Stance, Xu Taiping activated the special qi and blood circulation method he had learned from the Primordial Antiquity Beasts.

Xu Taiping overwhelmed the Demon Dragon's clone with qi-and-blood-powered Raging Thunder Form punches, but the monster transformed into a true dragon divine being and broke through his assault. The monster then launched Dragon Emperor Yinsui's Ancient Fist Opening Heaven at Xu Taiping.

• Xu Taiping used the Ancestral Sage Fist's Raging Thunder Form to batter the monster and force him backward.
• Zhu Huai and Xiahou Qingyuan recognized that Xu Taiping had mastered the Dragon Clan's method of circulating qi and blood, and Zhu Huai explained the golden halo and the rhythm of Xu Taiping's punches.
• The monster's aura surged, and he transformed into a true dragon divine being, pushing Xu Taiping's fist force away.
• The monster broke through Xu Taiping's attack and sent him stumbling backward before challenging him to a fist contest.
• The monster unleashed a black fist shadow, and Zhu Huai identified the technique as Dragon Emperor Yinsui's Ancient Fist Opening Heaven.

Xu Taiping was driven back by the monster’s Heaven-Opening Fist, which Zhu Huai explained could break even a Heavenly Dao Edict. After Xu Taiping activated his second-stage body tempering power and blocked the monster’s punch, the monster challenged him to reveal whether that was his ultimate limit.

• The monster overwhelmed Xu Taiping with its Heaven-Opening Fist, while Zhu Huai explained that the technique came from Beyond the Domain and could break nearly any art or power.
• Xu Taiping was driven into a crater, and thunder and the monster’s fist aura prevented Dongfang Yuejian, Master Xuanzhi, and Gu Yu from reaching him.
• Xu Taiping summoned six Bull Demon Phantoms with Overlord's Breath to shield himself, but the monster shattered five of them.
• Xu Taiping activated his second-stage body tempering power, creating a much larger scarlet-flamed Bull Demon Phantom that blocked the monster’s fist.
• The monster laughed and asked Xu Taiping whether his increased power was his ultimate limit.