Chapter Summaries

Ninth Madam tried to secure the Sunken Abyss Bell for Black Prison, but Xu Taiping had already promised it to Fengdu Prefecture in exchange for support during his breakthrough. Xu Taiping then revealed that his group had found the entrance to Yellow Springs, leaving Ninth Madam stunned.

• Ninth Madam learned that Xu Taiping had survived the forbidden grounds and found the Sunken Abyss Bell, and she contacted him while Daoist Fengzhu and Heavenly Lord Xuanbei urged her to discuss their own business.
• Xu Taiping told Ninth Madam that he was in Fengdu Prefecture and asked her to check whether Elders Xuanbei and Fengzhu had decided about his trip to the forbidden grounds.
• Ninth Madam offered to pay more than Fengdu Prefecture for the Sunken Abyss Bell, but Xu Taiping said he had already agreed to trade it for a breakthrough site, a top-tier defensive formation, spirit marrow stones, and the Fengdu Great Emperor's protection.
• Ninth Madam accepted that Black Prison could not match Fengdu Prefecture's offer and decided not to compete for the bell.
• Xu Taiping told Ninth Madam that his group had found the entrance to Yellow Springs, and she sprang upright in disbelief.

Xu Taiping prepared for his coming Dao Integration breakthrough by seeking protection from the Abyssal Pavilion and considering a path to Half-Immortal offered by Heavenly Lord Xuanbei and Daoist Fengzhu. The chapter ended with Ninth Madam arriving with the two experts, while Old Daoist Huang asked whether Xu Taiping was tempted by their offer.

• Xu Taiping told Ping'an and Old Daoist Huang that he had informed Ninth Madam about the Yellow Springs Entrance because he trusted the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage, and explained that Xuanbei and Fengzhu had offered him a path to Half-Immortal.
• Bai Mo delivered Xu Taiping a Red Essence Yin-Yang Mirror, and Xu Taiping used it to contact Heavenly Lord Cangzhu for help protecting his Dao Integration breakthrough.
• Heavenly Lord Cangzhu agreed to arrange protection once Xu Taiping shared the location and timing of his breakthrough.
• Ninth Madam told Xu Taiping that she had brought Heavenly Lord Xuanbei and Daoist Fengzhu, and Ghost King Qin Ming offered to turn them away if Xu Taiping did not want to meet them.
• Xu Taiping agreed to see the visitors, and Old Daoist Huang asked whether he was tempted by their Half-Immortal Dharma Method.

Dong Cang persuaded the Xiao Clan Matriarch to help eliminate Xu Taiping, claiming his master foresaw a possible Great Dao Strife and offering a way to transfer Xu Taiping’s fortunes to Xiao Yu. At Cangwu Heavenly Lord’s Dao Field, another man identical to Dong Cang offered rewards for killing Xu Taiping and revealed that his master was Dong Cangzi.

• Fairy Yunxiao and Steward Zhou returned to the Xiao Clan and explained that the Hundred Ghosts Night Run had transformed the Wangjin Ferry Forbidden Grounds, causing their plan against Xu Taiping to fail.
• The Xiao Clan Matriarch ordered the pair to guard the clan’s Forbidden Grounds for three hundred years, but they pleaded to make amends and introduced Dong Cang as the expert who had rescued them.
• Dong Cang revealed overwhelming power and asked the Xiao Clan to help eliminate Xu Taiping, explaining that his master foresaw a possible Great Dao Strife and that Xu Taiping carried the Lower Realm’s and Dragon Clan’s fortunes.
• Dong Cang promised to reveal Xu Taiping’s hiding place and teach the Xiao Clan Matriarch how to transfer Xu Taiping’s fortunes to Xiao Yu, and she showed interest in cooperating.
• At Cangwu Heavenly Lord’s Dao Field, a young man identical to Dong Cang offered to help Cangwu obtain Xu Taiping’s Left-Eye Lotus Pupil and Soul-Merging Pill recipe in exchange for his death.
• When Cangwu demanded to know the young man’s master, the young man identified him as Dong Cangzi.

Xu Taiping met Ninth Madam, Heavenly Lord Xuanbei, and Daoist Fengzhu, then refused to enter a dangerous secret realm because he was already prepared to break through. They showed him a Moonlight Stone containing a record of an ancient battle between a Human Sovereign and a Demon God from Outer Heaven.

• Xu Taiping arrived at a side room with Ghost King Qin Ming and recognized Ninth Madam, Heavenly Lord Xuanbei, and Daoist Fengzhu in their puppet bodies.
• Ninth Madam explained that the Heavenly Dao Edict prevented the three seniors from visiting in their true bodies.
• Xu Taiping told the seniors he was prepared for his breakthrough and would avoid entering the secret realm unless absolutely necessary.
• Ninth Madam sealed the room with a formation, and Heavenly Lord Xuanbei praised Xu Taiping's cultivation foundation.
• Heavenly Lord Xuanbei gave Xu Taiping a Moonlight Stone containing an ancient battle record, and Xu Taiping reacted with horror.

Xu Taiping viewed the Moonlight Stone’s images and discovered that they showed the Flame Emperor battling a Demon God. After agreeing to enter the forbidden grounds in exchange for the stone, he learned they were called Three Paths Village, a name that alarmed Old Daoist Huang.

• Xu Taiping infused the Moonlight Stone with Divine Essence and saw the Flame Emperor unleash a devastating attack before Ninth Madam awakened him and replenished his depleted Divine Essence.
• Xu Taiping told Ping'an and Old Daoist Huang that the images showed the Flame Emperor, one of the Three Emperors, fighting a Demon God.
• Daoist Fengzhu said the battle’s Great Dao resembled Xu Taiping’s own and could help him break through to the Half-Immortal Realm if he comprehended it.
• Xu Taiping agreed to enter the forbidden grounds in exchange for the Moonlight Stone, and Heavenly Lord Xuanbei and Daoist Fengzhu identified them as Three Paths Village in the Cold Spring Domain of the Yellow Springs Ruins.
• Old Daoist Huang recognized Three Paths Village from legends about a mysterious village controlled by a Netherworld Edict, and Xu Taiping asked him how he knew of it.

Old Daoist Huang explained the danger of Three Paths Village, where anyone who changed its repeating seven-day cycle became trapped. Xu Taiping agreed to enter and retrieve a token holding Heavenly Lord Xuanbei and Daoist Fengzhu's divine senses, which they needed to break the shackles on their Great Daos.

• Old Daoist Huang told Xu Taiping that a Netherworld Artifact had trapped Three Paths Village's villagers in a repeating seven-day cycle, and that anyone who interfered would be trapped in their place.
• Heavenly Lord Xuanbei explained that intervening cultivators faced deadly backlash, while Daoist Fengzhu said Xu Taiping's steadfast Dao Heart, physique, and Fengdu Token made him their best candidate.
• Heavenly Lord Xuanbei revealed that more than six hundred mountain bandits would attack the village seven days later, and Xu Taiping agreed to enter despite the danger.
• Daoist Fengzhu promised to help Xu Taiping break through and watch the battle inside the moonlight stone if he retrieved the object from the village.
• Heavenly Lord Xuanbei and Daoist Fengzhu explained that the object was a token containing their divine senses, left with a mutual friend who became trapped in Three Paths Village; Daoist Fengzhu said it could help them regain their half-immortal standing within ten years.

Xu Taiping accepted the commission to enter Three Paths Village, triggering the fourth golden lotus linked to his future cultivation and the survival of the Azure Profound Sect. Its vision revealed eight Demon-Sealing Swords above the village and a girl who thanked him for granting her death.

• Heavenly Lord Xuanbei and Daoist Fengzhu explained that reclaiming their existing Half-Immortal seats would not count toward reopening the Heaven-Treading Contest.
• Xu Taiping accepted the commission, and Heavenly Lord Xuanbei transferred information about Three Paths Village into his divine soul, causing the fourth golden lotus to bloom.
• Ninth Madam gave Xu Taiping a spirit mirror so those outside could observe his journey and arrange help if needed.
• Xu Taiping instructed Ping'an and Old Daoist Huang to seek Second Senior Brother in the Yellow Springs rather than rescue him if he became trapped.
• Xu Taiping examined the golden lotus that night and saw eight Demon-Sealing Swords above a dim village, where Longyuan and Chengying wrote two names.
• Two figures resembling a grandfather and granddaughter appeared in the vision, and the girl thanked Xu Taiping for granting Cui'er death.

Xu Taiping learned that the Book of Life and Death could manifest through the Eight Demon-Sealing Swords in areas covered by the Netherworld Edict, and uncovered clues about the dangers inside Three Paths Village. He prepared to enter the village, where Ninth Madam and the others warned him to prioritize survival.

• Ping'er and her grandfather thanked Xu Taiping and revealed that Three Paths Village's genealogy was kept in the ancestral shrine, asking him to free the villagers with the Book of Life and Death.
• The Eight Demon-Sealing Swords joined together and manifested the Book of Life and Death, leading Xu Taiping to suspect it could be used in the Yellow Springs.
• The Lotus Eye's deduction showed a white-robed figure resembling Su Chan helping bandits prepare to ambush rescuers, and Xu Taiping concluded that heretical cultivators were seeking to kill the Orthodox Path cultivators.
• Xu Taiping reviewed Heavenly Lord Xuanbei's Divine Soul Mark and learned that cultivators often died entering the village or confronting the bandits, while those not sheltered by a household could be eaten by vengeful villagers after nightfall.
• Heavenly Lord Xuanbei, Daoist Fengzhu, Ninth Madam, Ping'an, and Old Daoist Huang gave Xu Taiping advice before he entered Three Paths Village through the teleportation array.

Xu Taiping entered Three Paths Village after waiting for three rooster crows, determined to find Cui'er and avoid interfering in anything else. He escaped Gu Changming and entered the village, where another cultivator immediately approached a villager.

• Ghost King Qin Ming warned Xu Taiping that other cultivators would enter Three Paths Village and gave him a Jade Pendant before he leaped into the Teleportation Array.
• Xu Taiping arrived at Three Paths Village and waited for the required three rooster crows while refusing Gu Changming's offers to join forces.
• After the third crow lifted the restrictions, Xu Taiping used the Wind and Thunder Steps to leave Gu Changming behind and enter the village.
• Xu Taiping saw another cultivator greet the butcher Uncle Zhao and wondered why the cultivator was speaking to a villager so soon.

Xu Taiping watched Zhou Xiaochuan try to enter Three Paths Village by ingratiating himself with Butcher Zhao, only for Zhao to expose his lies and kill him. The slaughter left Xu Taiping more wary of the dangers awaiting him in the village.

• Gu Changming speculated that Zhou Xiaochuan had researched Butcher Zhao and approached him because he was kind to outsiders.
• Zhou Xiaochuan told Butcher Zhao a tale about his orphaned childhood and elderly grandparents, then asked to become his apprentice.
• Butcher Zhao tested Zhou Xiaochuan's knife skills, but became suspicious of his soft hands and accused him of lying.
• Butcher Zhao transformed into an evil ghost and attacked Zhou Xiaochuan as he fled toward the village entrance.
• Butcher Zhao caught Zhou Xiaochuan beneath the ceremonial archway and hacked him to pieces while Xu Taiping and Gu Changming watched in horror.

Xu Taiping spent the day searching Three Paths Village for a villager, while observers learned that Gu Changming was a genuine Heavenly Net Sword Sect secret disciple who might have recognized Xu Taiping. As sunset approached, Xu Taiping found a lame old man, and Gu Changming warned that the notorious villager would never accept him.

• Ghost King Qin Ming explained that Zhou Xiaochuan had replaced Butcher Zhao, whose original body remained trapped in Three Paths Village under the Netherworld Edict.
• Ninth Madam learned that Gu Changming was a secret disciple of the Heavenly Net Sword Sect, and the group suspected his qi-reading skills had revealed Xu Taiping's identity.
• Ghost King Qin Ming warned that sunset was near and villagers would attack cultivators who had not gained acceptance.
• Xu Taiping found the lame old man calling for his missing granddaughter Cui'er, while Gu Changming realized this was whom Xu had been searching for.
• Gu Changming blocked Xu Taiping and warned that the lame old man was the village's most vicious villager and would never accept him.

Xu Taiping approached the Lame Old Man despite warnings that the man would become murderous after seeing his granddaughter Cui’er’s shoe. He used their contact to activate his divination abilities, then set off to find Cui’er, while observers in the Yellow Springs Ruins wondered why he searched for a girl they believed had drowned.

• Gu Changming warned Xu Taiping that the Lame Old Man would go mad and attack cultivators after discovering Cui’er’s shoe by the pond, but Xu Taiping trusted his Lotus Eye divination.
• Xu Taiping stopped the Lame Old Man from reaching the pond and described Cui’er as a girl in an emerald-green ruqun with pigtails who chased a big yellow dog.
• The Lame Old Man recognized the description, grabbed Xu Taiping, and begged him to lead the way to Cui’er; their contact activated Xu Taiping’s Lotus Eye and the true intent of Lotus Root Broken, Yet Its Fibers Remain.
• Xu Taiping promised to find Cui’er and bring her back before dark, and the Lame Old Man offered to let him stay at his home for up to half a month.
• Xu Taiping followed the visible thread from the Lame Old Man toward western Three Paths Village as Gu Changming warned him that failure could make him the old man’s first victim.
• At Fengdu Prefecture, Ninth Madam and Heavenly Lord Xuanbei questioned why Xu Taiping was searching for Cui’er, while Ping’an suggested that he must have seen something.

Xu Taiping followed clues from the Lotus Eye to track Cui'er through Three Paths Village, despite the Netherworld Edict disrupting his search. He reached a secluded house and spotted the goose from his vision swimming in a ditch, leaving him with a possible new clue to Cui'er's whereabouts.

• Xu Taiping discovered that the Netherworld Edict blocked his Lotus Root Broken, Yet Its Fibers Remain true intent, while Gu Changming advised him to seek shelter with a kind old man.
• Xu Taiping used the Lotus Eye to glimpse a stone block, a large goose, and a locust tree, then found the stone block and activated his tracking abilities on it.
• Xu Taiping saw a memory of Cui'er asking Xiaolong for food and a shoe, refusing to go home until she found Big Yellow, whom her grandfather had sent into the mountains.
• Xu Taiping followed Cui'er's trail to a secluded house on the village's western side and reasoned that she had probably entered the mountains.
• Xu Taiping spotted the large goose from the Lotus Eye's vision swimming in a ditch beside the house.

Xu Taiping followed the divine soul mark from the goose to Three Paths Village’s Old Bachelor, who transformed into a powerful blue-faced evil ghost and trapped him in battle. With the ghost’s strength rising and his own blade force waning, Xu Taiping unleashed his Demon-Sealing Sword, and his sword intent shattered the ghost’s blade force and sent it flying.

• Xu Taiping let the big goose bite him, using Lotus Eye and Lotus Root Broken, Yet Its Fibers Remain to trace the divine soul mark toward the mountain forest.
• The one-eyed Old Bachelor attacked Xu Taiping, and the Netherworld Edict transformed him into a blue-faced evil ghost that blocked Xu Taiping’s magic power.
• Xu Taiping countered the ghost’s attacks with the Annihilating Blade Art, Emberless Stance, but the ghost’s killing power grew after its courtyard gate broke.
• As the ghost’s blade force overwhelmed him, Xu Taiping sheathed his saber and summoned eight swords with his Demon-Sealing Sword.
• Xu Taiping’s Frost Slays All Grass sword intent shattered the evil ghost’s blade force and sent it flying.

Xu Taiping defeated a ghostly villager with the Eight Demon-Sealing Swords and followed a clue toward Cui'er. He reached a hillside near a cliff, where Gu Changming warned that Cui'er and Big Yellow were trapped with two mountain bandits.

• Xu Taiping used Longyuan and his Frost-Slaying Sword Intent to destroy the green-faced evil ghost, then fled before the Netherworld Edict could revive it.
• Gu Changming warned Xu Taiping that his flying swords could attract more ghost villagers and questioned whether they had inherited a Netherworld Edict.
• Xu Taiping viewed a Divine Soul Mark showing Cui'er bribing Tian Shouchun with steamed flatbread to learn that her grandfather and Big Yellow had gone east up the mountain.
• Xu Taiping followed the Lotus Root Broken, Yet Its Fibers Remain clue to a great locust tree on a hillside.
• Xu Taiping heard barking from a nearby cliff, and Gu Changming warned him that Cui'er and Big Yellow were there with two mountain bandits.

Xu Taiping used his Divine Sense to discover Cui'er and her loyal spirit-beast Big Yellow holding off two mountain bandits. After realizing that seeing the bandits before the village massacre might offer a way to break Three Paths Village’s death trap, he and Gu Changming decided to save Cui'er.

• Xu Taiping sensed a wounded, pony-sized yellow dog guarding Cui'er in a cave from two mountain bandits, Li Biao and Big Tiger.
• Li Biao’s Iron Shirt withstood Big Yellow’s bite, while Big Tiger wounded the dog’s lower back with his blade.
• Big Yellow tore flesh and bone from Big Tiger’s shoulder but continued to guard the cave entrance despite its injuries.
• Xu Taiping asked Gu Changming whether cultivators had seen the bandits before the village massacre, and Gu Changming realized they had not.
• Xu Taiping suggested that warning the villagers about the bandits might break Three Paths Village’s death trap, and Gu Changming agreed that they must save Cui'er.

Xu Taiping and Gu Changming watched Cuicui and Big Yellow discover the mountain bandits’ plan to poison Three Paths Village, then saw them fight desperately to escape. Xu Taiping told Gu Changming to remain hidden and leaped down to face the bandits himself.

• Cuicui and Big Yellow overheard Big Tiger and Li Biao planning to poison the village’s river and decided to warn Cuicui’s grandfather.
• Li Biao startled Cuicui, who fell from the cliff, but Big Yellow caught her and broke several bones cushioning her fall.
• Big Yellow recovered with an earthen-yellow glow, knocked Wang Big Tiger aside, and carried Cuicui to a cave before turning to fight the bandits.
• Xu Taiping’s vision ended as the wounded Big Yellow attacked the bandits again, and Gu Changming decided to reveal himself and help.
• Xu Taiping told Gu Changming to stay hidden, then leaped off the cliff to confront the bandits himself.

Xu Taiping fought Wang Big Tiger and Li Biao after they transformed into powerful evil ghosts, while Big Yellow Dog sacrificed himself to protect him. When the revived ghosts overwhelmed the Eight Demon-Sealing Swords, Xu Taiping merged them into one, revealing a surge of netherworld power that shocked Gu Changming.

• Xu Taiping cut Wang Big Tiger in half, but Wang Big Tiger revived as a blue-faced evil ghost and knocked Xu Taiping back.
• Li Biao transformed into a red-faced evil ghost, and Big Yellow Dog turned into a blood-bathed lion to break Li Biao's attack before collapsing wounded.
• Gu Changming leaped from the cliff as Xu Taiping summoned the Eight Demon-Sealing Swords and used them to tear apart Wang Big Tiger and Li Biao, who soon revived stronger than before.
• Xu Taiping used his sword intent to hold off the two enormous evil ghosts, but the Sword-Dismantling Art's seal-script characters shattered under their power.
• Xu Taiping shouted “Sword Fusion!” and merged the Eight Demon-Sealing Swords around the Longyuan Sword, releasing netherworld power that made Gu Changming realize Xu Taiping had mastered a Netherworld Edict.

Xu Taiping used the Book of Life and Death to destroy two mountain bandits turned evil ghosts, but the effort exhausted his divine essence and part of his lifespan. He awoke five days later in Cui'er’s home, where Gu Changming warned him to rest as Soul Weeping pain returned.

• The evil ghosts grew stronger against Xu Taiping’s long scroll, but Gu Changming explained that the Netherworld Edict in Three Paths Village had no upper limit on their strength.
• Xu Taiping refused to let the ghosts return to the Green Sand Gang and decided to test whether the Book of Life and Death could kill them permanently.
• Xu Taiping wrote death sentences for Wang Big Tiger and Li Biao, and both evil ghosts burst apart, leaving only ancient, withered skeletons.
• Xu Taiping collapsed after the Book of Life and Death consumed his divine essence, and Gu Changming later said he had likely overdrawn his lifespan as well.
• Xu Taiping woke on the sixth day since Three Paths Village opened in Cui’er’s home, then felt Soul Weeping pain again as Gu Changming urged him to lie down.

After recovering with his Ziyang Pill, Xu Taiping learned that Three Paths Village still knew nothing about the impending bandit attack. He convinced Old Man Liu that the Green Sand Gang was targeting the village, and Old Man Liu rushed to warn the village head.

• Xu Taiping swallowed his Ziyang Pill, quieted the Soul Weeping in his mind, and thanked Gu Changming for guarding him.
• Xu Taiping learned that the village head and villagers had not believed Cuicui’s warning about the mountain bandits.
• Cuicui and Old Man Liu visited Xu Taiping, and he confirmed that two bandits had tried to capture Cuicui.
• Xu Taiping named Li Biao, Wang Big Tiger, and the Green Sand Gang, convincing Old Man Liu that the village was in danger.
• Old Man Liu hurried to warn the village head while Xu Taiping promised to protect Cuicui.