Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping helped the dying Old General Lian Xing send a summoning signal and learned that Lian Xing had fought for Blazing Sun City a million years earlier. After Lian Xing died, Xu Taiping took up his saber and vowed to fight Zhuyuan alongside the Demon-Slaying Army’s remnant souls.

• Xu Taiping revealed himself, helped Lian Xing find the bird-shaped Jade Jue, and watched him crush it to summon a giant Vermilion Bird.
• Lian Xing recognized Xu Taiping as a Life-Replenisher from the future and asked whether humanity had driven out the evil demons.
• Xu Taiping told Lian Xing that the Demon-Slaying Army was still remembered, though new calamities threatened the world.
• Lian Xing asked Xu Taiping to take his saber, which held the remnant souls of his cavalry, and bury it in their burial mound.
• After Lian Xing died, Xu Taiping retrieved the saber and vowed that he would fight Zhuyuan alongside the Demon-Slaying Army.

Lin Buyu learned that Ningchan Cave had arranged for Xu Taiping to be sent into Zhuyin Liyuan’s sealed grounds, but divination suggested he was unharmed for now. As the first Demon-Slaying Ranking standings were announced, Qu Ningshuang’s team took the lead, while Lin Buyu planned to use the rankings to check Xu Taiping’s progress.

• Cultivators on the Demon-Slaying Platform discussed the rumor that Xu Taiping had been sent to the sealed grounds of the Fifth Stage Demon God Zhuyin Liyuan, while Qu Ningshuang’s group prepared to exchange their kills for points.
• Lin Buyu received a message from Ancestor Peng Ju that people from Ningchan Cave had tampered with her teleportation array, possibly to eliminate her because of her connection to the Origin of the Great Dao edict.
• Ancestor Peng Ju divined that Xu Taiping was at least unharmed for the moment, and Lin Buyu asked for the Listening Wind Bracelet back, but he refused.
• Lin Buyu realized she could use her Demon-Slaying Token to check Xu Taiping’s progress without returning to the platform, as the first standings were announced.
• Qu Ningshuang’s team was credited with 40,700 points, and Qu Ningshuang took first place on the Demon-Slaying Ranking with 20,350 points.

As the Demon-Slaying Ranking shifted, Lin Buyu waited to exchange her points while worrying about Xu Taiping, who still had none. Her score was announced at 28,500, placing her second behind Xiao Huang and silencing Jiang Yu’s taunts.

• Ningchan Cave’s Jing Xian surged into first place with 23,000 points, and Lin Buyu realized his tribulation may have been his battle with Xu Taiping in the Lower Realm.
• After hours of little movement, Yan Xuanling and Jiang Shuoxue were announced in eighth and ninth place, while Xu Taiping still had zero points.
• Xiao Huang earned 33,000 points by himself, prompting Lin Buyu to say she had no need to rush because it was only the first posting.
• Jiang Yu mocked Lin Buyu as she exchanged her points, and Lin Buyu replied that her score was low compared with Xiao Huang’s.
• A Flame Guard announced that Lin Buyu had earned 28,500 points and provisionally ranked second, astonishing Jiang Yu, Liu Qingxiang, Luo Hong, and Mu Yao.

Lin Buyu revealed her strength on the Demon-Slaying Ranking, then learned that Xu Taiping had agreed to have his challenge against the Fifth Stage evil demon Zhuyuan projected. As the battle’s image revealed Zhuyuan’s scorched sealed land, Lin Buyu wondered whether the vast fields of Spirit Bone Grass there explained Xu Taiping’s decision.

• Lin Buyu dismissed Luo Hong and the Three Corpses Cave disciples, then prepared to teleport to another sealed land.
• The Demon-Slaying Ranking announced that Xu Taiping would challenge Zhuyuan and let the battle be projected.
• Lin Buyu and Lin Buyan worried that Xu Taiping would face Zhuyuan alone, while cultivators gathered to watch the projection.
• The image revealed Zhuyuan soaring through a scorched land, and cultivators spotted vast patches of Spirit Bone Grass.
• Lin Buyu wondered whether the Spirit Bone Grass was connected to Xu Taiping’s choice.

Xu Taiping finally charged toward Zhuyuan’s lair, despite the cultivators on the Demon-Slaying Platform doubting his chances. He leaped onto an ancient city wall as Zhuyuan rose to attack, and Lin Buyu suspected he had come looking for something.

• Jade Bone Grass attacked Zhuyuan but was shattered and burned away by his Dragon Breath, releasing the wails and curses of the resentment within it.
• Cultivators criticized the Seal and mocked Xu Taiping until a Flame Guard defended the Flame Emperor’s work, while Lin Buyu rebuked the critics.
• Zhuyuan set the world ablaze and announced that he would end the day’s game, prompting the cultivators to wonder where Xu Taiping was.
• Xu Taiping raced toward Zhuyuan’s lair on a Black Hound, then leaped onto an abandoned city wall as Zhuyuan rose to confront him.
• Lin Buyu wondered whether Xu Taiping had risked approaching Zhuyuan because he was searching the city wall for something.

Xu Taiping found a rusty saber that held the lingering divine sense of the soldiers, while Xiaohei repeatedly risked himself to hold Zhuyuan back. As Xu Taiping awakened the saber, the Jade Bone Grass transformed into the Demon-Slaying Cavalry and answered his call.

• Xu Taiping pulled a rusty long saber from the city tower roof as Zhuyuan attacked him and Xiaohei.
• Xiaohei repeatedly fought Zhuyuan while Xu Taiping focused on sensing the soldiers' lingering divine sense in the saber.
• Zhuyuan nearly swallowed Xu Taiping and Xiaohei, but the Jade Bone Grass struck him and forced him back.
• Lin Buyu realized the saber was the lost object that commanded the Jade Bone Grass.
• Xu Taiping's saber became whole, and he called for the Demon-Slaying Cavalry, which emerged from the Jade Bone Grass and answered him.

Xu Taiping rallied more than four thousand Demon-Slaying Cavalry riders and combined their battle intent to strike Zhuyuan, a fifth-stage evil demon. The charge broke through Zhuyuan’s dragon breath, drove him back, and left a deep wound in his head.

• Xu Taiping summoned the Demon-Slaying Cavalry formed from Jade Bone Grass, but Zhuyuan destroyed the riders with dragon-breath flames.
• Xu Taiping called the cavalry to gather around him while he defended against Zhuyuan’s attacks with his body, 𩙥 flame, and Thousand Arms Bodhisattva Dharma Aspect.
• After Xiaohei reported that nearly four thousand riders had gathered, Xu Taiping joined their battle intent to form a giant divine general’s phantom image.
• Xu Taiping led the four thousand Demon-Slaying Cavalry riders in a charge that cleaved through Zhuyuan’s dragon breath and wounded his head.

Xu Taiping led the Demon-Slaying Cavalry against Zhuyuan, gathering thousands of Jade Bone Grass soldiers into an airborne battle formation. When Zhuyuan shattered the formation’s battle-intent phantom and attacked with a tornado, a powerful golden sword light suddenly rose before Xu Taiping.

• Xu Taiping ordered the Demon-Slaying Cavalry to hold off Zhuyuan and summon the Jade Bone Grass soldiers, forming a powerful battle-intent phantom.
• Xu Taiping infused his magic power into the Jade Bone Grass, raising seven thousand armored warriors into the air and charging Zhuyuan.
• The cavalry’s repeated charges bought time for another six thousand Demon-Slaying Army soldiers to join the formation.
• Zhuyuan unleashed three blasts of dragon breath, and the battle-intent phantom shattered after deflecting them.
• Zhuyuan spun into a giant gang wind tornado and descended on the weakened formation, but a golden sword light suddenly soared from before Xu Taiping.

Xu Taiping and the Demon-Slaying Cavalry used the Human Sovereign Sword and their battle formation to wound Zhuyuan, but Zhuyuan escaped to its lair and consumed stored power from the Flame Mountains. Zhuyuan restored its wings and transformed into its enormous human form, leaving the cultivators wondering how Xu Taiping could defeat it.

• The Human Sovereign Sword amplified Xu Taiping's battle formation, and the phantom divine general seized it and severed one of Zhuyuan's wings.
• Xu Taiping and the Demon-Slaying Cavalry charged Zhuyuan, while the divine general struck again and forced it to sacrifice another wing.
• Zhuyuan fled to its lair and summoned power it had stored in the Flame Mountains, which a cultivator said had let it evade the Seal Land's restrictions.
• Zhuyuan swallowed the gathered flames, restored its wings, and transformed into a human form over a thousand zhang tall.

Xu Taiping used the Demon-Slaying Cavalry’s formation to manifest Lian Xing and battle Zhuyuan, forcing the demon lord to retreat. As Xu Taiping prepared to summon another ancient general, Lian Xing urged him to bring forth the Flame Emperor.

• Zhuyuan hurled hundreds of boulders at Xu Taiping and nearly sixty thousand Jade Bone Grass soldiers.
• Xu Taiping used the Dragon Clan’s battle tactic to manifest Lian Xing, who shattered the boulders with the Human Sovereign Sword’s Heaven-Piercing attack.
• Zhuyuan charged the formation with a giant boulder sword and black flames, but Xu Taiping and Lian Xing met his assault and threatened him in combat.
• Zhuyuan retreated several thousand zhang using an edict, and Xu Taiping shifted the soldiers into the Pure Slaughter Formation.
• Lian Xing urged Xu Taiping to summon the Flame Emperor so the people of his era could witness the great lord’s presence.

Xu Taiping used the Human Sovereign Sword to summon Heavenly Saber Lian Xing as a battle general, who held Zhuyuan back while the Demon-Slaying Cavalry charged. As Xu Taiping took up the sword and unleashed his true dragon aura, Yun Jiuyi and Lin Buyu suspected he was preparing to summon an even stronger general.

• Yun Jiuyi explained that Xu Taiping had deliberately manifested Heavenly Saber Lian Xing, an ancient general, through battle intent.
• Lian Xing switched from the Human Sovereign Sword to his own saber, drove Zhuyuan back, and led the sixty thousand Demon-Slaying Cavalry in a charge.
• Lian Xing kept Zhuyuan occupied, preventing him from stopping Xu Taiping as Zhuyuan sensed Xu Taiping was preparing a dangerous power.
• Yun Jiuyi wondered whether Xu Taiping planned to summon an even stronger battle general, and Lin Buyu said that would make things interesting.
• Xu Taiping seized the Human Sovereign Sword, drew on its power to enhance his qi and blood, and revealed dragon scales and horns.

Xu Taiping summoned a towering figure from the sixty thousand Demon-Slaying Iron Cavalry’s battle intent, and the figure killed Zhuyuan with the Human Sovereign Sword. The figure confirmed he was the Flame Emperor before the projection vanished, and Xu Taiping took first place on the Demon-Slaying Ranking.

• Xu Taiping used the Ten Emperors Scripture and the cavalry’s battle intent to summon a figure resembling the Flame Emperor.
• Zhuyuan attacked Xu Taiping and the formation, but the figure blocked his strike and pierced his chest with a punch.
• The figure wielded the Human Sovereign Sword and annihilated Zhuyuan with a sweeping strike.
• The figure told Xu Taiping, “Yes. It is this emperor,” before the projected image shattered.
• The Flame Guard announced that Xu Taiping had earned one hundred thousand points for killing Zhuyuan and ranked first on the Demon-Slaying Ranking.

Lin Buyu waited for Xu Taiping while worrying that the Nine Abysses would target him after seeing his battle technique. In the sealed land, the Flame Emperor’s Divine Sense explained its connection to the realm, warned Xu Taiping not to summon it again until a decisive battle, and began giving him a gift.

• Lin Buyu chose to wait for Xu Taiping on the Demon-Slaying Platform, and Chi Fan allowed her to wait for one incense stick’s time.
• Lin Buyan warned that the Nine Abysses would learn the danger of Xu Taiping’s battle technique and try to harm him.
• The Flame Emperor’s Divine Sense told Xu Taiping that it existed throughout the realm but could intervene only after his battle formation opened a passage.
• The Flame Emperor refused to answer Xu Taiping’s questions about the Heavenly Court, the Nine Abysses, and the Great Void Calamity, and warned him not to summon it again until the battle for Shangqing’s survival.
• The Flame Emperor allowed Old General Lian Xing and the sixty thousand phantom battle generals to fight beside Xu Taiping, then produced a wisp of golden light as a gift.

Xu Taiping received the Flame Emperor’s Body Tempering inheritance and Human Sovereign Sword, then steadied his Dao Heart after rejecting the idea that he was merely a puppet. His realm advanced toward Great Perfection, but as he prepared to leave for the next sealed location, his Left-Eye Lotus Pupil flared with golden flame.

• The Flame Emperor explained that his inheritance could repair Xu Taiping’s Body Tempering method and that three Body Tempering Objects were needed to advance further.
• The Flame Emperor revealed that he was only an obsession left behind and that the calamity had not been eliminated; Old General Lian Xing and the other battle generals became Jade Bone Grass and joined the Human Sovereign Sword’s tassel.
• The Flame Emperor sent the Human Sovereign Sword into Xu Taiping’s brow and urged him not to abandon himself, explaining that the world had discovered him because he had made it this far.
• Xu Taiping concluded that any gifts he received were rewards earned through his own effort, and his firmed Dao Heart made his Dao-Integration Heavenly Communion Realm take on the aura of Great Perfection.
• Xu Taiping and Xiaohei prepared to return to the Demon-Slaying Platform for the next sealed location, but golden flame spilled from Xu Taiping’s eye as his Left-Eye Lotus Pupil grew hot.

Xu Taiping used the Lotus Eye to foresee the Nine Abysses sealing multiple Seal Lands and targeting him and other cultivators, including Lin Buyu. He left his Seal Land and reunited with Lin Buyu on the Demon-Slaying Platform, but refused her suggestion that they enter the same Seal Land next time.

• Xu Taiping had Xiaohei guard him while he activated the Lotus Eye and saw the Heartless Demon Emperor, the Qing He Demon Emperor, and Li Yezhu attack his Seal Land.
• Li Yezhu unleashed a sphere that drove the Seal Land’s Demonic Beasts berserk, while another vision showed Lin Buyu trapped in a sealed Seal Land with a Demon Emperor and Demon Seeds.
• Xu Taiping deduced that the Nine Abysses intended to target him and other cultivators, and considered waiting until the final days of the Chaotic Stars Assembly before entering another Seal Land.
• Xu Taiping used his Demon-Slaying Token to leave the Seal Land and found Lin Buyu on the Demon-Slaying Platform.
• Lin Buyu suggested that she and Xu Taiping choose the same Seal Land next time, but Xu Taiping said they could not.

Lin Buyu returned from the Seal Land and reunited with Xu Taiping, who revealed that the Nine Abysses planned to trap and hunt powerful cultivators during the Chaotic Stars Assembly. As they prepared to turn the plot against the Demon Emperors, Xu Taiping’s clone began rebuilding its cultivation through a Dragon Clan technique, and the signs suggested it had succeeded.

• Lin Buyu ranked fourth on the Demon-Slaying Ranking after earning nineteen thousand merit points, then received Xu Taiping’s invitation to share dinner.
• Qu Ningshuang asked Lin Buyu to persuade Xu Taiping to stop wasting time, but Lin Buyu chose dinner with him as her priority.
• Xu Taiping told Lin Buyu that his deduction revealed the Nine Abysses planned to seal him and other high-ranking cultivators inside their Seal Lands and hunt them.
• Xu Taiping said he intended to turn the scheme against the Nine Abysses and was waiting for news from his clone.
• Xu Taiping’s cultivation suddenly collapsed as his clone dispersed its cultivation to practice a powerful Dragon Clan technique, and five-colored threads appeared as his aura began to rise again.

Xu Taiping dissipated his cultivation in the side room while Lin Buyu guarded him and Xiaohei collected the power into beads. After his cultivation fell to the Gate Opening Realm, Xu Taiping drew in the scattered spiritual power and surged back to the Spirit Refining Realm, releasing a terrifying pressure.

• Xu Taiping warned Lin Buyu that his true body would undergo three rounds of cultivation dissipation as his clone changed cultivation techniques, and she prepared to guard him.
• Xiaohei swallowed most of the power released during Xu Taiping’s first round of dissipation and produced a Five-Colored Bead for Lin Buyu to keep.
• Xu Taiping’s cultivation fell through the Dao Integration and Transformation Realms as Xiaohei collected the dissipated power into another bead.
• Xu Taiping’s cultivation continued falling to the Gate Opening Realm, and the spreading spiritual power knocked Lin Buyu’s hand away when she tried to stop him.
• Xu Taiping inhaled the scattered spiritual power and rapidly rose to the Spirit Refining Realm, releasing pressure that astonished Lin Buyu.

Xu Taiping’s cultivation-dissipation and re-cultivation restored his aura to the Dao Integration Realm, while Lin Buyu and Xiaohei contained the dangerous pressure. They discovered that his aura held both Divine Being Clan resonance and true dragon power.

• Lin Buyu guarded Xu Taiping as he absorbed spiritual power and his aura climbed back to the peak of the Transformation Realm.
• Lin Buyu sealed the room’s noise and drove off a shop assistant who made a lewd remark about her and Xu Taiping.
• Lin Buyu and Xiaohei recognized Divine Being Clan resonance in Xu Taiping’s aura as his cultivation returned to the Dao Integration Realm.
• Lin Buyu and Xiaohei joined forces to seal the tremendous pressure and divine soul power bursting from Xu Taiping.
• Lin Buyu warned Xiaohei that Xu Taiping likely knew about its hidden schemes, then she and Xiaohei sensed true dragon power in his aura.

Xu Taiping cultivated the Ten Emperors Scripture, temporarily dropping to the entry level of the Dao-Integration Heavenly Communion Realm while gaining greater combat strength. He planned to use his weakened cultivation as bait against the Nine Abysses, while the Heartless Demon Emperor considered targeting Qu Ningshuang and the other Lower Realm cultivators.

• Lin Buyu and Xiaohei recognized that Xu Taiping’s new technique combined the Origin power of Divine Beings, humans, and dragons, and Xu Taiping said his cultivation would recover within seven days.
• Xu Taiping revealed the technique was the Ten Emperors Scripture, created by the Dragon Clan, and said its full power would make him about seventy percent stronger than before.
• Xu Taiping planned to use his apparent loss of cultivation to lure the Nine Abysses into miscalculating, entering and quickly leaving Seal Lands with help from Old Huang.
• Li Yezhu told the Heartless Demon Emperor that the Heaven-Seal Primordial Lord had confirmed Xu Taiping’s cultivation was severely damaged, while the Qing He Demon Emperor urged caution.
• The Heartless Demon Emperor decided to force Xu Taiping into a Seal Land if necessary, and Li Yezhu suggested targeting Qu Ningshuang and the other Lower Realm cultivators.

Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu suspected the Nine Abysses had trapped Qu Ningshuang to lure Xu Taiping into action, so they planned a rescue in the Seal Land. As Xu Taiping searched for a way to help Lin Buyu rise on the Demon-Slaying Ranking, their conversation ended at a market stall where he pointed out a jade thumb ring for her.

• Xu Taiping, Lin Buyu, and Xiaohei heard that Qu Ningshuang was trapped in Gloomstone Valley with several berserk demonic beasts and that two members of her group had died.
• Xu Taiping and Lin Buyu suspected the Nine Abysses had arranged the trap to make Xu Taiping act, and they planned to enter the Seal Land briefly to rescue Qu Ningshuang.
• Lin Buyu said she could kill all four fourth-stage middle-grade evil demon incarnations with one spell if she had half an incense stick to cast without interruption.
• Xu Taiping planned to lure the four incarnations to Lin Buyu, and she agreed despite his warning that facing them alone would be dangerous.
• Xu Taiping calculated that defeating the four incarnations could raise Lin Buyu to third place on the Demon-Slaying Ranking, then suggested they keep hunting to help her reach second place.
• Xu Taiping spotted a jade thumb ring at a market stall and called Lin Buyu over to look at it.