Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping and the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army used Xiaohei to strike the Nine Abysses Demonic Army besieging the barrier and rescue the soldiers inside. With Lin Buyu weakened and the reinforcements reunited, Xu Taiping ordered the Thunder Sound Five-Direction Earth-Splitting Formation unleashed.

• Xu Taiping had Xiaohei carry them to the battlefield quickly, hiding their return time from the Nine Abysses Demonic Army attacking Heavenly Thunder City.
• Xu Taiping summoned the heroic spirits of three thousand Demon-Slaying Cavalry, and the veterans raised their Thunder Sound Banners to smash the enemy formation.
• The impact broke the barrier, and Lin Buyu told Old General Song that the attackers were reinforcements before collapsing from exhaustion.
• Yu Lang and the surviving soldiers reached Old General Song, while Xu Taiping cut through the demonic troops and rescued Lin Buyu.
• Xu Taiping ordered the Thunder Sound Five-Direction Earth-Splitting Formation, and Yu Lang drove his banner into the ground and began activating it.

Xu Taiping used the Thunder Sound Five-Direction Earth-Splitting Formation to devastate the Nine Abysses Demonic Army, then gathered the strength of his army to fire the Shentu Bow’s three divine arrows at its retreating forces. The arrows broke through three battle-intent shields, but the chapter ended before their attack reached the demonic army.

• Xu Taiping’s formation crushed much of the Nine Abysses Demonic Army, and its general ordered the survivors to retreat.
• Elder Song warned Xu Taiping not to pursue because the enemy might have laid restriction traps along its escape route.
• Xu Taiping revealed a thousand-zhang physique with an Ultimate Dao Body and gathered the battle strength of the nine veteran generals and three thousand heroic spirits.
• Xu Taiping drew the Shentu Bow and formed the Wind Granny, Thunder Master, and Fire Virtue arrows from the army’s battle intent.
• The Nine Abysses Demonic General formed three battle-intent shields, but Xu Taiping’s arrows shattered them, and the three arrows merged as they continued forward.

Xu Taiping annihilated the Nine Abysses Demonic Army and earned the allegiance of Veteran General Song and the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army veterans. As they prepared to return to Heavenly Thunder City, Song revealed that Elder Sun’s final words might explain why Nine Abysses was attacking it.

• Xu Taiping’s Dao-rhythm arrow wiped out the Nine Abysses Demonic Army, leaving no survivors.
• Yu Lang told Veteran General Song that Xu Taiping had joined the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army from True Martial Heaven, and the veterans verified his divine-general status with their tokens.
• Veteran General Song and the other veterans pledged to serve Xu Taiping and help restore the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army.
• Xu Taiping said they needed to return to defend Heavenly Thunder City, and Veteran General Song revealed he might know why Nine Abysses was attacking it.

Wulang and Shanxiao led a teleporting Demonic Army to attack Heavenly Thunder City, believing its defenses were weakened and Xu Taiping had been lured away. Shanxiao’s assault broke the first three barriers, and his troops began battering the fourth as Gu Huai and Xu Taiping’s Origin Beginning Clone watched from the walls.

• Wulang told Shanxiao that Heavenly Thunder City was strategically important and warned him that Xu Taiping had left a powerful clone behind to defend it.
• Wulang sent Shanxiao to probe the city with five hundred Demonic Generals and five hundred siege Demonic Beasts.
• Shanxiao formed the Wuwan Army and led its charge, breaking through the first three barriers before the fourth barrier’s Power of Thunder stopped the advance.
• Gu Huai warned Xu Taiping’s Origin Beginning Clone that the barriers would soon fail without defending troops to support them.
• Xu Taiping’s Origin Beginning Clone told Gu Huai to wait and see when the enemy broke through the fourth barrier, as Shanxiao’s army struck it again.

Xu Taiping's Origin Beginning Clone and the veteran generals fought the Nine Abysses army as it shattered Heavenly Thunder City's barriers. After Demonic General Wulang broke their formation, the Clone drew on the generals' strength and transformed into a true dragon to confront him.

• Two demonic armies merged their battle intent into spear shadows and shattered Heavenly Thunder City's fourth and fifth barriers.
• Xu Taiping's Origin Beginning Clone led the veteran generals down to stop the three thousand demon-armored troops, then formed a battle formation with them behind the sixth barrier.
• Demonic General Wulang raised the enemy's battle intent with his Demon Blade, but the Clone used his overlord's breath and the sixth barrier's lightning to halt the charge and cut Shanxiao's spear.
• Wulang ordered a defensive formation and then charged the Clone's formation in the form of a black flood dragon, breaking it apart.
• The Clone refused Gu Huai's call to retreat, asked the veteran generals to lend him their strength, transformed into a true dragon, and charged at Wulang.

Xu Taiping’s Origin Beginning Clone used his True Dragon Body and the Human Sovereign Sword to devastate Wulang’s demonic army, but the attack depleted much of their strength and destroyed two barriers. With Wulang and Shanxiao armored by their formation’s battle intent, Xu Taiping ordered the veteran generals to form ranks and struck them with the eighth barrier’s power.

• Xu Taiping’s dragon breath overwhelmed Wulang’s formation, killing more than half the demon-armored troops, but Wulang shielded the survivors with a battle-intent umbrella.
• The dragon breath exhausted much of the veteran generals’ and Human Sovereign Sword’s strength, destroyed the sixth and seventh barriers, and forced Xu Taiping’s Origin Beginning Clone out of his dragon form.
• Wulang re-formed the remaining fifteen hundred troops and concentrated their battle intent into armor for himself and Shanxiao.
• Gu Huai urged Xu Taiping to hold back, but Xu Taiping ordered the veteran generals to form ranks, and they obeyed.
• Wulang and Shanxiao attacked Xu Taiping together, but his Water-Cutting Blade merged with the eighth barrier’s power and hurled them back, killing or wounding over a hundred demon-armored troops.

Xu Taiping’s Origin Beginning Clone crippled the demonic army’s commanders with a final Dragon Breath, then retreated to defend Heavenly Thunder City as its barriers fell. As the remaining demons battered the ninth barrier, Xiaohei arrived carrying Xu Taiping’s true body and reinforcements.

• Xu Taiping’s Origin Beginning Clone charged again with the veteran generals and blasted Demonic Generals Wulang and Shanxiao, leaving one badly wounded and the demonic army reduced to about a thousand Demon Armors.
• Heavenly Thunder City’s eighth barrier burst apart, and the exhausted clone ordered the veteran generals to retreat to the city ramparts.
• Wulang restored Shanxiao through his Demon Seed, and Shanxiao led the surviving demons in repeated assaults that shattered the ninth barrier’s defenses.
• The clone assured Gu Huai that everything was within his calculations and directed him to look toward the distant scenery.
• Gu Huai spotted Xiaohei rushing toward the city with Xu Taiping, General Song, and the other veteran generals on its back.

Xu Taiping ambushed Demonic General Wulang as Heavenly Thunder City’s barrier fell, then led the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army in destroying the demonic forces. After capturing Wulang, Xu Taiping demanded to know why the Nine Abysses were attacking the city, but Wulang offered information only in exchange for his Demon Seed, and Xu Taiping refused.

• Heavenly Thunder City’s ninth-layer Barrier shattered, and Wulang ordered his army to breach the city.
• Xu Taiping struck Wulang and the Black Flood Dragon with a Battle Banner and Great Seal, pinning them down and sealing Wulang’s Aura.
• Xu Taiping and General Song led two thousand Demon-Slaying Army Heroic Spirits in an attack that destroyed Shanxiao’s demonic army with the Thunder Sound Five Heavens-Splitting Formation.
• Wulang tried to warn the Northern Emperor about Xu Taiping and the returning Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army, but his Token exploded before he could finish.
• Xu Taiping asked why the Nine Abysses were attacking Heavenly Thunder City, and Wulang offered to answer if Xu Taiping spared his Demon Seed.
• Xu Taiping rejected Wulang’s proposed bargain.

Xu Taiping learned from Demonic General Wulang that Nine Abysses was attacking Heavenly Thunder City to seize the sealed abyssal exit, and that 30,000 Demonic Generals could be sent against the city within ten days. With the threat looming, Xu Taiping assured Old General Song and Gu Huai that reinforcements were still available.

• Xu Taiping trapped Demonic General Wulang's soul in the River of Time Cage until Wulang agreed to reveal everything.
• Gu Huai and Old General Song reported that Heavenly Thunder City had been secured and its nine layers of barriers restored.
• Old General Song revealed that the True Martial Great Emperor built Heavenly Thunder City to seal an abyssal exit that could let Nine Abysses bypass the Demon-Suppressing Stele defensive line.
• Xu Taiping confirmed Wulang's information and warned that Nine Abysses could send at least 30,000 Demonic Generals within ten days.
• Xu Taiping told Old General Song and Gu Huai that reinforcements were still available.

Xu Taiping contacted Lü Daoxuan and Zhao Qian, urging True Martial Heaven to send its cultivators to the Heaven-Demon Battlefield and revealing that the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army was in dire straits. The chapter ended with elderly general Song reacting in disbelief to the news that reinforcements from True Martial Heaven would arrive.

• Lü Daoxuan chose to trust Xu Taiping and delay sending True Martial Heaven’s cultivators until he heard from him.
• Zhao Linglong told Lü Daoxuan and Zhao Qian that A Meng had come to invite Lü Daoxuan to a sword inquiry, but a thunderous apparition of Xu Taiping appeared before they could leave.
• Xu Taiping told Lü Daoxuan and Zhao Qian to gather True Martial Heaven’s cultivators and call Ancient Buddha Kasyapa at the Heaven-Demon Token Passage to reach his battlefield.
• Xu Taiping confirmed that he had found the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army and said its situation was dire, prompting Lü Daoxuan to promise that True Martial Heaven would send as many cultivators as it could.
• Zhao Qian reported that about nine thousand cultivators were on the roster and nearly three thousand more rogue cultivators remained unregistered, while Lü Daoxuan decided not to call Blade Ghost, Dugu Qingxiao, and the others from the Yellow Springs Netherworld.
• Xu Taiping told elderly general Song in Heavenly Thunder City that the passage had reopened and True Martial Heaven’s cultivators would join the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army, leaving Song astonished.

Xu Taiping confirmed that the passage from True Martial Heaven had opened and assigned Gu Huai and Old General Song to prepare Heavenly Thunder City for reinforcements while he healed in seclusion. In the Crimson Heaven Spirit Garden Secret Realm, Lin Buyan warned that Buyu’s injuries were beyond ordinary healing and revealed that Duan Tianya might be connected to the ancient Immortal Official’s death; Xu Taiping was stunned to learn she had seen him on the Heaven-Demon Battlefield.

• Xu Taiping told Gu Huai and Old General Song that the passage to the Heaven-Demon Battlefield had opened and ordered them to reinforce the city’s barrier and prepare the reception Grand Formation.
• Xu Taiping entered the secret realm, where Lin Buyan teased Xiaohei and refused Xu Taiping’s offer to take the dog.
• Lin Buyan told Xu Taiping that Buyu’s injuries were beyond ordinary means of healing and explained that she and Buyu were reincarnations of an ancient Immortal Official’s shattered divine sense.
• Lin Buyan revealed that the Nine Abysses Demon Mother had erased hundreds of the Immortal Official’s reincarnations because the Immortal Official may have discovered how to erase the Demon Mother.
• Lin Buyan said Duan Tianya had helped her and Buyu escape the Three Corpses Cave but had nearly caused their deaths on the Heaven-Demon Battlefield, leaving Xu Taiping to ask if she had seen him there.

Lin Buyan warned Xu Taiping that Duan Tianya might be connected to the Nine Abysses Demon Mother and explained that recovering a slain Immortal Official’s body could awaken Buyu. She revealed that the Crimson Heaven Spirit Garden could supply Xu Taiping’s army and help her obtain a Spirit Transformation Pill, and Xu Taiping agreed to let her stay there, leaving Xiaohei’s assistance undecided.

• Lin Buyan told Xu Taiping that Duan Tianya had once held her captive and spoken of sacrificing her to settle the karma surrounding an Immortal Official’s death.
• Xu Taiping and Lin Buyan concluded that Duan Tianya might have been waiting for the reincarnated Immortal Officials and warned each other about approaching him.
• Lin Buyan said that placing Buyu’s soul in the slain Immortal Official’s sealed body could awaken her and grant her the Immortal Official’s legacy, but she did not know where the body was hidden in Nine Abyss territory.
• Lin Buyan identified the Crimson Heaven Spirit Garden as a former Heavenly Court resource and offered to activate it within half a year to supply Xu Taiping’s Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army and improve Xiaohei.
• Lin Buyan revealed that she wanted the garden’s ingredients to make a Spirit Transformation Pill, which could help her contend for a half-immortal seat and separate her body from Buyu.
• Xu Taiping agreed to let Lin Buyan remain in the Crimson Heaven Spirit Garden but said that Xiaohei would decide for itself whether to help her.

Xu Taiping received battle merit from the Demon-Suppressing Stele, including three cycles of primordial chaos power, and discovered that it could restore both his strength and the Jiazi Pot’s divine power. He realized that earning more battle merit could let him use the pot’s time power to gain decades for cultivation.

• Lin Buyan asked Xiaohei to help her, and Xiaohei agreed on the condition that he could break through the Sun-Eater realm first.
• Xu Taiping left Xiaohei and Lin Buyan, then prepared to refine the Jiazi Pot and Torch Dragon Ring while his Origin Beginning Clone studied the time legacy.
• The Divine Generals Token announced that Xu Taiping had earned one third-grade battle merit, ten fourth-grade battle merits, and three cycles of primordial chaos power for his service and victories.
• Xu Taiping used one Primordial Chaos Pearl to restore his spent combat strength and improve his Void Insight Realm cultivation.
• Xu Taiping used the remaining two pearls to restore the Jiazi Pot’s divine power and concluded that future battle merit could grant him up to sixty years of cultivation time through the pot.

Xu Taiping prepared Heavenly Thunder City for an expected Nine Abysses siege by planning to summon heroic spirits and distributing Thunder Sound Banners to the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army. Gu Huai and Song Yan revealed that their bodies bore many names, suggesting they could help Xu Taiping summon more battle generals’ heroic spirits.

• Song Yan and Gu Huai told Xu Taiping that Nine Abysses had been harassing armies across the battlefield and disrupting supplies, and Xu Taiping concluded that the enemy was preparing to attack Heavenly Thunder City.
• The city’s nine barriers activated, but Song Yan warned they might not withstand a siege by more than thirty thousand troops.
• Xu Taiping said he could summon ten thousand Demon-Slaying Cavalry heroic spirits, though they could charge at full strength only three times before needing half a month to recover.
• Xu Taiping gave Song Yan eighty-one Thunder Sound Banners to distribute among the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army for training in the Five Directions Earth-Rending Formation.
• Gu Huai asked how Xu Taiping could summon more battle generals’ heroic spirits, then removed his armor to reveal tattooed names across his body; Song Yan did the same.

Xu Taiping used the Demon-Slaying Army's battle banner to summon nearly one hundred thousand armored heroic spirits, giving Heavenly Thunder City a chance to withstand the approaching Nine Abysses forces. As Zhenwu reinforcements appeared in the Reception Grand Formation, the Nine Abysses Demonic Army arrived outside the city.

• Gu Huai and Song Yan explained that the veterans preserved fallen comrades' souls in tattoos called Azure Soul Tombs, and Song Yan gave Xu Taiping the Demon-Slaying Army's battle banner.
• Xu Taiping poured his battle intent into the banner, awakening the heroic spirits recorded on the veterans' bodies as the veterans and spirits roared their army's battle cry.
• Xu Taiping judged that the heroic spirits and ten thousand Flame Emperor Demon-Slaying Army cavalry could defend Heavenly Thunder City against thirty thousand demonic troops for at least ten days, though the spirits had less killing power than true battle generals.
• As Xu Taiping, Gu Huai, and Song Yan began discussing the city's defenses, Jiang Yu reported that the Reception Grand Formation had detected Zhenwu reinforcements.
• Black clouds gathered beyond Heavenly Thunder City, and Song Yan realized the Nine Abysses Demonic Army had arrived.

Xu Taiping and the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army faced Demon Emperor Yi Weng, a powerful Five-Vein general, as he threatened Heavenly Thunder City with an army of fifty thousand. Xu Taiping steadied Gu Huai and Song Yan’s resolve and declared that they would fight Yi Weng.

• Xu Taiping recognized the aura inside the sandstorm as belonging to the Nine Abysses Demonic Army, though its arrival was earlier than expected.
• Demon Emperor Yi Weng appeared in the storm and attacked Heavenly Thunder City’s barrier with sand-laden gales, which the city’s thunder barrier repelled.
• Gu Huai explained that Yi Weng was a Five-Vein Demon Emperor, and Song Yan warned that his troops could fight like an army of fifty thousand.
• Two more sandstorms appeared around Heavenly Thunder City, and Yi Weng threatened to destroy the city when his fifty thousand troops arrived unless its defenders surrendered.
• Xu Taiping asked Gu Huai and Song Yan whether they would abandon the city; they refused, and he rallied them to defend it and vowed to bring Yi Weng down.

Xu Taiping and the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army prepared Heavenly Thunder City’s defenses as Demonic General Yi Weng led fifty thousand troops toward the city. The Thunder Sound Five-Directions Earth-Rending Suppression checked their advance, and Gu Huai began unleashing the formation’s power.

• Xu Taiping ordered Song Yan and Gu Huai to lead the veteran generals in setting up the Thunder Sound Five-Directions Earth-Rending Suppression at the eighth barrier.
• Song Yan and Gu Huai placed eighty-one Thunder Sound Banners, and the veteran generals activated the formation, filling the sky with thunderclouds.
• Yi Weng’s army emerged from the sandstorm, and its battle intent shattered Heavenly Thunder City’s outermost barrier.
• Xu Taiping saw that Yi Weng commanded fifty thousand troops and considered using the Ten Emperors Battle Method to defeat them, though he knew he needed more actual battle generals to annihilate them.
• Yi Weng ordered the Nine Abysses Bloodhoof Army to form the Thunderbolt City-Breaking Formation, but the eighth barrier’s lightning slowed their charge as Gu Huai summoned Thunder Sound Grinding Discs.

Xu Taiping faced Yi Weng’s fifty-thousand-strong demonic army while coordinating the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army’s veteran generals at the eighth barrier. He revealed his plan to hold back their full strength until reinforcements arrived, then roused the eighty-one generals to fight as Yi Weng prepared his next attack.

• Yi Weng’s formation charge battered the eighth barrier, and he challenged Xu Taiping to intervene.
• Xu Taiping restored the Thunder Sound formation’s power and planted the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army’s Battle Banner, while Yi Weng began forming the Giant Barbarian Ox battle formation.
• Xu Taiping told Gu Huai, Song Yan, and the other veteran generals that reinforcements would arrive within four incense sticks and that he planned to save their full strength for a counterattack.
• Xu Taiping admitted the plan had only a one-in-ten chance of success and urged the eighty-one veteran generals to risk their lives to annihilate the demonic troops.
• Song Yan, Gu Huai, and the veteran generals shouted that they would fight as Yi Weng called the Blood Hoof Army to heed his command.

Xu Taiping and the heroic spirits of the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army held off Demonic General Yi Weng’s fifty-thousand-strong army at Heavenly Thunder City’s barriers. After an hour of fighting left the defenders exhausted before the final barrier, Jiang Yu announced that thirteen thousand reinforcements had arrived.

• Xu Taiping summoned the Zhenwu Demon-Slaying Army’s heroic spirits and used their battle intent to repel Yi Weng’s charge at the eighth barrier.
• Xu Taiping repeatedly struck back the battle-intent savage ox and used the barrier’s power to withstand Yi Weng’s attacks.
• Yi Weng raised his army’s battle intent to fifty percent and sent three savage ox phantoms charging at the eighth barrier.
• The three thousand heroic spirits and veteran generals charged out to halt the demonic army, allowing Xu Taiping to keep fighting Yi Weng.
• After an hour, Gu Huai and Song Yan warned Xu Taiping that the defenders were near their limit at the final barrier.
• Jiang Yu told Xu Taiping and the veteran generals that thirteen thousand reinforcements had arrived.

Xu Taiping and the Demon-Slaying Army held back Demonic General Yi Weng’s Blood Hoof Army until reinforcements emerged from Heavenly Thunder City. Lü Daoxuan led ten thousand sword cultivators from True Martial Heaven, and Xu Taiping called on them to raise their swords.

• Demonic General Yi Weng praised Xu Taiping’s resistance and led the Blood Hoof Army in a charge against the Second-Level Barrier.
• Xu Taiping and eighty-one veteran generals fought back, but the three thousand heroic spirits vanished and the Second-Level Barrier shattered.
• Yi Weng ordered repeated charges at Heavenly Thunder City’s final barrier while Xu Taiping and the veteran generals restored their strength.
• Heavenly Thunder City’s gates opened, revealing tens of thousands of reinforcements, and Yi Weng halted his army to await the opposing force.
• Lü Daoxuan led ten thousand sword cultivators from True Martial Heaven out of the city, and Xu Taiping thanked them before ordering them to raise their swords.