Recaps

Xu Taiping and Xiaohei battled the Mad Monk at the Nine Valleys Corpse-Moss Shoal, with Xiaohei buying time for Xu Taiping to attack. Just as the Mad Monk began to overcome Xu Taiping’s assault, Blade Ghost arrived and cleaved the shoal between them, telling Xu Taiping to rest.

• Xiaohei raced around the Nine Valleys Corpse-Moss Shoal to evade the Mad Monk’s Black Gates while Xu Taiping recovered his strength.
• Xiaohei swallowed the Black Gates and used a Netherworld Edict to force the Mad Monk back into the black lotus.
• Xu Taiping pierced the black lotus with the Human Sovereign Sword, then unleashed his No-Blade Form against the Mad Monk’s Black Lotus Sacred Body.
• The Mad Monk slowed Xu Taiping’s saber strokes with his vertical eye and protected himself with layers of bell shadows, while Xu Taiping’s blade force began to collapse.
• Ping'an offered to take Xu Taiping’s place, but Blade Ghost suddenly cleaved the Nine Valleys Corpse-Moss Shoal between Xu Taiping and the Mad Monk and told Xu Taiping to rest.

Xu Taiping survived the Mad Monk’s attacks with help from Blade Ghost, then watched Dugu Qingxiao arrive and overwhelm the Mad Monk. The chapter left Dugu Qingxiao unleashing an immense aura that Blade Ghost identified as seventy percent of his power.

• The Mad Monk attacked Xu Taiping with blood-red claw shadows, but Blade Ghost arrived and destroyed them with his blade qi.
• The Mad Monk shattered Blade Ghost’s blade shadow and attacked them at full strength, but Dugu Qingxiao struck him into the ruins of the Black Lotus Temple.
• Dugu Qingxiao knocked the Mad Monk into the mire and asked Blade Ghost to protect Xu Taiping, Ping'an, and Xiaohei while he fought.
• Blade Ghost carried Xu Taiping and the others a dozen li away and shielded them as Dugu Qingxiao dodged the Mad Monk’s attacks.
• The Mad Monk’s sixteen magic artifacts engulfed Dugu Qingxiao, who responded with an aura that set the Nine Valleys Corpse-Moss Shoal ablaze.
• Blade Ghost said Dugu Qingxiao was using seventy percent of his power, and Xu Taiping congratulated his Second Senior Brother.

Dugu Qingxiao defeated the Mad Monk, absorbed his Yama Inheritance, and promised Xu Taiping that he would help rescue the Azure Profound Sect. Before entering secluded cultivation to assimilate the Mad Monk’s Great Dao Edict, Dugu Qingxiao asked Xu Taiping about Fairy Lingyue.

• The Mad Monk trapped Dugu Qingxiao in a black lotus, but Dugu Qingxiao broke free and pinned him down with sword light.
• The Mad Monk summoned a ghostly Buddha Domain and hid in its blood pool, but Dugu Qingxiao saw through his plan and destroyed the domain.
• Dugu Qingxiao killed the Mad Monk and swallowed the Yama Inheritance sealed in a Ghost Eye Stone.
• Dugu Qingxiao told Xu Taiping he would not leave him to face danger alone again and said he needed to assimilate the Mad Monk’s Great Dao Edict in seclusion.
• At Fallen Immortal Temple, Dugu Qingxiao asked Xu Taiping whether he knew Fairy Lingyue, leaving Xu Taiping wondering how he knew about her.

Xu Taiping and Dugu Qingxiao discussed Fairy Lingyue’s past help for Dugu in Yellow Springs and the jade pendant she had entrusted to him. Dugu revealed a possible way to leave Yellow Springs through Mad Monk’s Yin-Yang Realm Buddha Domain Power, and they planned to use a Soul-Summoning Talisman to bring him into the Taixuan Ghost Domain.

• Dugu Qingxiao recalled that Fairy Lingyue had saved him from the Ghost Marshal Inheritance’s backlash, leaving him a restraining rune and several Dharma Methods.
• Dugu Qingxiao gave Xu Taiping the jade pendant Fairy Lingyue had entrusted to him, which contained something she wished to pass on.
• Xu Taiping explained that Fairy Lingyue had left him tokens to guide him toward her whereabouts after ascending to Outer Heaven.
• Dugu Qingxiao said he could use Mad Monk’s Yin-Yang Realm Buddha Domain Power to enter the Mortal Realm after integrating the Origin of the Great Dao Edict.
• Xu Taiping proposed using the Soul-Summoning Talismans on the Wangchuan Stone and Yellow Springs Jade Pillow to bring Dugu Qingxiao into the Taixuan Ghost Domain.

Xu Taiping and Dugu Qingxiao sought a fragment of the White Jade Golden Bridge to help Dugu Qingxiao inherit enough of Mad Monk’s Edict power to enter the Taixuan Ghost Domain with his forces. Blade Ghost revealed that Xu Taiping could pursue one through the Chaotic Stars Assembly’s Demon-Slaying Ranking, and Xu Taiping resolved to compete.

• Dugu Qingxiao said he would take his Ghost Wardens and Ghost Marshals into the Taixuan Ghost Domain if he could obtain Mad Monk’s Buddha Domain power, but he needed to merge with at least ninety percent of Mad Monk’s Edict.
• Dugu Qingxiao explained that a fragment of the White Jade Golden Bridge could help him reach that level of inheritance.
• Blade Ghost told Xu Taiping and Dugu Qingxiao that fragments of the White Jade Golden Bridge could be found in the Flame Emperor’s Treasury and that top finishers in the Chaotic Stars Assembly’s Demon-Slaying Ranking could claim its treasures.
• Xu Taiping decided to compete for the ranking despite Dugu Qingxiao’s concern, saying he had Ping'an, Xiaohei, and Elder Huang to support him.
• Dugu Qingxiao expressed confidence in Xu Taiping, and the brothers agreed to save their chance to fight side by side for the Taixuan Ghost Domain.

Xu Taiping and his companions discussed staying in Yellow Springs to pursue the Yama Inheritances, while Xu Taiping remained intent on reaching the Immortal Realm. Dugu Qingxiao explained how the Taixuan Ghost Domain’s otherworldly ghosts could bring about a calamity that would consume Shangqing.

• Blade Ghost asked to stay in the Fallen Immortal Temple to repair his divine soul, and Dugu Qingxiao welcomed him.
• Dugu Qingxiao revealed that six unclaimed Yama Inheritances remained and that claiming them all would restore order in Yellow Springs and reopen its Path to Heaven.
• Xu Taiping chose to pursue the Immortal Realm, while Ping'an decided to seek a Yama Inheritance after the Chaotic Stars Assembly; they discussed Old Daoist Huang doing the same.
• Blade Ghost urged Xu Taiping to aim for first place on the Demon-Slaying Ranking to receive guidance from the Flame Emperor’s divine sense and strengthen his body-tempering cultivation.
• Dugu Qingxiao explained that Taixuan Ghost Domain creatures came from beyond the domain and could invade through the corpses of Shangqing’s living, devour its cultivators, and leave the realm lifeless.

Blade Ghost told Xu Taiping and Dugu Qingxiao that the Great Void Calamity would bring ghost, human, and immortal disasters to Shangqing, and that the calamity could turn the Cultivation World into a Ghost Domain. He revealed that he and others were still resisting it, warned that it might arrive in three to five hundred years, and urged the two to grow stronger.

• Blade Ghost privately told Xu Taiping and Dugu Qingxiao that the Great Void Calamity would bring three disasters: ghosts, humans, and immortals.
• Blade Ghost explained that possession would spread from Ghost Creatures and mortals to cultivators, while each disaster would produce a powerful being like or stronger than the Demon Mother.
• Xu Taiping asked whether the Heavenly Court's destruction was connected to the calamity, and Blade Ghost revealed that the Heavenly Court had used him as a sacrificial pawn before the calamity fell dormant.
• Blade Ghost said many cultivators had failed to find a way to stop the calamity, though some were still secretly fighting it, including himself and possibly Senior Ye Po.
• Blade Ghost warned Xu Taiping and Dugu Qingxiao that the calamity might fully descend within three to five hundred years and urged them to increase their combat strength.

Xu Taiping learned from Fairy Lingyue’s Jade Pendant that she had entered a dangerous passage on the Heaven-Demon Battlefield and might need rescuing if she failed to return within sixty years. After resolving to become stronger, he learned the Ten Emperors Scripture could greatly improve his cultivation and combat strength, despite the risk of losing his cultivation for ten days.

• Xu Taiping recalled that the Five Elders of the Taixuan Sect and Zhao Xuantan had stayed behind to confront the Great Void Calamity, then decided to focus on raising his cultivation and finding Fairy Lingyue.
• Xu Taiping activated the Jade Pendant and heard Fairy Lingyue explain that she and Immortal Elder Wuji had entered a passage on the Heaven-Demon Battlefield in search of the Taiqing Paradise.
• Fairy Lingyue gave Xu Taiping the passage’s location and told him to wait at least sixty years before attempting to find them, while warning him to leave the world if she had perished and the Great Void Calamity proved unavoidable.
• Xu Taiping wondered whether ascending and abandoning the world was truly his path, then set the question aside and resolved to become stronger.
• Xu Taiping merged his Divine Sense with his Origin Beginning Clone and received its completed initial insights into the Ten Emperors Scripture.
• Xu Taiping learned that cultivating the Ten Emperors Scripture risked dispersing his cultivation for ten days, but eagerly decided to cultivate it for the promised gains.

Xu Taiping prepared to watch Heaven-Hunting Great Sage’s battle with Dong Cangzi through the Moonlight Stone. As the Great Sage approached Yanggu Heaven, he explained that the stone linked their minds and let Xu Taiping see and feel what he did.

• Xu Taiping considered how to prepare for the Ten Emperors Scripture’s tribulation before Zhu Ping told him Yanggu Heaven would broadcast the Great Dao battle across the Upper Realm.
• Xu Taiping returned to Pine and Bamboo Residence, where Blade Ghost, Elder Huang, Ping'an, and Zhu Ping gathered to watch the match.
• Xu Taiping entered the Dragon-Trapping Tower and used his magic power to activate the Moonlight Stone.
• Heaven-Hunting Great Sage explained that the Moonlight Stone linked their minds and transmitted his perceptions to Xu Taiping.
• Heaven-Hunting Great Sage said they were still some distance from Yanggu Heaven and began chatting with Xu Taiping.

Xu Taiping learned how Ultimate Dao power could be cultivated as the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage explained two methods and prepared to face Dong Cangzi. The Great Sage arrived at an enormous palace city in Yanggu Heaven, where Dong Cangzi resided.

• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage told Xu Taiping that Dong Cangzi was his predecessor and had mastered both fist and blade techniques to the Ultimate Dao Realm.
• The Great Sage explained that cultivators could reach the Ultimate Dao Realm by perfectly merging an Origin Edict with a technique or ability cultivated to the Ultimate Realm or Extreme Law.
• The Great Sage described a second method: an Ultimate Realm technique might attain Ultimate Dao standing during combat against a comparable opponent, though he warned Xu Taiping against relying on it.
• The Great Sage encouraged Xu Taiping to pursue the dangerous method if his heart was set on it.
• The Great Sage landed before an enormous palace city, and Xu Taiping asked whether it was Yanggu Heaven, where Dong Cangzi resided.

Xu Taiping and the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage entered Dong Cangzi’s mortal world and were escorted through the imperial city to meet the emperor. Their progress stopped when General Zheng Ye challenged them outside the palace.

• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage identified himself to the soldiers as Ding Mou, an envoy from the Heavenly Prefecture, and explained that Dong Cangzi’s Great Dao Edict suppressed cultivators entering his world.
• The soldiers escorted the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage and Xu Taiping through the city, where they encountered Eunuch Liu Yu.
• Liu Yu delayed the envoy, but the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage threatened him into leading them to Dong Cangzi.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage told Xu Taiping that Liu Yu was a powerful Dao-Integration Heavenly Communion Realm cultivator who had willingly castrated himself after losing to Dong Cangzi.
• General Zheng Ye blocked the group near the imperial city and demanded that the envoy face his iron spear before seeing the emperor.

As Zheng Ye challenged the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage in the street, Xu Taiping recognized Dong Cangzi’s trap: any outcome could leave a flaw in the Great Sage’s Dao Heart before their coming battle. After Zheng Ye demanded an upright contest, Xu Taiping advised the Great Sage to answer with the most perfect punch of his life.

• Zheng Ye announced his challenge and had the Golden Guards form a barrier around him and the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage warned Zheng Ye that someone could die, but Zheng Ye said he had already told His Majesty that life and death were of no consequence.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage revealed his overwhelming aura, and Xu Taiping realized that fighting Zheng Ye could damage the Great Sage’s Dao Heart either way.
• Zheng Ye attacked, and the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage deflected his spear and punched him into the barrier without seriously injuring him.
• Zheng Ye accused the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage of toying with him and demanded an upright contest.
• Xu Taiping advised the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage to throw the most perfect punch of his life.

Xu Taiping took control of the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage’s body to answer Zheng Ye’s challenge with a punch, despite the immense power it consumed. As Zheng Ye drove his spear toward him, Xu Taiping’s fist aura suddenly grew more than ten times stronger.

• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage asked Xu Taiping to throw a punch through his body, and Xu Taiping agreed to expend a strand of origin divine marrow power.
• Zheng Ye renewed his challenge, and the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage withdrew his consciousness so Xu Taiping could control his body.
• Xu Taiping assumed his fist stance, unleashing a different fist intent that made Zheng Ye’s spear assault feel like it faced a towering mountain.
• Zheng Ye broke through Xu Taiping’s defensive gang wind and thrust his spear toward his chest.
• Xu Taiping lowered his raised fist a few inches, and his fist aura abruptly became more than ten times fiercer and denser.

Xu Taiping and the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage defeated Zheng Ye, then challenged Dong Cangzi in the Imperial City. After Dong Cangzi rallied the people and revealed how their reverence strengthened him, the Great Sage headed for the city with wine, inviting Xu Taiping to drink before their fight.

• Xu Taiping overwhelmed Zheng Ye with his fist intent but deliberately let his final punch pass by, breaking the Barrier’s Formation Flags instead of killing him.
• When Zheng Ye asked why he had been spared, Xu Taiping answered that it had nothing to do with him, and the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage declared that the one he wanted to kill was His Majesty the Emperor.
• Xu Taiping realized the Great Sage was answering Dong Cangzi’s challenge to his Dao Heart by undermining the people’s faith in him.
• Dong Cangzi told Ding Mou that he would become the eighth Golden Man guarding the Imperial City, and the cheering crowd’s worship strengthened Dong Cangzi.
• Dong Cangzi challenged the Great Sage to enter the city and fight, and the Great Sage set off with a jar of wine, inviting Xu Taiping to share a drink.

Xu Taiping and the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage reached the Imperial City, where the Great Sage revealed how Dong Cangzi had destroyed his Fury Fist Sect and killed his master and fellow disciples. The Great Sage challenged Dong Cangzi, and Xu Taiping saw a yellow-robed figure seated on the throne in the imperial throne hall.

• Xu Taiping and the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage took turns drinking as they walked toward the Imperial City.
• At the last Golden Man, the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage poured out the final mouthful of wine and honored his master, Zhou Yue of the Imperial Extreme Fist.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage told Xu Taiping how Dong Cangzi had killed his senior disciples, defeated Zhou Yue, and left him alone.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage told Xu Taiping to memorize every movement, then transformed into a giant and declared a fist challenge as Ding Mou of the Fury Fist Sect.
• Ding Mou punched through the Imperial City gates and struck toward the imperial throne hall, where Xu Taiping saw a yellow-robed figure seated on the dragon throne.

The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage fought Dong Cangzi in his fist domain while Xu Taiping studied the Great Sage’s aura and technique. The Great Sage’s gathered fist shadows began to manifest ultimate Dao power and descended upon the Imperial City.

• Dong Cangzi challenged the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage to avenge his master, and the Great Sage flattened the Golden Throne Hall with a punch using only his physical strength.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage told Xu Taiping to sense the changes in his aura, fist intent, and fist force as he attacked Dong Cangzi again.
• Xu Taiping recognized a Dao rhythm in the Great Sage’s power, but Dong Cangzi stopped his punch with one palm and crushed its fist shadow inside his fist domain.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage repeatedly battered Dong Cangzi’s domain, while Blade Ghost explained that only fist force containing ultimate Dao power could break it.
• The Great Sage merged his falling-star fist shadows into one enormous blow that made the Imperial City collapse and descended toward Dong Cangzi’s fist domain.

Dong Cangzi revealed that his fist domain covered the entire Great Qian Kingdom and effortlessly shattered the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage’s attack. The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage explained that he had been studying Dong Cangzi through his master’s unfinished punch, then prepared a new punch for Xu Taiping to witness.

• Dong Cangzi restored the Imperial City after the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage’s punch and revealed that his fist domain extended throughout Great Qian.
• Dong Cangzi shattered the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage’s fist force, while Blade Ghost suggested the Great Sage might still have a way to counter him.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage told Xu Taiping that his master’s punch had been meant to reveal the limits of Dong Cangzi’s fist domain.
• Dong Cangzi offered the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage another chance to attack before he struck back.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage’s heart aperture fell silent, and he stepped forward to throw a punch he declared would make all fist cultivators behold him as a god.

The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage shattered Dong Cangzi’s fist domain, but Dong Cangzi remained powerful and prepared to unleash his Martial Dao Origin Edict. As the Great Sage’s strength waned, he explained to Xu Taiping that his own punch had only just reached the summit and revealed how Dong Cangzi’s destructive power differed from his.

• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage struck Dong Cangzi with a deathly punch, and the two exchanged blows that devastated the Imperial City.
• The Great Sage’s black fist shadow shattered Dong Cangzi’s fist domain, but then crumbled as Dong Cangzi’s aura and protective golden light grew stronger.
• Blade Ghost explained that breaking the fist domain had stripped away Dong Cangzi’s armor, while Old Daoist Huang doubted the Great Sage could strike again.
• Dong Cangzi praised Ding Mou’s punch and declared that he would unleash his Origin Edict, prompting Blade Ghost to accuse him of seeking to devour Ding Mou’s power.
• Xu Taiping offered to use the Earth Treasury Fruit to restore the Great Sage if he preserved a wisp of divine sense, but the Great Sage asked what Xu Taiping thought of his punch.
• The Great Sage explained that his punch had only just reached the summit and told Xu Taiping that Dong Cangzi’s returning-to-the-ruins power destroyed and then reconstructed things according to his own will.

The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage spent his remaining life force to unleash the dreamed-of punch against Dong Cangzi, revealing the Dao of a single light shining through eternal darkness. Xu Taiping understood his own path more clearly, but Dong Cangzi answered with renewed force.

• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage rejected the Origin Edict built on destruction and declared that the Fury Fist Sect's power was meant to smash injustice.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage converted his remaining vitality into Magic Power and asked Xu Taiping to carefully sense his final punch.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage's Annihilation Fist Force clashed with Dong Cangzi's Five-Colored Halo, and Dong Cangzi pressed forward to engulf it.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage roared that a bright heart could make a fist as vast as the cosmos, and his black Fist Shadow swelled repeatedly.
• Xu Taiping connected the Great Sage's punch to Driftwood Parting the Sea and understood the Origin Great Dao Edict he sought.
• Dong Cangzi mocked the Great Sage's light and unleashed another surge of Aura Fluctuations.

Xu Taiping realized that his Great Dao Edict, “A lamp instantly brightens a thousand-year dark room,” could reverse an ultimate-realm disadvantage, but the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage refused to claim it and died after entrusting his unfinished punch and a message for Chao Ci or her mother to Xu Taiping. Xu Taiping watched Dong Cangzi turn the Great Sage’s corpse into a golden man and asked Blade Ghost how long it would take him to reach the Half-Step Half-Immortal Realm.

• Dong Cangzi used his extremes-reverse edict to devour the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage’s fist power, and Xu Taiping recognized how the edict worked.
• Xu Taiping’s Great Dao Edict manifested, and he told the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage that “A lamp instantly brightens a thousand-year dark room” could reverse a dire disadvantage.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage refused to take Xu Taiping’s edict, entrusted his unfinished punch to him, and asked him to give a divine soul mark from the moonlight stone to Chao Ci or her mother.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage’s final blade force shattered, and he ejected Xu Taiping’s consciousness before dying.
• Xu Taiping saw Dong Cangzi cast the Great Sage’s corpse into a golden man beside his master’s, then asked Blade Ghost how long it would take to reach the Half-Step Half-Immortal Realm.

Blade Ghost explained the dangers of reaching the half-step half-immortal realm and warned Xu Taiping not to rush the heart-demon trial. As they prepared for the Taixuan Ghost Domain, the group considered seeking help from A Meng, and they raised a toast to the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage.

• Blade Ghost told Xu Taiping that he should carry out Ding Mou's unfinished punch but should not rush into the half-step half-immortal realm.
• Blade Ghost explained that reaching the realm required drawing an Otherworldly Heavenly Demon heart demon into his body, surviving its trial, and refining it, and Xu Taiping promised not to attempt it before the Taixuan Ghost Domain.
• Xu Taiping, Ping'an, and Old Daoist Huang discussed their preparations for the Taixuan Ghost Domain, while Blade Ghost worried that the Demon Mother's corpse might revive.
• The Heaven-Hunting Great Sage suggested seeking A Meng, and Blade Ghost explained that A Meng was Yun Guanxuan, a half-immortal whose Dao Field was likely in a Ziyang Sect Secret Realm.
• Blade Ghost and the others raised their cups to the Heaven-Hunting Great Sage, while Zhu Ping briefly woke to call for more wine before falling asleep again.

Xu Taiping decided to attend the Chaotic Stars Assembly without Ping'an and Old Daoist Huang so he could temper the Ten Emperors Scripture alone. As the Assembly approached, Zhu Ping began explaining its rules to him.

• Xu Taiping told Blade Ghost, Ping'an, and Old Daoist Huang that he wanted to face the Chaotic Stars Assembly alone to cultivate the Ten Emperors Scripture, and Blade Ghost recognized it as the technique Xu Taiping had obtained at the Dragon-Slaying Assembly.
• Blade Ghost took Ping'an and Old Daoist Huang to the Yellow Springs to pursue the Yama Inheritance, while Ping'an left Xiaoyu in the White Gourd and gave Xu Taiping Bai Yu's feather, which could reveal Bai Yu's location.
• Xu Taiping promised to look for the old Daoist who had captured Bai Yu and reassured Ping'an that he could manage the Assembly, though he planned to meet Junior Sister Buyu there.
• Xu Taiping reflected that entering alone would let him keep all the points he earned from hunting demonic beasts, then thanked Zhu Ping for hosting him during his three years in the Bamboo Sea Dao Field.
• Zhu Ping reminded Xu Taiping that the Chaotic Stars Assembly would begin in about a dozen days and offered to explain its rules, which Xu Taiping eagerly asked him to do.

Xu Taiping learned the Demon-Slaying Assembly’s rules from Little Pig Demon Zhu Ping and prepared to seek a Demon-Slaying Token. Five days later, Xu Taiping and Zhu Ping parted at the exit of the Bamboo Sea Grotto-Heaven as Xu Taiping set out for the assembly.

• Zhu Ping explained that cultivators needed to pass a trial at the Demon-Slaying Platform to obtain a Demon-Slaying Token, which recorded their actions and enforced the assembly’s rules.
• Zhu Ping told Xu Taiping that the beast’s rank determined the team size allowed and the team’s initial ranking seats, while the token distributed points according to each cultivator’s contribution.
• Zhu Ping explained that the first team to attack a demonic beast received at least sixty percent of its points, while repeated cooperation between teams caused their points to be halved.
• Xu Taiping let the wine-drowsy Zhu Ping rest in his room after their conversation.
• Five days later, Xu Taiping and Zhu Ping exchanged farewells at the exit of the Bamboo Sea Grotto-Heaven, and Zhu Ping wished him first place at the Chaotic Stars Assembly.

Xu Taiping arrived at the Demon-Slaying Platform, where Flame Guards recognized him for defeating Xiao Huang and escorted him to collect a Demon-Slaying Token. Chi Fan explained the platform’s history and trial, and Xu Taiping learned that most attendees had already earned their tokens.

• Xu Taiping told the Flame Guards he belonged to the Azure Profound Sect, and they recognized him as the cultivator who had defeated Xiao Huang in the Black Prison.
• Chi Fan had an impatient cultivator escorted away and offered to personally guide Xu Taiping, following the Flame Court lord’s instruction not to neglect him.
• Chi Fan led Xu Taiping across the suspended stone stairs, explaining that only Half-Immortal Realm experts could fly through the deadly gang winds above the platform.
• Xu Taiping stood firm against a fierce gust on the Demon-Slaying Platform, impressing Chi Fan with his physique.
• Chi Fan described how the Flame Emperor built the platform to execute evil demons and explained that attendees earned Demon-Slaying Tokens by defeating demon incarnations.
• Xu Taiping asked why the trial area was quiet, and Chi Fan said the challenges had begun four or five days earlier and most attendees had already obtained their tokens.

Xu Taiping learned that Buyu had earned a Heaven-tier seat but was excluded by Three Corpses Cave, then watched two cultivators challenge a Lion Demon. When the male cultivator called his partner Fairy Ning Shuang, Xu Taiping recognized the name and asked whether her surname was Qu.

• Chi Fan told Xu Taiping that Buyu had reached the half-step heaven-connecting realm and earned a Heaven-tier seat, but faced exclusion at Three Corpses Cave.
• Xu Taiping and Chi Fan watched two cultivators fight a third-stage Lion Demon, and Chi Fan explained that teams could challenge stronger demons together.
• The female sword cultivator and her male partner attacked the Lion Demon, but its roar blasted them back and disrupted their assault.
• Chi Fan explained that the female cultivator had challenged the demon five times to help other Lower Realm cultivators gain recognition at the Chaotic Stars Assembly.
• The male cultivator called the female Fairy Ning Shuang, and Xu Taiping asked Chi Fan whether her surname was Qu.