Chapter Summaries

Lu Qingyuan opened a gateway to the Demon Realm, where a burly Demon Race expert emerged and was subdued by Chu Zhiyuan. The gateway led to Mount Guanghan, where Demon Race experts were digging for Ice Jade, and the group saw a chance to benefit from it.

• Lu Qingyuan traced the gateways of heaven and earth and opened a light door to the Demon Realm.
• A burly Demon Race expert stepped through and attacked Lu Qingyuan and Chu Zhiyuan, but Chu Zhiyuan defeated and bound him.
• Fu Zheng took the captive to interrogate him while Chu Zhiyuan sent a Flying Dagger through the gateway to investigate.
• Chu Zhiyuan learned through the Flying Dagger that the gateway opened onto a snowy peak where Venerable Realm Demon Race experts were digging for ice.
• Fu Zheng and Lu Qingyuan returned and told Chu Zhiyuan that the gateway led to Mount Guanghan, where Ice Jade could improve cultivation.

Chu Zhiyuan and his allies prepared to enter the demon realm and seize Ice Jade from the guarded ice peak. They descended through Lu Qingyuan’s gateway and launched their attack on the Demon Race experts.

• Fu Zheng explained that nine Demon Race Venerables guarded the Ice Jade, and Chu Zhiyuan decided to strike before reinforcements arrived.
• Chu Zhiyuan arranged for Venerables from several mansions and the Chaofeng Sword Sect to join the assault, while Lu Qingyuan, Zhuang Juyue, and Chu Zhiyuan agreed to go themselves.
• At the Twelfth Prince Consort's Mansion, Chu Zhiyuan briefed fifteen Venerables to hold the Demon Race experts back while he prevented them from using Mutual Destruction.
• Lu Qingyuan opened a gateway, and Chu Zhiyuan led the group through it to the ice peak, where they found Demon Race experts harvesting Ice Jade.
• Zhuang Juyue attacked the guard as Chu Zhiyuan trapped him in a golden net and covered him with crimson sword light.

Chu Zhiyuan and the others defeated six Demon Race men, divided the Ice Jade they had found, and split up to explore the area. When a signal sounded, Chu Zhiyuan, Fu Zheng, and Lu Qingyuan found two Chaofeng Sword Sect experts besieged by more than twenty burly men, and both Fu Zheng and Lu Qingyuan became trapped after rushing to help.

• Chu Zhiyuan immobilized six Demon Race men with golden nets, allowing Zhuang Juyue and the others to kill them.
• Chu Zhiyuan and the others failed to break the ice block for more Ice Jade, so Chu Zhiyuan divided the six pieces they had found among the groups.
• Chu Zhiyuan allowed the others to explore within ten li while he, Fu Zheng, Li Yuzhen, and Lu Qingyuan stayed behind.
• A signal sounded, and Chu Zhiyuan, Fu Zheng, and Lu Qingyuan went to investigate.
• They found more than twenty burly men besieging two Chaofeng Sword Sect experts, and Fu Zheng and Lu Qingyuan became entangled after rushing to help.

Chu Zhiyuan watched the human experts struggle against Demon Race fighters on an icy peak, then helped Fu Zheng use the Moon Soul Sword Scripture to turn the battle. A dangerous woman in red emerged from the void and challenged Chu Zhiyuan to a contest of palm force, leaving their identities uncertain as they clashed.

• Chu Zhiyuan sensed a powerful expert nearby and told Fu Zheng that every being had a shadow, helping her activate the Moon Soul Sword Scripture and kill three Demon Race experts.
• The woman in red appeared from the void and blocked Chu Zhiyuan’s Abyssal Fall Sword Art with her palm.
• The woman in red identified the group as human experts who had reached the depths of the Demon Realm and said she would keep them there.
• Chu Zhiyuan and the woman in red pressed their palms together, unleashing force that repeatedly blasted the nearby fighters away.
• Chu Zhiyuan drew on the Heavenly Dragon’s power and continued matching the woman’s seemingly inexhaustible palm force, but he could not determine her race or cultivation.

Chu Zhiyuan and his allies fought their way toward a gate of light while the woman in red revealed herself as a powerful Demon Race expert. After everyone else escaped, Chu Zhiyuan remained alone to face her, and she declared that he could not escape.

• Fu Zheng used the Moon Soul Sword Scripture to kill Demon Race experts while Lu Qingyuan fought and deepened her understanding of the Abyssal Fall Sword Art.
• Chu Zhiyuan ordered Lu Qingyuan to open the gate of light, and Zhuang Juyue led the others through it.
• Chu Zhiyuan clashed with the woman in red and ordered Fu Zheng and Lu Qingyuan to leave before the approaching burly men could reach them.
• Fu Zheng and Lu Qingyuan entered the gate last, and it vanished after they escaped.
• The woman in red recognized Chu Zhiyuan as the Phoenix Dynasty's Twelfth Imperial Son-in-Law and said she had been looking for him.
• The woman in red declared that Chu Zhiyuan could not escape and lit a radiant mark on her brow.

Chu Zhiyuan fought Hu Yunni of Star Picking Cliff in the demon realm and escaped through his spiritual treasure after realizing how dangerous the Nine Great Sects were. He returned to the Twelfth Prince Consort’s Mansion, where Zhuang Juyue and the others recognized that the encounter had exposed the danger of entering the demon realm.

• Chu Zhiyuan fought Hu Yunni, who revealed that the Nine Sects had put a price on his life and that Star Picking Cliff belonged to one of their most powerful factions.
• Chu Zhiyuan killed the Demon Race fighters watching from a distance, then escaped Hu Yunni through a gate of light created by his spiritual treasure.
• Fu Zheng and Lu Qingyuan told Li Yuzhen, Zhuang Juyue, and the Venerables about the powerful woman in red and the weakened cultivation of humans in the demon realm.
• Chu Zhiyuan returned safely to the mansion and identified his opponent as Hu Yunni of Star Picking Cliff.
• Zhuang Juyue concluded that Hu Yunni’s appearance had revealed the demon realm’s true danger before human greed could lead more people into it.

After the Venerables departed, Chu Zhiyuan learned more about the Ice Jade and Star Picking Cliff while strengthening his Heavenly Dragon Incantation. He met Hu Yunni in the Demon Realm, where she attacked him with the Heart-Illuminating Saber, leaving his escape uncertain.

• The Venerables thanked Chu Zhiyuan for saving their lives and warned him that Hu Yunni would likely seek revenge before leaving.
• Fu Zheng tested the Ice Jade with her sword, but it remained unmarked; Chu Zhiyuan gave her a black hoe and let her try forging it into a weapon.
• Chu Zhiyuan sensed that demon crystals had improved his Heavenly Dragon Incantation and reviewed intelligence about Star Picking Cliff's star-powered cultivation.
• Chu Zhiyuan entered the Demon Realm and found Hu Yunni waiting for him on an icy peak.
• Hu Yunni summoned the Heart-Illuminating Saber and attacked, while Chu Zhiyuan repeatedly flashed away from its strikes.

Chu Zhiyuan fought Hu Yunni, who pursued him to secure ten years of cultivation in the Demon Abyss. He blinded her with the Swift Light Sword, and she fled into the distance.

• Chu Zhiyuan used Flying Daggers to hold off Hu Yunni’s Heart-Illuminating Saber while they exchanged blows and argued over why she wanted to kill him.
• Chu Zhiyuan summoned more Flying Daggers and challenged Hu Yunni to fight to the death when she refused to let him go.
• Chu Zhiyuan used the Great Demon Subduing Seal to turn a golden net into a trap that sank beneath Hu Yunni’s skin and slowed her.
• Hu Yunni seized the Heart-Illuminating Saber and charged at Chu Zhiyuan despite the golden net’s effects.
• Chu Zhiyuan slashed Hu Yunni’s eyes with the Swift Light Sword, blinding her as she fled.

Chu Zhiyuan escaped Hu Yunni’s ambush and threatened to kill a hundred Demon Race experts for every one he encountered in Phoenix Imperial City. Back at Star Picking Cliff, Hu Yunni learned he had begun carrying out the threat and warned that her fellow disciples would die if they pursued him.

• Hu Yunni fled with her eyes injured, but her Heart-Illuminating Saber precisely deflected Chu Zhiyuan’s two pursuing Flying Daggers.
• Chu Zhiyuan discovered four Venerable Realm Star Picking Cliff experts waiting at an icy peak and stopped pursuing Hu Yunni, who accused him of being afraid.
• Chu Zhiyuan left Hu Yunni alive and threatened to kill a hundred Demon Race experts for every one he found in Phoenix Imperial City unless they withdrew.
• At Star Picking Cliff, Hu Yunni learned Chu Zhiyuan had killed more than a hundred experts from the Shangyue Zhao Family and the Chen Family.
• Hu Yunni dismissed Zhao Liang’s plan to descend the mountain and said that even the Elders could not kill Chu Zhiyuan, whose cultivation matched hers but whose secret arts and spirit treasures made him dangerous.

Hu Yunni discussed Chu Liezhao, Li Miaotan’s Phoenix Bloodline, and the danger facing demon-realm disciples who had gone to the human realm. She decided to enter seclusion and grow stronger, while Elder Hu resolved to find a way to call the disciples back.

• Elder Hu visited Hu Yunni and asked why she had failed to kill Chu Liezhao; she said his cultivation and combat methods matched hers.
• Elder Hu explained that Li Miaotan’s Phoenix Bloodline could survive death and grow stronger, though repeated deaths would erase her memories and emotions.
• Hu Yunni dismissed the disciples seeking revenge on Chu Liezhao as doomed, while Elder Hu argued that he would rather risk their resentment than their lives.
• Hu Yunni said she would enter seclusion and kill Chu Liezhao the next time they met, and Elder Hu praised her decision to cultivate seriously.
• Elder Hu said they needed to bring back those who had gone to the human realm, but Hu Yunni doubted he could stop them and said the demon realm had plenty of experts.

Hu Yunni warned Chu Zhiyuan that the nine great sects were preparing to use spirit treasures against him, while secretly hoping to preserve her chance to claim the bounty. Chu Zhiyuan returned through a gate of light, and Hu Yunni suspected he would come back as soon as she left.

• Hu Yunni and the old man discussed the danger of using spirit treasures and whether to let the sect experts pursue Chu Liezhao; the old man insisted on stopping them from going down the mountain.
• Hu Yunni decided to warn Chu Liezhao so she could keep the bounty for herself, and she left with the little maid's approval.
• Chu Zhiyuan wandered through Golden Stamen City and reflected on the Demon Race's physical and spiritual advantages over humans.
• Chu Zhiyuan sensed Hu Yunni and met her on a mountain outside the city.
• Hu Yunni warned Chu Zhiyuan that the nine great sects planned to use spirit treasures to kill him, but he remained unconcerned and said he would fight near Phoenix Imperial City.
• Chu Zhiyuan opened a gate of light and vanished; Hu Yunni suspected he would return once she had left.

Chu Zhiyuan weighed the growing threat Hu Yunni posed and planned to return to the Demon Realm for more demon crystals, while arranging to turn the Ice Jade into Flying Daggers. He later encountered the Fifth Prince Cheng Yunzheng and the Thirteenth Princess Cheng Ruoxi, whose remarks hinted that she suspected him of deliberately sowing discord among the Four Great Sects.

• Chu Zhiyuan decided he needed thousands more demon crystals to advance the Heavenly Dragon Incantation and continued seeking a way to kill Hu Yunni.
• Fu Zheng told Chu Zhiyuan that Manor Lord Zhuang wanted the other three sects to examine the Ice Jade; Chu Zhiyuan advised inviting Fengtian Palace at the same time.
• Fu Zheng reported that the Demon Race had withdrawn after learning Chu Zhiyuan survived his fight with Hu Yunni, revealing how quickly the news spread among them.
• Chu Zhiyuan ordered Fu Zheng to keep pursuing ways to forge the Ice Jade hoe into Flying Daggers that could pierce Hu Yunni's defenses.
• On the main street, Chu Zhiyuan met Cheng Yunzheng and Cheng Ruoxi, and Cheng Ruoxi remarked that he had thrown the Four Great Sects into chaos.

Chu Zhiyuan learned that two powerful sword sects harbored murderous hostility toward him and decided to enter closed-door cultivation rather than attend the Third Prince’s wedding. The chapter left him preparing to avoid a suspected scheme at the wedding by staying out of reach.

• Chu Zhiyuan declined Cheng Ruoxi’s invitation and passed her group, while Fu Zheng sensed killing intent from two of Cheng Yunzheng’s guards.
• Cheng Ruoxi warned Cheng Yunzheng’s double not to kill Chu Zhiyuan, and the double said he would enter closed-door cultivation before dealing with him.
• Chu Zhiyuan considered how Cheng Ruoxi might influence the Third Prince’s claim to the throne and what role Li Miaotan might play.
• Fu Zheng reported that the two hostile Venerables served the Fifth Prince and came from the Miaoyin Sword Sect and the Tianya Sword Sect, which both held ill will toward Chu Zhiyuan.
• Chu Zhiyuan decided to enter closed-door cultivation the next day and miss the Third Prince’s wedding, suspecting the sects planned to target him there.

Chu Zhiyuan suspected Yuan Zhen’s plot involved the Tianya Sword Sect and Miaoyin Sword Sect, so he chose to avoid Cheng Ruoxi’s wedding and enter Tongtian Pavilion. His warnings exposed Cheng Yunzheng’s plan to act at the wedding, while Li Cunren agreed to help explain Chu Zhiyuan’s absence.

• Chu Zhiyuan refused Fu Zheng’s offer to kill the suspected plotters immediately and told her to notify the princes and Cheng Ruoxi that he would miss the wedding to cultivate.
• Fu Zheng hinted to Cheng Ruoxi that the Fifth Prince had plans, prompting Cheng Ruoxi to summon Cheng Yunzheng and question him about a possible move at her wedding.
• Cheng Ruoxi learned from Cheng Yunzheng’s reaction that Chu Zhiyuan’s suspicions were correct, and accused her father of knowing about the plot.
• Li Cunren visited Chu Zhiyuan, questioned his absence from the wedding, and agreed to try to persuade the Third Prince after Chu Zhiyuan said his sensitive position made it safer to stay away.

Chu Zhiyuan used the White Cloud Diagram to understand spatial dimensions and open a gate to the Demon Realm, where he fought groups of Demon Race experts searching for him. He returned to Tongtian Pavilion to refine his spatial insight, then left a month later with a stronger grasp of opening gates.

• Chu Zhiyuan contemplated the White Cloud Diagram and realized it might reveal passages between different spaces, including a route to Great Bright Peak.
• Chu Zhiyuan opened a gate of light and stepped through to the Demon Realm near Golden Stamen City.
• Venerable Wu and eight Demon Race experts identified Chu Zhiyuan and attacked, but Chu Zhiyuan killed them and took Venerable Wu’s demon crystal.
• Chu Zhiyuan killed several more groups of Demon Race experts, then opened another gate and returned to Tongtian Pavilion.
• Chu Zhiyuan meditated on spatial dimensions in Tongtian Pavilion for a month, then left after improving his ability to open gates.

After leaving Tongtian Pavilion, Chu Zhiyuan questioned Lan Mingxuan and Wu Xun about ascension, the divine race, and the barriers between worlds, but Fengtian Palace revealed only that a new heaven and earth separated the Lesser Beyond the Heavens from their world. Back at the Prince Consort’s Mansion, he learned that two Yuanzhen Venerables were Death Warriors and ordered Fu Zheng to kill them, first cleansing her mind of the Moon Soul Sword Scripture’s influence.

• Chu Zhiyuan asked Lan Mingxuan and Wu Xun whether people from the Lesser Beyond the Heavens could ascend to his world, and they explained that a new heaven and earth now lay between the two realms.
• Lan Mingxuan told Chu Zhiyuan that only Profound Yin Palace’s Cave Heaven connected to the Lesser Beyond the Heavens, allowing its disciples to reach their world by coincidence.
• Chu Zhiyuan returned to the Prince Consort’s Mansion, where Fu Zheng reported that Yuanzhen’s Fifth Prince and delegation still refused to leave.
• Fu Zheng told Chu Zhiyuan that the delegation’s two Venerables were Death Warriors who appeared close to the ends of their lives.
• Chu Zhiyuan ordered Fu Zheng to kill the two Venerables and cleansed her mind to counter the Moon Soul Sword Scripture’s influence.

Chu Zhiyuan received black Flying Daggers forged from Ice Jade and agreed that Fu Zheng would act that night. When Li Cunhou visited to mediate over the Fifth Prince of Yuanzhen, Chu Zhiyuan warned that his intervention could put Cheng Ruoxi in a difficult position and left the decision to Li Miaotan.

• Fu Zheng showed Chu Zhiyuan the Ice Jade Flying Daggers made by a master of the Lihuo Fist Sect, and Chu Zhiyuan agreed that Fu Zheng would make her move that night.
• Li Cunhou and Cheng Ruoxi arrived, and Chu Zhiyuan discussed his secluded cultivation and his study of the Dao of space.
• Li Cunhou asked Chu Zhiyuan to let the dispute with the Fifth Prince of Yuanzhen pass, but Chu Zhiyuan said he would not interfere with what Li Miaotan decided.
• Chu Zhiyuan warned Li Cunhou that mediating could make the Empress suspect Cheng Ruoxi, prompting Li Cunhou to recognize the risk.
• Cheng Ruoxi urged Li Cunhou to follow Chu Zhiyuan's wishes, and the couple prepared to leave.

Chu Zhiyuan learned that the Fifth Prince’s hidden poison weapon could endanger Cheng Ruoxi, then returned to Yujing Imperial City to seek a breakthrough at Great Bright Peak. He reunited with Noble Consort Hui, Chu Zhen, Chu Qiao, and Chu Honglin at the Ninth Prince’s Mansion.

• Li Cunhou warned Chu Zhiyuan that the Fifth Prince possessed a deadly hidden weapon and urged him to prevent Li Miaotan from provoking a fight.
• Chu Zhiyuan canceled Fu Zheng’s investigation and continued to suspect that a tiny wooden carving carried by Cheng Yunzheng’s double was the cursed treasure.
• Li Cunren agreed to speak to the Emperor about Chu Zhiyuan returning to Yujing Imperial City and visiting Great Bright Peak.
• Chu Zhiyuan entered Yujing Imperial City with Fu Zheng and Li Yuzhen and went to the Ninth Prince’s Mansion, where Youlan told him that Noble Consort Hui and the Emperor had sent word.
• Noble Consort Hui arrived with Chu Zhen and Chu Qiao, who embraced Chu Zhiyuan and cried, and Chu Honglin soon joined them.

Chu Zhiyuan returned to the Jade Scenery Dynasty, arranged to reenter Great Bright Peak, and studied its multidimensional space before investigating his light gate in the Demon Realm. He ended the chapter by traveling through the gate back to Phoenix Imperial City.

• Chu Zhiyuan asked Chu Honglin to help him regain his great bright token and enter Great Bright Peak, and Chu Honglin left to arrange it immediately.
• Noble Consort Hui told Chu Zhiyuan that Chu Lieyang had suffered Qi Deviation and could no longer cultivate the Immeasurable Light Sutra.
• At Clear Wind Cliff, Chu Zhiyuan sensed Great Bright Peak's multidimensional space and compared it with the White Cloud Diagram.
• Chu Zhiyuan used his light gate to reach the Demon Realm, defeated several groups of Demon Race experts, and studied the gate by repeatedly opening and closing it.
• After dinner at Prince Gan's Mansion, Chu Zhiyuan opened the light gate and returned to Phoenix Imperial City.

Chu Zhiyuan dealt with Cheng Yunzheng’s continued presence in Phoenix and succeeded in opening a light gate to Great Bright Peak. He then studied Cave Heavens and planned to explore the Outer Realm Battlefield to learn how to reach the Lesser Beyond the Heavens directly.

• Fu Zheng told Chu Zhiyuan that Cheng Yunzheng and the others were still staying in Phoenix, and Chu Zhiyuan agreed she could secretly provoke Cheng Yunzheng into Qi Deviation.
• Fu Zheng reported that Cheng Yunzheng had suffered severe Qi Deviation, while Li Cunhou and the Third Princess Consort visited him.
• Chu Zhiyuan opened a light gate from Phoenix Imperial City and arrived at Great Bright Peak.
• Chu Zhiyuan asked Chu Hongfeng to take him into several Cave Heavens and studied their spatial dimensions.
• Chu Zhiyuan decided to visit the Outer Realm Battlefield to better understand its space and find a direct route to the Lesser Beyond the Heavens.