Chapter Summaries

Chen Xun bought wine at the Spirit Market and let a group of cultivators mistake him for an easy target. Ji Mengli saved him from their ambush, and the two shared wine beside a lake as she prepared to talk about her troubles.

• Chen Xun paid a hundred low-grade spirit stones for Hundred Flavors of the Mortal World and left the Spirit Market, followed by cultivators intent on robbing him.
• The cultivators blocked Chen Xun’s path and attacked him, but Ji Mengli struck them with a Spiritfire Spell and carried him away.
• Chen Xun revealed that he recognized Ji Mengli and knew she was a woman, prompting her to remove her disguise and introduce herself.
• Ji Mengli invited Chen Xun to drink and listen to her troubles, and he agreed on the condition that she supplied the wine.
• Chen Xun and Ji Mengli sat in a dilapidated pavilion beside a lake and chose to drink Hundred Flavors of the Mortal World straight from the flasks.

Chen Xun listened as Ji Mengli explained her hatred of the Great Evolution Demonic Sect and her forced return to it. Days later, Heavenly Dao Sect disciples found hundreds of dead demonic cultivators, including the Great Evolution Demonic Sect’s You Sha, and hurried to report the scene at their sect.

• Chen Xun drank with Ji Mengli as she revealed that she was the holy maiden of the Great Evolution Demonic Sect and the sect master’s daughter.
• Ji Mengli told Chen Xun she hated the sect after witnessing mortals, including children, being abducted and killed to refine pills, and said her father had summoned her back.
• Ji Mengli invited Chen Xun to visit the Great Evolution Demonic Sect, then left to return there while Chen Xun departed.
• Several days later, Zhao Ting, Wang Tianfu, Zhou Tong, and other Heavenly Dao Sect members found hundreds of dead demonic cultivators and severed heads on their territory.
• Wang Tianfu and Zhou Tong identified You Sha, the Great Evolution Demonic Sect’s fourth elder, and realized the ambushers had been killed instantly.
• Wang Tianfu ordered the disciples to take the corpses back to the sect.

Heavenly Dao Sect’s elders identified the Great Evolution Demonic Sect as the force behind the abduction of Jingyao and the other disciples, and Nangong Yao prepared to invite its sect master to negotiate. Meanwhile, Chen Xun appeared to have returned to normal, leaving the servant disciples and Qian Laifu astonished.

• Wang Tianfu and Zhou Tong brought hundreds of slain demonic cultivators to Heavenly Dao Peak, where the elders concluded the Great Evolution Demonic Sect had ambushed the sect’s disciples.
• Nangong Yao guessed that the mysterious master had killed the demonic cultivators, then warned the elders against attacking the Great Evolution Demonic Sect recklessly.
• Nangong Yao ordered Liu Yunjian to invite the Great Evolution Demonic Sect’s sect master to meet him at White Fox Ridge in three days, hoping to secure the disciples’ release and avoid war.
• At the Servant Disciple Peak dining hall, Chen Xun ate calmly and spoke gently, shocking the disciples who remembered him as insane.
• Qian Laifu realized Chen Xun had changed, attributed it to his unpredictable conduct in the mortal world, and hurried after him to see him off.

Chen Xun shared a meal with Nangong Yao and the Heavenly Dao Sect elders, then admitted he had killed the demonic cultivators who had ambushed them. Meanwhile, Ji Wucang prepared to use a meeting at White Fox Ridge to wound Nangong Yao and launch an attack on the Heavenly Dao Sect.

• Chen Xun welcomed Nangong Yao, Liu Yunjian, and the other elders, sharing roast chicken and Hundred Flavors of the Mortal World with them.
• Nangong Yao told Chen Xun that they had found several hundred beheaded demonic cultivators, and Chen Xun admitted he had killed them.
• Wang Tianfu and Zhou Tong thanked Chen Xun for saving them from the demonic cultivators who had planned to drink his blood.
• A disciple delivered the Heavenly Dao Sect's invitation for Ji Wucang to meet Nangong Yao at White Fox Ridge in three days.
• Ji Wucang ordered his elders to prepare an ambush at White Fox Ridge and severely wound Nangong Yao, so the demonic sects could join forces against the Heavenly Dao Sect.

Chen Xun listened as Zhao Ting excitedly recounted the demonic cultivators’ defeat, while keeping his own role in it to himself. Three days later, Nangong Yao met Ji Wucang at White Fox Ridge to negotiate the return of their captured disciples, but Ji demanded his own people back first.

• Zhao Ting visited Chen Xun, celebrated what he thought was Chen Xun’s recovery, and told him that a mysterious senior had killed hundreds of demonic cultivators in one move.
• Chen Xun ended their drinking conversation, and Zhao Ting left after remembering that Chen Xun was a mortal.
• Nangong Yao, Liu Xuan Yin, and Jiang Bailu waited at White Fox Ridge to negotiate with the Great Evolution Demonic Sect and discuss the return of their captured disciples.
• Nangong Yao rebuked Jiang Bailu for questioning the master’s decision to kill You Sha, explaining that it had protected the sect’s people.
• Ji Wucang arrived with three elders and demanded that Nangong Yao return the Great Evolution Demonic Sect’s fourth elder, stewards, and elite disciples before he would return the Heavenly Dao Sect’s captives.

The Great Evolution Demonic Sect trapped Nangong Yao and the Heavenly Dao Sect elders in a formation on White Fox Ridge, where their spiritual power steadily drained. Jiang Bailu sacrificed himself by detonating his Nascent Soul, allowing Nangong Yao and Liu Xuan Yin to escape as the ridge was destroyed.

• Ji Wucang refused to return the Heavenly Dao Sect disciples and activated a grand formation that trapped Nangong Yao, Liu Xuan Yin, and Jiang Bailu.
• The Nether Snake Dragon-Suppressing Grand Formation drained the trapped cultivators’ spiritual power while Ji Wucang and his elders attacked them.
• Liu Xuan Yin failed to find a way to break the formation or seize its flag as the battle and the spiritual drain worsened.
• Jiang Bailu urged Nangong Yao and Liu Xuan Yin to escape, then began swelling his abdomen to self-detonate his Nascent Soul.
• Ji Wucang ordered the formation dispelled and retreated with his elders, while Liu Xuan Yin pulled Nangong Yao away.
• Jiang Bailu’s explosion razed White Fox Ridge and injured both sects’ cultivators, and Nangong Yao ordered Liu Xuan Yin to return to the sect.

Ji Wucang and the injured elders survived Jiang Bailu’s self-detonation and planned to attack the weakened Heavenly Dao Sect. Nangong Yao and Liu Xuan Yin returned to the sect unconscious, and Liu Yunjian ordered the Heavenly Dao Bell rung nine times, leaving Zhao Ting to hurry off while Chen Xun remained behind.

• Ji Wucang praised Jiang Bailu’s sacrifice, then ordered his elders to return and mobilize the Great Evolution Demonic Sect against the Heavenly Dao Sect.
• Ji Wucang told the elders that the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Sect had ordered the capture of righteous cultivators as blood slaves and suspected other regions might also be involved.
• Nangong Yao and Liu Xuan Yin reached the Heavenly Dao Sect’s territory, where Liu Yunjian and the core elders met them and carried them back after they lost consciousness.
• Liu Yunjian ordered the Heavenly Dao Bell rung nine times, prompting disciples across the sect to stop cultivating and await orders.
• Zhao Ting explained the bell’s warning to Chen Xun, then left Servant Disciple Peak on his flying sword while Chen Xun stayed behind drinking wine.

After the Heavenly Dao Sect suffered heavy losses at White Fox Ridge, Chen Xun told the wounded Nangong Yao that the Great Evolution Demonic Sect would soon attack them and gave him two pills. The elders doubted the pills’ quality until one instantly healed Nangong Yao, leaving them stunned.

• Nangong Yao woke and explained that Jiang Bailu had detonated himself to break the Nether Snake Dragon-Suppressing Grand Formation, allowing Nangong Yao and Liu Xuan Yin to escape.
• Nangong Yao declared that the Heavenly Dao Sect would attack the Great Evolution Demonic Sect in five days to rescue its abducted disciples and avenge Jiang Bailu.
• Chen Xun arrived, advised the sect not to march on the demonic sect because Ji Wucang would soon attack, and gave Nangong Yao two pills for severe injuries.
• Nangong Yao and the elders concluded that Ji Wucang might enlist other demonic sects, so Nangong Yao ordered them to request help from righteous sects and prepare for battle.
• Jin Huashan judged Chen Xun’s pills ordinary, but Nangong Yao swallowed one and recovered so quickly that he abruptly stood up.

Nangong Yao and Liu Xuan Yin recovered from their grave injuries after taking Sir’s pills, while the Heavenly Dao Sect prepared for the Demonic Sect’s arrival. At the servant disciples’ dining hall, Chen Xun caught up with Yu Zheng, who feared he would soon have to leave the sect.

• Nangong Yao used one of Sir’s pills to heal Liu Xuan Yin despite the elders’ objections, and Liu Xuan Yin woke to learn that the third elder had died.
• Nangong Yao ordered the elders to prepare for the Demonic Sect’s arrival, and the Heavenly Dao Sect spent two days readying supplies and formations.
• Chen Xun reassured a worried food-serving disciple that servant disciples would not have to fight in a sect war.
• Yu Zheng recognized Chen Xun and explained that the other youths from Clear Sky City had left the sect while he remained at the first level of Qi Refinement.
• Yu Zheng asked whether Chen Xun would return to the mortal world, and Chen Xun said he would consider the idea.

The Heavenly Dao Sect prepared for an assault by the Great Evolution Demonic Sect, but only the Heavenly Puppet Gate and Azure Blade Pavilion sent aid. When ten demonic sects arrived with an overwhelming army, Zhao Ting rushed to Chen Xun and offered to lead him out through a secret passage.

• Nangong Yao rejected the suggestion that the gentleman intervene and worried that the Demonic Sect would use Jingyao and the other captured disciples as hostages.
• Pang Nian and Pu Yidao arrived with their forces, heard Nangong Yao's account of the conflict, and grew uneasy about the danger they had entered.
• Ten demonic sects advanced on the Heavenly Dao Sect with more than a hundred Demonic Boats and tens of thousands of Qi Refinement cultivators.
• Nangong Yao ordered Liu Yunjian to activate the prepared formations once the enemy entered their range.
• Zhao Ting flew to Chen Xun and offered to take him out of the sect through a secret passage in the back mountains.