Recaps

Si Chen led Jiang Ling and the others back through the passage to the lower realm, where they suppressed their cultivation so the plane could withstand their arrival. They reached the Endless Sea and, moved by returning home after nearly twenty years, decided to stay for half a month before resuming their journey.

• Jiang Ling learned that Si Chen, Luo Hongyi, Murong Li, and the others had all ascended from the lower realm.
• Si Chen spotted passageways branching toward different lower realms and continued leading the group downward.
• When the lower realm began rejecting Jiang Ling, Si Chen told everyone to suppress their cultivation to the early True Immortal stage.
• Si Chen and the others emerged above the Endless Sea, and the plane trembled as it sensed his return.
• The group shared their joy at being home, and Si Chen postponed dealing with the Demon Realm so they could stay for half a month.

Si Chen, Jiang Ling, Murong Li, Black Mountain, and Red Wind traveled through the chaotic Eastern Region to the Mountain of Ten Thousand Silences, where Black Mountain and Red Wind reunited with their old companions. Si Chen was also welcomed back by the demons who remembered him from his time lost there.

• Xie Changsheng, Song Chi, Zhou Yan, and Luo Hongyi left for their own destinations, while Si Chen agreed to visit the Mountain of Ten Thousand Silences with Black Mountain and Red Wind.
• Si Chen and his companions crossed the Eastern Region and watched rival groups abandon their fight against each other to attack an old man who had ambushed them both.
• Black Mountain and Red Wind recalled that Si Chen had once been lost in the region for two years before they reached their old mountain home.
• Black Mountain roared to announce his return, drawing old friends and other demons out of the mountain.
• The demons greeted Black Mountain and Red Wind, and they recognized Si Chen as the brother who had helped them in the past.

Si Chen and his companions spent the night in the Mountain of Ten Thousand Silences, where the demons told them about a young cultivator who might be Si Chen’s cousin, Si Ming. As the three sat together under the moon, Si Chen wondered what the cousin he remembered as a baby had become.

• Black Mountain, Red Wind, Murong Li, Jiang Ling, and Si Chen were surrounded by admiring demons, who mistakenly speculated about which woman was Si Chen’s sweetheart.
• A wolf demon described a confident young man named Shi Ming who had reached ninth place on the Azure Profound Ranking and resembled Si Chen.
• Black Mountain and Red Wind suspected Shi Ming was Si Ming, Si Chen’s younger cousin, while Si Chen recalled the baby his second uncle had held when he left the lower realm.
• Black Mountain and Red Wind planned to visit Third Uncle Granduncle the next day and bickered about Black Mountain’s reading and poetry.
• Murong Li, Jiang Ling, and Si Chen reflected on the peaceful demon territory and the friends who had joined Si Chen on his travels.
• Si Chen wondered what Si Ming, the child who had once smiled at everyone, looked like now.

Si Chen and his companions left the Mountain of Ten Thousand Silences and returned to Ancient Gaze City, where the Azure Profound Ranking revealed an unexpected name at the top. Meanwhile, Si Ming sought to escape the shadow of his cousin Si Chen and set his sights on first place.

• Si Ming recalled how the Si Household had always compared him to Si Chen, so he traveled under the alias Shi Ming to prove himself without his family name.
• Si Ming defeated his opponents and resolved to pursue the top spot on the Azure Profound Ranking.
• Si Chen, Jiang Ling, Murong Li, Black Mountain, and Red Wind said farewell to the demons of the Mountain of Ten Thousand Silences and left with their promise to return.
• Si Chen and his companions entered Ancient Gaze City and noticed how much it had changed over the past twenty years.
• Black Mountain read the Azure Profound Ranking and discovered that Li Tiezhu of the Joyous Union Sect held first place.

Si Chen visited the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower and learned that his younger cousin Shi Ming had challenged his half-disciple Li Tiezhu to a duel at the Demon-Subduing Sea. He and his companions set out to watch the fight and bring Shi Ming home.

• Steward Qian recognized the returned Si Chen at the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower and ushered him inside.
• Si Chen learned that Li Tiezhu had held the top spot on the Azure Profound Ranking for five years and that Shi Ming ranked ninth.
• Steward Qian revealed that Shi Ming had challenged Li Tiezhu to a fight at the Demon-Subduing Sea in two days.
• Black Mountain and Red Wind realized that Shi Ming was Si Chen's younger cousin and Li Tiezhu was his nominal disciple.
• Si Chen told Murong Li and Jiang Ling that they would watch the fight and bring his younger cousin along.

Li Tiezhu made a spectacular entrance to defend his top position on the Azure Profound Ranking, only to discover the system had charged him far more points than agreed. After Shi Ming cut off his opening speech, the two prepared to fight above the Demon-Subduing Sea.

• Shi Ming arrived above the Demon-Subduing Sea and waited while the crowd discussed his reputation and Li Tiezhu's absence.
• Two Joyous Union Sect disciples rolled out a red carpet and announced Li Tiezhu amid a shower of petals and rosy light.
• Li Tiezhu learned that the entrance effects had cost twelve thousand points, leaving his balance deeply negative, and angrily argued with the system.
• Si Chen and the others watched from above the clouds and laughed at Li Tiezhu's extravagant entrance.
• Li Tiezhu and Shi Ming faced each other with their staff and sword ready, and the crowd retreated as the fight was about to begin.

Li Tiezhu and Shi Ming fought over the Demon-Subduing Sea, with Li Tiezhu blocking Shi Ming’s famed Endless Sword and forcing him back with the Joyous Union Sect’s staff techniques. The duel continued as Shi Ming’s hand began to bleed and Li Tiezhu kept pressing him with attacks and taunts.

• Shi Ming struck first with the Endless Sword, but Li Tiezhu blocked the unseen sword strike with his black staff.
• Li Tiezhu swung his staff with enough force to expose the seabed, and Shi Ming met the blow with the Endless Sword’s Second Form before being driven back more than a hundred zhang.
• Shi Ming charged again, but Li Tiezhu countered his increasingly fast sword attacks while criticizing his hurried technique.
• Li Tiezhu used the Joyous Union Sect’s staff techniques to entangle Shi Ming’s sword and drive him backward.
• Li Tiezhu unleashed Swift Assault, and Shi Ming blocked more than a dozen strikes until his hand split and blood ran down his sword hilt.

Li Tiezhu defeated Shi Ming, but the two prepared to clash again until Si Chen intervened. Si Chen revealed himself as Li Tiezhu’s long-lost master and Shi Ming’s older brother, then invited them both home for a meal.

• Li Tiezhu struck Shi Ming down with his staff technique, and Shi Ming praised the technique while refusing to concede.
• Shi Ming unleashed a freezing sword strike as Li Tiezhu readied his staff for another clash.
• Si Chen appeared between them and stopped both weapons, instantly thawing the Demon-Subduing Sea.
• Li Tiezhu recognized Si Chen as his master, and Si Chen warmly greeted the grown cultivator he had not seen in twenty years.
• Si Chen told Shi Ming that he was his older brother and that he had held him when he was little.
• Si Chen invited Shi Ming and Li Tiezhu to come home with him for a meal.

Si Chen returned from the Immortal Realm and reunited with Li Tiezhu, then revealed that the defeated Si Ming was his younger cousin. Si Chen healed Si Ming and treated him warmly, while Li Tiezhu learned that he had to call his former opponent martial uncle.

• Si Ming reeled after Si Chen effortlessly stopped his attack and revealed that he had once held him as a child.
• Black Mountain and Red Wind teased Si Ming with stories about caring for him when he was little.
• Li Tiezhu clung to Si Chen and heard his system shower Si Chen with exaggerated praise.
• Cultivators recognized Si Chen, the legendary Peerless King who had ascended twenty years earlier.
• Si Chen healed Si Ming with the Yi Wood Eternal Spring Art and covered him with his robe.
• Li Tiezhu learned Si Ming was Si Chen's younger cousin and reluctantly addressed him as martial uncle.

Si Chen gave Si Ming Heartguard to protect him, while keeping a fragment of her spiritual consciousness for himself. The group traveled through a gateway to the Si Household, leaving the Demon-Subduing Sea cultivators to speculate about the family and two Joyous Union Sect disciples complaining about their unpaid wages.

• Li Tiezhu reunited with Black Mountain and Red Wind, who reminisced about the Joyous Union Sect's retired head chef.
• Si Chen summoned Heartguard and gave her to Si Ming, keeping a tiny strand of her spiritual consciousness attached to his own wrist.
• Si Ming accepted Heartguard, and she opened a gateway to the Si Household.
• Si Chen led Si Ming, Murong Li, Jiang Ling, Li Tiezhu, Black Mountain, and Red Wind through the gateway, while cultivators watched them leave.
• Cultivators at the Demon-Subduing Sea realized Si Chen's identity and hurried away to report what they had seen.
• The two Joyous Union Sect disciples realized Si Chen had left without paying them and vowed to demand payment upfront next time.

Si Chen returned to the Si Household’s ancestral grounds with his companions after twenty years away, reuniting with his family and Qing Li. Black Mountain also reunited with Third Uncle Granduncle, ending the chapter by reciting a poem about missing the household dining hall.

• Third Uncle Granduncle and Si Che sensed Heartguard’s aura, while Qing Li recognized Si Chen’s return and hurried to the front courtyard.
• Si Chen stepped through a gate of light with Black Mountain, Red Wind, Murong Li, Jiang Ling, and Li Tiezhu.
• Qing Li and Si Che welcomed Si Chen, who met his younger sister Si Qing and gave her a protective silver-star necklace.
• Third Uncle Granduncle greeted Si Chen and recognized Black Mountain, praising his scholar’s robes and noting that he had grown fat.
• Black Mountain knelt before Third Uncle Granduncle and recited a poem, ending by declaring that he missed the old dining hall.

Si Chen reunited with the Si Household at a joyful family banquet and shared what he had learned about the Immortal Realm. The gathering ended with Si Ming accepting Si Chen as his brother, and the two promised to meet again the next day.

• Third Uncle Granduncle nearly fainted after hearing Black Mountain's poem end with a line about missing dining hall meals, then joined the Si Household's joyful banquet.
• Si Chen greeted Second Aunt Shen Yun and told Si Che and the family about his experiences in the Immortal Realm.
• Si Che called Jiang Ling his sister-in-law, while Li Tiezhu fretted about how to address the Si family members.
• Third Uncle Granduncle asked whether Si Chen had learned anything about the Si ancestors or his grandfather; Si Chen said he had not, and the family toasted to their lineage.
• Heartguard reassured Si Ming that Si Chen's affection for him did not depend on his catching up or proving himself.
• Si Ming visited Si Chen in his old courtyard, thanked him, and promised to see him tomorrow.

The Si Household settled into a lively routine after Si Chen and the others returned, while news of their return stirred the cultivation world. A crowd of female cultivators visited to see Si Chen and quietly ask after Third Uncle, leaving Third Uncle Granduncle fuming over a slip of the tongue.

• Qing'er spent each morning asking Si Chen for a hug, while Black Mountain resumed lessons and the household settled into its new routine.
• Word of Si Chen and the others returning spread across the continent, drawing crowds to several sects.
• A large group of female cultivators, including Su Miaoyin and Mu Qianqian, arrived at the Si Household.
• Si Che went to greet the visitors, and Si Chen joined them, recognizing each auntie and telling them Third Uncle was doing well in the Immortal Realm.
• Third Uncle Granduncle entered with Black Mountain, greeted the women, and inwardly cursed an unfilial descendant after letting his tongue slip.

Si Chen reassured the Si Household that he could eventually take them to the Immortal Realm, then introduced Jiang Ling as his new aunt, prompting her to storm out in anger. After reuniting with his family, he decided to set out the next day to handle important business.

• Su Miaoyin, Mu Qianqian, and the other women gave Qing Li many gifts, which Third Uncle Granduncle told her to accept.
• Si Chen promised to bring the women and eventually the entire Si Household to the Immortal Realm once matters there had settled.
• Jiang Ling entered looking for Murong Li, and Si Chen introduced her as an Immortal King and his new aunt.
• Jiang Ling angrily left after Si Chen called her auntie, while Mu Qianqian laughed at the thought of Si Shuo facing her temper.
• Si Chen watched his family celebrate the prospect of reaching the Immortal Realm and decided to set out the next day.

Si Chen left the Si Household ancestral grounds for the Demon Realm after bidding farewell to his family and friends. Meanwhile, Song Chi returned to Hidden Edge Mountain and continued pestering its leaders and elders for sword guidance, leaving the sect in despair.

• Si Chen said goodbye to Qing Li, Black Mountain, Qing'er, Si Ming, and Second Uncle Si Che before leaving the ancestral grounds.
• Song Chi returned to Hidden Edge Mountain after twenty years in the Immortal Realm and asked Zhao Wuji to guide his sword technique.
• Song Chi chased Zhao Wuji around the mountain for an hour, then received guidance from the Second Elder and Third Elder.
• Song Chi sought instruction from Hidden Edge Mountain's elders, stewards, guardians, hall heads, and Grand Supreme Elder over the following days.
• Song Chi stood outside the closed mountain gates and called to his master, eager to show him a new insight into the sword.

Si Chen arrived at Hidden Edge Mountain to collect Song Chi, whose efforts to seek guidance had kept his master and the sect on edge for seven days. He left with Song Chi and his companions, while Hidden Edge Mountain celebrated their departure, unaware Song Chi would later make its name known in the Immortal Realm.

• Si Chen and his companions reached Hidden Edge Mountain, and Sect Leader Zhao Wuji welcomed him with great relief.
• Si Chen went to the rear mountain, where he found Song Chi eager to keep seeking instruction from his master.
• Song Chi agreed to leave with Si Chen after Black Mountain and Red Wind pointed out that he had trapped his master inside for seven days.
• Song Chi promised Zhao Wuji he would return to demonstrate his new sword moves, and Zhao Wuji urged him to stay close to Si Chen and not hurry back.
• Zhao Wuji escorted the group out, then ordered the gates opened and announced Hidden Edge Mountain could resume its normal routine.

Si Chen and his companions reunited with Xie Changsheng and Zhou Yan, then visited the Jade Pivot Palace to take Luo Hongyi with them. Luo Hongyi said farewell to her master and left the fairy-like image behind, choosing to present herself as she truly was.

• Gray Gray rushed to Si Chen at the Mysterious One Dao Gate, and Xie Changsheng left with the group after bidding farewell to his sect.
• Zhou Yan left the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion after promising Elder Liu he would return to finish their board game.
• Wen Yao welcomed Si Chen and his companions to the Jade Pivot Palace, where Luo Hongyi appeared in her old blue robes and veil.
• Black Mountain began reciting a poem about Luo Hongyi, but she told him to shut up.
• Wen Yao urged Luo Hongyi to be herself, and Luo Hongyi removed her veil and hairpin, tied up her hair, and joined the group.

Wang Yan refined three First-Grade Foundation Establishment Pills in Alchemy Cauldron City and sent them to Si Chen as repayment for a promise made twenty years earlier. Recognizing Wang Yan’s achievement and realizing he had forgotten him, Si Chen set out to return to Alchemy Cauldron City.

• Wang Yan refined pills using his stir-frying method and left Alchemy Cauldron City with a jade bottle tied with a red cord.
• Luo Hongyi told Si Chen that Wang Yan had waited at the Jade Pivot Palace and left the bottle for him.
• Si Chen opened the bottle and found three scallion-scented First-Grade Foundation Establishment Pills, which reminded him of his promise to Wang Yan.
• Si Chen decided to reach Alchemy Cauldron City sooner and opened a golden vortex for his companions to follow him through.

Si Chen and his companions entered the Ascension passage to find a route to the Demon Realm and reach Red Bean. They encountered a black dragon ascending from the Ancestral Court and invited him to travel with them.

• Zhou Yan proposed that Black Mountain and Red Wind release their demonic auras to guide the passage toward the Demon Realm.
• Si Chen told the passage to take them to the Demon Realm, and it changed direction.
• Si Chen sensed an ascender nearby and brought the group to meet a black dragon.
• The black dragon said he had ascended from the Ancestral Court, startling Black Mountain and Red Wind.
• Si Chen invited the black dragon to travel with them to the Demon Realm.

Ao Chen ascended from his Ancestral Court and met Si Chen and his companions, who forced him to share what he knew. His account revealed that his intact Ancestral Court differed from the shattered courts in the cultivators’ histories, leading Zhou Yan to theorize that every lower realm had an Ancestral Court rooted in the Demon Realm.

• Ao Chen, the strongest being in his Ancestral Court, endured his tribulation and followed the guiding light toward the unknown.
• Si Chen and his companions stopped Ao Chen in the ascension passage, subdued him, and questioned him until he told them what he knew.
• Ao Chen said that dozens of demons had ascended from his Ancestral Court, where humans lived under Demon Race rule and none had ascended.
• Zhou Yan and the others compared Ao Chen’s account with their records of shattered Ancestral Courts and the Demon Race’s defeat.
• Luo Hongyi connected the records to the Demon Race’s retreat to the Mountain of Ten Thousand Silences, and Zhou Yan proposed that every lower realm had an Ancestral Court rooted in the Demon Realm.

Zhou Yan and the others reasoned that the Ancestral Courts in separate lower realms might have been established by demons from the Demon Realm to suppress humanity’s ascendants, and decided to ask Red Bean about their purpose. In the Demon Realm, Zhu Yao learned that the Dragon Race had refused her again and resolved to make them obey.

• Zhou Yan and Xie Changsheng deduced that demons from the Demon Realm may have founded Ancestral Courts across lower realms, while Song Chi suggested their purpose could be to prevent human ascendants.
• Jiang Ling said Zhu Yao had only supplied her with a magic treasure for their shared goal of killing the Immortal Realm’s upper echelon, and knew no more about her plans.
• Si Chen and the others decided to find Red Bean in the Demon Realm, and Ao Chen learned he would have to go with them.
• In the Demon Realm, Zhu Yao heard that the Dragon Race had refused her summons again and reflected on how the realm had changed during her twenty-year absence.
• Zhu Yao declared that a disobedient Dragon Race and a dead Dragon Race were no different.

Zhou Yan, Si Chen, and their companions emerged from the ascension passage into the Demon Realm and set out to find Red Bean. A group of Dragon Race demons confronted them, and their leader declared that Immortal Realm cultivators must be killed without mercy.

• Zhou Yan and the others emerged from the ascension passage into a beautiful sea, where Red Wind rescued Black Mountain from the water.
• Si Chen sensed that Red Bean was far away and pointed the group in her direction.
• A procession of sea beasts and armored demons appeared, led by a middle-aged Dragon Race man.
• The Dragon Race leader recognized Ao Chen as a newly ascended Black Dragon, then demanded to know why humans were with him.
• Si Chen introduced himself and said they had come from the Immortal Realm to find an old friend without causing offense.
• The Dragon Race leader declared that cultivators from the Immortal Realm were to be killed without mercy.

Ao Tong and the other demons attacked Si Chen’s group under the Demon Realm’s rule to kill Immortal Realm cultivators, but the Eastern Region group overwhelmed them. Jiang Ling ended the battle in moments, and Zhou Yan prepared to bind the defeated demons.

• Ao Tong declared that the Demon Realm’s rules required killing the humans, prompting Si Chen’s companions to attack.
• Song Chi and Xie Changsheng combined their swordsmanship, spells, and time-law abilities to wound Ao Tong, while the others trapped and fought the remaining demons.
• Jiang Ling entered the battlefield and knocked out several demons with slaps, then struck Ao Tong and sent him crashing into an island.
• Zhou Yan took out the Immortal-Binding Rope and told the defeated demons that they were not bad people.

Zhou Yan and the Eastern Region group bound the defeated demons, then questioned their leader, Ao Tong, about his name and whether he had a Demon Realm Star Map. Ao Tong refused to cooperate, and the chapter ended with the group proposing increasingly cruel interrogation methods that made him reconsider the beating he had just endured.

• Zhou Yan used Immortal-Binding Ropes to tie up the demons, with Gray Gray helping bind one of them.
• Si Chen asked Ao Tong for his name and a Demon Realm Star Map, but Ao Tong refused to answer.
• Ao Tong spat on Black Mountain and Red Wind and called them Demon Traitors, so they beat him while he remained bound.
• Jiang Ling threatened to use Soul Search, and the others suggested further ways to force Ao Tong to talk.
• Ao Tong listened to the group's interrogation ideas and decided their earlier group beating had been the gentlest treatment.

Si Chen summoned Little Lei to intimidate Ao Tong, who agreed to answer questions about the Demon Realm and Red Bean. Ao Tong explained the Dragon Race’s divided factions and four clans, leaving Black Mountain laughing at the Ao clan’s reputation for being the most numerous.

• Si Chen called on Little Lei, whose immense thunderous form made Ao Tong surrender and agree to answer questions.
• Ao Tong described the Demon Realm’s power structure and said the Dragon Race neither submitted to nor resisted the Imperial Lord.
• Ao Tong explained that the Ying clan opposed the Imperial Lord, the Shi stayed aloof, and the Yu followed whoever held power.
• Ao Tong said the Ao clan was the largest and most widespread; Ao Chen added that they were the best at reproducing.
• Black Mountain laughed at the Ao clan’s distinction, while Luo Hongyi wrote that Ao dragons were extraordinarily lustful by nature.