Chapter Summaries

Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng discovered that the Saint King had helped the Netherworld conquer the Dry Jade Continent and used evil rain to strengthen his followers while tormenting the remaining unsealed slaves. When a crowd surrounded them, Lin Mo claimed they wanted to pledge themselves to the Saint King, but an elderly soul slave responded skeptically.

• Lin Mo judged that the Netherworld's invasion of the Dry Jade Continent had nearly completed its second stage of conquest.
• Xue Qingcheng explained that evil beasts had helped the Netherworld conquer the continent and that its ruler, the Saint King, had surrendered and aided the invaders.
• The Saint King sent black rain from a jade bottle, which delighted soul slaves and evil beasts while causing unsealed slaves to suffer and bleed.
• More than a hundred soul slaves and evil beasts surrounded Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng after the rain weakened Xue Qingcheng's Snow Mist Art.
• Lin Mo stopped Xue Qingcheng from fighting and claimed they had come to pledge themselves to the Saint King, but an elderly soul slave challenged their claim.

Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng let themselves be captured so they could get close to the Saint King and investigate his hidden motives. Instead, Xi Ying sent them to labor at the quarry supplying ore for the unfinished Heavenly Nether Sacred Tower, whose purpose Lin Mo suspected might be tied to the Netherworld’s invasion.

• Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng accepted soul collars and shackles, then Lin Mo explained that the Saint King’s black rain seemed to serve a hidden purpose beyond helping the Netherworld.
• The soul slaves took them to the Saint King’s divine hall, where they saw the towering Heavenly Nether Sacred Tower under construction and Lin Mo wondered if it could open a passage between planes.
• Xi Ying judged the pair and ordered the soul slaves to take them to the quarry for labor.
• The soul slaves brought Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng to a mine where enslaved workers dug evil-corroded ore for the tower, then left them with hoes.
• After the guards departed, Xue Qingcheng discarded her hoe and asked Lin Mo to send her back into the Gourd Space.

Lin Mo brought the mine slave Qin Baochuan into his Gourd Space and freed him from his Soul-Locking Cuff. Qin Baochuan revealed that he was a former sect master whose sect had fallen fighting the Evil Spirits, and explained how the Sacred King enslaved defeated sect leaders.

• Lin Mo chose the unusually powerful Qin Baochuan from among the mine slaves and learned that he had endured three years of forced labor under a Soul-Locking Cuff.
• Lin Mo transported Qin Baochuan into the Gourd Space, where he promised the man was beyond Xi Ying’s reach.
• Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng removed their own cuffs, convincing Qin Baochuan to let Lin Mo free him.
• Qin Baochuan told Lin Mo, Xue Qingcheng, Feng Xu, and Mo Qing that he had led a major sect before the Evil Spirits destroyed it three years earlier.
• Qin Baochuan explained that the invading Evil Spirits used Evil Soul Seals on most captured disciples but fitted the sect masters and elders with cuffs and forced them into slavery.

Lin Mo began a covert plan to free the Dry Jade Continent’s powerful cultivators from Xi Ying’s Soul-Locking Cuffs while concealing their escape with counterfeit cuffs. He and his allies rescued nearly all the slaves at the Quarry and began expanding the operation to other work sites.

• Lin Mo concluded that the Sacred King had left sect masters and elders enslaved by Soul-Locking Cuffs rather than controlling them with Evil Soul Seals, and proposed rescuing the continent’s pillars.
• Lin Mo recreated counterfeit cuffs for Qin Baochuan, himself, and Xue Qingcheng, reassuring Qin that Xi Ying could monitor them but could not use them to kill.
• Qin Baochuan explained that Xi Ying came from outside the Dry Jade Continent, served the Sacred King, managed Bluestone Ghost City, and had made the cuffs.
• Qin Baochuan agreed to begin the rescue plan, and Lin Mo brought cuffed cultivators into the Gourd Space, freed them, and sent them back wearing counterfeits.
• Lin Mo and the freed cultivators rescued almost all of the Quarry’s thousand-plus slaves without Xi Ying noticing, then moved on to rescue others at the construction site.
• Lin Mo met leading figures of the Dry Jade Continent, including Qin Baochuan, Shen Changqing, Luo Lan, Zhong Zhengyan, and Xu Meng of the Five Elements Sacred Sect.

Lin Mo learned from Luo Lan that the Saint King had ordered the Heavenly Nether Sacred Tower built as a fortified structure, then went undercover with Xue Qingcheng to investigate the Dry Jade Continent. After the Saint King announced a Heaven-Connecting Ceremony, Lin Mo captured a young soul slave to question him.

• Luo Lan told Lin Mo that the Saint King had ordered spirit stones, spirit medicines, formations, and talismans stored in the Heavenly Nether Sacred Tower, suggesting it was meant to serve as a military fortress.
• Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng walked through the streets disguised as soul slaves and saw cultivators being abused by soul slaves and evil beasts.
• An ink-black jade bottle appeared above the street, so Lin Mo brought himself and Xue Qingcheng into the Gourd Space to avoid its black rain.
• The jade bottle announced that the Saint King would hold the Heaven-Connecting Ceremony at Nether Seclusion Temple at dusk, prompting the soul slaves and evil beasts to rush toward it.
• Lin Mo captured a young soul slave who threatened to kill him for delaying him from the Ascension Ceremony and brought him into the Gourd Space, where Xue Qingcheng frightened him.

Lin Mo learned that the Saint King’s annual Heaven-Connecting Ceremony promised Soul Slaves and Evil Beasts a chance to become Netherworld immortals by winning a Divine Flame Evil Fruit. Suspecting the fruit’s promise was a deception, he left the captured young man restrained and questioned what the reward really was.

• Lin Mo offered the young man a Nine-Turn Demon-Cleansing Pill, but the young man refused it because he wanted to keep serving the Netherworld.
• Lin Mo used chains formed from the plane’s will to torture the young man until he explained the Heaven-Connecting Ceremony and its promised Divine Flame Evil Fruit.
• The young man said tens of thousands of Soul Slaves and Evil Beasts could take part, and he eagerly wished to compete despite his weak cultivation.
• Lin Mo restrained the young man beside Lei Xun instead of letting him attend the ceremony.
• Lin Mo questioned why the Saint King would give away a treasure capable of turning lower-plane cultivators into Netherworld immortals, and Feng Xu asked what the Divine Flame Evil Fruit truly was.

Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng entered the Ascension Ceremony at the Nether Seclusion Temple and were transported to the Heaven-Ascending Platform, where thousands of soul slaves and evil beasts gathered. A refined young man approached them, and Xue Qingcheng revealed that she could not see through his cultivation.

• Lin Mo decided to attend the Ascension Ceremony with Xue Qingcheng while Feng and Mo remained in the Gourd Space to recover.
• Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng entered the Nether Seclusion Temple and touched the pillar of white light together, arriving on a cloud-filled platform high above the ground.
• Lin Mo observed the gathered contestants and kept his and Xue Qingcheng's cultivation auras suppressed with their false Evil Soul Seals.
• A refined young man approached Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng, asked their names, and wished them success after Lin Mo claimed they had returned from secret missions.
• Xue Qingcheng told Lin Mo that the young man was no ordinary person because she could not see through his cultivation.

Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng watched the first Heavenly Road Step appear and saw the soul slaves and evil beasts slaughter one another to reach it. After the mysterious young man returned and hinted that he knew their identities, Lin Mo chose to stay his course, and he and Xue Qingcheng suspected the man was the Saint King.

• Lin Mo reasoned that the young man's hidden cultivation might make him the Saint King, but persuaded Xue Qingcheng to continue toward the Heaven-Worship Ceremony.
• The Ascension Ceremony ended, and seven-colored radiance formed the first Heavenly Road Step above the Heaven-Ascending Platform.
• Soul slaves and evil beasts charged onto the step, fighting viciously and sending hundreds plunging into the abyss.
• The young man returned and questioned why Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng had not joined the competition for the Divine Flame Evil Fruit.
• Lin Mo said they would follow heaven's will rather than fight for the fruit, amusing the young man, who then vanished.
• Xue Qingcheng suspected the young man was the Saint King, and Lin Mo urged her not to act rashly because the man had not attacked them.

Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng survived the bloody levels of the Ascension Ceremony while keeping their strength concealed, until only they and Xu Damou remained. Xu Damou proposed sharing the Divine Flame Evil Fruit at the final level, but Xue Qingcheng looked down on him as the thousandth level approached.

• Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng held to a corner on each level, and Xue Qingcheng killed anyone who provoked them with a single strike.
• The Saint King's seven-colored radiance healed the survivors and restored their strength after each battle, while the dead remained dead.
• After a day of fighting, Lin Mo, Xue Qingcheng, and Xu Damou were the only survivors reaching the nine hundred and ninety-ninth level.
• Xu Damou introduced himself and asked Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng to avoid fighting on the thousandth level so they could share the Divine Flame Evil Fruit.
• Xu Damou explained that the fruit could be divided among three people, but Xue Qingcheng regarded him with contempt.

Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng followed Xu Damou beyond the thousandth Heavenly Road Step, where the supposed Divine Flame Evil Fruit transformed into a Netherworld Evil Treasure Furnace Cauldron. After it devoured Xu Damou and the entire thousandth step, they retreated into the Gourd as it began consuming the level beneath them.

• Lin Mo agreed to Xu Damou’s plan to pray for the Divine Flame Evil Fruit, but Xu Damou fled through the clouds when they reached the thousandth step.
• Xue Qingcheng shattered Xu Damou’s left arm as he charged into a hidden world beyond the clouds, and Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng pursued him.
• Lin Mo examined the Divine Flame Evil Fruit with the Divine Wood Eye and stopped Xue Qingcheng from attacking Xu Damou as he reached for it.
• The fruit and hidden world transformed into a towering Furnace Cauldron, which melted Xu Damou and sucked him inside.
• The Furnace Cauldron swallowed the thousandth Heavenly Road Step and began consuming the nine hundred and ninety-ninth, so Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng retreated into the Gourd.

Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng survived the cauldron’s scorching flames inside the Gourd Space, then discovered the young man from the Ascension Ceremony using the essence blood of soul slaves and evil beasts to hatch a gigantic demon egg. They attacked him, but he vanished before their blows could land.

• Lin Mo told Feng Xu and Mo Qing that the Ascension Ceremony was a trap and that the Divine Flame Evil Fruit had transformed into a cauldron that swallowed the surroundings.
• Lin Mo, Xue Qingcheng, Feng Xu, and Mo Qing sheltered in the Gourd Space as the cauldron burned for two hours, using the Spirit Plant Altar and Snow-Summoning Art to protect themselves.
• Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng left the Gourd Space and found themselves back at the Heaven-Ascending Platform, surrounded by lingering heat and white mist.
• Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng cleared the mist and saw the young man standing between the cauldron and a gigantic demon egg resembling the egg Taotie had become.
• The young man fed the demon egg a sphere of blood-red essence and said three more Ascension Ceremonies should complete its hatching.
• Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng attacked the young man with Greenwood Sword Rain and Profound Ice Soul Suppression, but he vanished.

Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng confronted the Saint King, but his power easily countered Lin Mo’s strongest attacks. As Lin Mo worked to activate the Heavenly Pivot Sword Puppet, Xue Qingcheng tried to hold the Saint King off and was saved from a fatal strike by a giant hand of white light.

• Lin Mo revealed the Four Sages Immortal Spirit Tree and attacked the Saint King with Azure Dragon’s Annihilating Dragon Breath, but the Saint King blocked it with the Flame God Furnace.
• Lin Mo used the Sacred Flame Bow and Vermilion Bird’s Three Calamities Soul-Slaying, but the Saint King neutralized the phoenixes with fire bats.
• Lin Mo exhausted much of his Dharma Power, so Xue Qingcheng volunteered to buy time while he activated the Heavenly Pivot Soul-Guarding Sword.
• Xue Qingcheng summoned her Profound Ice Battle Armor and fought the Saint King, who held back until he suddenly blasted her to the ground with his Spirit Halberd.
• The Saint King moved to strike Xue Qingcheng, but a giant hand of white light knocked him away and saved her.

Lin Mo’s Spirit-Slaying Sword Intent failed to harm the Saint King, who revealed that he ruled the Dry Jade Continent and controlled its power of rules. Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng escaped inside the Gourd Space, but the Saint King pursued them with a meteor storm.

• Lin Mo summoned the Heavenly Pivot Sword Puppet and struck at the Saint King with Spirit-Slaying Sword Intent.
• The Saint King used successive meteors to bury and extinguish Lin Mo’s sword strike.
• The Saint King revealed that he commanded the Dry Jade Continent’s power of rules, causing the Heavenly Pivot Sword Puppet to vanish.
• Xue Qingcheng urged Lin Mo to retreat, then used Cold Current to carry the Green-Skinned Little Gourd away in a Blizzard Tornado.
• The Saint King sent meteors after the Green-Skinned Little Gourd, while Xue Qingcheng steered it through the storm and the bombardment shook Bluestone Ghost City.

After escaping the Saint King's meteor attack, Lin Mo decided to learn the Saint King's weaknesses by capturing Xi Ying, and he set a plan in motion with the Dry Jade Continent's cultivators. Xi Ying discovered that the construction-site slaves had vanished and their Soul-Locking Cuffs had been removed, leaving her shocked by the apparent revolt.

• The Saint King watched the destruction around Nether Seclusion Temple and vowed that Lin Mo would not easily leave the Dry Jade Continent.
• Lin Mo recovered in the Gourd Space and concluded that he needed intelligence about the Saint King's abilities and weaknesses before confronting him again.
• Lin Mo chose Xi Ying as his target and contacted Qin Baochuan, Shen Changqing, Luo Lan, and the others through Communication Leaves to ask for their help.
• A Nascent Soul Realm soul slave told Xi Ying that the construction-site slaves had rebelled and the four overseers were missing.
• Xi Ying inspected the construction site and found it empty, with hundreds of removed Soul-Locking Cuffs piled in a corner.

Lin Mo and his companions ambushed Xi Ying at the Quarry, trapping her and the eight hundred Soul Slaves with their formations. Lin Mo brought Xi Ying to his Gourd Space and restrained her there, declaring that even the Saint King could not save her.

• Xi Ying gathered eight hundred Soul Slaves and hurried to the Quarry to crush the supposed revolt, but found only Qin Baochuan waiting there.
• Qin Baochuan transformed into Lin Mo, who revealed that he had been waiting for Xi Ying on behalf of the people of the Dry Jade Continent.
• Xue Qingcheng's ice formation and Lin Mo's vine formation immobilized the eight hundred Soul Slaves, while Xi Ying broke free and attacked Lin Mo.
• Xue Qingcheng, Feng Xu, and Mo Qing engaged Xi Ying, and Lin Mo caught her with golden vines before taking her and his companions into the Gourd Space.
• Lin Mo shackled Xi Ying in his Gourd Space and told her that the chains embodied his will and that even the Saint King could not save her.

Lin Mo forced Xi Ying to face the former slaves she had tormented, and she agreed to reveal what she knew about the Saint King. Xi Ying said he had willingly surrendered the Dry Jade Continent to the Netherworld and sworn loyalty to Xuantian Nether Venerable, leaving Lin Mo to ask whether she knew of any weakness he could exploit.

• Lin Mo revealed that he had secretly freed the slaves from their Soul-Locking Cuffs and brought them to confront Xi Ying.
• Lin Mo let Qin Baochuan, Luo Lan, Zhong Zhengyan, and the other former slaves threaten Xi Ying with vengeance, and she agreed to answer his questions.
• Xi Ying said the Saint King had approached the Netherworld voluntarily and offered the Dry Jade Continent in exchange for continuing to rule it on the Netherworld's behalf.
• Xi Ying explained that the Saint King had sworn on his soul and signed a contract with Xuantian Nether Venerable, and that the Netherworld used the continent's soul slaves to feed Qiongqi.
• Lin Mo asked Xi Ying whether she knew of any weaknesses the Saint King had.

Lin Mo learned that the Saint King’s enlightened spirit consciousness was the source of his wisdom and power, and that destroying it could make him mortal. Qin Baochuan proposed infiltrating the Saint King’s Homage Ceremony to attack him, while Lin Mo warned that Xi Ying’s role could threaten their plan.

• Lin Mo exposed Xi Ying’s lie and forced her to reveal that the Saint King’s enlightened spirit consciousness was stored in his brain and could be shattered.
• Lin Mo let Qin Baochuan, Luo Lan, Zhong Zhengyan, and the other avengers torture Xi Ying for her crimes.
• Lin Mo and Xue Qingcheng, Feng Xu, and Mo Qing discussed how they could reach and defeat the Saint King.
• Qin Baochuan proposed infiltrating the Saint King’s yearly Homage Ceremony, where thousands of soul slaves gathered, to assassinate him amid the chaos.
• Lin Mo approved the plan but warned that Xi Ying, the Saint King’s trusted confidante and governor of Bluestone Ghost City, posed a danger.

Lin Mo’s cultivation remained stuck at the golden core pinnacle despite a year of effort in the Gourd Space, so he prepared to assassinate the Saint King during the Homage Ceremony. When the ceremony began, a towering beastman appeared in place of the Saint King, leaving Lin Mo stunned.

• Lin Mo forged fake Soul-Locking Cuffs for Qin Baochuan and the others and waited for the Homage Ceremony, while Xi Ying’s disappearance caused little commotion.
• Lin Mo failed to break through to the nascent soul realm, and Xue Qingcheng suggested the Saint King’s enlightened spirit consciousness might explain his mysterious obstacles.
• Lin Mo outlined a plan for the group to infiltrate the ceremony and attack the Saint King, with him delivering the final strike using Spirit-Slaying Sword Intent.
• After the soul slaves left the Divine Temple, Xue Qingcheng killed the remaining guards, and Lin Mo disguised himself as a soul slave and brought Qin Baochuan to Nether Seclusion Temple.
• The ceremony’s presiding officer announced the Saint King’s arrival, but a massive, horned beastman emerged, and Lin Mo wondered who he was.

Lin Mo discovered that the giant-axe beastman hailed as the Saint King was not the refined young man he had encountered before, so he tried to retreat with Qin Baochuan. The beastman attacked, but Lin Mo escaped with Qin Baochuan on a Wood Dragon, prompting the beastman to lock down Bluestone Ghost City and order a hunt for them.

• Lin Mo used the Divine Wood Eye and confirmed that the giant-axe beastman was not the young Saint King he had seen at the Ascension Ceremony, though the beastman possessed comparable or greater power.
• Lin Mo told Qin Baochuan to retreat so they could investigate the beastman's connection to the young Saint King before making another move.
• The beastman exposed Lin Mo and Qin Baochuan as intruders and attacked them with his giant axe.
• Lin Mo shielded himself and Qin Baochuan with the Spirit Plant Altar, then summoned a Wood Dragon to carry them away from the beastman's next strike.
• The beastman ordered Bluestone Ghost City locked down and sent the soul slaves to hunt Lin Mo and Qin Baochuan, promising an Extreme Demon Pill for their heads.

After escaping the Giant-Axe Orc, Lin Mo returned to the Divine Temple's Quarry and learned that people recognized two different figures as the Saint King. He set out to seek Venerable Buyi, hoping to learn the truth, while Xue Qingcheng proposed investigating the Saint King's identity separately.

• Lin Mo returned to the Quarry with Qin Baochuan and entered the Gourd Space, where Xue Qingcheng and the others asked about his encounter with the Saint King.
• Lin Mo discovered that Shen Changqing and Luo Lan knew the Saint King as the Giant-Axe Orc, while Xue Qingcheng, Feng Xu, and Mo Qing identified him as a young human man.
• Luo Lan explained that Venerable Buyi, once the Dry Jade Continent's foremost sage, had resisted the Evil Soul Seal by sealing himself in an underground palace in the Illusory Void Forest.
• Lin Mo decided to free Venerable Buyi and seek his guidance, then summoned the Nine-Colored Auspicious Clouds to travel to the forest.
• Xue Qingcheng proposed staying near the Divine Temple to investigate the Saint King while Lin Mo sought Venerable Buyi, but Lin Mo warned that she could be in danger.