Chapter Summaries

Chun Xiaobai discovered that Qin Ruoxue’s divine soul attack strengthened his divine sense, while Qin mistook his resistance for proof that he came from the Sacred Land. After he seized her and threatened to use an Image Recording Stone of their encounter, Qin panicked, leaving Chun Xiaobai with leverage over her.

• Qin Ruoxue’s God-Slaying Thorn failed to harm Chun Xiaobai and instead increased his divine sense, leading her to suspect he was from the Sacred Land.
• Chun Xiaobai ignored Qin Ruoxue’s warnings, seized her, and slapped her when she threatened to report him.
• Chun Xiaobai learned that Qin Ruoxue’s Soul-Suppressing Guide had sealed Bai Jin’er’s divine soul and demanded Qin’s divine soul attack manual.
• Qin Ruoxue refused to surrender the manual, so Chun Xiaobai retrieved Bai Jin’er’s Image Recording Stone and watched the footage of him slapping Qin.
• Qin Ruoxue recognized the Image Recording Stone and demanded it back, while Chun Xiaobai realized she feared the recording would damage her reputation.

Chun Xiaobai forced Qin Ruoxue to read out a ransom demand, freed Bai Jin'er from a seal, and sent Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang to carry out a plan to secure payment. Outside the Mountain of Ten Thousand Spirits, the sect leaders realized their missing heirs and invited reinforcements might have fallen into the Heavenly Baleful Valley's hands.

• Chun Xiaobai threatened to circulate an Image Recording Stone unless Qin Ruoxue read his ransom list aloud and told her Sect Master to bring the payment.
• Qin Ruoxue read the list, and Chun Xiaobai immobilized her without returning her clothes.
• Chun Xiaobai used the Heaven-Rending Hand to break Bai Jin'er's seal and wake her.
• Chun Xiaobai discussed a plan with Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang, who left with batches of pleas for help from the captured heirs.
• The Sect Masters and elders searching the Mountain of Ten Thousand Spirits found that several heirs and invited reinforcements, including Gu Shuangshuang and Qin Ruoxue, were missing and feared they had fallen into the Heavenly Baleful Valley's hands.

Envoy Zhang and the Heavenly Baleful Valley elders feared that missing disciples had been abducted during the trial, risking a conflict with powerful sects. The elders received recordings proving Ye Liuli and two others had been captured alive, but the culprit remained unknown.

• Envoy Zhang resisted notifying the Ancient Moon Sect and Mystic Ice Palace, expecting the kidnappers to make contact before the trial ended.
• The Heavenly Baleful Valley elders discovered that Ye Liuli and two other disciples were missing from the Mountain of Ten Thousand Spirits.
• Grand Elder Zheng Tianyuan rejected the idea that Ye Liuli had been captured, then grew suspicious that the Hundred Sects Alliance elders might have seized her themselves.
• A disciple delivered three Image Recording Stones showing bruised disciples and Ye Liuli, prompting the elders to realize the missing disciples had been captured alive.
• The elders demanded to know who had captured the disciples, and one speculated that the Hundred Sects Alliance was responsible.

The Hundred Sects Alliance and Heavenly Baleful Valley panicked over kidnapped heirs, including Qin Ruoxue, but the kidnappers made no demands. Chun Xiaobai chose to keep both groups waiting so he could pressure them into paying more.

• The Grand Elder feared Ye Liuli's kidnappers might make no demands, leaving the Heavenly Baleful Valley unable to bargain or respond.
• Envoy Zhang learned that Qin Ruoxue was among the captives and restrained the Hundred Sects Alliance from acting while they waited for the kidnappers to contact them.
• Lu Qingshan argued that the Heavenly Baleful Valley was unlikely to be responsible, but Envoy Zhang refused to risk provoking the kidnappers and ordered the alliance to keep searching the Mountain of Ten Thousand Spirits.
• Chun Xiaobai read Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang's report about the factions' anxiety and decided to prolong the wait to make the heirs' families pay more.
• Fang Yuan asked whether they should send the factions the list, but Chun Xiaobai refused.

Chun Xiaobai sent edited Image Recording Stones to the elders outside the Mountain of Ten Thousand Spirits, using the hostages’ apparent mistreatment to confuse and intimidate them. The Heavenly Baleful Valley and the Hundred Sects Alliance both mistook the recordings for threats meant to silence them, leaving their elders furious and confused.

• Chun Xiaobai warned Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang not to view the Image Recording Stones and told them to make sure only women opened them.
• Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang sent the recordings through their arranged channels to the elders outside the mountain.
• A female elder viewed Ye Liuli’s recording and saw her clothing being removed, prompting Zheng Tianyuan to smash the Flying Boat’s railing in rage.
• Zheng Tianyuan concluded that the kidnappers were threatening the Heavenly Baleful Valley into silence, and the elders cursed the Hundred Sects Alliance.
• Envoy Zhang led the Hundred Sects Alliance to the same conclusion, while injured disciples aboard the Flying Boat wondered why the elders were shouting.

Envoy Zhang ordered the Alliance to investigate the messengers, while Chun Xiaobai used the elders’ suspicions to advance his larger scheme. He sent new demands for the kidnapped disciples, leaving both sides furious at the staggering ransom.

• Envoy Zhang told his Managers to secretly follow whoever delivered the Image Recording Stones and uncover their origins.
• Chun Xiaobai learned the elders were tracking the messengers and welcomed their suspicions as a chance to steer blame toward the Alliance and Heavenly Baleful Valley.
• Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang worried that the elders might retaliate, but Chun Xiaobai sent them out with two new Image Recording Stones.
• Envoy Zhang and Zheng Tianyuan received the new demands for one hundred Heaven-Tier Magical Artifacts and ten million Upper-Grade Spirit Stones per person, then both groups erupted in curses.

After an enormous ransom demand left both factions guessing about the kidnappers’ identities, Chun Xiaobai learned that the elders were holding their positions and ordered his group to prepare to collect the money.

• The disciples heard rumors of a great opportunity in the Mountain of Ten Thousand Spirits and rushed toward its center.
• The Heavenly Baleful Valley elders argued over Ye Liuli’s kidnapping and the ransom before realizing they could haggle.
• The elders aboard the Thousand Sects Alliance’s Flying Boat debated the ransom and wondered where to deliver the money.
• Envoy Zhang suspected an elaborate scheme meant to make the two factions blame each other, but the Alliance elders concluded the Heavenly Baleful Valley was responsible.
• The Heavenly Baleful Valley elders likewise suspected the Thousand Sects Alliance and considered Envoy Zhang a possible mastermind.
• Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang reported the elders’ suspicions and stalemate to Chun Xiaobai, who ordered his brothers to prepare to collect the money.

Chun Xiaobai’s gang prepared to collect ransom by exploiting the Heavenly Baleful Valley and Hundred Sects Alliance’s mutual suspicions. After Bai Jin'er interpreted his scheme as deliberate misdirection, Chun Xiaobai sent the rival groups a brutal ransom demand and dispatched Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang with the recordings.

• Bai Jin'er explained that Chun Xiaobai had angered both sides until each blamed the other, convincing Chun Xiaobai and his men that they could safely collect the ransom.
• Chun Xiaobai praised Bai Jin'er, then filmed a ransom demand for magical artifacts, spirit stones, elixirs, talismans, and herbs, threatening to kill the hostages if the deadline passed.
• Chun Xiaobai had Xiao Zhang make a corpse explode during a second recording to make the threat look convincing, frightening Bai Jin'er.
• Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang hesitated to deliver the recordings, but Bai Jin'er urged them to trust Chun Xiaobai's plan, and they hurried off with the messages.

Chun Xiaobai’s staged ransom recording convinced both factions that the other had arranged the kidnapping, and they each sent back a counteroffer. Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang returned to the abyss cavern with the replies for Chun Xiaobai.

• Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang delivered the Image Recording Stones to the Righteous Alliance and Heavenly Baleful Valley.
• The Righteous Alliance elders suspected a third-party kidnapping, but Lu Qingshan persuaded them that Heavenly Baleful Valley had staged the bandit recording.
• Envoy Zhang ordered the Righteous Alliance to offer one million spirit stones and demand the hostages’ release.
• The elders of Heavenly Baleful Valley blamed the Hundred Sects Alliance and counteroffered five hundred thousand spirit stones.
• Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang received both replies and secretly returned to the abyss cavern to deliver them to Chun Xiaobai.

Chun Xiaobai grew furious when the two factions offered too little ransom, so he staged a convincing hostage mutilation to force them to pay more. The image of severed thighs sent both sides into panic and anger, and Envoy Zhang suspected the Heavenly Baleful Valley was provoking a war.

• Chun Xiaobai beat Lu Yunfei after learning that the hostages’ fathers had abundant Spirit Stones, then decided to raise the ransom by making the factions believe their sons had been mutilated.
• Chun Xiaobai used his Treasure-Seeing Divine Eye and Heaven-Rending Hand to alter a Mirror Image Formation Talisman so it could create realistic images of the hostages being maimed.
• Chun Xiaobai had Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang record the staged scene as they cut thighs from corpses, then sent the bloody footage and supposed body parts to both factions.
• Envoy Zhang, Zheng Tianyuan, and the elders saw the severed thighs and realized the kidnappers had acted on their threat, while both groups erupted in anger and alarm.
• Envoy Zhang suspected the Heavenly Baleful Valley was using the kidnappings to provoke a war between the two factions.

Envoy Zhang and Zheng Tianyuan feared the ransom and the captured sect scions were a ploy to provoke war, so they summoned the scions’ furious supreme elders. The elders were talked out of attacking, leaving both sides to swallow their anger and consider how to rescue their sons without breaking the agreement.

• Envoy Zhang and Zheng Tianyuan suspected the Thousand Sects Alliance was trying to provoke an all-out war and contacted the captured scions’ fathers instead of alerting their sect masters.
• Several supreme elders arrived at the Mountain of Ten Thousand Spirits and angrily berated Envoy Zhang and Zheng Tianyuan for letting their sons be captured and maimed.
• The supreme elders watched the Image Recording Stone and demanded to charge at the enemy, but Lu Qingshan warned that an attack could get their sons killed.
• Envoy Zhang told the Thousand Sects Alliance elders that the ransom was ten Heaven Tier magical artifacts, ten million spirit stones, and supreme-grade pills.
• The Heavenly Baleful Valley elders were persuaded not to attack, and both sides held back to avoid giving the other grounds to start a war.

Lu Qingshan warned the Thousand Venerables Alliance that Heavenly Baleful Valley had kidnapped disciples to provoke an unauthorized sect war and invite punishment from the Emperor Pavilion. Both sides agreed to stay calm and wait for negotiations, leaving the hostages in captivity for now.

• Lu Qingshan explained that Heavenly Baleful Valley had kidnapped disciples and was trying to bait the alliance into an unauthorized war.
• The supreme elders realized that fighting would let the Emperor Pavilion sanction their sects and potentially destroy the alliance.
• Lu Qingshan argued that the hostages were unlikely to be killed and that refusing to take the bait would push Heavenly Baleful Valley toward releasing them for benefits.
• The Heavenly Baleful Valley supreme elders accepted the plan to stay calm, and Zheng Tianyuan promised to seek spirit herbs to regrow the captives' severed limbs.

Chun Xiaobai discovered that the hostage-takers’ fathers were refusing to pay ransom because they feared strengthening their rival sects, so he lowered his demands and escalated the threat. The Heavenly Venerable Alliance’s elders still interpreted the new footage as a provocation and resolved to keep resisting.

• Chun Xiaobai learned from Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang that the sects had abundant Heaven Tier magical artifacts, and realized their elders were stalling instead of paying.
• With only one day left before the kidnapping deadline, Chun Xiaobai ordered more Mirror Image Talismans and decided to lower the ransom demands.
• Chun Xiaobai cut the Heavenly Venerable Alliance’s price in half and the Heavenly Baleful Valley’s price to thirty percent, then altered the hostage images to show their remaining thighs removed.
• Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang delivered the new Image Recording Stones to both sects, and the Heavenly Venerable Alliance’s elders howled at the footage of their sons.
• Lu Qingshan urged the Heavenly Venerable Alliance’s elders not to accept the ransom terms, arguing that the artifacts would make the Heavenly Baleful Valley too powerful.

Chun Xiaobai’s ransom demand was ignored by both the Heavenly Venerable Alliance and Heavenly Baleful Valley, leaving him disappointed in the value of his hostages. He turned to Ye Liuli to press the issue, and she realized her sect’s refusal to pay had put her in immediate danger.

• The Heavenly Venerable Alliance’s leaders decided to endure Chun Xiaobai’s threat rather than surrender five Heaven-Tier Magical Artifacts, and Heavenly Baleful Valley’s leaders likewise refused his demand for three.
• Chun Xiaobai waited until dawn for a response, then concluded that the sects were willing to abandon their sons rather than pay the ransom.
• Chun Xiaobai decided to use his last resort and headed toward the cave where Gu Shuangshuang, Ye Liuli, and Qin Ruoxue were held.
• Chun Xiaobai released Ye Liuli’s seal, and she accused him of breaking his promise to let her go.
• Chun Xiaobai blamed the sects for ignoring his discounted ransom terms, and Ye Liuli realized his anger might be taken out on her.

Chun Xiaobai forced Ye Liuli to cooperate with his ransom demand by threatening and humiliating her, then turned to Gu Shuangshuang for help. Gu Shuangshuang unexpectedly claimed she was not her father's biological daughter, leaving Chun Xiaobai stunned.

• Ye Liuli threatened to slaughter the Mountain Bandits and vowed revenge, so Chun Xiaobai slapped her and decided he could no longer show mercy.
• Chun Xiaobai threatened to kill Ye Liuli unless she cooperated, then recorded himself demanding her dowry from Heavenly Baleful Valley's Sect Master.
• Ye Liuli swallowed her anger and warned Chun Xiaobai to hope he lived long enough to spend the treasures.
• Chun Xiaobai released Gu Shuangshuang's seal and demanded her cooperation, but she said she had already asked her father for ransom.
• Chun Xiaobai accused Gu Shuangshuang's mother of having an affair, and Gu Shuangshuang revealed she was not her father's biological daughter.

Chun Xiaobai saw through Gu Shuangshuang’s feigned tears and discovered she was eager to conspire with him to extort her wealthy father. After they struck a deal, Gu Shuangshuang began recording a kidnapping plea and claimed she was pregnant, leaving Chun Xiaobai stunned.

• Gu Shuangshuang pretended her father had learned of her mother’s affair and planned to use Chun Xiaobai to kill them, but Chun Xiaobai saw through her act and slapped her.
• Gu Shuangshuang dropped her performance, sympathized with Chun Xiaobai’s hard childhood, and proposed splitting a larger ransom from her father.
• Chun Xiaobai agreed to join Gu Shuangshuang’s plan to rob her father’s hidden treasuries.
• Gu Shuangshuang put on her clothes, activated an Image Recording Stone, and staged a plea for her father to rescue her.
• Gu Shuangshuang hinted that she was pregnant, leaving Chun Xiaobai shocked.

Chun Xiaobai and Gu Shuangshuang plotted to ransom Qin Ruoxue after Gu revealed her powerful ties to the Emperor Pavilion. The chapter ended with Gu preparing a ransom recording and assuring Chun Xiaobai that she would not try anything as long as treasure was involved.

• Gu Shuangshuang persuaded Chun Xiaobai to ransom her by listing treasures she wanted him to demand from her father.
• Gu Shuangshuang recognized Qin Ruoxue and told Chun Xiaobai that she secretly belonged to the Emperor Pavilion, making her valuable to ransom.
• Chun Xiaobai returned Gu Shuangshuang's Storage Bag after she insisted her sealed Dantian meant she could not escape.
• Gu Shuangshuang put Qin Ruoxue on a bed, used Passion Powder on her, and recorded a ransom demand for treasures and valuables.
• Chun Xiaobai warned Gu Shuangshuang not to cause trouble, and she promised she only cared about treasure.

Chun Xiaobai sent Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang to deliver new ransom demands to both factions, while Envoy Zhang realized Qin Ruoxue’s identity could bring the Emperor Pavilion into the dispute. The Righteous Alliance’s leaders learned the price had risen and Envoy Zhang decided to ask the Alliance Leader what to do.

• Chun Xiaobai cut Gu Shuangshuang’s ransom demands in half, then gave Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang Image Recording Stones to deliver to the two factions.
• Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang brought an Image Recording Stone to the Righteous Alliance, where Lu Qingshan claimed their refusal to compromise had forced the kidnappers to contact them.
• Envoy Zhang activated the recording, revealing Chun Xiaobai’s demands for fifty Heaven-Tier Magical Treasures and a hundred million spirit stones, along with Qin Ruoxue in distress.
• The Righteous Alliance’s supreme elder beat Lu Qingshan after the price hike, but Envoy Zhang stopped the others from joining in.
• Envoy Zhang suspected Qin Ruoxue was connected to the Emperor Pavilion and said he had to ask the Alliance Leader to decide.

The Heavenly Baleful Valley learned that Ye Liuli had been kidnapped and that the Righteous Alliance might be provoking them into breaking the Emperor Pavilion’s laws. Ye Xiaotian arrived to take charge, but a report that the Thousand Sects Alliance was attacking the valley left Zheng Tianyuan suspecting the threat was real.

• Envoy Zhang sent a message while the Heavenly Baleful Valley elders watched the recording and realized the ransom negotiations might be a trap involving Ye Liuli.
• Zheng Tianyuan decided to consult the Sect Master, and Ye Xiaotian arrived in a fury, demanding to know where his daughter was.
• Zheng Tianyuan and the elders explained their suspicions that the Righteous Alliance wanted to provoke the valley into violating the Emperor Pavilion’s laws.
• A Manager reported that the Alliance Leader of the Thousand Sects Alliance was leading the Heavenly Sect in an attack on the valley.
• Zheng Tianyuan realized the Manager might not be acting and urgently asked whether the report was true.

Ling Tianchen learned that the Heavenly Baleful Valley had mobilized its entire sect, and he feared the consequences if Qin Ruoxue was harmed. As the Valley’s forces assembled near the Mountain of Ten Thousand Spirits, Ye Xiaotian asked for news of the Thousand Sects Alliance’s side.

• Ye Xiaotian ordered the Heavenly Baleful Valley’s elders to summon their disciples after realizing the Thousand Sects Alliance had surrounded them.
• Ling Tianchen questioned Envoy Zhang, who said the evidence pointed to the Heavenly Baleful Valley abducting the alliance’s core disciples.
• Ling Tianchen decided to contact Ye Xiaotian, but a scout reported that one million Heavenly Baleful Valley disciples and its supreme elders were advancing toward the Mountain of Ten Thousand Spirits.
• Ling Tianchen realized Qin Ruoxue’s connection to the Emperor Pavilion made the crisis dangerous for him and sent a message to the Palace Master of the Mystic Ice Palace.
• Ye Xiaotian watched as the Heavenly Baleful Valley’s War Puppets and Flying Boats assembled, then asked about the Thousand Sects Alliance’s forces.