Chapter Summaries

Chu Xingchen used Yuankong and the threat of a Soul Devouring Pill to pressure the Faceless Buddha into surrendering. The Faceless Buddha finally begged for help escaping, as the Buddha Kingdom around him began to dissolve.

• Chu Xingchen fed Yuankong more pills to raise the stakes while negotiating with the Faceless Buddha.
• The Faceless Buddha offered to return Yuankong's Divine Sense, but Chu Xingchen rejected the proposal as insincere.
• Chu Xingchen argued that the Faceless Buddha had little leverage and urged him to beg for mercy.
• The young monk waited for the Faceless Buddha's response as the wish power settled and his Buddha Kingdom began dissolving.
• The Faceless Buddha begged Chu Xingchen to help him leave.

Chu Xingchen freed Guangming Buddha from his imprisonment after deciding to trust him, and Guangming escaped before the group could question him further. Yuankong remained trapped and had to ask Chu Xingchen to save him.

• Yuankong regained control of his Divine Sense and begged Chu Xingchen to save him after confirming he had swallowed three items.
• The imprisoned Buddha claimed he wanted to save the world's people and asked Chu Xingchen to trust him.
• Chu Xingchen broke the Dharma Chains and freed Guangming Buddha, who thanked him and flew away.
• Xu Jin questioned how Chu Xingchen knew Guangming was good, and Chu Xingchen claimed he was an excellent judge of character.
• Yuankong interrupted their conversation to ask them to save him first.

Chu Xingchen confronted the Buddhist Sect after the Evil Buddha escaped, then Yuankong recovered a hidden golden Śarīra from Right Sound Temple. At the secret meeting place, Chu Xingchen found Bai Xuanling overcome by killing intent, and she said it was from “too much joy.”

• Chu Xingchen teased Yuankong, then declared that the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect and Heavenly Derivation Sect would take responsibility for releasing the Evil Buddha and challenge the Buddhist Sect to retaliate.
• Xu Jin contacted Bai Xuanling, who confirmed that her group could withdraw from the Universal Deliverance River and arranged a meeting place.
• Yuankong followed a dream to dig beneath a meditation cushion in the Main Hall and uncovered a golden Śarīra from a hidden stone.
• The Abbot of Right Sound Temple returned to the ruined temple, saw the broken Faceless Buddha and disturbed floor, and recited the rebirth mantra.
• Chu Xingchen and Xu Jin arrived at the secret meeting place, where they found Bai Xuanling surrounded by churning red Spiritual Power as two Elders tried to suppress it.
• Bai Xuanling told Chu Xingchen that she was affected by “too much joy.”

Bai Xuanling examined the clues from Right Sound Dharma Temple and decided the investigation should continue through its abbot, while the Heavenly Derivation Sect took over the next steps. After ordering Chu Xingchen to come with her, she left with him and Yuankong, revealing that her condition was worse than Chu Xingchen had suspected.

• Bai Xuanling questioned Xu Jin and Chu Xingchen about the escaped Buddha and the discoveries at Right Sound Dharma Temple.
• Chu Xingchen offered Bai Xuanling a Calm Mind Pill, which she pocketed for later testing, and Yuankong showed her a Golden Śarīra.
• Bai Xuanling identified the Śarīra as likely containing the Buddha's Mahayana Doctrine and reasoned that a high-ranking monk had concealed it.
• Yuankong revealed that the abbot of Right Sound Dharma Temple might know what happened during the Buddhist Sect debate, and Bai Xuanling decided to ask him.
• Bai Xuanling suspended the current operation, arranged for others to take over, and told Chu Xingchen to come with her as she left with Yuankong.

Bai Xuanling visited Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge with Chu Xingchen and Yuankong, hoping to see her disciples before returning to the Heavenly Derivation Sect. She reunited with Xie Lingyu and Qinghe, and reassured herself that Xie Lingyu was still the same as before.

• Bai Xuanling chose to visit Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge, and Chu Xingchen brought Yuankong along while leaving him free to choose his own path.
• Chu Xingchen led Bai Xuanling and Yuankong through the sect, where Bai Xuanling joked about becoming its honorary Grand Elder.
• Bai Xuanling found no one by the artificial pool and learned that Chen Baiqing had gone out to gain experience with Li Yingling.
• Chu Xingchen served Bai Xuanling tea preserved by Chen Baiqing, and Bai Xuanling asked how he had raised Chen Baiqing and whether Xie Lingyu could become more like her.
• Xie Lingyu and Qinghe arrived and asked why Chu Xingchen had not told them he was back.
• Bai Xuanling stopped Xie Lingyu from worrying about her condition, said she had missed her, and told her she was still the same little girl from back then.

Bai Xuanling visited Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge to see Xie Lingyu and Qinghe, then left for the Heavenly Derivation Sect with Chu Xingchen after giving him a message talisman. Qinghe and Xie Lingyu worried about Bai Xuanling’s urge to kill and wondered how Qinghe had come into her care.

• Bai Xuanling reminisced with Xie Lingyu about raising her and accepted Xie Lingyu’s sincere praise of her as a master.
• Bai Xuanling teased Qinghe by calling her a pet, then explained that Qinghe had been entrusted to her as an old friend’s daughter.
• Bai Xuanling gave Chu Xingchen a message talisman and let him escort her back to the Heavenly Derivation Sect.
• Qinghe and Xie Lingyu watched Bai Xuanling leave and agreed to ask the Sect Leader about her condition later.
• Qinghe asked whether she had been fished out or entrusted to Bai Xuanling, and Xie Lingyu joked that she might have been too stupid for other Flood Dragons to tolerate.

Chu Xingchen reflected on the years since Yuankong left to search for answers and on how his disciples’ cultivation had progressed. He urged Cui Hao to take pills to catch up with his peers, just as a tremendous surge of blood qi stained the sky above Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge.

• Yuankong left Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge with supplies from Chu Xingchen and set off for the Southern Jambu Continent to visit his senior brother before continuing his search.
• Chu Xingchen noted that Li Xingtian was preparing to break through to Golden Core, Lin Luoyu was nearing Foundation Establishment perfection, and Green Snake had reached Foundation Establishment and mastered the basics of her divine ability.
• Chu Xingchen teased Cui Hao about missing Third Senior Sister’s tea and challenged him to compare his cultivation progress with Lin Luoyu’s.
• Chu Xingchen encouraged Cui Hao to take pills like Li Xingtian, and Cui Hao reluctantly agreed to try one a day.
• A powerful surge of blood qi rose from Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge and turned the sky scarlet.

Li Xingtian broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm, gaining formidable blood-manipulation abilities that made him worry his righteous reputation was slipping away. As Chu Xingchen praised him, Chen Baiqing returned to the sect.

• Qinghe and Cui Hao discussed the blood qi surrounding Li Xingtian’s breakthrough, while Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu talked about how fate had brought them together.
• Li Xingtian emerged from seclusion as a Nascent Soul cultivator and realized he could manipulate blood qi and other people’s blood with ease.
• Chu Xingchen inspected Li Xingtian’s traits, praised his progress, and put an arm around him.
• Chu Xingchen noticed a purple light approaching the sect, and Chen Baiqing arrived and greeted him as her master.

Chen Baiqing returned to the sect and reunited with Chu Xingchen and her fellow disciples, bringing gifts prepared with Li Yingling. She gave Li Xingtian a special outfit that could make his red energy appear white, leaving him stunned.

• Chen Baiqing returned to the sect, and Chu Xingchen welcomed her while she explained that Li Yingling would arrive later.
• Chu Xingchen brought Chen Baiqing to the pool, where the disciples gathered to celebrate Li Xingtian’s breakthrough and welcome her home.
• Chen Baiqing brewed tea for everyone and distributed gifts she and Li Yingling had prepared for the sect.
• Chen Baiqing gave Sandong a pure black stone rich in lunar essence, which he happily hugged.
• Chen Baiqing gave Li Xingtian a white martial outfit with an illusion design that could disguise his energy, and he was astonished that it could make his red light appear white.

Chen Baiqing gave her fellow disciples and Chu Xingchen carefully chosen gifts at a tea gathering, then Chu Xingchen summoned Li Xingtian to discuss upgrading his constitution. The chapter ended with Li Xingtian learning the change might make cultivation easier but could also turn him into an even more formidable demon.

• Chen Baiqing gave Li Xingtian a garment that could change the color of his Spiritual Power, and he said he liked it.
• Chen Baiqing gave Xie Lingyu a mutton-fat jade bracelet and relayed Eldest Senior Sister's message that her own gift for Chu Xingchen would arrive later.
• Chen Baiqing gave Chu Xingchen a separate gift, which he put away without opening despite Qinghe's curiosity.
• After the tea gathering ended, Chu Xingchen called Li Xingtian to the Sect's Main Hall and told him his constitution could be upgraded.
• Chu Xingchen warned Li Xingtian that the upgrade's exact result was uncertain, though it would make cultivation easier and might turn him into an invincible ultimate Great Demon.

Chu Xingchen used a medicinal bath and a Divine Pill of Rebirth to upgrade Li Xingtian’s cultivation physique, while jokingly adding Sichuan pepper and ginger to remove the “gamey smell.” The upgrade succeeded, granting Li Xingtian the orange-grade Origin Blood True Body, though Chu Xingchen worried that his blood qi would remain difficult to conceal.

• Chu Xingchen put Li Xingtian in a boiling medicinal bath and added Sichuan pepper, explaining that he hoped the root-bone upgrade would let Li Xingtian leave blood qi methods behind.
• Chu Xingchen added ginger, and Li Xingtian asked him not to add any more unnecessary ingredients.
• Chu Xingchen gave Li Xingtian a Divine Pill of Rebirth, and Li Xingtian swallowed it after asking whether the spices would affect his body.
• As the pill’s effects took hold, Chu Xingchen upgraded Li Xingtian’s Blood-Bone True Body to the orange-grade Origin Blood True Body.
• Chu Xingchen saw that Li Xingtian’s new trait still appeared to involve blood qi and worried whether Xiaobaiqing’s Dharma Treasure garments could conceal it.

Li Xingtian emerged from two days of treatment with improved aptitude but unchanged blood qi, and joined Cui Hao at the Water Pool, where Chen Baiqing welcomed him back with candied fruit and tea. At the pavilion, Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu shared a quiet exchange, and Chu Xingchen planned to speak with her after Li Xingtian left to temper himself.

• Li Xingtian found that his aptitude had improved, though his master's attempt to remove his blood qi had failed.
• Cui Hao met Li Xingtian on the way to the Water Pool and praised his new white clothes.
• Chen Baiqing offered Li Xingtian candied fruit, and he felt reassured that she was still his familiar Third Junior Sister.
• Chen Baiqing prepared tea for Li Xingtian, Cui Hao, and Qinghe, while Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu watched from the pavilion.
• Chu Xingchen told Xie Lingyu he would speak with her after Li Xingtian left to temper himself.

Li Yingling visited the Myriad Treasures Pavilion in Central Province and used several powerful connections to gain access to its fourth floor. The shopkeeper offered her a steep discount, leaving her ready to shop.

• The Myriad Treasures Pavilion shopkeeper personally escorted Li Yingling through the third floor, drawing the attention of the Nascent Soul cultivators there.
• A Spirit Transformation cultivator initially refused to let Li Yingling onto the fourth floor because her cultivation was insufficient.
• Li Yingling showed Yuyang Daozi’s friendship token and the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect Token, then revealed a Heavenly Derivation Sect Token.
• The Spirit Transformation cultivator recognized Li Yingling’s backing and welcomed her upstairs.
• Li Yingling asked the shopkeeper whether her tokens could earn her a discount, and he offered to sell everything at ninety percent off.

Li Yingling searched the Myriad Treasures Pavilion for a gift that would delight her master and asked to see a Dream-Hanging Bell. Meanwhile, Chu Xingchen examined a contaminated imitation of the Heavenly Dao’s rules, learning that unknown forces may have advanced their research for thousands of years.

• Li Yingling considered her master’s tastes and asked the shopkeeper to show her the Dream-Hanging Bell.
• Chu Xingchen explained that Li Xingtian had begun feeling restless after his breakthrough and had urged him to travel and hone himself.
• Yan Yun brought out a heavily sealed box for Chu Xingchen while Bai Xuanling joined the meeting despite still appearing unwell.
• Yan Yun opened the box, revealing a blackened Rhombic Crystal that Chu Xingchen identified as an imitation of twisted, contaminated rules.
• Yan Yun warned that the research might be intended to contaminate principles and trigger a collapse, and said the discovery in Dongsheng Shenzhou could point to a far wider threat.

Chu Xingchen learned that demonic forces might possess fragments of rules and agreed to investigate a lead in Dongsheng Shenzhou using the Heavenly Derivation Sect’s covert network. He departed for Yuhua Ravine, while Bai Xuanling urged Yan Yun to work harder toward becoming sect leader.

• Chu Xingchen used Myriad Forms to test the crystal and concluded that some rules might have fallen into demonic hands.
• Bai Xuanling explained that investigations in Dongsheng Shenzhou had linked various evil cultivators to the crystal, though they knew nothing about its true nature.
• Yan Yun asked Chu Xingchen to investigate a new lead through the Heavenly Derivation Sect’s informants, and he agreed to go to Yuhua Ravine under the code name Jiuxuan.
• Chu Xingchen gave Bai Xuanling medicine and reminded him that the Grand Elder position was still being kept for him.
• After Chu Xingchen left, Bai Xuanling reassured Yan Yun about his arrangements and urged her to become sect leader sooner.

Chu Xingchen invited Yuyang Daozi to drink Spring Warmth while traveling with Xie Lingyu, then used Yan Yun’s jade stone to summon a host of unseen allies. The chapter ended as they answered his call.

• Chu Xingchen told Xie Lingyu that Dongsheng Shenzhou was dangerous, but she said she had come to clear her head, not to accompany him.
• Chu Xingchen teased Xie Lingyu by claiming Yuyang Daozi was nearby; Yuyang revealed himself from the riverbank, and Xie Lingyu retreated beneath the canopy.
• Chu Xingchen warned Yuyang not to provoke Xie Lingyu, then offered him Spring Warmth, and Yuyang agreed to help him.
• Chu Xingchen stopped Yuyang from drinking and scattered wine over the river, then used Yan Yun’s jade stone to summon everyone.
• Countless voices answered Chu Xingchen’s invitation, saying, “As you command!”

Chu Xingchen met deputy commissioner Gu Sanyang and persuaded Yuyang Daozi to help investigate the demons’ return. After Gu Sanyang explained his plan to lure out the hidden masterminds with a new band of evil cultivators, Chu Xingchen asked if he needed more powerful ones.

• Gu Sanyang introduced himself to Chu Xingchen and joined him on the bamboo raft to discuss the investigation.
• Chu Xingchen privately told Yuyang Daozi that demons had risen again and showed him a Rules Crystal as evidence.
• Yuyang Daozi agreed to help investigate, and Chu Xingchen stressed that they should speak openly to protect their friendship.
• Chu Xingchen asked Gu Sanyang to report his intelligence and plans in front of Yuyang Daozi.
• Gu Sanyang explained that he had arranged for a new band of evil cultivators to draw out the demons’ masterminds, but the available recruits were weak and cautious.
• Chu Xingchen asked whether Gu Sanyang needed powerful evil cultivators.

Li Xingtian arrived at Yaoguang Immortal City after Chu Xingchen summoned him, expecting an important mission. Chu Xingchen assigned him command of an elite force, and Gu Sanyang agreed to provide two aides for the task.

• Li Xingtian hurried from Central Province to Yaoguang Immortal City after receiving Chu Xingchen's message.
• Li Xingtian entered the Heaven-Class A Room at Yaoguang Immortal Pavilion and found Chu Xingchen, Yuyang Daozi, Xie Lingyu, and others discussing a mission.
• Chu Xingchen welcomed Li Xingtian, then told him he had an important task and would command an elite force.
• Chu Xingchen instructed Gu Sanyang to entrust the gathered cultivators to Li Xingtian and send two mission followers to assist him.
• Gu Sanyang agreed and judged that Li Xingtian's righteous appearance would ensure the evil cultivators understood orthodoxy.

Li Xingtian followed Zuo Wen and Yu Jing to a hidden base in Stillbone Forest, where he learned he had been made Cult Master of a group posing as the Evil Spirit Cult. He rallied the group with a fierce speech and threats, leaving the Evil Cultivators unsure whether to fear him or the righteous path more.

• Zuo Wen and Yu Jing led Li Xingtian through Stillbone Forest to a concealed base inside a mountain.
• Zuo Wen introduced himself as deputy cult master, named Yu Jing as head of the Execution Hall, and explained that the group would use the name Evil Spirit Cult.
• Li Xingtian saw roughly forty black-robed cultivators and watched them rise and bow when Yu Jing ordered them to greet their new Cult Master.
• Li Xingtian unleashed his powerful blood Qi and urged the Evil Cultivators to advance rather than accept a mediocre fate.
• Li Xingtian ordered that cowards be offered as blood sacrifices and those who disobeyed be made into sky lanterns.
• Yu Jing, Zuo Wen, and the Evil Cultivators shouted their allegiance, though many feared Li Xingtian's blood Qi more than the righteous path.

Li Xingtian rejected the idea of building the New Evil Spirit Cult by harming mortals and ordered his followers to target nearby Evil Cultivators instead. The next day, he led the assault on their stronghold while Yu Jing and Wen Zuo watched his overwhelming Blood Qi and questioned how he could claim not to be an Evil Cultivator.

• Li Xingtian refused to sit in the bone chair and told Yu Jing and Wen Zuo that limits were not something to discuss with Evil Cultivators.
• Wen Zuo showed Li Xingtian a map of nearby settlements, but Li Xingtian insisted they should recruit Evil Cultivators by defeating existing groups rather than turning ordinary people into Evil Cultivators.
• Li Xingtian ordered his forces to attack a nearby group with two Golden Core cultivators and possibly a Nascent Soul cultivator, take in those who submitted, and execute any of his own followers who harmed innocent mortals.
• The next day, Wen Zuo and Yu Jing waited above the valley as Li Xingtian unleashed towering Blood Qi against the Evil Cultivators.
• Yu Jing suggested that Li Xingtian might simply think his Ghost-Head Broadsword looked cool.