Chapter Summaries

Cheng Xinzhan entered the Demon-Locking Tower’s Spring Hunt and killed Tian Zhongshui in under thirty breaths, burning away the Demon Fiend and his Golden Core. After advancing to the third level, he selected Monk Kongse and killed him just as quickly, then proceeded to the fourth level.

• Cheng Xinzhan entered Tian Zhongshui’s cell with Lion and burned the Water Ghosts and Tian Zhongshui with his unusual Spellfire.
• Cheng Xinzhan collected Tian Zhongshui’s belongings, and the jailer verified the cell was clear before recording the kill and sending him to the third level.
• The jailers discussed wagers over Cheng Xinzhan’s progress and learned that he had chosen Monk Kongse, a Third Wash Demon Fiend.
• Cheng Xinzhan killed Monk Kongse in roughly fifty breaths, and the third-level jailer confirmed his death before reporting that Cheng Xinzhan had moved to the fourth level.

Cheng Xinzhan killed Monk Jing Shi with the Lion’s help, collected the monk’s baleful intent, and moved on to fight Yao Kaijiang on the fifth floor of the Demon-Locking Tower. Yao Kaijiang’s defenses withstood Cheng Xinzhan’s attacks, but Cheng began to identify a way to counter them.

• Cheng Xinzhan let the Lion crush Monk Jing Shi to death after obtaining the method for bearing stones asceticism, then gathered the baleful intent released from the monk’s Golden Core.
• Cheng Xinzhan entered the fifth floor and chose Yao Kaijiang, whose bronze skin, iron bones, and history as a powerful demonic cultivator made him a formidable target.
• Yao Kaijiang attacked Cheng Xinzhan, manifesting a small King of Yelang Dharma Form, while the Lion joined the fight.
• Cheng Xinzhan’s White Bone Flying Sword pierced Yao Kaijiang’s chest but could not pass through his protective secret art after he covered himself in black talisman markings.
• Yao Kaijiang pressed Cheng Xinzhan in close combat, but Cheng parried his halberd with Autumn Water and began working out how to counter his defenses.

Cheng Xinzhan used Eight Trigrams Ghost-Locking Gang Steps and Great Yin talismans to destroy Yao Kaijiang’s mercury-blood bronze corpse body, then questioned his Primordial Spirit before dispersing it. Yao Kaijiang revealed that the Crimson Corpse Divine Lord had killed his master, Brocade Dragon, leaving Cheng Xinzhan to reconsider the Divine Lord’s power.

• Cheng Xinzhan prepared eight Corpse-Transforming Form-Erasing Talismans using Crown Prince Bingling’s divine form and Great Yin baleful intents.
• Cheng Xinzhan planted the talismans at eight acupoints on Yao Kaijiang while using the Eight Trigrams Ghost-Locking Gang Steps, despite being wounded by Yao Kaijiang’s dagger-axe.
• Cheng Xinzhan activated the talismans, melting Yao Kaijiang’s bronze body, then destroyed it with the Nether Capital and left only his Primordial Spirit.
• Yao Kaijiang said Fuxia Lake still existed and revealed that the Crimson Corpse Divine Lord had killed Brocade Dragon through sinister means.
• Yao Kaijiang began detonating his Primordial Spirit, but Cheng Xinzhan scattered it and wondered how the Crimson Corpse Divine Lord had defeated Brocade Dragon.

Cheng Xinzhan defeated Yao Kaijiang, then entered the sixth floor of the Demon-Locking Tower and discovered Bai Yuxuan had been imprisoned after Xuanmen sought her chi-dragon pearl. He offered to help her escape by destroying her body and Golden Core and carrying out her Primordial Spirit, and she agreed.

• Cheng Xinzhan found Yao Kaijiang's two rare baleful intents and a Pu-Liao Puppet-Making Scripture, then burned the cell clean and treated his wound.
• Cheng Xinzhan entered the sixth-floor cell of Bai Yuxuan, a fifth-wash chi-dragon, and countered her flute attacks with sword arts and draconic might.
• Cheng Xinzhan told Bai Yuxuan that he had rescued Bai Yuhua, and she explained that Xuanmen had imprisoned her after finding her pearl too old to meet Xun Lanyin's standards.
• Cheng Xinzhan offered to take Bai Yuxuan out by destroying her body and Golden Core and preserving her Primordial Spirit in the Supreme Celestial Capital Register.
• Bai Yuxuan agreed to the dangerous escape, and Cheng Xinzhan began casting his spell.

Cheng Xinzhan destroyed Bai Yuxuan’s body, secretly saved her Primordial Spirit, and received her thousand years of cultivation, which strengthened his Golden Core and advanced its tribulation. After leaving the Sixth Layer undetected, he entered the Eighth Layer and chose to face the Nameless Corpse Hag and her Corpse Puppet.

• Cheng Xinzhan defeated Bai Yuxuan in their staged battle, concealed her Primordial Spirit in the Supreme Celestial Capital Register, and gathered the remains and treasures from her body.
• Bai Yuxuan gave Cheng Xinzhan the chi-dragon cultivation held in her Chi-Dragon Pearl, strengthening his Golden Core and drawing its tribulation clouds closer.
• Bai Yuxuan asked Cheng Xinzhan to take her grandson Yuhua to Shennongjia and keep her clan’s ability to nourish Golden Cores secret, and Cheng Xinzhan agreed.
• Cheng Xinzhan convinced the jailer that he had burned the Chi-Dragon Pearl, passed the inspection, and left the Sixth Layer without drawing the Demon-Illuminating Mirror’s attention.
• After resting on the Seventh Layer and contacting the Yellow Sea Dragon Lord, Cheng Xinzhan reached the Eighth Layer and asked about the Nameless Corpse Hag in Cell Thirty-Four.
• Cheng Xinzhan learned that the Nameless Corpse Hag possessed a Fifth Washing Corpse Puppet, recognized it as the Nine-Infant Corpse Mother, and entered her Prison Void Realm.

Cheng Xinzhan encountered Tian Xiu'e, the missing Earth Temple master, in the Demon-Locking Tower and fought her corpse puppets with his seal and flying swords. After Lion strengthened the seal and pinned down Tian Xiu'e’s dharma form, the Nine-Infant Corpse Mother broke free and lunged at him.

• Cheng Xinzhan recognized Tian Xiu'e and attacked her nine-infant corpse puppets with solar bing fire, but her lone smoke obscuring the sun baleful intent resisted the flames.
• Cheng Xinzhan sent down his seal, which scattered Tian Xiu'e’s baleful intent and pinned the Nine-Infant Corpse Mother beneath its weight.
• Tian Xiu'e attacked Cheng Xinzhan with her crow-headed hairpin sword and copper coins, but Peach Capital and Nether Capital defeated them.
• Tian Xiu'e formed her śītavana dharma form, while Cheng Xinzhan sent Lion onto the seal to increase its weight.
• The seal forced Tian Xiu'e’s dharma form to its knees, but the Nine-Infant Corpse Mother broke free and lunged at Cheng Xinzhan.

Cheng Xinzhan killed Tian Xiu'e and the Nine-Infant Corpse Mother, then purified the corpses and collected their remains. On the ninth floor of the Demon-Locking Tower, he entered a cell belonging to a Red Heart Cult demon and found himself facing an apparent immortal realm.

• Cheng Xinzhan used Peach Capital and Nether Capital to overwhelm the Nine-Infant Corpse Mother and strike her fatal weak point, killing her and her nine corpse infants.
• Tian Xiu'e abandoned her fight with the Lion and attacked Cheng Xinzhan, but her Dharma Form collapsed; Cheng Xinzhan took her seal and Golden Core and burned her to death with Yang Fire.
• Cheng Xinzhan purified the woman's and infants' corpses, gathered their spirits in a pouch, and collected baleful intent and demonic treasures before ringing the bell.
• The wardens identified Tian Xiu'e as a leader of Heavenly Scabbard Mountain and watched Cheng Xinzhan enter cell twenty-two, where the prisoner was Wu Buwei, a Six Washings Right Protector of the Red Heart Cult.
• Lu Linqing warned that Wu Buwei's mastery of desire-born illusions could threaten Cheng Xinzhan despite his age and frailty.
• Cheng Xinzhan entered the ninth-floor cell and saw a dazzling realm of celestial palaces beyond a jeweled heavenly gate.

Cheng Xinzhan resisted Wu Buwei’s illusion of the Celestial Palace, then pretended to accept the Jiao Kingdom’s seduction while secretly turning the trap against the demon. Wu Buwei stole Cheng Xinzhan’s body, only to discover he had been lured into Cheng Xinzhan’s gourd and trapped in a sea of fire.

• Cheng Xinzhan and Lion examined the apparent heavenly gate, but Lion believed the divine beings and followed the illusion across the bridge.
• Cheng Xinzhan rejected the Celestial Palace’s summons and was cast into an illusion of the Eastern Sea, where the Jiao Kingdom’s ruler offered him her throne and herself as consort.
• Cheng Xinzhan acted as though he accepted the ruler’s offer, while Wu Buwei watched from the cell and waited for his victims to sink deeper into the illusion.
• Wu Buwei pulled Cheng Xinzhan’s primordial spirit from his body, destroyed it, took the jade key, and possessed the apparently empty body.
• Wu Buwei realized he could not control Cheng Xinzhan’s body, then found himself trapped in a fiery space as Lion and Cheng Xinzhan’s voice revealed his deception.

Cheng Xinzhan defeated Wu Buwei, then entered the tenth floor and used an immortal-bestowed formation disk to rescue Gu Yi, the father of his junior sister Qin'er. After leaving the tower, he met Feng Ji Hu and prepared to depart with him.

• Cheng Xinzhan refined Wu Buwei’s Golden Core and reported the demon’s death before continuing to the tenth floor.
• Cheng Xinzhan chose to face the seven-washing chi-dragon Gu Yi, whose mallet strikes disturbed his Heart Mansion.
• Cheng Xinzhan proved he was Qin’er's senior brother, told Gu Yi that Qin'er was safe, and offered to take him out of the tower.
• Cheng Xinzhan activated the Heaven and Earth Formation Diagram, and Gu Yi vanished with it despite the tower’s void-realm restrictions.
• Cheng Xinzhan told the jailer he had killed Gu Yi, left the tower, and met Feng Ji Hu on the seventh floor.
• Feng Ji Hu confirmed the rescue had worked, and he and Cheng Xinzhan agreed to leave.

After escaping the Demon-Locking Tower, Cheng Xinzhan parted from Feng Ji Hu and traveled to Shennongjia to bring Bai Yuhua back to Three Pure Ones Mountain. He reunited Bai Yuhua with Bai Yuxuan and set out toward the Yellow Sea, ending the chapter in high spirits as he flew east.

• Cheng Xinzhan and Feng Ji Hu escaped Ba-Shu, discussed their plans, and Cheng Xinzhan gave Feng Ji Hu a bottle of wood baleful intent before they parted.
• Cheng Xinzhan received word from the Dragon Lord that Uncle Gu was safe on the Yellow Sea, then contacted his master about bringing Junior Sister to visit.
• Cheng Xinzhan traveled to Shennongjia and found Bai Yuhua, who eagerly agreed to leave her pool and return to the mountain with him.
• Cheng Xinzhan released Bai Yuxuan's primordial spirit, and Bai Yuhua tearfully reunited with her great-grandmother.
• Cheng Xinzhan shrank Bai Yuhua with the Transform spell, stored her and Bai Yuxuan safely, and set off toward the Yellow Sea.

Cheng Xinzhan arrived at the Pearl-Retaining Tower as Gu Yi reunited with his family, and learned that Li Shanshou would soon ascend to the Immortal Realm. After Li Shanshou entrusted his tower to Li Guanfeng and secured the Dragon Lord’s protection for three hundred years, Cheng Xinzhan accepted a pact to meet him in heaven within the same span.

• Cheng Xinzhan reached the Pearl-Retaining Tower and reunited with Gu Yi, Gu Li, Gu Qin, and Xinshu.
• Cheng Xinzhan learned that Li Shanshou was nearing ascension and that the Dragon Lord had promised to protect Li Guanfeng and the tower for three hundred years.
• Li Shanshou gave Cheng Xinzhan a jade slip containing his insights into the Void Arts and asked him to reach the Immortal Realm within three hundred years.
• Cheng Xinzhan accepted Li Shanshou’s pact, while the Dragon Lord invited Xinshu and her family to the Yellow Sea Dragon Palace.
• Wen Sukong and Cheng Xinzhan let Xinshu stay with her family, and Cheng Xinzhan promised to return for her later.

After returning to Bright Governance Mountain, Cheng Xinzhan arranged for White Dragon and Zhaoli to begin their training under masters at Three Pure Ones Mountain and helped Bai Yuhua enter Jiang Weishan’s tutelage. He then asked Ji Hehe for guidance on a spell that would create a controllable void realm for capturing and confining targets, leaving the sect leader increasingly grave as he listened.

• Cheng Xinzhan told Wen Sukong that he wanted Gou'er to stay on Bright Governance Mountain and learn spells, then returned to the mountain and said White Dragon would be a nominal disciple until Cheng Xinzhan reached the Fourth Realm.
• Cheng Xinzhan visited Jiang Weishan with demonic treasures, asked him to guide the demons at Bright Governance Mountain in choosing Life-bound Dharma Treasures, and arranged for him to take Bai Yuhua as a disciple and Bai Yuxuan as an Attendant.
• Cheng Xinzhan visited Ren Wushi, received a Spirit-Flying Lesser Reversion Pill, and asked him to take Zhaoli as a disciple; Ren Wushi agreed and ordered Cheng Xinzhan to bring her over immediately.
• Cheng Xinzhan brought Zhaoli to Cinnabar Glow Mountain, then visited Ji Hehe at the Three Pure Ones Palace and asked for advice on a spell to refine a controllable void realm for capturing and confining targets.
• Ji Hehe listened to Cheng Xinzhan explain his spell design, and his expression grew increasingly grave.

Three months after returning to Three Pure Ones Mountain, Cheng Xinzhan traveled to Tengchong to prepare a tribulation site for Wu Qingbo and stand guard over his coming Elixir-Washing Tribulation. After building the formation’s framework, Cheng Xinzhan opened a nearby cave and chose to prepare for his own third tribulation on the earliest schedule, then began studying a cultivation text.

• Cheng Xinzhan formed cores for his Bamboo Staff and Fire-Lotus incarnations using gifts from the Yellow Sea, and gave Xinshu the Nine-Holed Dustless Lotus Incarnation.
• Cheng Xinzhan found Wu Qingbo among Tengchong’s volcanoes and selected the Kaiyang Mountain site for Wu Qingbo’s Elixir-Washing Tribulation.
• Cheng Xinzhan confirmed the site’s astral conditions, helped Wu Qingbo establish a cave abode, and guided him in building a formation that concealed and protected the tribulation site.
• After three months, Cheng Xinzhan finished the formation’s framework and opened a cave nearby to enter seclusion while standing guard for Wu Qingbo.
• Cheng Xinzhan decided not to delay his own third Elixir-Washing Tribulation, which was due in three years, and began studying Secret Essentials of Supreme Clarity Heaven's Sprout Embryonic Breathing-Flying Mercury Chapter.

Cheng Xinzhan practiced the first stages of nurturing an Immortal Sprout, then emerged from seclusion and traveled to Limitless Mountain to challenge the Five Poisons Demon Cult. There, he sensed wild Baleful Intent of Blossoms on a Sick Tree and overheard two people arguing over who had caught it first.

• Cheng Xinzhan studied the Flying Mercury Chapter’s methods for halting essence, refining it, and collecting the medicine.
• He practiced the Hundred-Word Formula and four-word formula until his kidney water and yang essence began turning silvery white.
• Cheng Xinzhan arranged for his Inner Landscape Deities and Seven Po to continue the practice while he studied the Great Void Art.
• He emerged after two more months, left his Fire-Lotus Incarnation to protect Wu Qingbo, and set out for Limitless Mountain to raid the Five Poisons Demon Cult’s stronghold.
• At Limitless Mountain, Cheng Xinzhan sensed wild Baleful Intent of Blossoms on a Sick Tree and followed it into the forest.
• Using his Wind-Listening Ear, Cheng Xinzhan heard two people quarrel over whose Mercury Net had caught the baleful intent first.

Cheng Xinzhan seized the baleful intent of blossoms on a sick tree and questioned Wan Gaoming about Limitless Mountain’s leadership and succession. After learning that the sect’s Fourth Realm method was withheld from the Vice Sect Master until the Sect Master died, Cheng Xinzhan asked Wan Gaoming if he wanted to become Sect Master.

• Cheng Xinzhan watched two Five Poisons Sect disciples quarrel over the baleful intent of blossoms on a sick tree, then waited as Wan Gaoming arrived and claimed it for the sect.
• Cheng Xinzhan ambushed Wan Gaoming with Peach Capital, shattered his Five Poisons Armor, and trapped a Flying Sword inside his origin sea.
• Cheng Xinzhan took the baleful intent, then made Wan Gaoming lead him to a nearby cave abode to discuss Limitless Mountain.
• Wan Gaoming told Cheng Xinzhan that Vice Sect Master Pan Tianzhuo led the mountain in Lie Xingye’s absence and described the sect’s ranks of cultivators.
• Wan Gaoming explained that only the Sect Master possessed the complete Fourth Realm method, which the Vice Sect Master received after the Sect Master’s death.
• Cheng Xinzhan noted that Wan Gaoming ranked third among the elders and asked whether he wanted to be Sect Master.

Cheng Xinzhan recruited Wan Gaoming to help him take control of Limitless Mountain after learning how the one-eyed insect demon rose through the Demon Cult without killing innocent people. He implanted a life-urging curse in Wan Gaoming’s Liver Palace and asked him to help subdue the sect’s other leaders.

• Cheng Xinzhan saw through Wan Gaoming’s Primordial Spirit and found no karmic debts from unjust killings, then offered to help him become Sect Master.
• Wan Gaoming accepted Cheng Xinzhan’s offer and recounted how a demon abducted him, implanted a poisonous insect in his eye, and made him a disciple and breeding vessel.
• Wan Gaoming described poisoning his master, cultivating with snakes and monsters, finding a Poison Scripture and baleful intent, and rising to Third Elder by managing the sect’s affairs.
• Cheng Xinzhan placed the Withering and Flourishing Life-Urging Spell in Wan Gaoming’s Liver Palace, explaining that it could kill him or regulate his liver qi and eliminate accumulated poison.
• Cheng Xinzhan asked whether Wan Gaoming could help control the Vice Sect Master, Great Elder, and Second Elder, and Wan Gaoming said he could manage them once Cheng subdued them.

Wan Gaoming lured Pan Tianzhuo into the ancient secret realm, where Cheng Xinzhan defeated him and Wan Gaoming brought him under control. With the senior leaders of Limitless Mountain now in his hands, Wan Gaoming prepared to take over the sect while Cheng Xinzhan returned north to target Lie Xingye.

• Wan Gaoming led Pan Tianzhuo to an ancient secret realm and persuaded him to enter first while Wan Gaoming pretended to scout ahead.
• Pan Tianzhuo became lost in the five-colored mist and was defeated by Cheng Xinzhan after his Greenback Beetle fell from the sky.
• Wan Gaoming immobilized Pan Tianzhuo with insects and presented Cheng Xinzhan with two portions of Earthly Baleful Intent and an ancient Sleepy Bug.
• Cheng Xinzhan asked whether anything still prevented Wan Gaoming from taking control of Limitless Mountain, and Wan Gaoming pledged to establish a new unorthodox sect.
• Cheng Xinzhan announced that he would return to Northern Dian to deal with Lie Xingye and reminded Wan Gaoming of their agreement.

Cheng Xinzhan gave Feng Ji Hu the Baleful Intent of Blossoms on a Sick Tree before Feng Ji Hu left for Shu to investigate a deadly epidemic. Remaining at the empty temple, Cheng Xinzhan refined three baleful intents from Limitless Mountain and realized the Heavenly Fire Azurite Baleful Intent might be the Fire in the Wood he had long sought.

• Feng Ji Hu told Cheng Xinzhan that a widespread epidemic was killing mortals across the Shu Central Region and that he had been summoned to treat it.
• Feng Ji Hu refused Cheng Xinzhan's offer to accompany him, explaining that he could safely enter Shu as a healer while Cheng Xinzhan risked arrest because of his identity and past actions.
• Cheng Xinzhan gave Feng Ji Hu the Baleful Intent of Blossoms on a Sick Tree and suggested he study the Celestial Yellow Detoxification Pill formula before Feng Ji Hu departed.
• After Feng Ji Hu left, Cheng Xinzhan refined the Corrupt Earth and Putrid Water Baleful Intent and the Gloomy Forest Shearing and Entangling Baleful Intent from Lead Bottles.
• Cheng Xinzhan contained and refined Pan Tianzhuo's Heavenly Fire Azurite Baleful Intent, then realized it might be the Fire in the Wood he had been seeking.

Cheng Xinzhan refined the three extraordinary fires into Samadhi True Fire, then used it to free an immortal insect named Xiaobao from ancient amber. Xiaobao joined him after learning that thousands of years had passed, and Cheng tested its sleep-inducing ability on Lion before preparing to leave the mountains to vanquish demons.

• Cheng Xinzhan reasoned that Empty-Cyan Baleful Fire was Fire in the Wood and devised a Yin-Yang method for combining it with Fire in the Stone and Fire in the Sky.
• After countless failures, Cheng Xinzhan successfully refined Samadhi True Fire and planted its fire seed in his Heart Mansion.
• Cheng Xinzhan melted the amber with Samadhi True Fire, freeing Xiaobao, an immortal insect that said it had come from the Immortal Realm before Later Tang and had slept for four or five thousand years.
• Xiaobao agreed to stay with Cheng Xinzhan, ate Peach Miasma, and demonstrated its ability to put Lion to sleep by entering his nose as mist.
• Cheng Xinzhan learned from Feng Ji Hu that the plague was easing, then watched Lion wake after half an hour and told him to come along to vanquish demons.

Cheng Xinzhan sought Qionghai Sword Pavilion’s help to attack the Five Poisons Heavenly King in the Zhuanxu Dragon Cave. He and Lu Linqing prepared to enter the stronghold while Zhou Qingyun arranged support, but they still needed a way to draw out the demon forces without letting their leader escape.

• Cheng Xinzhan met Lu Linqing and Zhou Qingyun at his cottage by Qionghai Lake and explained that he planned to kill the Five Poisons Heavenly King before leaving Western Kham.
• Lu Linqing and Zhou Qingyun described the demon’s underground tunnels and the dangers that made attacking the Zhuanxu Dragon Cave difficult.
• Cheng Xinzhan proposed entering the sturdy cave and sealing its entrances to trap the Five Poisons Heavenly King, and Lu Linqing agreed to join him.
• Zhou Qingyun explained that the cave had four guarded entrances and proposed using the Bì Shell Dark Iron Shield to block them; Cheng Xinzhan and Lu Linqing offered treasures and External Incarnations to get past the guards.
• Cheng Xinzhan asked how they could lure as many demons as possible out of the Dragon Cave without allowing the Five Poisons Heavenly King to escape.