Chapter Summaries

Over six years, Cheng Xinzhan earned the name Cheng Cihu for improving sect life and guiding lower-realm disciples, while continuing his cultivation and caring for his companions. With his abilities growing and those around him thriving, he felt eager to set out and act again.

• Cheng Xinzhan reorganized the Discipline Investigation Bureau, helped establish the Office-Worker Governance and Pine-Supporting Tower, and became widely respected as Cheng Cihu.
• Cheng Xinzhan divided his cultivation between Taiguang and the Bamboo Body, opened twelve apertures, comprehended four divine abilities, and completed the five Dharma Swords, while Jiang Weishan passed his fifth elixir-washing tribulation.
• Ren Wushi identified Third Younger Sister's strong Suanni bloodline, and after years of inhaling elixir smoke, her eye membranes cleared to reveal golden pupils and vermilion whites.
• Cheng Xinzhan nearly cured the Green Chi-Dragon's ailments, while Dengge'er advanced under Old Bai's instruction and the Miao Stockade remained well.
• After six years of quiet, Cheng Xinzhan felt eager to move again.

After nurturing an insect corpse for seven years, Cheng Xinzhan watched it awaken as a One-Horned Rhinoceros Golden Beetle and received permission to travel. He set out east with Third Younger Sister and approached Siming Mountain, intending to visit Daoist Cunsi.

• Cheng Xinzhan discovered that his seven-year-old insect corpse had awakened as a One-Horned Rhinoceros Golden Beetle.
• Wen Sukong praised Cheng Xinzhan’s cultivation and advised him to learn the Soul-Splitting Technique.
• Cheng Xinzhan persuaded the sect elders to let him travel, bringing Third Younger Sister and leaving Dengge'er with Old Bai.
• Cheng Xinzhan departed Bright Governance Mountain and chose to travel east toward Kuaiji.
• Cheng Xinzhan followed the rivers through Kuaiji and reached Shan Stream, with Siming Mountain before him.

Cheng Xinzhan visited Siming Mountain, where he reunited with Daoist Cunsi and spent several days discussing cultivation and admiring the rosy clouds. His words renewed Cunsi’s resolve to repair his flawed Golden Core, but a plume of black smoke appeared in the northwest.

• Cheng Xinzhan arrived at Siming Mountain and showed the gatekeeper his Three Beget All Things Talisman.
• Daoist Cunsi welcomed Cheng Xinzhan as a senior relative of the sect and invited him to stay at Frostleaf Peak.
• Cheng Xinzhan shared bamboo shoots with Daoist Cunsi, learned about Siming Mountain, and taught its disciples about talismans and swordsmanship.
• After several days, Daoist Cunsi lamented his flawed Golden Core, and Cheng Xinzhan encouraged him to keep cultivating and face another lightning tribulation.
• Daoist Cunsi regained his resolve to complete his Golden Core, then noticed black smoke rising in the northwest amid the evening clouds.

Cheng Xinzhan witnessed Demon Corpse Gu Chen lead a vast tide of beast souls and walking corpses from Juqü Mountain toward the Eastern Sea. After the Azure Luan and Juqü Mountain’s cultivators attacked him, Gu Chen fled and called for Lady Cui and Wu Laotou.

• Daoist Cunsi and Cheng Xinzhan saw Juqü Mountain pursue a spreading black cloud and call on the Three Heavens of Siming for help.
• Cheng Xinzhan recognized the cloud as Gu Chen commanding countless beast souls and walking corpses, and sent the insect corpse to hide on one of them.
• Gu Chen shattered Siming Mountain’s gateway treasure, and Cheng Xinzhan left the mountain to follow the black tide and the Azure Luan.
• The Azure Luan attacked Gu Chen with clear light and astral winds, while Juqü Mountain’s cultivators joined the battle.
• Gu Chen used his banner and magical treasures to resist the attacks, then fled toward the Eastern Sea and called for Lady Cui and Wu Laotou.

Gu Chen, Wu Lao, and Cui Ying established the Bare Body Sect on Three Corpse Island after revealing their power, while Li Mizhen became a true dragon and founded a sect of his own. Emei’s True Person Miaoyi suspected Deng Yin was behind the events and sent Madam Miaoyi to retrieve the twin swords before the Blood Demon could find them.

• Cheng Xinzhan saw a red-haired dragon corpse attack the azure luan and recognized its connection to the Red-Haired Ancestor.
• Jian Bingru told True Person Miaoyi that Deng Yin had likely escaped Western Kunlun using Blood Shadow Divine Light, and the two learned that Green-Robed was becoming a dragon in the Southern Sea.
• Li Mizhen passed through the Dragon Gate, became a Fifth Realm true dragon, and announced the founding of a sect for those seeking to become dragons.
• True Person Miaoyi ordered Jian Bingru to check Mang Cang Mountain and sent Madam Miaoyi to retrieve the twin swords with Yingqiong and Qingyun.
• Gu Chen, Wu Lao, and Cui Ying drove back Juqü Mountain’s cultivators, raised eighty-one Profound Yin Beast-Gathering Banners around Three Corpse Island, and announced the founding of the Bare Body Sect.

Cheng Xinzhan joined the Shangqing Sect’s assault on Three Corpse Island and was selected to help restrain its Earth-Lung Mysterious Yellow Qi. True Person Chengchu granted him a Supreme Celestial Capital Talisman, allowing Crown Prince Bingling to manifest outside his body and join the ritual.

• Cheng Xinzhan sent a paper crane warning Chestnut Creek Stockade to flee the impending invasion of the Miao Borderlands.
• The Shangqing Sect surrounded Three Corpse Island, where eighty-one Profound Yin Beast-Gathering Banners used Earth-Lung Mysterious Yellow Qi to block their attacks.
• True Person Chengchu gathered forty-nine practitioners whose Inner Landscape Deities were gods of mountains and earth to perform a rite restraining the yellow qi.
• When Cheng Xinzhan admitted he could not manifest his deity externally, a Shangqing adept proposed granting him a talisman reserved for promising outsiders.
• Cheng Xinzhan accepted and refined the Supreme Celestial Capital Talisman, then used it to manifest Crown Prince Bingling beside Lady Bixia.

Cheng Xinzhan and the Shangqing Sect completed the Great Expansion Ritual Offering Array around Three Corpse Island and began drawing out its Earth-Lung Mysterious Yellow Qi. A giant wave sent by the Overseas Demon Cult threatened the coast, but True Person Chengchu negotiated with the Sea-Covering Dragon King and agreed to spare the Three Corpses if he withdrew it.

• Crown Prince Bingling took his place in the array, and True Person Chengchu completed the formation with Primordial Sovereign of Azure Clouds.
• True Person Chengchu used the Fisherman's Drum to lead the deities in a chant that weakened the island's yellow mist and let them absorb the Earth-Lung Mysterious Yellow Qi.
• Cui Ying warned the Shangqing Sect that an enormous wave was approaching, and scouts reported that demonic dragons and wicked flood dragons were driving it toward shore.
• Wu Lao rode the dragon corpse into the sea to strengthen the wave as it neared the coast.
• Daoists from several sects arrived, and True Person Chengchu learned that the Wave-Suppressing Tower Lord was safe but asleep until dawn.
• True Person Chengchu asked the Sea-Covering Dragon King to withdraw the wave in exchange for sparing the Three Corpses, and he agreed.

After the battle at sea, Cheng Xinzhan received supplies and instructions from Ji Hehe before setting out to explore the overseas demonic territories in disguise. He reached the Great Belly Sea, where he learned about its powerful alligator dragon ruler.

• Cheng Xinzhan stored the Supreme Celestial Capital Register and told Ji Hehe how he had obtained it and the Yellow Pole Zhengwu Baleful Intent.
• Ji Hehe gave Cheng Xinzhan the Record of Maritime Customs and Scenery, taught him Cosmic Light Yu's Pace, and provided two life-preserving treasures for his journey overseas.
• As Chengchu and Ji Hehe engaged the old dragon, Cheng Xinzhan withdrew east, sent messages that he was safe, and entered the sea near Mount Putuo.
• Cheng Xinzhan traveled in disguise with Third Younger Sister and learned that the Green-Robed Ancestor had claimed the Qiongzhou Sea while Three Corpse Island had established the Ten Thousand Corpses Sea.
• After gathering information in the Ten Thousand Corpses Sea, Cheng Xinzhan ventured into the Great Belly Sea, territory ruled by the Great-Bellied Alligator Dragon King.

Cheng Xinzhan killed two sea-snake demons who were hunting a Cloud Whale, healed the whale, and carried the snakes to Yellow Sulfur Island to seek refuge with Yellow Elder Immortal. Huang Yunying welcomed him and offered to introduce him to the Elder Immortal.

• Cheng Xinzhan spotted two sea-snake demons driving a wounded Cloud Whale from the clouds and learned they served Young Saint Qing.
• Cheng Xinzhan killed both demons with his blood pearl and white-bone flying sword while Third Younger Sister collected their snake pearls.
• Cheng Xinzhan healed the poisoned Cloud Whale and sent it back into the clouds to find its pod.
• Cheng Xinzhan carried the dead snakes toward Yellow Sulfur Island and told its guards he wished to enter Yellow Elder Immortal's service.
• Huang Yunying met Cheng Xinzhan, praised his gifts, and offered to escort him to the Elder Immortal.

Cheng Xinzhan won Yellow Elder Immortal’s favor by posing as a fellow exile from the mainland, and received Flood Furnace Island as a place to cultivate. Yellow Elder Immortal recognized Cheng’s strength and decided his fierce, independent nature could serve him well.

• Cheng Xinzhan visited Yellow Elder Immortal at the Tower of No Return and invented a story about fleeing the Blood God Sect after his master threatened to cripple him.
• Yellow Elder Immortal sympathized with Cheng’s tale of betrayal, gave him the name Feng Bie Lu, and assigned him Flood Furnace Island.
• Cheng told Huang Yunying he would help with raids and killing but would not manage an island or train subordinates, and Huang agreed to keep such duties from him.
• Huang Yunying showed Cheng the Blood Cellar, where the islanders stored flesh offerings for the Alligator King, then took him to Flood Furnace Island.
• Yellow Elder Immortal told a beauty that Cheng had killed two Second Realm Saw-Mouthed Soaring Sky Serpents with sword intent and said he welcomed Cheng’s wolfish fierceness.

Cheng Xinzhan settled on Flood Furnace Island and completed his own yin-and-yang Blood Pearl Bone Sword, Nether Capital, to conceal his identity as a Blood God Sect disciple. Huang Yunying then arrived with an assignment from the Immortal Master: stop Fourth Qing’s whaling fleet from returning with its catch.

• Cheng Xinzhan settled beneath a Green Palm Tree on Flood Furnace Island and considered how the Great Belly Sea’s rivalries could help him.
• Cheng Xinzhan gathered the yin dregs from his bones and blood, forged them into a Blood Pearl Bone Sword, and named it Nether Capital.
• Cheng Xinzhan nurtured Nether Capital with Purple Fire Rotten Peach Baleful Intent while staying cautious not to damage the sword made from his own bone and blood.
• Huang Yunying told Cheng Xinzhan that Fourth Qing’s whaling fleet had gone to the Jiao Kingdom and explained that Fourth Qing needed blood food for the Alligator Dragon King.
• Cheng Xinzhan asked whether Fourth Qing’s fleet included any Third Realm cultivators, then accepted the Immortal Master’s assignment to make sure the fleet returned empty-handed.

Cheng Xinzhan learned how maritime cultivators navigated with hidden Void Buoys, then entered the Merfolk Sea to intercept Fourth Qing’s whale-hunting party. He ambushed the seventeen sea snakes with mirage cloud, rotten peach miasma, and the Blood Pearl, forcing Wu Badāo to order a retreat.

• Cheng Xinzhan’s guides explained how Void Buoys marked routes and destinations across the featureless sea, though he could not see Yellow Sulfur Island’s secret buoys.
• Cheng Xinzhan and four Yellow Sulfur Island trackers reached the Merfolk Sea and learned that Fourth Qing’s party included seventeen sea snakes, among them Wu Guo, nicknamed Wu Badāo.
• Cheng Xinzhan approached the sea snakes under concealment and released mirage cloud and rotten peach miasma into the fog, incapacitating the ten First Realm snakes and disorienting the seven Second Realm cultivators.
• Cheng Xinzhan attacked the confused cultivators with the Blood Pearl, killing several before one demon dispersed the fog and exposed the survivors.
• Wu Badāo rallied the remaining cultivators, but Cheng Xinzhan’s Blood Pearl killed another attacker; Wu Badāo then ordered the group to leave the Merfolk Sea.

Cheng Xinzhan fought Wu Badāo and the Whale-Hunting Serpents, then returned to Yellow Sulfur Island injured after the battle. The Yellow Elder Immortal praised him and sent Huang Yunying to visit him with gifts, Gu Insects, and lessons on the island’s Buoys.

• Wu Badāo and two Whale-Hunting Serpents fled the Merfolk Sea, but Cheng Xinzhan pursued them and fought Wu Badāo with the Nether Capital.
• Cheng Xinzhan used his flying sword and Third Younger Sister to battle the demons while the men from Yellow Sulfur Island joined in with sulfurous miasma.
• Wu Badāo killed the two Yellow Sulfur Island men and escaped, while Cheng Xinzhan killed the remaining Whale-Hunting Serpents and nearly collapsed from his injuries.
• The surviving men brought Cheng Xinzhan back and told the Yellow Elder Immortal and Huang Yunying how he had fought.
• The Yellow Elder Immortal sent Huang Yunying to visit Cheng Xinzhan with gifts, Gu Insects, and instruction about Yellow Sulfur Island’s Buoys.

Cheng Xinzhan settled onto Flood Furnace Island, refined a brood of blood-draining gu, and visited Huang Yunying to ask about cultivating overseas. Huang Yunying revealed the secret essence-gathering art and the deception behind Yellow Sulfur Island’s apparent indulgence, and Cheng Xinzhan asked him how to find gang and baleful intent to form an Origin Pearl.

• Cheng Xinzhan stored Huang Yunying’s gifts, set up the formation on Flood Furnace Island, and began changing the Six-Winged Snake-Bodied Mosquitoes’ allegiance with his blood.
• After half a month, Cheng Xinzhan visited Huang Yunying on Golden Water Island and criticized him for indulging in pleasure instead of cultivation.
• Huang Yunying explained that he and the Immortal Master had fled Hundred Barbarian Mountain together and secretly practiced an Essence-Gathering Secret Art at sea.
• Huang Yunying described how he and the Immortal Master gathered essence from sea spirits and demons, then used their displays of pleasure to conceal their strength from the Alligator King’s other chiefs.
• Cheng Xinzhan declined to practice essence gathering and asked Huang Yunying where he could find gang and baleful intent to form an Origin Pearl.

Cheng Xinzhan learned that the Great Sages controlled access to the Dragon's Cry Water Thunder Gang and treated their subordinates as disposable labor, strengthening his resolve to restore order to the seas. Following Third Younger Sister into a sulfur vent, he found a hidden alchemical cavern and a warning that poisonous Wenhuang Pills might still remain dangerous.

• Huang Yunying explained that the Dragon's Cry Water Thunder Gang lay in the Thunderstorm Sea, jointly controlled by the Sea-Overturning Great Sage and the Heaven-Supporting Great Sage, and that Cheng Xinzhan might secure a place through the Alligator King.
• Huang Yunying described how the Great Sages claimed nearly all the harvested gang dew as tribute, leaving Cheng Xinzhan troubled by the sea's brutal hierarchy.
• Third Younger Sister brought Cheng Xinzhan a dark red pill, and he followed her into a sulfur shaft after realizing it came from below.
• When Earth Escape failed in the sulfur-filled passage, Cheng Xinzhan transformed into a Six-Winged Snake-Bodied Mosquito and continued downward with Third Younger Sister.
• Cheng Xinzhan found an underground incinerator containing sulfur honey fat, a medicine cabinet, and a note from Yang Ming warning that incompletely neutralized Wenhuang Pills remained poisonous.

Cheng Xinzhan refined the Swallowing Poison furnace, learned the Celestial Yellow Detoxification Pill recipe, and joined Yellow Elder Immortal’s fleet to deliver blood food to the Alligator King. When Fourth Qing attacked, Cheng Xinzhan secretly ambushed his blood-food fleet and returned to Yellow Elder Immortal’s boats, which continued toward Half-Moon Island.

• Cheng Xinzhan found the Swallowing Poison furnace’s engraved Celestial Yellow Detoxification Pill recipe, refined the furnace, and began preparing the pill.
• When the Alligator King awakened, Cheng Xinzhan joined Yellow Elder Immortal and Huang Yunying in transporting thirteen boats of blood food toward Half-Moon Island.
• Fourth Qing attacked Yellow Elder Immortal’s fleet with a giant saber, and Cheng Xinzhan escaped beneath the sea while Yellow Elder Immortal fought back with poisonous miasma.
• Cheng Xinzhan tracked Fourth Qing’s fleet and used Nether Capital and his Gu Insects to kill its snake guards and attack its crew and blood food.
• Cheng Xinzhan returned to Yellow Elder Immortal’s fleet, explained that his Gu Insects had feasted, and the fleet continued toward the Alligator King.

Cheng Xinzhan survived Fourth Qing’s Primordial Spirit attack with help from his Crimson-Purple Life-Substitution Mirror, while Yellow Elder Immortal retaliated and treated his soul injuries. At Half-Moon Island, the Alligator King consumed the chiefs’ blood food, praised the Black Master and Huang Laosan, excused Second Aunt Red, and warned Fourth Qing to meet his quota next time.

• Fourth Qing attacked Cheng Xinzhan with a Primordial Spirit secret art, but Cheng Xinzhan’s Crimson-Purple Life-Substitution Mirror dissolved it.
• Yellow Elder Immortal struck back with a Primordial Spirit assault, then gave Cheng Xinzhan a Cold Dew Spirit-Protecting Pill to heal his injured souls.
• Yellow Elder Immortal’s fleet reached Half-Moon Island, where the Picky-Eating Birds inspected the blood food before the chiefs presented it to the Alligator King.
• The Alligator King consumed the blood food from the Black Master, Second Aunt Red, Huang Laosan, and Fourth Qing, while Cheng Xinzhan saw human corpses among it.
• The Alligator King accepted Second Aunt Red’s explanation about the Bare Body Sect and ordered her to show forbearance toward the Ten Thousand Corpses Sea.
• The Alligator King rebuked Fourth Qing for his shortage of blood food, demanded a million jin next time, and invited the Black Master and Huang Laosan to the Thunder-Drinking Assembly.

Cheng Xinzhan accompanied the Alligator King’s procession to the Thunder-Appreciating Hall and entered the sealed Thunderstorm Sea to gather Dragon Gang. Inside, he tested the barrier and learned that no one could leave unless the rulers opened it.

• The Alligator King agreed to take Second Aunt Red, Fourth Qing, and the other subordinates to the Thunder-Tasting Banquet, then led the procession toward the Thunderstorm Sea.
• Cheng Xinzhan arrived at the Thunder-Appreciating Hall with Huang Yunying and watched the Merfolk King and the demon kings gather while the two Great Sages remained absent.
• Huang Yunying warned Cheng Xinzhan that thunder gatherers could kill rivals for their Gang, and that lightning flashes could blind anyone who looked directly at them.
• The Cold King and Red King opened the Thunderstorm Sea’s barrier, and magical vessels and mercury were distributed to those entering to gather thunder.
• Cheng Xinzhan entered the storm, tried to escape through the barrier using the Five Elements Wind-Thunder Escape Technique, and was pulled back by Huang Yunying, who told him the barrier could not be broken from inside.

Cheng Xinzhan harvested thunder pulp and Dragon's Cry Water Thunder Gang in the Thunderstorm Sea while disguised as Feng Bie Lu, then killed three demons from the Ink Abyss Sea. The Alligator King claimed him as a subordinate, and the Cold King asked to question him when he returned.

• Huang Yunying explained how to collect thunder gang, and Cheng Xinzhan flew off to hunt for a suitable storm.
• Cheng Xinzhan concealed himself in a wave in his Bamboo Body, collected thunder pulp from the lightning, and snatched the Dragon's Cry Water Thunder Gang before the Ink Abyss Sea demons could claim it.
• Cheng Xinzhan emerged from the wave and killed the three demons with the Nether Capital, then took their mercury nets and drained their essence blood with Mosquito Gu.
• In the Thunder-Appreciating Hall, Xuan Ye protested the deaths, but the Alligator King claimed Feng Bie Lu as his subordinate.
• The Cold King praised Cheng Xinzhan's swordsmanship and asked the Alligator King to summon Feng Bie Lu when he returned.

Cheng Xinzhan gathered Dragon-Screaming Water Thunder Gang and killed dozens of Sand Sea demons, while studying the lightning and waves to develop new sword techniques. After Yu Peiyang and nearly twenty demons ambushed him, he used his new sword movements to fight her and drew a longsword to face the rest.

• Cheng Xinzhan collected thunder gang and killed thirty or forty Sand Sea demons, fleeing whenever an opponent proved too difficult.
• Cheng Xinzhan watched the lightning and waves at night and conceived sword techniques that shifted between sudden motion and stillness.
• Yu Peiyang led nearly twenty Sand Sea demons in surrounding Cheng Xinzhan and demanding to know who he was.
• Cheng Xinzhan attacked Yu Peiyang with the Nether Capital, making its sword light vanish and reappear to disrupt her spear thrust.
• Yu Peiyang blocked the flying sword with her Red-Scale Jade Shield, while the surrounding demons charged Cheng Xinzhan.
• Cheng Xinzhan left the Nether Capital to fight Yu Peiyang, drew a longsword, and challenged the demons' bodily techniques.