Chapter Summaries

After defeating Divine Path Heaven’s traitors, Cui Jiuyang uncovered Ao Que’s papers about the Asura Grand Formation and concluded that similar fragments were scattered across the East Sea. He stayed at Qidao Mountain to stabilize the sect, planned to give Bai Susu a Dragon Pearl, and sought a replacement weapon while Three Chi Seven remained dormant.

• Wang Lu used the command flag and her Sincere Words divine ability to calm Divine Path Heaven’s believers and present the traitors’ deaths as a purge.
• Cui Jiuyang told Li Mingyue that faith would cause new wild god sects to arise, then flew with her to Qidao Mountain.
• Cui Jiuyang found two Dragon Pearls, seventeen Asura Grand Formation scraps, and Ao Que’s account of finding them in an East Sea sea eye.
• Cui Jiuyang decided he would need to travel to the East Sea, but Li Mingyue reminded him that it was New Year’s Day.
• Cui Jiuyang resolved to remain at Divine Path Heaven, give Bai Susu a Dragon Pearl, and search for magical artifacts because Three Chi Seven had gone dormant.
• Cui Jiuyang activated the Mountain-Tapping Hammer on Qidao Mountain, making a giant phantom hammer appear behind him.

Cui Jiuyang claimed and refined three powerful treasures from the statues on Qidao Mountain, then fed Bai Susu a dragon pearl that helped her regain human form. After she woke and reunited affectionately with him, Li Mingyue arrived and found them together, leaving Cui Jiuyang and Bai Susu awkwardly caught off guard.

• Cui Jiuyang followed the Mountain-Tapping Hammer's purple threads and retrieved a writing brush, a gourd, and an alms bowl from the three Sage Statues.
• Cui Jiuyang refined the Utmost Sincerity Brush, the Yin-Yang Reversal Gourd, and the Mustard Seed Alms Bowl, learning their powers and preparing for his return to the East Sea.
• Cui Jiuyang gave Bai Susu a dragon pearl, which she swallowed before its power sent her into a safe, temporary dormancy.
• Cui Jiuyang spent the New Year period caring for Bai Susu, testing the unresponsive Three Chi Seven, and walking around Qidao Mountain with Li Mingyue.
• Bai Susu woke in human form and embraced Cui Jiuyang, thanking him for giving her the dragon pearl.
• Li Mingyue returned and teased Cui Jiuyang about Bai Susu, making the embarrassed pair pull apart.

Cui Jiuyang reunited Bai Susu and Li Mingyue, then sent a demon carrying a brush and gourd to Jining to serve Bai Susu’s mistress. He ended the chapter watching the two women grow close while remaining unaware of their private intentions.

• Cui Jiuyang introduced Bai Susu to Li Mingyue, and the two women quickly became friendly.
• Cui Jiuyang remembered Ninth Lady and sent a slab-ribbed mangy qilin horse and a leopard demon to Jidu Shrine near Jining with the Sincere Heart Brush and Celadon Porcelain Gourd.
• Cui Jiuyang instructed the slab-ribbed mangy qilin horse to answer the Chief Sacrificer’s questions but keep certain things secret.
• Li Mingyue and Bai Susu spent the following days talking and sharing cosmetics, leaving Cui Jiuyang mostly excluded.
• Cui Jiuyang watched Li Mingyue and Bai Susu chat and did not realize they were deliberately seeking each other’s friendship.

Cui Jiuyang reached a coastal village where no one had caught fish for three months and learned that the villagers had a Fishbone Dragon King Temple nearby. He went with Uncle Lin to inspect it, beginning his investigation into the East Sea’s troubles.

• Cui Jiuyang reached the East Sea and noticed that the village had many idle young men and nets drying, but no fish.
• Uncle Lin asked Cui Jiuyang to divine where the villagers could find fish after three months without a catch.
• Cui Jiuyang laughed and pointed out that the village had a Fishbone Dragon King Temple nearby, prompting Uncle Lin to invite him to inspect it.
• Cui Jiuyang agreed to visit the temple with Uncle Lin, the head of Lin Family Village, and they exchanged names on the way.

Cui Jiuyang investigated the strange Dragon King statue in Lin Family Village and linked its changes to a recent Blood Tide that had left the village unable to catch fish. His divination revealed little, and after confirming the statue’s mushrooms were ordinary, he collected some to cook.

• Cui Jiuyang praised Uncle Lin’s leadership as they approached the Fishbone Dragon King Temple.
• Cui Jiuyang found that the Dragon King statue had lost all its teeth and had mushrooms growing over its back and tail.
• Cui Jiuyang sensed no evil spirit or spell at the temple and divined only the cryptic phrase “dragons without a leader.”
• Uncle Lin told Cui Jiuyang that a short Blood Tide three months earlier had been followed by the village’s fishing failures, and that the statue’s damage was discovered later.
• Cui Jiuyang’s divination about the Blood Tide produced no answer, and Uncle Lin explained that the mushrooms had regrown after villagers cleared them away.
• Cui Jiuyang had the Boar Spirit identify the mushrooms as ordinary and edible, then picked several to make salt-and-pepper fried mushrooms.

Cui Jiuyang investigated strange events in East Sea fishing villages and found an Octopus Spirit hiding in an abandoned village. Bound by Cui Jiuyang, the spirit revealed that a blood tide had driven it ashore three months earlier, and it began explaining what happened afterward.

• Cui Jiuyang found the sea empty of fish and learned that fishermen had gone missing around the same time three months earlier.
• Cui Jiuyang visited more villages and heard of recurring damage to Dragon King statues and a fish that had warned that the East Sea would dry up.
• Cui Jiuyang entered an empty village under a demonic haze, where an Octopus Spirit darkened the sky and pretended to rob him.
• Cui Jiuyang saw through the Octopus Spirit's bluff, bound it with an enchanted golden rope, and questioned it.
• The Octopus Spirit said a blood tide had struck the East Sea three months earlier, forcing it to flee ashore to the already deserted village.

Cui Jiuyang investigated the vanished villagers and the empty East Sea, learning from an octopus spirit that a Blood Tide had driven sea creatures away. After examining the spirit’s friends’ abandoned lairs, he concluded that a powerful demon’s Bloodline Summons had drawn both aquatic demons and ordinary fish toward its source.

• The octopus spirit told Cui Jiuyang that Dragon King’s sons Ao Luo and Ao Tai had been attacked, and confirmed that the fishing village was already empty when it arrived.
• Cui Jiuyang made the octopus spirit lead him into the East Sea, where they found no marine life and reached the spirit’s hidden lair.
• Cui Jiuyang inspected the abandoned homes of the octopus spirit’s demon friends, but found only faint traces of their lives.
• Cui Jiuyang inferred that the Blood Tide was a powerful demon’s Bloodline Summons that had drawn aquatic demons toward its source.
• Cui Jiuyang reasoned that ordinary fish had also been infused with Spiritual Power, demonized, and swept up in the summons.

Cui Jiuyang learned that the blood tide had been caused by a powerful bloodline summons, then followed traces of the event into the Deep Sea. He reached a mysterious Sea Eye linked to the scraps targeting the Dragon Clan and cautiously entered it to investigate.

• Cui Jiuyang offered the octopus spirit a place in the Five Warlords Register, but the spirit chose to remain in its familiar sea, and he let it go.
• Cui Jiuyang concluded that the scraps of paper were tied to the Demon Race’s plan to destabilize the world by eliminating the East Sea Dragon Clan.
• Cui Jiuyang followed lingering auras through the Deep Sea for a day and night until he sensed a force pushing him back.
• Cui Jiuyang reached a small Sea Eye, recalled Ao Que had found scraps of paper in one, and decided to investigate it.
• Cui Jiuyang paused his ghost-soldier conversions, used the Abyss in the Water to repel the Sea Eye’s force, and entered with the Mustard Seed Alms Bowl ready.

Cui Jiuyang explored a Sea Eye and discovered a crab shell left by an ascended Yaoxian, which a powerful demon had been refining before the bloodline summons took it away. He began carefully absorbing the shell’s remaining immortal aura with his Spiritual Power and Dragon Qi.

• Cui Jiuyang entered the Sea Eye in the Abyss in the Water, using his Divine Sense to search its violent currents while cautiously approaching the depths near Guixu.
• Cui Jiuyang found a motionless speck and discerned that it was a crab shell carrying a faint immortal aura.
• Cui Jiuyang realized that an unknown demon had occupied the Sea Eye and crudely gnawed and refined the shell before being summoned away by its bloodline.
• Cui Jiuyang gently infused the shell with fine strands of Spiritual Power, gradually assimilating its immortal aura.
• Cui Jiuyang activated the Dragon-Transformation Wall in his Dantian and guided pure Dragon Qi toward the crab shell.

Cui Jiuyang refined the crab Yaoxian’s discarded shell and witnessed the creature’s life through the memories imprinted in it. He discovered a message from Canghai Ke describing the shell’s transformation and the creation of the Xuanning Water-Dividing Shears.

• Cui Jiuyang used dragon qi to inscribe restrictive spells into the crab shell, finding the work unusually smooth but slow.
• As he refined the shell, Cui Jiuyang experienced the crab’s memories, from its precarious beginnings in a coral thicket to its rise as a powerful sea demon.
• Cui Jiuyang saw the crab settle in the sea eye for ages, then shed its shell as heavenly tribulation descended.
• Cui Jiuyang finished refining the treasure and held the Xuanning Water-Dividing Shears and the crab shell.
• Cui Jiuyang read Canghai Ke’s inscription, which described the shell’s history and urged later generations to persevere in cultivation.

Cui Jiuyang left the Sea Eye and followed the fading Bloodline Summons toward its source. After encountering lesser demons on their way to join “the general,” he disguised himself as a crab spirit and tricked them into helping him search for a supposed Sea Snake Demons.

• Cui Jiuyang refined Canghai Ke’s crab shell but could not refine the Xuanning Water-Dividing Shears because Three Chi Seven’s sharp aura pushed his Spiritual Power away.
• Cui Jiuyang emerged from the Sea Eye, estimated that nearly ten days had passed, and hurried along the traces of the Bloodline Summons.
• Cui Jiuyang spotted lesser demons heading toward the summons’ source and overheard them mention that they were going to join “the general.”
• Cui Jiuyang transformed into a crab spirit with stronger Demonic Qi, then asked the lesser demons to help him track a Sea Snake Demons in exchange for green jade and treasure.
• The lesser demons accepted the offer, and the yellow-spotted fish demon proposed that they search in different directions while Cui Jiuyang waited nearby to assist.

Cui Jiuyang pretended to fight off a Sea Snake Demon, using scattered treasure to win the lesser demons’ trust and learn that General Lei was recruiting for Ao Han. He persuaded them to take him along, and they explained Yellow Spot’s connection to General Lei as they traveled.

• Cui Jiuyang ordered a water snake demon to stage a fight, scatter treasure, and escape without killing anyone.
• Cui Jiuyang emerged from the sand with a feigned injury and offered the lesser demons gold, silver, and a piece of green jade, while keeping two pieces for himself.
• A Greenhead Fish told Cui Jiuyang that General Lei was recruiting demon soldiers for Ao Han, and Cui Jiuyang decided to seek him out.
• Cui Jiuyang asked to accompany the lesser demons, and they agreed after he accepted their demand to give up his two pieces of jade.
• The Green Fish Demon explained that Yellow Spot came from the same coral reef as General Lei and might use that connection to reach one of the general’s personal guards.

Cui Jiuyang disguised himself as a crab demon and joined a group of lesser demons heading to General Lei’s camp, where they used bribes and a fabricated family connection to gain favor. The group began registering with the New Army Recruitment Officer, who misheard the yellow-spotted fish demon’s name as “Weasel.”

• Cui Jiuyang and the lesser demons agreed that he would pose as a fellow native of General Lei’s coral reef to help them enlist.
• The group reached General Lei’s shabby camp, and the yellow-spotted fish demon bribed the shrimp guards to meet Huang Daoling.
• Huang Daoling warmly pretended to recognize the yellow-spotted fish demon, accepted his green jade, and returned to the camp.
• The yellow-spotted fish demon admitted he had never met Huang Daoling, while Cui Jiuyang recognized the personal guard as a seasoned military rogue.
• An old sea turtle arrived as the New Army Recruitment Officer, accepted the group’s gold, and began registering them.
• The officer misheard the yellow-spotted fish demon’s name as Weasel and objected that a sea demon had a dry-land name.

Cui Jiuyang bribed the old sea turtle Ao Dongping with green jade and was recruited to work as a clerk in General Lei’s command tent, giving him access to the army’s orders and information. Ao Dongping introduced him to General Lei and another civil official as a solution to the general’s paperwork burden.

• Cui Jiuyang gave Ao Dongping green jade, and Ao Dongping corrected the recruits’ records before appointing him as an assistant.
• Ao Dongping explained that Cui Jiuyang would serve as General Lei’s clerk and handle military orders, registers, and files.
• Ao Dongping gave Cui Jiuyang clerk’s robes and led him to General Lei’s command tent, where General Lei complained about his small, weak force.
• Ao Dongping brought Cui Jiuyang into the tent and introduced him as a capable clerk, while another civil official teased Ao Dongping about passing on his paperwork.

Cui Jiuyang took a clerk’s position in General Lei’s command tent, replacing Ao Dongping as an observer while quietly studying the camp and its politics. He learned that General Lei was struggling to recruit enough soldiers for Ao Han’s order to destroy a powerful Demon Cave, and considered the battle formations that might help.

• Ao Dongping made clear to General Lei and Strategist Zhang that Cui Jiuyang would take over his supervisory duties in the command tent.
• Cui Jiuyang stayed in General Lei’s tent, where Strategist Zhang arranged a desk for him to handle paperwork.
• Cui Jiuyang reviewed old records and learned that General Lei had risen through military service but remained bound to Ao Han’s faction.
• Cui Jiuyang discovered that General Lei had two months to recruit three thousand soldiers and destroy a Demon Cave, but had gathered fewer than a thousand.
• Cui Jiuyang learned that General Lei’s Fish-Dragon Dance formation could channel the strength of up to three thousand soldiers, while his own Buzhou Battalion had a separate Heaven-Slaying formation he could not yet fully deploy.

General Lei learned that a succession struggle had thrown the southeastern Demon Cave into chaos and quickly marched to attack before its new leader could take control. On the way, Cui Jiuyang heard Ao Dongping question His Highness’s unusual rush to expand the army, while the commanders agreed to seize the Demon Cave’s valuable spell canon and formation methods.

• General Lei refused to forcibly recruit lesser demons, but a report arrived that the Demon Cave’s new leader had been killed by the Second Leader.
• Military Advisor Zhang urged General Lei to exploit the infighting, and General Lei ordered the army to march on the Demon Cave.
• Ao Dongping told Cui Jiuyang that he had reported General Lei’s recruitment problems to His Highness and wondered why His Highness was rapidly expanding the army and keeping every summoned demon.
• General Lei, Military Advisor Zhang, and Ao Dongping discussed a direct assault using the Fish-Dragon Dance Formation and ordered the army to secure the Sea Eye Spell Canon and the Demon Cave’s formation materials.

Cui Jiuyang secretly surveyed the Trench Demon Cave and discovered that its troops were lying in ambush, while General Lei prepared to attack with the Fish-Dragon Dance formation. The chapter left General Lei charging into the cave entrance as the patrolling demons recoiled in terror.

• Cui Jiuyang listened as General Lei and the others discussed the Dragon Palace’s interest in the Sea Eye Spell Canon and the cave’s apparent unrest.
• General Lei rejected sending scouts, reasoning that surprise was their greatest advantage with only a thousand recruits.
• Cui Jiuyang secretly used his divine sense to find concealed chambers packed with armed lesser demons awaiting an attack.
• General Lei arranged his thousand soldiers into the Fish-Dragon Dance formation and raised his own strength with its power.
• General Lei charged toward the demon cave with his lightning-wreathed Overlord Spear, frightening the guards at its entrance.

General Lei attacked the Trench Demon Cave but was repelled by the Crossing Waves Military Formation, a Dragon Palace secret that alarmed Ao Dongping and Military Advisor Zhang. General Lei dismissed the formation as fake and launched a stronger attack, while its commander calmly prepared to defend.

• General Lei's lightning spear shattered the Demon Cave gate but was stopped by an unseen force that knocked him backward.
• A lean man emerged and identified his defense as Crossing Waves, prompting Military Advisor Zhang and Ao Dongping to suspect the cave was connected to the Dragon Palace.
• Ao Dongping rebuked Military Advisor Zhang for suggesting the Dragon Palace was attacking its own people, then explained the formation's history to Cui Jiuyang.
• General Lei recalled Ao Han's suspicious instructions but called the lean man's Crossing Waves a fraud and charged again.
• General Lei empowered his Fish-Dragon Dance formation until its golden dragon phantom transformed the whale phantom, while the lean man spread resilient currents with his feather fan.

General Lei broke through the lean man's Crossing Waves formation by recognizing that the man feared his attack, then struck him into the demon cave. As the injured opponent prepared another formation and General Lei was nearly spent, Cui Jiuyang prepared to use the Yin-Yang Reversal Gourd to help him.

• General Lei burned his blood energy to keep fighting as the lean man taunted him and the Fish-Dragon Dance Formation weakened.
• General Lei reasoned that the lean man's attempts to shake his resolve meant Crossing Waves could not protect him, and he shattered the water nets with a lightning-charged thrust.
• General Lei struck the lean man and sent him flying into the demon cave, while Military Advisor Zhang and Ao Dongping praised him.
• Cui Jiuyang used his Divine Sense to see that the lean man had survived, though the water-patterned tiger tally had shattered and General Lei was nearly out of blood energy.
• Cui Jiuyang took out the Yin-Yang Reversal Gourd, intending to help General Lei face the opponent's next formation.

Lei Chuanyun survived the demon cave battle after Cui Jiuyang secretly used the Yin-Yang Reversal Gourd to break the enemy formation and force the lean man to flee. The army captured the cave, and Huang Daoling reported finding a sealed iron door that might hide its treasure.

• Cui Jiuyang sent black and white fish into the demon cave, where their yin-yang power neutralized the lean man's Swordfish Water-Striking Battle Formation and incapacitated the demon soldiers.
• Lei Chuanyun advanced on the lean man despite his exhaustion, and the man fled rather than risk exposing himself to the hidden expert.
• Military Advisor Zhang examined Lei Chuanyun and assured Ao Dongping that he would recover after resting.
• Military Advisor Zhang ordered the Personal Guard Unit to enter the cave and capture the remaining demon soldiers.
• Huang Daoling reported that the guards had secured the cave but could not open an iron door in its depths, which they suspected concealed treasure.