Chapter Summaries

Zhao Changfeng recognized Song Zejun and his wife in Tamu Town and feared they had come to kill him, so he sought to strengthen himself while Ruan Meizhen recovered. Chen Haoming returned Ruan Meizhen’s belongings, and Shi Yue hired two rogue cultivators to avenge his son by killing Chen Haoming.

• Zhao Changfeng recognized Song Zejun and his wife in Tamu Town and suspected they had come for the Soul-Pacifying Bead or to kill him.
• Zhao Changfeng asked Ruan Meizhen for the Blood Shadow Movement Technique, but she claimed she could not remember its formula and said Chen Haoming and the others had taken it.
• Chen Haoming returned Ruan Meizhen’s belongings, learned she had killed Zhang Mu, and left while concealing his murderous jealousy toward Zhao Changfeng.
• Shi Yue agreed to pay two rogue cultivators extra spirit stones to kill Chen Haoming and let them keep everything Chen Haoming carried.
• Ruan Meizhen asked whether she could reach the Primordial Spirit Realm, and Zhao Changfeng reassured her while studying the Blood Shadow Movement Technique and hoping to exploit her inner demons.

Zhao Changfeng discovered that Ruan Meizhen’s inner-demon backlash strengthened the willpower in his Little Bronze Cauldron, while Heavenly Shield City’s reinforcements arrived in Tamu Town. As pressure from Song Zejun and his wife mounted, the Bronze Cauldron beyond the heavens appeared again.

• Zhao Changfeng and Ruan Meizhen resolved to focus on cultivation, and Ruan Meizhen’s next inner-demon backlash affected Zhao Changfeng as well, adding more willpower to the Little Bronze Cauldron.
• Ruan Meizhen refused to teach Zhao Changfeng multiple demonic arts, but agreed to buy first-rank spirit beasts with the spirit stones and items he gave her.
• Zhao Changfeng practiced the Blood Shadow Movement Technique and realized its full potential depended on developing blood qi in his middle dantian.
• Heavenly Shield City’s reinforcements arrived in Tamu Town, and the mayor summoned Ruan Meizhen to discuss the demon spirits’ arrival.
• Zhao Changfeng spotted Chen Jian among the rogue cultivators and hoped the powerful arrivals would make Song Zejun and his wife more cautious.
• A stabbing pain between his brows alerted Zhao Changfeng that the Bronze Cauldron beyond the heavens had appeared again.

Zhao Changfeng received a second Small Cauldron and learned the first half of Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding, then used a strange perception to discover Demon Spirits gathering near Tamu Town and sensed their presence in Song Zejun and Zhou Jin. He warned Ruan Meizhen that the couple were in town and urged her to join him in killing them.

• The Bronze Cauldron hunted creatures in the outer void and sent energy to Zhao Changfeng, expanding his spirit sea and forming a second Small Cauldron.
• Zhao Changfeng deciphered the first Small Cauldron’s markings and learned that Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding could nurture another person’s inner-demon obsession.
• Zhao Changfeng’s heightened perception revealed Demon Spirits gathering outside Tamu Town and a similar presence within Song Zejun and Zhou Jin.
• Zhao Changfeng concluded that the Demon Spirits might be waiting for Song Zejun and Zhou Jin to act as inside agents, leaving him convinced that he had to act quickly.
• Ruan Meizhen returned with four First-Rank Spirit Beast corpses, and Zhao Changfeng told her that Song Zejun and Zhou Jin were in town and proposed killing them immediately.

Zhao Changfeng persuaded Ruan Meizhen that Song Zejun and his wife were colluding with demon spirits, then revealed Chen Jian’s presence to strengthen their forces. Ruan Meizhen brought the reluctant Chen Jian in to discuss Tamu Town’s defense, while Chen Jian asked where Zhao Changfeng was.

• Zhao Changfeng claimed that Song Zejun and his wife carried demon spirit aura and had colluded with demon spirits, and he persuaded Ruan Meizhen to take the threat seriously.
• Ruan Meizhen decided to gather Cui Pinyuan and the other cultivators to confront the couple, and Zhao Changfeng revealed that Chen Jian was in Tamu Town.
• Chen Jian hid his Ghost-Controlling Sect identity and planned to avoid the coming danger, but Ruan Meizhen found him and identified him.
• Ruan Meizhen invoked Heavenly Shield City's survival to make Chen Jian accompany her to discuss the crisis.
• Chen Jian asked where Zhao Changfeng was, and Ruan Meizhen warned him that they were in Tamu Town.

Ruan Meizhen failed to convince Tamu Town’s leaders that Song Zejun and his wife were conspiring with the demon spirits, while Zhao Changfeng continued cultivating with the Essence-Devouring Demon Art. Chen Jian believed the threat warranted investigation and forced Zhao Changfeng and Ruan Meizhen to accompany him to confront the couple.

• Shen Yanrong, Qin Hui, and Cui Pinyuan discussed preparing Tamu Town to face potentially third-rank demon spirits while Senior Teng dealt with trouble at the world membrane.
• Ruan Meizhen introduced Chen Jian and told the leaders that Zhao Changfeng had uncovered a threat to Tamu Town, but Shen Yanrong, Qin Hui, and Cui Pinyuan doubted his account because of his past.
• Zhao Changfeng refined an Iron-Armored Sand Worm, filling his spiritual qi sea and forming a small pool of qi and blood in his middle dantian.
• Ruan Meizhen told Zhao Changfeng that the town’s leaders had rejected his warning, and Zhao insisted that Song Zejun and his wife posed an urgent danger.
• Chen Jian entered Zhao Changfeng’s room and said he would test whether the couple were involved with the demon spirits, then ordered Zhao Changfeng and Ruan Meizhen to come with him.
• Chen Jian threatened to leave Tamu Town to its fate if they refused, so Zhao Changfeng agreed to go with him.

Zhao Changfeng led Chen Jian to Song Zejun and Zhou Jin, hoping to expose their suspected ties to demon spirits, but the attack made the gathered cultivators turn against him. As Chen Jian and the others pressed the couple, Zhou Jin revealed that they had never denied their involvement with demon spirits.

• Zhao Changfeng led Chen Jian and Ruan Meizhen to the shack where Song Zejun and Zhou Jin were hiding, but refused to approach closer.
• Chen Jian announced Zhao Changfeng's name and accusations, then attacked the shack with his Yin Ghost Spirit-Seizing Banner.
• Song Zejun recognized Zhao Changfeng and said he had thought the young man was dead, while Zhao Changfeng realized the couple had not come to town because of him.
• Shen Yanrong, Qin Hui, and Ruan Meizhen condemned Zhao Changfeng, and Cui Pinyuan worried that Chen Jian's attack would drive the couple away.
• Chen Jian continued attacking with a three-headed, six-armed fiend, and Qin Hui agreed to join him; Zhou Jin's umbrella repelled the strike and destroyed many yin ghosts.
• Zhou Jin narrowed her eyes and said that she and Song Zejun had never denied their involvement with demon spirits.

Zhao Changfeng resisted a Demon Spirit with his blood shadow and willpower, then used Heavenly Heart Demon Seeding to refine it and rescue Ruan Meizhen. As Song Zejun and Zhou Jin left Tamu Town unhindered, Zhao Changfeng began saving others possessed by Demon Spirits.

• Cui Pinyuan attacked Song Zejun and Zhou Jin with his Blazing Sun Demon Art, but Zhou Jin unleashed the Demon Spirits hidden in her parasol, causing deaths and chaos across Tamu Town.
• A worm-shaped Demon Spirit invaded Zhao Changfeng, who tore it apart with a blood shadow infused with willpower and refined its evil thought inside his Small Cauldron.
• Zhao Changfeng vomited out a hard, black demon core, then drew the Demon Spirit out of Ruan Meizhen and refined it as well.
• Song Zejun and Zhou Jin fought Cui Pinyuan, Chen Jian, Shen Yanrong, and Qin Hui, then walked out of Tamu Town while their opponents let them go.
• Ruan Meizhen realized Zhao Changfeng had saved her and seen through Song Zejun and Zhou Jin, as Zhao Changfeng rushed through town to rescue others invaded by Demon Spirits.

Zhao Changfeng rescued people across Tamu Town from demon spirits and collected the willpower they generated, while Song Zejun and Zhou Jin escaped. After Shen Yanrong apologized and Zhao Changfeng returned to cultivating, Shi Yue offered him two thousand spirit stones to kill Chen Haoming.

• Zhao Changfeng absorbed demon spirits from their victims, rescued them, and Ruan Meizhen collected the demon cores he left behind.
• Shen Yanrong realized Zhao Changfeng had been right about Song Zejun and his wife, while Song Zejun reminded Zhou Jin that Song Ziyan had not been their real child.
• After the demon spirits' attack ended, Zhao Changfeng counted twenty-seven demon spirits and refused Shen Yanrong's invitation to discuss what to do next.
• Shen Yanrong apologized to Zhao Changfeng for doubting him, but he returned to his stone house to cultivate with the Essence-Devouring Demon Art.
• Shi Yue visited Zhao Changfeng, apologized for his earlier greed, and offered him two thousand spirit stones to kill Chen Haoming.

Zhao Changfeng agreed to help Shi Yue kill Chen Haoming in exchange for spirit stones, then offered Ruan Meizhen spirit jade for help staging an act to kill Chen Haoming. The chapter ended with Ruan Meizhen asking what he wanted her to do.

• Shi Yue told Zhao Changfeng that Chen Haoming planned to kill him and offered to pay for revenge; Zhao Changfeng agreed to the deal for three thousand spirit stones, half in advance.
• Zhao Changfeng examined Shi Yue’s memories and found that his grief over his two dead sons had become a powerful obsession-born inner demon.
• Cui Pinyuan urged Ruan Meizhen and Qin Hui to seek reinforcements, while Shen Yanrong praised Zhao Changfeng for helping defend Tamu Town.
• Shi Yue gave Zhao Changfeng fifteen pieces of spirit jade as an advance payment.
• Zhao Changfeng offered Ruan Meizhen twenty demon cores and five pieces of spirit jade in exchange for helping him stage an act to kill Chen Haoming.

Chen Haoming decided to kill Zhao Changfeng and accused him of colluding with demon spirits. When Chen Haoming confronted him at dawn, Zhao Changfeng provoked him with a humiliating story about Ruan Meizhen, and Chen Haoming charged to attack.

• Chen Haoming refined another fellow disciple's corpse and told Chi Jingchen he would kill Zhao Changfeng at dawn.
• The surviving City Guard Army burned their fallen comrades, and Qin Hui and Shen Yanrong resolved to apologize to Zhao Changfeng with spirit stones.
• Chen Jian questioned Cui Pinyuan about traces of the True Yang Art in his Blazing Sun Demon Art, and Cui Pinyuan admitted his past as a True Yang Sect disciple.
• Shi Yue watched Chen Haoming and Zhao Changfeng, then saw Zhao Changfeng approach Chen Haoming with Ruan Meizhen at dawn.
• Chen Haoming accused Zhao Changfeng of secretly colluding with demon spirits, and Zhao Changfeng taunted him about his relationship with Ruan Meizhen.
• Chen Haoming flew into a rage and charged at Zhao Changfeng.

Zhao Changfeng faced Chen Haoming, who had succumbed to the murderous backlash of his demonic art and accused Zhao of being a Demon Spirit spy. Zhao provoked Chen Haoming into attacking, then destroyed his blood shadow and killed him with five black-and-red blood shadows.

• Cui Pinyuan and Chen Jian recognized that Chen Haoming’s slaughter backlash was driving him to seek out Zhao Changfeng, and neither believed Zhao was a Demon Spirit spy.
• Zhao Changfeng activated the Blood Shadow Movement Technique and taunted Chen Haoming, while urging Ruan Meizhen to control her anger and endure his public display of intimacy.
• Chen Haoming lost control, raised the Blood God Saber, and attacked Zhao Changfeng with a massive blood shadow.
• Zhao Changfeng sent five smaller black-and-red blood shadows against Chen Haoming’s attack, tearing apart the blood canopy and breaching Chen Haoming’s defenses.
• Zhao Changfeng’s blood shadows entered Chen Haoming’s body and tore him apart, killing him.

Zhao Changfeng killed Chen Haoming and claimed his Blood God Saber, then saw Shi Yue sink into despair after the deaths of his sons and his revenge targets. He gave Shi Yue a reason to keep living by suggesting he might one day reach the Extinction Sect and learn whether his sons had reincarnated.

• Zhao Changfeng defended himself before the witnesses, and Cui Pinyuan confirmed that he detected no demon-spirit contamination in him.
• Zhao Changfeng collected Chen Haoming's Blood God Saber and other possessions, but his small cauldrons rejected his attempt to refine Chen Haoming's flesh.
• Zhao Changfeng was affected by Shi Yue's inner demon and experienced the grief and hardships of Shi Yue's life, including the deaths of his two sons.
• Shi Yue lost his will to live after Chen Haoming and Zhang Mu died, so Zhao Changfeng gave him a bronze bell and urged him to seek the Extinction Sect's reincarnation secret art.
• Shi Yue regained a faint hope of seeing his sons again, and the scenes of his life vanished from Zhao Changfeng's second cauldron.

Zhao Changfeng recruited Shi Yue by promising to help investigate the reincarnation of his sons, then learned from Shi Yue about Cui Pinyuan’s hidden spirit beast stores and Earth Yin Cold Spring. As members of the Primal Demon Temple approached, Cui Pinyuan urged Zhao Changfeng and Chen Jian to strengthen themselves before they lost access to the cavern and its resources.

• Zhao Changfeng reflected on Shi Yue’s despair and his own search for answers about his separated body and soul, while Ruan Meizhen worried about the approaching Primal Demon Temple party.
• Ruan Meizhen told Zhao Changfeng that Shi Yue might know where to find ranked spirit beasts, so Zhao Changfeng went to speak with him.
• Zhao Changfeng promised to help Shi Yue fulfill his wish if Shi Yue would work for him, and Shi Yue agreed.
• Shi Yue’s information led Zhao Changfeng to Cui Pinyuan’s underground cavern, where Cui stored spirit beast carcasses around an Earth Yin Cold Spring.
• Cui Pinyuan exchanged Zhao Changfeng’s valuables for seven second-rank spirit beast carcasses and told him to refine them there before the Primal Demon Temple party arrived.

Zhao Changfeng cultivated with a second-rank Greenbone Snake while Chen Jian proposed that he claim Cui Pinyuan’s spirit beasts and the earth yin cold spring before the Primal Demon Temple arrived. Zhao Changfeng agreed in exchange for Chen Jian swearing not to kill him for half a year, and Chen Jian went to speak with Cui Pinyuan.

• Zhao Changfeng absorbed the Greenbone Snake’s power and realized the spirit beasts could raise his cultivation substantially.
• Chen Jian worried that the Primal Demon Temple would discover the earth yin cold spring and proposed that Zhao Changfeng claim it and Cui Pinyuan’s spirit beasts.
• Chen Jian offered Zhao Changfeng all the stored spirit beasts in exchange for half a month of access to the spring to refine his yin ghosts.
• Zhao Changfeng agreed but demanded that Chen Jian swear not to kill him for half a year, specifying their identities, location, and the consequences of breaking the oath.
• Chen Jian swore the oath and hurried off to speak with Cui Pinyuan.

Zhao Changfeng advanced to the middle Yuanqi Stage, but Shi Yue’s murder by the Primal Demon Temple caused him severe injuries and exposed a new threat to his cultivation. At Shi Yue’s corpse in Tamu Town, Zhao confronted the sect’s disciples over the Earth Yin Cold Spring as they mocked Ruan Meizhen.

• Zhao Changfeng tempered his body with a second-rank spirit beast and reached the middle Yuanqi Stage, though the demon art’s killing urge began to overtake him.
• Shi Yue’s death manifested as an image in Zhao’s Second Cauldron and halted the First Cauldron’s willpower production; Zhao realized Shi Yue had been killed by the Primal Demon Temple.
• Zhao found Shi Yue’s corpse beside the ruined stone house and learned from Ruan Meizhen that Xiang Lin had killed him for practicing the Primal Demon Temple’s Profound Yin Scripture.
• Ruan Meizhen told Zhao that the Primal Demon Temple had forced returning rogue cultivators back to Tamu Town, where the sect’s party claimed ownership of the Earth Yin Cold Spring.
• Zhao argued that the spring belonged to the Crippled Demon Sect, but Xiang Lin humiliated Ruan Meizhen by recounting how Xu Lang had once rejected her at the sect’s gates.

Zhao Changfeng challenged Xiang Lin to defend Shi Yue and Ruan Meizhen, then killed the Primal Demon Temple disciple in a brutal duel. After Tong Yi agreed to honor their bargain and leave the Earth Yin Cold Spring and spirit beasts to Zhao Changfeng, Zhao hurried to the Hidden Site of the Spirit Beasts, and Ruan Meizhen followed.

• Zhao Changfeng offered to fight Xiang Lin to the death in exchange for the Primal Demon Temple receiving the Earth Yin Cold Spring and spirit beasts if Xiang Lin survived, and Tong Yi accepted.
• Xiang Lin attacked Zhao Changfeng with the Profound Yin Scripture and the White Paper Fan, River of Forgetfulness, while Zhao fought back with the Blood God Saber.
• Zhao Changfeng split Xiang Lin's yin river, destroyed his fan, and cleaved him in two with the saber.
• Tong Yi agreed to honor Zhao Changfeng's bargain, and Zhao rushed toward the Hidden Site of the Spirit Beasts to recover his strength.
• Ruan Meizhen chased after Zhao Changfeng, while Chi Jingchen and the Crippled Demon Sect disciples wondered whether Zhao and Ruan were a couple.

Tong Yi planned to let the demon spirit tide kill Zhao Changfeng and everyone else in Tamu Town, while Chen Jian decided to strike against the Primal Demon Temple disciples. After recovering from a demonic art backlash, Zhao Changfeng agreed to join the plan and take responsibility for the rogue cultivators and City Guard Army, leaving the four conspirators as the intended survivors.

• Tong Yi told the Primal Demon Temple disciples that Zhao Changfeng would die during the demon spirit tide and that they would leave no witnesses behind.
• Chen Jian heard Tong Yi's scheme through an Echo Stone and proposed that he and Cui Pinyuan kill Tong Yi and the other Primal Demon Temple disciples when the tide arrived.
• Ruan Meizhen helped Zhao Changfeng recover from backlash caused by unrefined spirit beast blood qi, and he gave her permission to take the venomous spirit beasts.
• Chen Jian and Cui Pinyuan told Zhao Changfeng about Tong Yi's plan and asked him to help.
• Zhao Changfeng agreed to the plan, assigning Chen Jian and Cui Pinyuan to handle Shen Yanrong and Qin Hui while he dealt with the remaining rogue cultivators and City Guard Army.

Zhao Changfeng continued strengthening his Blood Shadow Art and helped Ruan Meizhen prepare to attempt a breakthrough to the Primordial Spirit Realm. He secretly planted a demon-seed obsession in Cui Pinyuan and learned from the second cauldron that Cui Pinyuan had abandoned his righteous sect to survive.

• Shen Yanrong worried that revealing Zhao Changfeng’s actions to the Primal Demon Temple had caused trouble, but Qin Hui reassured her that the Temple was their only support against the Demon Spirit Tide.
• Zhao Changfeng concluded that his blood shadows could not hold more willpower until he refined and strengthened his qi and blood, then resumed cultivating with frozen spirit beasts.
• Ruan Meizhen told Zhao Changfeng she had recovered to the Great Perfection of the Yuanqi Stage and wanted to attempt another breakthrough, and he promised to protect her.
• Zhao Changfeng borrowed five pieces of spirit jade from Cui Pinyuan and secretly used the Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding Great Art to plant his demon-seed obsession in him.
• Cui Pinyuan accused Chen Jian of intending to kill him to conceal their actions, and Chen Jian offered to resolve his dependence on the Earth Yin Cold Spring if he helped kill Tong Yi.
• Zhao Changfeng viewed Cui Pinyuan’s memories in the second cauldron and saw him abandon his Righteous Sun Sect identity to cultivate demonic arts after apologizing at his master Cao Ming’s grave.

Zhao Changfeng reasoned that the Demon Dao’s brutal cultivation methods helped humanity resist the Unordered Zone, while the Righteous Dao’s slow progress left it vulnerable. When a powerful Demon Spirit invaded him, he broke free of its illusion and helped Ruan Meizhen overcome her inner-demon obsession, allowing her to reach the primordial spirit realm.

• Zhao Changfeng examined Cui Pinyuan’s guilt and concluded that the Demon Dao’s rapid cultivation offered a grim answer to the threat from the Unordered Zone.
• A powerful Demon Spirit appeared in the cave, invaded Zhao Changfeng’s body, and attacked his mind and vital organs.
• The Demon Spirit dragged Zhao Changfeng into an illusion at the Primal Demon Temple’s mountain gate, where he recognized that “Zhan Jingsi” was the Demon Spirit.
• Zhao Changfeng urged Ruan Meizhen to help him and attacked the Demon Spirit with his saber, breaking the illusion’s hold.
• Ruan Meizhen opened her upper dantian and reached the primordial spirit realm.

Zhao Changfeng killed a third-rank demon spirit that had emerged from the Earth Yin Cold Spring, while Ruan Meizhen advanced into the Primordial Spirit Realm. As more demon spirits gathered and Chen Jian warned that an invasion was coming, Zhao Changfeng reached the late Yuanqi Stage and the group prepared to fight.

• Zhao Changfeng explained how he killed the third-rank demon spirit and showed Chen Jian and Cui Pinyuan its demon core.
• Chen Jian deduced that the demon spirit had targeted him and Tong Yi, and Ruan Meizhen completed her breakthrough into the Primordial Spirit Realm.
• Chen Jian and Cui Pinyuan killed second-rank demon spirits emerging from the Earth Yin Cold Spring and predicted that the demons would soon invade in force.
• Ruan Meizhen demonstrated her newly formed Slaughter Art, and Zhao Changfeng finished tempering his body and entered the late Yuanqi Stage.
• Chen Jian sensed the demon spirits approaching and summoned the Yin Ghost Spirit-Seizing Banner.