Chapter Summaries

Yue Wen heard Ao Yuanchi’s account of the expedition to Snake Mountain Tiger Tomb and learned why the Void Dragon King suspected Hall Lord Ao Yuanzhong of conspiring with evil spirits. Still unsure which Dragon Hall figures were involved in the attacks, Yue Wen decided to investigate through Ao Ligun, the expedition’s sole survivor.

• Ao Yuanchi told Yue Wen that Ao Ligun led the East Sea Dragon Hall expedition to Snake Mountain Tiger Tomb with Situ Ling, but only Ao Ligun returned with a mysterious text.
• Ao Yuanchi accused Ao Yuanzhong of arranging Situ Ling’s death to obtain the text and suggested Yue Wen’s parents had been targeted because they were expedition consultants.
• Ao Yuanchi advised Yue Wen to choose Ao Ligun as his mentor and warned that Ao Yuanzhong might already be moving against him.
• Yue Wen considered whether Ao Yuanchi, Ao Yuanzhong, or another Dragon Hall elder had enabled the Demon Creatures and the Silkworm Demon King’s mark to enter the Dragon Hall.
• Yue Wen decided to seek Ao Ligun as his mentor and keep Jiang Hongxiu’s origins from Zhu Sanqing while he investigated his parents’ past.

Yue Wen and his classmates returned to the Dragon Hall, where Ao Weilian reported that a mole had likely let the demons inside and warned them that a Council member might be involved. Their first lesson began with instructor Ao Libai challenging the apprentices to fight him after he promised them freedom from strict attendance rules if they won.

• Jiang Hongxiu thanked Yue Wen and his companions for saving her, while online rumors accused the River City Team of bullying her.
• Ao Weilian told Yue Wen that the Silkworm Demon King had probably targeted Jiang Hongxiu and that a mole had brought in the demon creatures; he said the culprit might be among the Dragon Hall Council.
• Ao Weilian warned the apprentices that their instructor, Ao Libai, was notoriously harsh and had beaten previous classes during their first lessons.
• Ao Libai scolded the late-arriving apprentices, then explained the Dragon Hall's training opportunities and praised the power of the True Dragon Remnant Arts.
• Ao Libai suppressed his cultivation to the fifth realm and challenged the apprentices to fight him, offering them freedom to arrive late or take leave if they defeated him.

Ao Libai demonstrated fragmentary True Dragon techniques to his apprentices, but Yue Wen and the others tricked him, restrained him, and beat him. When Ao Libai tried to resume the fight, Xing'er threatened to post a recording of the beating, leaving him desperate to stop her.

• Ao Libai suppressed his cultivation to the peak of the Fifth Realm and agreed not to use his Seventh Realm powers or magical artifacts.
• Xing'er charged Ao Libai, who froze her with the Divine Dragon Immobilization Technique and struck her unconscious with the Dragon Palm Cosmos Technique.
• Yue Wen, Qi Dian, and Xing'er tricked Ao Libai into lowering his guard, then used their abilities to restrain and beat him.
• Jiang Hongxiu joined the beating with her Phoenix Feather Thorn Whip, while Ao Libai endured the attacks without using his higher-level powers.
• Ao Libai demanded another fight, but Xing'er threatened to post a video of the beating online, and he begged her not to share it.

The apprentices tormented Ao Libai with embarrassing videos before he introduced the Dragon Hall Council members and their admission challenges. Yue Wen chose the dangerous Thunder Tiger Whale hunt, while the others considered mentors whose tests suited them.

• Xing'er and Yue Wen used videos of Ao Libai to force him to promise not to make things difficult for them, and he warned them not to share the footage.
• Ao Libai explained that the apprentices would choose Council mentors by completing their admission challenges, or else train under him.
• The group reviewed the seven Council members and their tests, including harvesting golden light wood, bearing a heavy stone, killing a Thunder Tiger Whale, comprehending Dao Rhythm, forging spirit gold, and eating canned Fragrant Concubine Fish.
• Xing'er showed interest in Elder Ao Yuanyu, while Qi Dian considered accepting Mu Wanjiang's canned-fish challenge.
• Yue Wen chose Ao Ligun's Thunder Tiger Whale hunt, saying he wanted the mentor with the hardest admission requirement.

Yue Wen sought Ao Ligun as his mentor and discovered the elder was hiding from a crowd of creditors. After Ao Ligun gave him an incomplete True Dragon Water-Repelling Art as the first step of a challenge, Yue Wen asked Da Long to restore it.

• Yue Wen and the other apprentices chose their mentors, and Yue Wen traveled to Ao Ligun's home on the outskirts of the city.
• Yue Wen found creditors surrounding Ao Ligun's courtyard and met the elder disguised as one of them.
• Ao Ligun warned Yue Wen to give up, then gave him three days to learn the True Dragon Water-Repelling Art before attempting to hunt a Thunder Tiger Whale in the Raging Thunder Domain.
• Yue Wen realized the art lacked the dragon-breath prerequisite and asked Da Long whether he could restore it.
• Da Long recognized the sigil as a weakened technique he had once modified for humans, and Yue Wen persuaded him to complete it for four hundred ninety-nine Evil-Suppressing Money.

Yue Wen mastered the True Dragon Water-Repelling Art overnight and traveled with Ao Ligun to the Raging Thunder Domain, where he entered its deadly currents. Elsewhere inside a Thunder Tiger Whale, a merman elder and a mermaid girl tried to grow Pearl Flowers so they could protect themselves and live freely in the Human Realm.

• Yue Wen told Ao Ligun he had mastered the True Dragon Water-Repelling Art, astonishing the elder with how quickly he had learned it.
• Ao Ligun opened the Dragon Hall's Grand Formation and escorted Yue Wen out, warning him that intervening in the challenge would mean failure.
• Yue Wen used the True Dragon Water-Repelling Art to travel through the seabed currents without obstruction and reached the Raging Thunder Domain.
• Yue Wen entered the domain, where golden lightning raged across a vast stretch of water.
• Inside a Thunder Tiger Whale, a merman elder and a mermaid girl dug a patch of soil and hoped to grow Pearl Flowers for protection.

Yue Wen attacked a Thunder Tiger Whale in the Raging Thunder Domain, then sheltered inside its internal grotto-heaven from its lightning blast and discovered a Pearl Flower. He learned that two merfolk had planted it, but after seeing their seeds, he claimed they also had a fated connection with him.

• Yue Wen studied the Thunder Tiger Whale’s feeding habits and attacked it as it returned to the middle reaches of the Raging Thunder Domain.
• Yue Wen used several sword techniques to pierce the whale’s hide and wound it deeply.
• Yue Wen flew through the wound into the whale’s internal grotto-heaven to escape its outward-spreading lightning storm.
• Yue Wen found a Pearl Flower growing on an island and approached it to pick the spirit treasure.
• A merfolk girl told Yue Wen that she and an old merfolk had planted the flower and that it had not ripened.
• Yue Wen inspected the merfolk girl’s seeds and declared that she, too, had a fated connection with him.

Yue Wen rescued two merfolk, killed the thunder tiger whale, and passed Ao Ligun’s challenge to become his student. Ao Ligun agreed to tell Yue Wen what happened at Snake Mountain Tiger Tomb, revealing that he had lost his closest comrades and beloved there.

• Yue Wen offered the merfolk grandfather and granddaughter a safe place to farm in exchange for half their pearl harvest, then brought them into a Secret Realm.
• Yue Wen cut through the thunder tiger whale’s internal Grotto-Heaven and killed the beast with the Brass Greatsword.
• Ao Ligun recognized the Brass Greatsword as a powerful Spirit Treasure and wondered about Yue Wen’s background.
• Yue Wen asked Ao Ligun if he had passed the challenge, and Ao Ligun accepted him as his student while warning he could not reveal Yue Wen’s parents’ whereabouts.
• Yue Wen asked Ao Ligun about the Snake Mountain Tiger Tomb expedition, and Ao Ligun agreed to tell him, admitting he had lost his trusted comrades and beloved there.

Ao Ligun recounted how a mission to Snake Mountain Tiger Tomb ended in a demonic blood outbreak that killed his team and Situ Ling. He left Yue Wen with unanswered questions about the East Sea Hall Lord, whose information had led them to the tomb.

• Ao Ligun agreed to tell Yue Wen what happened at Snake Mountain for five hundred thousand in talisman currency.
• Ao Ligun explained that the East Sea Hall Lord sent him and Situ Ling to retrieve a secret art from the Tiger Heavenly Emperor’s tomb, and they joined Yue Teng and Xu Qingwen, Yue Wen’s parents, on the expedition.
• The team found a blood-written message reading “I don’t want to die,” retrieved a book, and discovered that one member had disappeared into a pool of Divine Realm blood.
• The blood-corrupted team member attacked the group, and demon snakes swarmed the tomb as the survivors tried to escape.
• Situ Ling succumbed to demonic corruption and killed the remaining team members, but briefly regained control and took a Dragon Spear meant for Ao Ligun, then fell among the snakes.
• Yue Wen asked where the Hall Lord had obtained his information, and Ao Ligun looked panicked and avoided the question.

Ao Ligun told Yue Wen how Situ Ling died in Snake Mountain Tiger Tomb and how the Dragon Hall spy was murdered, leaving him suspected and disillusioned. Yue Wen planned to investigate the mole by examining the Vajra Spike, and the Heart-Ripping Woman confirmed that the elder who accompanied her to Snake Mountain was Ao Yuanren.

• Ao Ligun explained that a Demon Race spy had supplied false information about Snake Mountain Tiger Tomb, and that he found the spy murdered with an ancient Vajra Spike after Situ Ling died.
• Ao Ligun said the deaths made him a suspect and drove him to abandon his search for the Dragon Hall mole, who might also have been responsible for Yue Wen's parents disappearing.
• Ao Ligun told Yue Wen that winning the coming Celestial Phenomenon Realm contest could earn him access to the Dragon Hall Treasury of Treasures and a chance to inspect the Vajra Spike.
• Yue Wen obtained a map of Snake Mountain Tiger Tomb from Ao Ligun and paid him fifty million in Human Realm Currency after returning to the Dragon Hall.
• Yue Wen contacted the Heart-Ripping Woman through the Demon Emperor Hide and asked for the name of the Dragon Hall elder who had accompanied her to Snake Mountain.
• The Heart-Ripping Woman remembered that the elder's name was Ao Yuanren.

Yue Wen uncovered conflicting accounts of two expeditions to Snake Mountain and learned that the Heart-Ripping Woman might be the supposedly deceased Xue Huifang. After hearing of a Cat Demon and Fox Demon who had tried to enter Snake Mountain, he turned to check on the merfolk living in Nagiko’s secret realm.

• Yue Wen asked the Heart-Ripping Woman to recall her identity, and she claimed to be Dragon Hall Thousand-Scale General Xue Huifang, who had explored Snake Mountain with Ao Yuanren.
• Yue Wen confirmed with Ao Ligun that Xue Huifang had supposedly died in battle and that he and Situ Ling had led a later expedition to Snake Mountain, where Situ Ling died.
• Yue Wen pieced together that both expeditions may have encountered his parents, leaving him uncertain about their repeated appearances and the East Sea Hall Lord’s motives.
• Duan Shousheng reported that a Cat Demon and Fox Demon had tried to enter Snake Mountain, and the Two-Headed Flood Dragon seemed to recognize the Cat Demon.
• Yue Wen entered Nagiko’s secret realm and asked the merfolk grandfather and granddaughter whether they were satisfied with their new soil; the girl said their plot was too small to grow Sun and Moon Pearls.

Yue Wen settled Old Man Yu and Yu Xiaomei into Immortal Dew Valley to grow pearl flowers alongside the Wood Demons Squad, then heard how his companions’ Dragon Hall admission tests had gone. Big White arrived at the group’s lodging, where Yue Wen announced that he would begin cultivating with them.

• Yue Wen welcomed Old Man Yu and Yu Xiaomei to Immortal Dew Valley, assigned them land for pearl flowers, and introduced them to the Wood Demons Squad and Black Silver Puppets.
• Yue Wen encouraged the overworked wood demons, rewarded them with spirit liquid, and checked the growth of the valley’s crops.
• Yue Wen learned that Jiang Hongxiu and Xing'er had passed their admission tests, Qi Dian had endured Mu Wanjiang’s foul fish challenge, and Liu Yuanjun was still attempting Lin Changqing’s test.
• Jiang Hongxiu opened the door to find Big White, who reunited with Xing'er and Yue Wen after traveling to Dragon Hall by himself.
• Yue Wen told Big White that he would train in demon cultivation techniques, and Big White was surprised to learn he would have to cultivate.

Yue Wen arranged an intensive cultivation schedule for Big White and prepared himself and his teammates for the Heavenly Phenomenon Fruit Contest. Meanwhile, a black-robed Dragon Hall spy negotiated with Blue Throne for a Dao Source Profound Crystal, and Yue Wen chose the Ancient Battlefield Sea as his next place to hunt evil spirits.

• Yue Wen decided to give Big White a cultivation method and supernatural powers, then assigned him a grueling six-day training schedule; Jiang Hongxiu objected, but Yue Wen defended the plan.
• Yue Wen warned Zhao Xing'er and Qi Dian to resume intensive cultivation so the team would be ready for the Heavenly Phenomenon Fruit Contest.
• A black-robed Dragon Hall spy spoke with Blue Throne about the failed assassination and demanded the promised Dao Source Profound Crystal by the next day.
• The spy and Blue Throne agreed to hide the crystal near the Ancient Battlefield Sea, where a demon creature's presence would not attract attention.
• Yue Wen returned to cultivating and searched for nearby places to hunt; he settled on the Ancient Battlefield Sea to earn Evil-Suppressing Money.

Yue Wen helped Big White begin cultivating with the Demon Dao Profound Transformation Art, then obtained the Righteous Mind Dragon Transformation Art from Ao Ligun and asked Da Long to complete it. Da Long agreed that the art could let Yue Wen transform into a True Dragon, and they settled on a price of 499 talisman currency.

• Yue Wen took Big White to the Scripture Repository, where it studied the Demon Dao Profound Transformation Art and entered its visualization, though its swollen belly turned out to mean it needed to pee.
• Yue Wen met Ao Ligun, who gave him the talisman seal for the Righteous Mind Dragon Transformation Art after Yue Wen insisted he would study the True Dragon Remnant Arts on his own.
• Yue Wen brought the art to Da Long, who explained it had originally been made for dragonkin rather than True Dragons and offered to complete it so Yue Wen could transform into a True Dragon.
• Yue Wen haggled with Da Long over the fee, then agreed to pay 499 talisman currency.

Yue Wen mastered the Righteous Mind Dragon Transformation Art and left the Dragon Hall to hunt evil spirits for Evil-Suppressing Money. In the Ancient Battlefield Sea, he killed a weak nightmare wraith fish, then discovered a powerful Sixth Realm flame demon.

• Liu Yuanjun returned after passing Lin Changqing's challenge, while Qi Dian, Zhao Xing'er, and Jiang Hongxiu discussed their progress with the Righteous Mind Dragon Transformation Art.
• Yue Wen transformed into a huge dragon, smashed through Jiang Hongxiu's room, and shocked his companions with how quickly he had mastered the art.
• Yue Wen paid Ao Ligun to open the Dragon Hall's Grand Formation so he could travel to the Wasteland Zone and earn Evil-Suppressing Money.
• Yue Wen reached the Ancient Battlefield Sea, stealthily approached a monstrous fish, and killed it with a surprise punch from the Blazing Sun Fist.
• Yue Wen sensed dense demonic qi and spotted a towering Sixth Realm flame demon in the Ancient Battlefield Sea.

Yue Wen ambushed and killed a Sixth Realm Flame Demon near the Dragon Hall, hoping to learn why it had come to the East Sea. After preventing its self-destruction and collecting its remains, he found a Deep-Blue Little Box among its belongings.

• Yue Wen spotted the Flame Demon near the Dragon Hall, but it detected his hiding and attacked him with a greatsword.
• Yue Wen used Sealing Dao Rhythm, the Soul-Settling Mirror, a pill, and Shadow Talismans to weaken and outmaneuver the Flame Demon.
• Yue Wen struck the Flame Demon from behind and demanded to know why it had come to the East Sea.
• The Flame Demon began to self-destruct, so Yue Wen killed it with Dragon King's Edict: Dragonflame Slash before it could explode.
• Yue Wen collected nearly seven hundred pieces of Evil-Suppressing Money, let Little Black Snake feed, and decomposed the demon's remains.
• Yue Wen picked up the Flame Demon's Volcano Stone Greatsword and discovered a Deep-Blue Little Box among its belongings.

Yue Wen discovered that a flame demon’s box contained a huge piece of dao source profound crystal and a Following Talisman that could lead its owner to the box. Suspecting the crystal was payment to a Dragon Hall mole connected to the Night Demon’s arrival, he decided to use the marker to draw the owner out.

• Yue Wen took the flame demon’s belongings to the Black-Gold Great Hall and asked Da Long to appraise them.
• Da Long identified the sword as a low-grade demonic artifact and warned that the box’s emblem carried a Following Talisman linked to a powerful cultivator.
• Yue Wen opened the storage artifact and recognized its large, irregular crystal as dao source profound crystal, a treasure valuable enough to put his life at risk.
• Yue Wen suspected the crystal was payment for a Dragon Hall member who had helped the Demon Race, potentially giving him a lead on his parents’ disappearance.
• Da Long explained that Yue Wen could not identify the marker’s owner directly, so Yue Wen attached a wisp of insight dao rhythm to the emblem to provoke a response.

Yue Wen brought a suspected Dragon Hall spy’s treasure to the Azurefall Profound Gate and secured Venerable Xuanting’s help in setting a trap. When the spy followed the Dao-rhythm trace Yue Wen had planted, he found himself face-to-face with Venerable Yuezun.

• Yue Wen returned to the Dragon Hall with Ao Ligun’s help, then asked Perfected One Nagiko to take him to the Azurefall Profound Gate.
• Perfected One Nagiko flew Yue Wen into the Azurefall Realm and brought him to Venerable Xuanting at the Immortal-Inheriting Hall.
• Yue Wen explained his plan to catch the Dragon Hall spy, and Venerable Xuanting approved acting without notifying the Dragon Hall.
• Venerable Xuanting told Yue Wen he could keep the Dao source profound crystal, while Perfected One Nagiko joked about robbing him on the journey back.
• At daybreak, the hooded spy retrieved the empty storage gemstone and followed the yin metal Dao-rhythm trace to Venerable Yuezun.

Venerable Yuezun captured Ao Libai in the East Sea Dragon Hall after tracing his yin metal dao rhythm, and Venerable Xuanting negotiated for the Dragon Hall to host the interrogation with Yuezun present. Afterward, the Void Dragon King met the masked Man in Blue, who had helped expose Ao Libai, and asked which Dragonkin clan he came from.

• Venerable Yuezun manifested the Profound Soul Palace and seized Ao Libai, accusing him of colluding with the Demon Race and attempting to assassinate the Azurefall Profound Gate Patriarch's disciple.
• The East Sea Hall Lord objected to Yuezun taking Ao Libai away, and their dispute escalated until Venerable Xuanting proposed that the interrogation take place in the Dragon Hall with Yuezun participating.
• The East Sea Hall Lord accepted Xuanting's proposal, and the Dao Lords withdrew their powers without fighting.
• Jiang Hongxiu, Xing'er, Qi Dian, and Liu Yuanjun witnessed the confrontation, while Big White continued cultivating in the Villa.
• The Void Dragon King praised the masked Man in Blue for helping expose Ao Libai and asked about his connection to the fox demon and his Dragonkin origins.

The Man in Blue helped Ao Yuanchi expose Ao Libai as a Demon Race collaborator, then refused the Void Dragon King's offer to join the East Sea Dragon Hall and left under the name Azure Dragon Society. Ao Weilian told Yue Wen what Ao Libai had confessed, while Yue Wen remained suspicious that the mole's collusion went back years and involved higher-ups.

• Ao Yuanchi offered the Man in Blue a position in the Dragon Hall, but the man declined and revealed that he belonged to the Azure Dragon Society.
• Ao Yuanchi realized that Ao Libai's arrest had weakened rival Ao Yuanzhong and planned to use the upheaval to advance his own faction.
• Ao Weilian apologized to Yue Wen for the trouble caused by bringing Venerable Yuezun to the Dragon Hall, and Yue Wen pretended to accept the apology.
• Ao Weilian reported that Ao Libai confessed to accepting a treasure to help the Demon Race bring Night Demons in to assassinate the Living Immortal's disciple, though he claimed it was his first offense.
• Yue Wen doubted Ao Libai's claim and worried that the Dragon Hall's investigation might not expose higher-ups who had ordered the earlier crimes.
• Ao Weilian went to sort through ancestral tablets after Venerable Yuezun destroyed the Family Clan's ancestral temple, and privately wondered if Yue Wen brought bad luck wherever he went.