Recaps

After the Black Gate closed, Xiao Canglan and the other survivors left the battlefield, while Qing Chen was hurled into the Nine Netherworlds Forbidden Grounds. Qing Chen found himself in a bleak, oppressive wasteland where his divine sense was severely suppressed.

• The Black Gate closed after the surviving cultivators entered, leaving clouds of blood mist and a thousand-mile abyss behind.
• Xiao Canglan, Venerable King Cangrang, and Demon Master Kunpeng exchanged hostile looks before departing, while Wu Gui's phantom vanished.
• Qing Chen was swept through the forbidden grounds by a violent spatial force, and his divine sense could extend less than a hundred zhang.
• Qing Chen crashed onto a boulder and saw a gray-black wasteland filled with ravines, black mist, and dead plants.
• Qing Chen watched black mist rise from the fissures and felt an indescribable sense of oppression.

After being displaced into the Nine Netherworlds Forbidden Grounds, Qing Chen discovered that the Heavenly Devil Tower stood at the center of the mist-filled land and that spiritual energy could not be absorbed normally. He used his Xiantian Primordial Magnetism Divine Vessel to clear the mist and recover much of his true essence, but learned that survival there would require his stored spirit stones and treasures.

• Qing Chen examined himself after spatial force flung him into the forbidden grounds and found that his true essence worked sluggishly and his divine sense was severely suppressed.
• Qing Chen spotted the enormous Heavenly Devil Tower rising from the distant horizon and recognized it as the source of the black mist.
• Qing Chen tested several blood path spells on the mist, but they passed through it without effect.
• Qing Chen used Primal Magnetism Divine Light to disperse some mist, then discovered that it returned quickly and that spiritual qi, spirit stones, and a medicinal pill could not restore his power.
• Qing Chen summoned his Xiantian Primordial Magnetism Divine Vessel, which drove the mist away within fifty zhang, and replenished most of his true essence with stored resources.

Qing Chen traveled through the Nine Netherworlds Forbidden Grounds toward the place where Blood Fiend had died, using a token to follow its direction. After avoiding spatial rifts and a battle between two cultivators, he discovered that a silent plain concealed a deadly underground threat.

• Qing Chen activated the Blood Fiend Token and set out northeast toward Blood Fiend’s resting place, roughly three hundred thousand li away.
• Qing Chen used Primal Magnetism Divine Light to detect and carefully avoid hidden spatial rifts.
• Qing Chen spotted a Tuoba Household cultivator fighting an unknown saber wielder, then chose to avoid the battle and continue on.
• Qing Chen noticed an unnaturally quiet plain and took a wide detour around it.
• Eight enormous skeletal claws erupted from the ground and attacked the empty spot where Qing Chen had been standing.

Qing Chen avoided deadly traps as he traveled deeper into the Nine Netherworlds Forbidden Grounds, where he encountered a gigantic, headless creature that identified itself as a member of the Crystal Mo Tribe. After its Spirit-Severing Qi-infused attack injured him, Qing Chen realized it could absorb the surrounding mist to recover.

• Qing Chen narrowly avoided eight Nascent Soul Middle Stage skeletal ghost claws and continued through the forbidden grounds.
• Qing Chen spent three days flying slowly through the wasteland, using Primal Magnetism Divine Light to reveal spatial rifts.
• Qing Chen skirted a silent stone forest, but its pillars glowed and exploded into fragments that he dodged with Five Elements Void-Breaking.
• An enormous eight-armed, headless creature rose from underground and declared that it belonged to the Crystal Mo Tribe before attacking Qing Chen.
• The creature’s air blast carried Spirit-Severing Qi, damaging Qing Chen’s Black Demon Blood Armor and sending him flying.
• Qing Chen saw the creature plunge its arms into the earth and absorb the surrounding black-gray mist through its crystalline patterns.

Qing Chen fought nine Crystal Mo monsters with his Blood River God-Slaying Spear after their Spirit-Severing Qi weakened his other attacks. He tore apart one monster’s arms and drove his spear into its torso, but the battle continued.

• Eight more Crystal Mo monsters emerged from underground and surrounded Qing Chen, bringing their number to nine.
• Qing Chen reinforced his body and brought out the Blood River God-Slaying Spear, choosing physical attacks over blood path and magnetic origin spells.
• Qing Chen cracked a monster’s crystalline armor, pierced its arm, and snapped the arm apart with his spear.
• The monster used Spirit-Severing Qi to heal its wound, so Qing Chen intensified his attacks and tore off another arm.
• Qing Chen hurled his spear into the monster’s torso, where its fanged mouthparts failed to bite through it.

Qing Chen destroyed the hundred-zhang monster and collected the powerful black crystal it left behind. He could not extract the crystal’s sealed energy, even after trying several techniques.

• Qing Chen shattered the monster’s rows of fangs and drove his spear through its torso, destroying it completely.
• The eight remaining monsters fled into the Stone Forest ruins, and Qing Chen chose not to pursue them.
• Qing Chen examined his injuries and used his immortality true blood to begin recovering.
• Qing Chen gathered the monster’s black crystal fragments and found that the largest contained energy greater than a Nascent Soul middle stage cultivator’s reserves.
• Qing Chen tried magic power, blood path rules, the Magnetic Origin Spell, immortality true blood, the Spirit-Guiding Art, and divine sense, but none could access the crystal’s sealed energy.

Qing Chen realized he could not use the Black Crystal to advance his body cultivation because he lacked a body-cultivation grotto-heaven. He then wondered whether the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda’s grotto-heaven could help, and prepared to test the crystal with it.

• Qing Chen tried striking and smashing the Black Crystal but could not damage it or use it.
• Qing Chen recalled that advancing his body cultivation required a grotto-heaven, which he could not open because his origin meridian was fixed to Dharma cultivation.
• Qing Chen remembered the grotto-heaven inside the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda and considered using it to refine the crystal.
• Qing Chen found a secluded cavern, set up Primordial Magnetism Restrictions, and summoned the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.
• Qing Chen brought out the Black Crystal and held it above his palm, ready to test whether the pagoda could help.

Qing Chen used the Treasure Pagoda to refine a Crystal Mo Tribe core and discovered it had produced moyuan qi with the potential to transform his cultivation. He learned that reaching Seven-Luminaries Master authority and obtaining powerful sixth-tier materials could let the pagoda create a treasure that opened a second origin meridian.

• Qing Chen watched the Treasure Pagoda dissolve and absorb the black crystal, releasing tremendous energy that shook the cavern and its restrictions.
• The Treasure Pagoda produced a faint, gray wisp of qi that Qing Chen sensed was unlike the fortune qi he had encountered before.
• The Treasure Pagoda sent Qing Chen a message identifying the qi as moyuan qi and explaining its cultivation benefits and the requirements for refining an Origin Meridian Supreme Treasure.
• Qing Chen realized the treasure could potentially open a second origin meridian and erupted into eerie laughter at the prospect of advancing his body cultivation.

Qing Chen discovered that Moyuan Qi could help create an Origin Meridian Supreme Treasure, then found a way to preserve it inside Supreme-Grade Spirit Stones. He set out for the place where Blood Fiend had passed away in meditation, intent on claiming its opportunity before hunting the Crystal Mo Tribe.

• Qing Chen learned that refining an Origin Meridian Supreme Treasure required a hundred portions of Moyuan Qi, a powerful sixth-tier or higher Demon Race or Heavenly Devil Race core, and the cultivation of a Seven-Luminaries Master.
• Qing Chen used the Spirit-Guiding Art to seal the fading Moyuan Qi inside a Supreme-Grade Spirit Stone, which could hold ten portions.
• Qing Chen resolved to gather Moyuan Qi from the Crystal Mo Tribe and planned to visit where Blood Fiend had passed away in meditation first.
• Qing Chen followed the Blood Fiend Token's map and sped toward Blood Fiend's resting place before the Crystal Mo Tribe could gather reinforcements.
• More than ten days later, Qing Chen reached the foot of a barren mountain where the gray-black wasteland appeared to end.

Qing Chen reached the mountains where the Blood Fiend Token pointed, only to find powerful cultivators from several factions fighting there. As the battle escalated, he wondered what had drawn them all to the forbidden land and whether the Six-Winged Heavenly Bat was the Second Senior Brother mentioned by Qing Jie.

• Qing Chen followed the Blood Fiend Token to a barren mountain range and found several Nascent Soul cultivators already fighting deep within it.
• Qing Chen suspected the combatants had gathered either because they knew where Blood Fiend had fallen or because they had discovered another opportunity.
• Golden Toad Granny of the Gu Tribe clashed with Li Hanyi of the Nine Nether Aristocratic Clan, while the Flying Bear True Lord of Southern Yue joined the conflict.
• Tuoba Ye called for Tie Shou to join forces against the Gu Tribe, and Linghu Jiu Jian confronted the Crimson-Chain Serpent Demon and the Six-Winged Heavenly Bat.
• Qing Chen watched the battle and wondered whether the Six-Winged Heavenly Bat was the Second Senior Brother mentioned by Qing Jie.

The Blood Fiend Token escaped Qing Chen’s control and transformed into blood-colored vapor that drifted toward the battle in the mountains. The combatants failed to stop it, and it continued toward the tallest peak.

• Qing Chen’s Blood Fiend Token trembled and heated up after reacting to the Blood Jiangshi Holy Son Token, resisting his attempts to suppress it.
• The token floated out of Qing Chen’s hand and transformed into vapor that ignored his spells and magnetic attraction.
• Qing Chen chased the vapor but could not touch it, then moved away to avoid being discovered as it headed into the mountains.
• Li Hanyi, Golden Toad Granny, Flying Bear True Lord, Tuoba Ye, and the other fighters noticed the bloody light and stopped battling to attack it.
• The combatants’ spells passed through the vapor, and the Black-Robed Elder’s Gu attacks also failed to stop it.
• The fighters speculated that their battle had disturbed the laws beneath the mountain and set off after the vapor.

The Rebirth Tower emerged from a shrinking mountain, and the gathered cultivators failed to open its sealed door. Its golden light then exposed Qing Chen, revealing that his Blood Fiend Token had activated the tower and betrayed his hiding place, leaving him surrounded by hostile factions.

• A bloodlight transformed into a huge golden talisman, which caused the ten-thousand-zhang peak to shrink into the Rebirth Tower.
• Li Hanyi, Tuoba Ye, Linghu Jiu Jian, and Golden Toad Granny rushed to the tower, but their attacks failed against its door and Linghu Jiu Jian identified a fifth-tier restriction.
• The Rebirth Tower sent out streaks of light, and one struck Qing Chen, forming a pillar that revealed his location to the cultivators.
• Qing Chen realized that his Blood Fiend Token had activated the tower and exposed him, while Li Hanyi and the others recognized him and focused their attention on him.

Qing Chen emerged from the golden light and deflected questions about his connection to the Rebirth Tower, then urged the gathered factions to search for others hiding nearby. His provocation revealed Qing Sanxiao, Qing Xuansu, and the Silver Moon Wolf King, who took an interest in him.

• Qing Chen broke free of the golden light, armed himself with the Blood River God-Slaying Spear, and argued with Tuoba Ye, Li Hanyi, Five Gu True Lord, and Flying Bear True Lord.
• Qing Chen suggested that others were hiding in the mountains and called on the gathered factions to sweep the surrounding area together.
• Qing Sanxiao and Qing Xuansu emerged from a mountain fissure, and Tuoba Ye identified Qing Sanxiao as the Qing Household's Third Elder.
• The Silver Moon Wolf King appeared in a burst of silvery light, transformed into a silver-haired man, and remarked that Qing Chen knew how to stir up trouble.

Qing Chen used his formidable strength to discourage the gathered factions from attacking him, offering to help whichever side tried to enter the Rebirth Tower. Before they could decide, a horde of Crystal Mo Tribe monsters emerged around them, and the Rebirth Tower suddenly activated.

• Qing Chen warned the assembled cultivators that he could help one faction defeat another, prompting the Nine Nether Aristocratic Clan, Gu Tribe, Southern Yue, and Demon Race to reconsider attacking him.
• A tremor shook the area, and Crystal Mo Tribe monsters erupted from the ground in overwhelming numbers around the Treasure Pagoda.
• Linghu Jiu Jian and Tuoba Ye attacked the monsters, but their bodies resisted damage and absorbed Spirit-Severing Qi to heal.
• Golden Toad Granny urged everyone to stop fighting the monsters and join forces to enter the tower.
• The Rebirth Tower shook, its golden peak burst into a pillar of light, and the runes across its surface lit up.

The cultivators charged through the Rebirth Tower’s gate while fighting off the pursuing Crystal Mo Tribe monsters. After the monsters poured inside behind them and the gate shut, the tower began to shake and crack apart.

• Li Hanyi, Linghu Jiu Jian, Tuoba Ye, and the other powerhouses battled through the Crystal Mo Tribe monsters and led the charge into the tower.
• Golden Toad Granny used Crystalizing Gu Powder to corrode the monsters’ Crystal Patterns as she passed through the gate.
• Qing Chen avoided the crowded main entrance, fought off a hundred-zhang giant, and leapt through a gap beside the gate.
• The Crystal Mo Tribe monsters pursued the cultivators into the tower, and the gate shut once everyone had entered.
• The Rebirth Tower shook violently as its runes shattered and cracks spread from its base to its top.

Zhao Ningyi stood before the newly revealed furnace and revealed that a remnant soul from the Immortal-Locking Cult had shared her body for over two hundred years. After luring cultivators, including Qing Chen, to the Rebirth Tower, the remnant soul entered the furnace to begin its plan.

• The Rebirth Tower collapsed and transformed into a thousand-zhang furnace surrounded by three-colored flames.
• Zhao Ningyi arrived and resisted the remnant soul’s attempts to inflame her hatred toward the man who had abandoned her.
• The remnant soul recalled its defeat forty-seven thousand years earlier, its long sleep, and how Zhao Ningyi’s resentment awakened it.
• The remnant soul revealed that it had spread word of the Rebirth Tower and lured Qing Chen there because it believed he possessed a Holy Son Token.
• Zhao Ningyi entered the furnace, and the remnant soul declared, "Blood Fiend, I'm back again."

Qing Chen explored a scorching, sealed world inside the tower and encountered a confused man who identified himself as Blood Fiend. The inferno then vanished, leaving Qing Chen on a mountain cliff in an unfamiliar place.

• Qing Chen found himself in a scarlet wasteland inside the tower, where overwhelming heat evaporated his water spell and a Spirit Venerable-Grade restriction blocked flight.
• Qing Chen walked across the seemingly endless wasteland until he encountered a mysterious man in a tattered black robe.
• Qing Chen introduced himself as the Holy Son of the Moon-Worshipping Divine Cult's Blood Jiangshi Branch Altar, and the man remembered that he was Blood Fiend.
• The inferno faded away, and Qing Chen appeared on a mountain cliff overlooking a green landscape.
• Qing Chen suspected he was not in a simple illusion, then heard footsteps behind him.

Qing Chen witnessed Blood Fiend and Yun Zhao’s past, from their childhood bond to their desperate defense against invading forces. He watched Yun Zhao sacrifice herself to complete the Rebirth Furnace’s transformation, then heard a voice ask what he would do in Blood Fiend’s place.

• Qing Chen watched young Yun Yan and Yun Zhao complete a cliff trial together and promise to face the future side by side.
• Blood Fiend left Yun Zhao at the Cloud Lineage’s Ancestral Grounds to defend the Gouwu Sea against the Immortal-Locking Cult.
• Blood Fiend and Yun Zhao fought the Heavenly Devil Race, the Crystal Mo Tribe, and other invaders as their forces suffered heavy losses.
• Yun Zhao revealed that the Rebirth Furnace needed the Cloud Lineage’s last bloodline as its final fuel, and Blood Fiend refused to let her sacrifice herself.
• Blood Fiend trapped Yun Zhao and burned his body fighting several Spirit Venerables, but she broke free and stepped into the Rebirth Furnace, completing its transformation.
• A voice in Qing Chen’s heart asked what he would do.

Inside the Rebirth Furnace’s Heartfire Blood Prison, Qing Chen answered Blood Fiend’s question by saying he would save his sister rather than sacrifice her. His answer earned him a Fire Seed Fragment and revealed that the furnace entrants would be divided into five teams to hunt the Crystal Mo Tribe, leaving Qing Chen wary of the trial’s purpose.

• Qing Chen considered sacrificing Yun Zhao for the Rebirth Furnace’s transformation, but told Blood Fiend he would stop her and, if necessary, leave the Nanhua Realm with her or die in her place.
• Blood Fiend accepted Qing Chen’s answer, and the Jade Pendant inscribed with “Zhao” began to glow.
• A Fire Seed Fragment appeared before Qing Chen, and information identified the place as the Heartfire Blood Prison, one of the Brahma Five Hells Blood Scripture’s hells.
• Qing Chen learned that the fragment could track Crystal Mo Tribe kills and that the strongest fragment-holder could receive Blood Fiend’s inheritance.
• Qing Chen learned there were twelve human entrants, three Demon Race entrants, and 117 Crystal Mo Tribe members, and that the fragments would divide participants into five hunting teams.
• Qing Chen wondered why Zhao Ningyi was not among the entrants and suspected that the furnace’s rules concealed a deeper purpose.

Qing Chen captured a Fire Seed Fragment and discovered he could not replenish his magic power in the crimson world. A violent teleportation carried him to a blood-red sea, where he found himself aboard a strange sunken-blackwood boat.

• Qing Chen endured the Fire Seed Fragment's scorching heat and contained it inside the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.
• Qing Chen tried to restore his magic power with pills and a spirit stone, but an unseen force erased their energy.
• Qing Chen was seized by a violent force and teleported away from the crimson world.
• Qing Chen awoke on a sunken-blackwood boat drifting across a motionless sea of blood beneath a dark red dome.

Qing Chen encountered Qing Sanxiao and Five Gu True Lord aboard a drifting boat after they each passed through a hell. The three agreed to cooperate and share the scripture they had obtained, while Qing Chen concealed that he had received a Fire Seed Fragment instead.

• Qing Sanxiao emerged at the stern, and he and Qing Chen eyed each other with suspicion.
• Five Gu True Lord crashed onto the boat, then saw Qing Chen and Qing Sanxiao as the three found themselves stranded together.
• Qing Chen and Five Gu True Lord agreed with Qing Sanxiao that they were teammates until the Five Hells ended and they hunted the Crystal Mo Tribe.
• Qing Sanxiao revealed that he had obtained an incomplete passage of the Brahma Five Hells Blood Scripture, and Five Gu True Lord confirmed he had received scripture too.
• Qing Chen concealed that he had found a Fire Seed Fragment and agreed to Qing Sanxiao's proposal to recite their scripture passages.

Qing Chen fabricated a convincing passage from the Brahma Five Hells Blood Scripture, persuading Qing Sanxiao and Five Gu True Lord that all three had received similar inheritances. Qing Sanxiao then offered his Blood Ginseng Spirit Wine, and Five Gu True Lord recognized its exceptional quality.

• Qing Sanxiao recited part of his scripture, then Five Gu True Lord recited a shorter passage from his own inheritance.
• Qing Chen drew on the Brahma Demon-Refining Art and Blood Fiend's insights to compose and recite a passage that matched their scripture's lineage.
• Qing Sanxiao and Five Gu True Lord praised Qing Chen's passage and relaxed, believing the three had received equivalent inheritances.
• Qing Sanxiao offered Five Gu True Lord a sip of high-grade fourth-tier Blood Ginseng Spirit Wine, which Five Gu True Lord recognized as a rare treasure.

Qing Sanxiao offered Qing Chen Blood Ginseng Spirit Wine as an apology and a gesture of alliance, but Qing Chen distrusted his motives and poured most of the treasured wine into a Spirit-Sealing Box. Qing Sanxiao snatched the bottle back in fury, while Five Gu True Lord watched in shock.

• Qing Sanxiao apologized to Qing Chen for the Qing Household elders’ past actions and presented him with a bottle of Blood Ginseng Spirit Wine.
• Qing Chen inspected the wine, suspected Qing Sanxiao had ulterior motives, and decided not to drink it.
• Qing Chen poured the wine into a Spirit-Sealing Box while Qing Sanxiao initially watched with amusement.
• Qing Sanxiao grew alarmed as Qing Chen poured out most of the bottle and urged him to stop.
• Qing Sanxiao rushed over and snatched back the bottle, leaving only a little wine inside.
• Five Gu True Lord watched Qing Chen’s brazen act, dumbstruck.

Qing Chen took Qing Sanxiao’s wine and secretly secured it inside the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda, while the boat continued through the ominous sea of blood. After Five Gu True Lord nearly succumbed to the sorrow beneath the surface, the three investigated how to steer the vessel and began learning to control its speed.

• Qing Chen claimed Qing Sanxiao’s wine for shared use, then secretly transferred the Spirit-Sealing Box into the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.
• Qing Sanxiao hid his remaining wine and silently planned to settle accounts with Qing Chen later.
• Qing Chen noticed the boat’s deck caused bitterness to rise through his feet, while Five Gu True Lord saw shadows in the blood beneath the boat.
• Qing Chen pulled Five Gu True Lord away from the sea after it began draining his Divine Sense and stirring sorrow in his heart.
• Qing Chen urged the others to learn how to steer the boat, and Qing Sanxiao used the Dragon-Elephant Heavenly Wave Scripture to make it speed forward.
• After about four hours of practice, the three began to understand how to control the boat.

Qing Chen, Qing Sanxiao, and Five Gu True Lord worked together to drive their boat through the spirit-severing qi and exchanged cultivation insights as they traveled. Just as Qing Sanxiao joked that they should be one family because they shared the surname Qing, a violent shaking struck beneath the boat.

• Qing Chen proposed that he and Qing Sanxiao take turns restoring their magic power and pushing the boat, while Five Gu True Lord helped propel it with his Gu insects.
• Qing Sanxiao and Qing Chen each took turns driving the boat, and they periodically cleared the spirit-severing qi so all three could recover.
• The three exchanged insights on cultivation, and Qing Chen’s explanation helped Qing Sanxiao find a lead on a difficult point in his cultivation.
• Over several days, their cooperation grew and they shared knowledge of their respective cultivation paths.
• Qing Sanxiao joked that the Qing family should have befriended Qing Chen sooner because they shared the surname Qing, then the boat shook violently beneath them.