Chapter Summaries

Chang Zhan, Liu Lie, and Cao Zheng fought the Thirteen-Road Spirit Snake Formation while Qing Chen used Pan Yuelian to gather the battlefield dead for his White Bone Demon Mara Banner. After the formation fell, the survivors discovered that Qing Chen’s Grudge Ghosts and demon soldiers had taken the corpses and slaughtered most of the cultivators and warriors.

• Pan Yuelian gathered the remains of nearly two hundred warriors and brought them to Qing Chen, who ritually refined them with the White Bone Demon Mara Banner.
• Cao Zheng explained that the Thirteen-Road Spirit Snake Formation would keep regenerating its subordinate snakes until the lead snake was killed, then summoned a hundred heroic spirit generals to hold off the twelve subordinates.
• Chang Zhan and Liu Lie joined forces to destroy the lead snake, breaking the formation and allowing them and Cao Zheng to defeat the remaining snakes.
• Chang Zhan, Liu Lie, and Cao Zheng returned to find that Qing Chen had recalled his Grudge Ghosts and demon soldiers, which had taken every corpse from the battlefield.
• Chang Zhan ordered an inspection and learned that fewer than two of the three Qi Refining formations remained, the warriors' formations had been wiped out, and only a few survivors were still alive.

After breaking the Thirteen-Route Spirit Snake Formation, the surviving cultivators discovered that all the corpses had vanished, but the three Foundation Establishment High Persons decided to press on toward the demonic cultivator’s lair. Qing Chen waited in secret until the group approached, then ordered Su Zixuan to activate her Command Token and trap them in a sudden spatial disturbance.

• Chang Zhan, Liu Lie, and Cao Zheng discovered that most of their forces were dead or exhausted and that every corpse had disappeared.
• The three Foundation Establishment High Persons debated retreating or advancing, and Chang Zhan argued that they should eliminate the wounded demonic cultivator before it could recover.
• Qing Chen watched through his Demon Seed Divine Sense and waited for a chance to kill everyone without letting his actions be exposed.
• Liu Lie sent twenty Qi Refining Stage disciples back to Mysterious Constancy Island for reinforcements, while the remaining cultivators advanced in the Hundred Immortals Formation.
• Chang Zhan and Cao Zheng identified the likely demonic cultivator’s cave abode and prepared to send scouts ahead.
• Qing Chen ordered Su Zixuan to activate her Command Token, and Cao Zheng and the others felt an invisible force sweep them into a vortex.

Qing Chen trapped the intruders in the Small Five-Element Inverted Trapping Formation and used the Demonheart Slaughter Restriction to turn their fears and desires against them. As Chang Zhan, Liu Lie, and Cao Zheng began breaking through their labyrinths, Qing Chen summoned a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage White Bone Demon General to stop them.

• The Small Five-Element Inverted Trapping Formation scattered the intruders into separate labyrinths outside the Cave Abode.
• Chang Huai attacked a female cultivator, who severed the part between his legs, and they began fighting to the death.
• A cultivator killed a man he resented, while another wounded man clutched his dead Dao Companion and blamed her for keeping him from Yue'er.
• The Demonheart Slaughter Restriction amplified the intruders' deepest desires and fears, driving them to violence and weakening even Chang Zhan, Liu Lie, and Cao Zheng.
• Chang Zhan, Liu Lie, and Cao Zheng attacked their labyrinth walls as Qing Chen summoned White Bone Demon General Pojun with the White Bone Demon Mara Banner.

Qing Chen attacked Chang Zhan inside the Little Five-Element Inversion Grand Formation, revealing his identity and using the Three Yin Sword Formation and Demon Lotus Karmic Fire. As Chang Zhan transformed into a Darkwater Battle General and turned the fight against him, the Pojun White Bone Demon God struggled against Liu Lie and Cao Zheng elsewhere in the maze.

• Qing Chen sent the Pojun White Bone Demon God toward Liu Lie and Cao Zheng, then appeared before Chang Zhan and attacked him with the Three Yin Sword Formation.
• Qing Chen strengthened his sword formation with Blood Qi Manifestation, but Chang Zhan countered with a powerful punch that scattered its sword light.
• Qing Chen unleashed Demon Lotus Karmic Fire, and Chang Zhan burned in agony before using two spirit talismans to force Qing Chen back.
• Chang Zhan transformed into a Darkwater Battle General with the Xuan Water Battle Art and charged Qing Chen, resisting the demon fire as his punches overwhelmed the sword formation.
• The Pojun White Bone Demon God fought Liu Lie and Cao Zheng, who combined their attacks into three scarlet dragons and a golden-armored battle general.

Qing Chen unleashed the Formless Illusion-Annihilation Seal, defeating Chang Zhan despite his Darkwater Battle General transformation. He killed Chang Zhan and turned his attention to the other people waiting outside.

• Chang Zhan remained trapped by Qing Chen’s Three Yin Sword Formation and Demon Lotus Karmic Fire as Qing Chen burned his Essence Blood to summon the Formless Demon God.
• Qing Chen sent the Formless Demon God after Chang Zhan, whose attacks failed to destroy the shifting phantom.
• The Formless Demon God struck Chang Zhan with the Formless Illusion-Annihilation Seal, shattering his Battle Body and leaving him gravely injured.
• Chang Zhan accused Qing Chen of plotting against Changxuan Island and threatened him with retaliation from the Chang Household and the Condensed Jade Sect.
• Qing Chen used the Three Yin Spirit Swords to kill Chang Zhan, then turned his attention to the cultivators and martial artists outside.

Qing Chen planned how to refine the corpses, blood, and souls from his recent victories into resources to strengthen his cultivation and weapons. After recovering his spiritual power, he entered the maze to find the Pojun White Bone Demon God battling Cao Zheng and Liu Lie.

• Qing Chen planned to refine Qi Refining corpses into hairy jiangshi or feed them to the White Bone Demon Mara Banner, while using Chang Zhan's corpse and other Foundation Establishment remains to strengthen his magic.
• Qing Chen intended to turn captured souls into grudge soul threads and have Su Zixuan use them to make formation flags for a second-tier Spider-Mantis Essence-Devouring Formation.
• Qing Chen absorbed middle-grade spirit stones to restore his spiritual power and reflected on how the Brahma Demon-Refining Art and White Bone Demon Mara Banner accelerated his cultivation.
• After recovering, Qing Chen flew into the maze, where the Pojun White Bone Demon God was fighting Cao Zheng and Liu Lie.
• Cao Zheng and Liu Lie coordinated their attacks, damaging the demon god with a golden blade and scarlet fire, while it called them rats and heads marked for sale.

Qing Chen fought Liu Lie and Cao Zheng, using the Pojun White Bone Demon God to overwhelm Cao Zheng and defeating Liu Lie’s Scarlet Banner Dragon with the Demon Lotus Karmic Fire. He seized the Scarlet Fire Banner and killed Liu Lie, while Cao Zheng remained under the demon god’s attack.

• Qing Chen appeared beside the Pojun White Bone Demon God and attacked Liu Lie with the Three Yin Sword Formation, but Liu Lie countered with the Scarlet Fire Banner.
• Qing Chen used the demonic banner to restore the Pojun White Bone Demon God, which drove Cao Zheng’s Golden-Armored War General onto the defensive.
• Liu Lie threw three Spirit Talismans at Qing Chen, then poured essence blood and Scarlet Fire Palm power into the Scarlet Fire Banner to summon the Scarlet Banner Dragon.
• Qing Chen’s Three Yin Sword Formation failed to stop the Scarlet Banner Dragon, but his Demon Lotus Karmic Fire consumed its flames and devoured Liu Lie’s divine sense imprint on the banner.
• Qing Chen took the weakened Scarlet Fire Banner and sent demon fire at Liu Lie, then killed him with the Three Yin Sword Formation.

Qing Chen captured Liu Lie’s soul and killed Cao Zheng after Cao Zheng begged to serve him and revealed the history of the feud between the Yue and Chang Households. The three Foundation Establishment cultivators sent from Mysterious Constancy Island were all dead, and Qing Chen stored Cao Zheng’s body beside Liu Lie’s.

• Qing Chen sealed Liu Lie’s corpse in a coffin after capturing his divine soul with the demonic banner.
• Cao Zheng begged Qing Chen to spare him and offered the Cao Household’s loyalty in exchange for a chance to live.
• Cao Zheng explained that the Yue and Chang Households’ feud began when the Yue Household tried to search Mysterious Constancy Island for a supposed runaway traitor.
• Qing Chen abruptly attacked Cao Zheng with the Pojun White Bone Demon God, Demonic Lotus Karmic Fire, and Three Yin Sword Formation, killing him.
• Qing Chen captured Cao Zheng’s divine soul, sealed his corpse in a coffin, and declared that the three Foundation Establishment cultivators from Mysterious Constancy Island were dead.

After defeating three Foundation Establishment High Persons, Qing Chen ordered the remaining cultivators trapped on Hidden Spirit Island slaughtered while he prepared for the arrival of people from Mysterious Constancy Island. The Grudge Ghosts and White Bone Demon Soldiers killed every Qi Refining cultivator in the maze, and Qing Chen’s resolve hardened further.

• Qing Chen recovered in the secret chamber, then assigned Su Zixuan to monitor the formation and took Pan Yuelian with him to deal with the remaining Qi Refining cultivators.
• Qing Chen found fewer than forty cultivators still alive in the maze, many of them consumed by the Demon Heart Killing Restriction’s bloodlust.
• Qing Chen summoned hundreds of Grudge Ghosts and more than a hundred White Bone Demon Soldiers, ordering them to leave no survivors and retrieve the remains.
• The Grudge Ghosts and White Bone Demon Soldiers overwhelmed the cultivators and killed every last one within half an hour.
• Qing Chen replenished his magic power and reflected that the demonic nature never died.

Qing Chen refined the blood baleful intent from the dead cultivators with the Mingwang Scripture and returned to Mysterious Constancy Island. There, Gao Yuliang reported that the heads of the Chang and Cao households had left the island with their people.

• Qing Chen ordered Su Zixuan to withdraw the formation and Pan Yuelian to gather the corpses.
• Qing Chen used the Mingwang Scripture to refine the blood baleful intent into a Jade Marrow Bottle, enough to cultivate the scripture to its fourth level.
• Qing Chen took the corpses and left with Su Zixuan and Pan Yuelian, flying back to Mysterious Constancy Island while concealing their auras.
• Qing Chen asked Gao Yuliang about his assigned task, and Gao reported that he had sent a message to the sect's War Treasure Ship using five middle-grade spirit stones.
• Gao Yuliang told Qing Chen that Chang Silang and Cao Yuan had left the island with many cultivators from their lineages.

Qing Chen exploited Mysterious Constancy Island’s weakened defenses by sending the Pojun White Bone Demon God and White Bone Demon Soldiers to attack while he prepared to loot the battlefield. The island’s remaining Foundation Establishment cultivator, Chang Zhichong, organized a defense as the assault began.

• After learning that Chang Silang, Cao Yuan, and Chang Shan had left Mysterious Constancy Island, Qing Chen saw a chance to strike while the island was exposed.
• Qing Chen summoned the Pojun White Bone Demon God on a deserted island, ordered it to attack Mysterious Constancy Island after thirty minutes, and told it to spare those bearing a Demon Seed’s aura.
• Qing Chen instructed Su Zixuan to set up the Small Five-Element Inverted Trapping Formation and directed over a hundred White Bone Demon Soldiers to collect corpses and valuables from the battle.
• Thirty minutes later, Pojun attacked patrols on Mysterious Constancy Island, cutting down cultivators as the White Bone Demon Soldiers advanced behind it.
• Chang Zhichong activated the island’s protective formation and organized five Hundred Immortals Formations to defend against the attackers.

While the Pojun White Bone Demon God and his soldiers attacked Mysterious Constancy Island, Qing Chen took advantage of the battle to strike the Chang Residence, where the island’s formation-control hub was located. He burned his way into the estate, intending to strengthen the Demon Lotus Karmic Fire.

• Chang Zhichong directed the five Hundred Immortals Formations to block the Pojun White Bone Demon God’s blade qi as the White Bone Demon Soldiers attacked the island’s grand array.
• The Azure Water Black Tortoise Formation summoned its shell to stop the demon general’s fused white bone saber, consuming nearly two hundred Spirit Stones in the process.
• With the island’s sole Foundation Establishment cultivator drawn away, Qing Chen disguised himself as a demonic cultivator and flew to the Chang Residence, which housed the formation-control hub.
• Qing Chen killed the guards with the Demon Lotus Karmic Fire and let the flames spread through the Chang Residence, consuming its inhabitants and their Divine Souls.
• Qing Chen watched the estate burn and expected the absorbed lives to strengthen his fire enough for three rounds of Magic Power refinement.

Qing Chen killed Chang Wan and his family, destroyed the Island-Protecting Grand Array’s control hub, and brought down the barrier protecting Mysterious Constancy Island. Chang Zhichong’s forces struggled against the Pojun White Bone Demon God as the island’s cultivators called for Lord Qing Patrol Envoy to come from Western Heaven Ward.

• Qing Chen found Chang Wan, burned his Dao Companion and children, and used Demon Seed Divine Sense to learn the location of the array’s control hub.
• Qing Chen killed the Formation Masters and shattered the formation plates, causing the Island-Protecting Grand Array and its Mysterious Turtle phantom to collapse.
• Chang Zhichong and the island’s cultivators panicked as the Pojun White Bone Demon God and its White Bone Demon Soldiers charged.
• Chang Zhishen’s Darkwater Battle Axe Art failed to stop the giant white bone blade, which broke through a Hundred Immortals Formation and killed its exposed cultivators.
• The island’s cultivators shouted for someone to hurry to Western Heaven Ward and summon Lord Qing Patrol Envoy.

Qing Chen annihilated the Chang Household and returned to the Inspector's Manor as a demonic beast attacked Mysterious Constancy Island. While the cultivators sought his help, he stayed hidden and planned to use the chaos to feed his demonic cultivation art.

• Qing Chen killed the cultivators at the Chang Residence, set it ablaze, and looted Storage Bags and a treasure storehouse.
• Wounded cultivators reached the Inspector's Manor and pleaded for Inspector Qing to stop the demonic beast attacking Mysterious Constancy Island.
• Deng Ziyue said Qing Chen was in seclusion and could not be disturbed, but the panicked cultivators demanded immediate help.
• Gao Yuliang urged the crowd to seek aid from the Three Great Lineages, whose Foundation Establishment cultivators were mostly absent from the island.
• Qing Chen hid in the Inspector's Manor to recover his magic power and planned to let Demon God Pojun kill cultivators while Chang Silang and the others were away.

Qing Chen emerged from seclusion and led the cultivators of Mysterious Constancy Island in driving back Demon God Pojun, while secretly carrying out his plan. Pojun escaped with several dozen demon soldiers, and the island’s survivors praised Qing Chen as their savior.

• Chang Zhichong called for Qing Chen to come out and save Mysterious Constancy Island as Demon God Pojun slaughtered its inhabitants.
• Qing Chen left seclusion, claimed he would drive off the fiends, and confronted Pojun with the Three Yin Sword Formation empowered by his Blood Qi Manifestation spell.
• Chang Zhichong and the island’s cultivators joined Qing Chen’s attack, and their combined assault shattered Pojun’s white bone blade formation.
• Qing Chen pursued Pojun until bone blade qi killed several cultivators, then stopped as Pojun escaped with several dozen demon soldiers.
• Chang Zhichong thanked Qing Chen, and the surviving cultivators praised him for saving Mysterious Constancy Island.

Three years after Hidden Spirit Island’s expansion, Qing Chen rewarded Gao Yuliang and Deng Ziyue for their service and reflected on the wealth and strength he had gained. He had refined two copper-armored corpses and opened his second Brahma Aperture, bringing his cultivation speed to roughly that of a peak high-grade spiritual root.

• Gao Yuliang reported that ten thousand more people had arrived from Mysterious Constancy Island, bringing Hidden Spirit Island’s population to around a hundred thousand, and Qing Chen rewarded him with two Spirit Awakening Pills.
• Deng Ziyue reported that his inspections across the Four Islands had found no problems, and Qing Chen gave him a Spirit Awakening Pill for a future breakthrough.
• Qing Chen recalled how Su Zixuan and Pan Yuelian had helped sell surplus treasures, while he used purchased materials to refine hairy jiangshi and two copper-armored corpses.
• Qing Chen completed the second transformation of the Brahma Aperture Blood-Refining Secret Art and opened his second Brahma Aperture.
• Qing Chen’s improved blood-essence refinement and spiritual-power absorption raised his cultivation speed to roughly the level of a peak high-grade spiritual root.

Qing Chen reviewed his three years of cultivation, the power and expenses of his new abilities, and the development of Hidden Spirit Island. A visitor arrived at his cave, where he revealed himself to be Lin Changsheng.

• Qing Chen assessed his strengthened cultivation, Demon Seed Divine Sense, White Bone Demon Mara Banner, and newly opened second Brahma Aperture.
• Qing Chen reflected on the qi, blood, and spirit stones he had spent on cultivation, spirit artifacts, and upgrading his Three Yin Sword Formation.
• Qing Chen advanced his Demon Lotus Karmic Fire to its third turn and cultivated the fourth layer of the Mingwang Scripture.
• Qing Chen entrusted Gao Yuliang with Hidden Spirit Island's affairs and recalled Yue Ting and Xie Yu to serve there.
• Qing Chen sensed a visitor, invited him into his cave, and discovered that the visitor was Lin Changsheng.

Qing Chen reviewed the growth of the Azure Dragon Stronghold and the Demon Lotus Sect, then planned to strengthen his hidden organization with cultivation arts and demonic seals. He ordered Lin Changsheng to continue targeting the Yue Household, while recalling that Lin’s secrets tied back to Mysterious Mountain Island and Qing Chen’s father-in-law.

• Lin Changsheng reported that the Azure Dragon Stronghold had grown through recruiting river bandits and that the Demon Lotus Sect had begun training beggar children and orphans for intelligence and assassination work.
• Qing Chen planned to distribute cultivation arts and combat techniques according to rank, while using the Dao Heart Seed Demon Seal to ensure his subordinates’ loyalty and control.
• Qing Chen’s planned Demon Lotus Sect hierarchy included Four Extremes Devil Lords, Ten Halls of Yama, three ranks of devil envoys, and three grades of devil guards, though most positions remained unfilled.
• Lin Changsheng reported that the Azure Dragon Stronghold and Demon Lotus Sect had become interdependent forces on the First-Level Island, and that he had advanced to the late Qi Refining Stage using the Qi-Blood Inner Elixir Art.
• Qing Chen ordered Lin Changsheng to send spies against the Yue Household, then recalled abducting and interrogating him three years earlier and discovering secrets connected to Mysterious Mountain Island and Qing Chen’s father-in-law.

Qing Chen learned that the Yue Household might be tied to the ruins of the Moon-Worshipping Divine Cult and heard how Lin Changsheng had uncovered secrets about the Qin Household and Immortal-Severing Island. After the Yue and Chang households clashed and a Yue Foundation Establishment cultivator died, Lin Changsheng saw a chance for Qing Chen to exploit the coming conflict.

• Lin Changsheng revealed that he had found a Qin Household treasury, learned of its destruction by the Condensed Jade Sect, and discovered that some Qin descendants had fled to Mysterious Constancy Island.
• Qing Chen learned that Lin Changsheng had a Netherworld Spirit Body, had planted the Dao Heart Seed Demon in him, and had sent him to approach Yue Lingshan for information about the Yue Household.
• Lin Changsheng reported that the Yue Household had attacked the Chang Household’s river bandits, prompting the Chang Household to reveal the Black Tiger Water Stronghold as its secret force.
• Lin Changsheng identified the stronghold’s bandit chief Feng Hu as the supposedly dead Chang Hu and reported that the stronghold had two Foundation Establishment High Persons.
• Lin Changsheng told Qing Chen that a Yue Foundation Establishment cultivator had died in the clash, and Qing Chen recognized that the conflict could escalate while the Condensed Jade Sect was occupied elsewhere.

Qing Chen assessed his growing strength and received pleas from the Yue and Chang Households after their conflict turned deadly. The sect ordered him to contain the fighting but not intervene, leaving him to consider how he could use the households’ feud for his own advancement.

• Qing Chen reviewed his combat abilities and concluded he could defeat even established Foundation Establishment Middle Stage opponents.
• Gao Yuliang and Deng Ziyue delivered recordings in which Yue Xipo and Chang Silang each accused the other household of starting the deadly conflict and appealed to Qing Chen for support.
• Chang Silang offered Qing Chen twenty Middle-Grade Spirit Stones to remain neutral, and Qing Chen sent Gao Yuliang to ask the sect’s elders whether they would intervene.
• Elder Shangshan ordered Qing Chen to prevent the fighting from spreading but otherwise let the households settle their feud themselves.
• Qing Chen accepted that the sect would not interfere and reflected that he would not remain anyone else’s stepping stone forever.