Chapter Summaries

Qing Chen shattered East Third Guard Island’s World-Guarding Spiritual Shield and drove back the Radiant Night Palace Master and Dharma Master Su Xin. Xin Bairen ordered the allied forces to attack, and the defenders raised layered formations around the island.

• Qing Chen deflected the Radiant Night Palace Master’s sword phantom and broke Dharma Master Su Xin’s ribbon attack with his fist.
• Qing Chen’s strikes destroyed the island’s shield, formation flags, and Formation Plate, revealing the two enemy leaders.
• Dharma Master Su Xin realized Qing Chen’s body cultivation was far stronger than the reports had claimed, but took comfort in having the Radiant Night Palace Master beside her.
• Xin Bairen ordered the forces to attack East Third Guard Island and threatened execution for anyone who retreated.
• The allied army charged with cannons, talismans, and treasure ships as Xuan Zhen True Person raised an ice formation reinforced by the Mysterious Turtle Sea-Suppressing Formation.

Xin Bairen ordered the Condensed Jade Sect forces to quickly overwhelm Lesser Cold Temple while Qing Chen held off the Radiant Night Palace Master and Dharma Master Su Xin. Qing Chen injured Su Xin and forced both opponents onto the defensive, prompting the Radiant Night Palace Master to demand that Su Xin use her trump card or she would flee.

• Xin Bairen ordered his troops to prioritize killing Foundation Establishment cultivators and surround the Golden Core cultivators, urging them to decide the battle quickly.
• Qing Chen fought the Radiant Night Palace Master and Dharma Master Su Xin high above the battlefield, using his halberd, armor, and Four-Armed Wisdom King Divine Ability to withstand their attacks.
• The Radiant Night Palace Master unleashed Seven Nights Cold Starfall, but Qing Chen broke apart her sword shadows and disrupted her attack with the God-Shocking Art Earth Annihilation Ultimate Technique.
• Qing Chen shattered Su Xin's horsetail-whisk barrier and struck her hard enough to send her flying backward and spitting blood.
• The Radiant Night Palace Master intervened to force Qing Chen back, then told Su Xin to reveal her trump card or she would flee.

Dharma Master Su Xin sacrificed the souls of Lesser Cold Temple’s devotees to summon the Elysian Rebirth Aspect while the Radiant Night Palace Master unleashed her Man and Sword as One technique against Qing Chen. As the two attacks converged on him, the battle on East Third Guard Island continued, with Su Zixuan trusting that Qing Chen would prevail.

• Dharma Master Su Xin crushed a Command Token, fed essence blood to her Horsetail Whisk, and drew souls from the Nine Great Guard Islands to summon the Elysian Rebirth Aspect.
• The Elysian Rebirth Aspect trapped Qing Chen in a ghost domain and attacked him with ribbons of pink light.
• The Radiant Night Palace Master merged with the Radiant Night Sword and launched a massive Ice-Colored Sword Shadow at Qing Chen.
• Guan Lian Dharma Master, trapped by Sun Wudi, Xuan Zhen True Person, Su Zixuan’s Netherworld Demon Spider, and the Condensed Jade Treasure Ship, declared that Qing Chen was doomed.
• Su Zixuan watched the ghost domain and told her companions that Qing Chen would not lose.

Qing Chen struggled against Su Xin’s Ultimate Bliss Female Aspect and the Radiant Night Palace Master’s ice-soul sword phantom inside Lesser Cold Temple’s draining Rebirth Ghost Domain. As Condensed Jade forces tried to break the domain and rescue him, the battle remained unresolved and Qing Chen’s position grew more desperate.

• Qing Chen used the No-Sentient-Beings Aspect and White Bone Immortal-Locking Gourd against the ice-soul sword phantom and Ultimate Bliss Female Aspect, but the phantom shattered the Yin-Yang millstone and the chains wounded his Devil Aspect.
• Guan Lian Dharma Master saw Qing Chen trapped and weakening, then taunted Sun Wudi and the others that Qing Chen would die within the ghost domain.
• Xin Bairen ordered six thousand disciples aboard the Condensed Jade Treasure Ships and commanded them to fire their Third-Tier Spirit Cannons at the ghost domain, but the blasts failed to break it.
• Lesser Cold Temple’s monk soldiers burned their essence blood and counterattacked the Condensed Jade forces to stop them from reaching the domain.
• Sun Wudi attacked Guan Lian while Xuan Zhen True Person strengthened the Mystic Ice Silkworm Formation, and both sides fought fiercely as Qing Chen continued to struggle inside the domain.

Qing Chen unleashed the Vajra Mound, a powerful Buddhist magic treasure that merged with his demonic power and shattered the ghost domain’s defenses. As the enemy leaders reeled, Xin Bairen rallied the forces to advance and attack.

• Qing Chen summoned the Vajra Mound, whose Buddhist light and chants tore apart the Ultimate Bliss Female Aspect and freed the resentful souls bound to it.
• Qing Chen combined the pagoda’s Buddhist light with his Devil Aspect’s demonic qi, destroying the female aspect with a storm of golden lotus petals.
• Xin Bairen burned his qi and blood, rallied the others, and prepared to fight alongside Qing Chen.
• The Vajra Mound’s Śarīra broke through Su Xin Dharma Master’s ghost domain, while its power shattered most of the Radiant Night Palace Master’s Ice-Colored Sword Shadow.
• Sun Wudi defeated Guan Lian Dharma Master’s Buddhist staff, and Xin Bairen ordered the forces to advance, kill the enemy, and take the city.

Qing Chen fought the Radiant Night Palace Master and Dharma Master Su Xin as his strength waned and Su Xin detonated the ghost domain. The Palace Master fled, while Qing Chen struck down Su Xin and declared that Lesser Cold Temple was destroyed.

• The Radiant Night Palace Master urged Su Xin to withstand Qing Chen's attacks until the Vajra Mound weakened, while Qing Chen felt his reserves rapidly draining.
• Su Xin detonated the ghost domain, and Qing Chen opened the Vajra Mound's sixth layer to absorb the blast at the cost of more than two hundred drops of essence blood.
• Qing Chen sent his third demonic aspect after Su Xin as the Radiant Night Palace Master prepared to attack, but she instead fled northwest.
• The third demonic aspect shattered Su Xin's fly-whisk shield and struck her, leaving Qing Chen an opening to attack with the Pojun Battle Halberd.
• Qing Chen used God-Shocking Art-Earth Annihilation against Su Xin and declared that he would slay the abbot and destroy Lesser Cold Temple.

After Qing Chen’s forces defeated the Lesser Cold Temple on East Third Guard Island, they looted the ruined monastery and gathered the dead while tending to their own heavy losses. The battle ended in victory, but the island and both allied forces had suffered devastating destruction.

• The smoke cleared over East Third Guard Island, revealing the ruined Lotus-Platform Golden Hall and survivors crawling among the rubble as Iron Blade Society disciples plundered the monk quarters.
• As the Elysian Rebirth Ghost Domain collapsed, the released soul fragments either faded in Buddhist light or were absorbed by Qing Chen’s White Bone Demon Banner.
• Qing Chen sealed Dharma Master Su Xin’s Horsetail Whisk, tortured Guan Lian Dharma Master, and killed the remaining Golden Core Dharma Masters; he and his allies also collected the enemy leaders’ bodies and distributed several magic treasures.
• Xuan Zhen True Person’s formation trapped the enemy, while Qing Chen’s speed and Five-Dragon Carriage Treasure Talisman let him pursue and kill fleeing opponents alongside Xin Bairen and the other True Persons.
• Xin Bairen, Han Shi, Yuwen Bujing, and Xie Yu organized the battlefield cleanup, collecting bodies and directing Demon Guard banners.
• The Condensed Jade Sect and Demon Lotus Sect counted thousands of dead, lost ships and prominent leaders, and watched blood stain the sea around the island.

Qing Chen's forces destroyed the Lesser Cold Temple, seized its territory and wealth, and began preparing for future campaigns. Months later, Qing Chen's victory had made waves across the Moon Sea Region, and he appeared at number 128 on the Gouwu Sea-Dragon-Tiger Golden Core Ranking.

• Qing Chen's forces wiped out the Lesser Cold Temple's remaining defenders and prepared to purge its Guard Islands and Little Cold Island.
• Qing Chen ordered Xin Bairen and Su Zixuan to recruit cultivators and replenish the army before he entered seclusion to refine the spoils.
• The Condensed Jade Sect kept most of the spoils as military funds, while Qing Chen quietly took spirit stones worth about two million low-grade spirit stones.
• Xin Bairen's plan called for the army to rebuild for at least two years before massing at the Lesser Cold Temple's border and advancing toward Guangqi Island.
• Months later, Qing Chen's destruction of the Lesser Cold Temple remained a major shock, and the Gouwu Sea-Dragon-Tiger Golden Core Ranking placed him at number 128.

Eight Serpent True Person confronted Poison Python True Person over his false intelligence about Qing Chen and his collusion with the Lesser Cold Temple. Heavenly Serpent Old Man crippled Poison Python and ordered him held as a sacrifice for the coming battle.

• Eight Serpent True Person accused Poison Python True Person of misleading the sect about Qing Chen and colluding with the Lesser Cold Temple.
• Eight Serpent True Person showed the gathered elders jade-slip images of Qing Chen defeating powerful foes.
• Grand Elder Chi Lin and Deputy Sect Leader Qing Wei condemned Poison Python and warned that Qing Chen’s speed and abilities made escape difficult.
• Poison Python True Person begged to redeem himself, but Heavenly Serpent Old Man declared that he would be kept as a sacrifice for the Heavenly Serpent.
• Heavenly Serpent Old Man used the Heavenly Serpent Vein-Locking Finger to seal Poison Python’s acupoints and cripple his cultivation, then ordered Deputy Sect Leader Qing Wei to haul him away.

Heavenly Serpent Old Man and Sect Master Eight Serpent True Person dismissed Qing Chen’s threat while Ye Wushang fought Buddhist Disciple Wuchen at the Vajra Zen Sect. Wuchen told Ye Wushang that Qing Chen had defeated two late Golden Core cultivators and earned a place on the Gouwu Sea Dragon and Tiger Rankings, leaving Ye Wushang stunned.

• Heavenly Serpent Old Man and Sect Master Eight Serpent True Person insisted that the Eight Serpent Sect could withstand Qing Chen and hoped other powers would hinder the Condensed Jade Sect.
• Ye Wushang and Wuchen clashed on the Vajra Zen Sect’s plaza, matching sword and Buddhist techniques in a battle that cratered the stone paving.
• Ye Wushang praised Wuchen’s palm technique and disparaged Young Master Lingxu after the two fighters survived their powerful collision.
• Wuchen told Ye Wushang that Qing Chen had wiped out the Lesser Cold Temple, crippled two late Golden Core cultivators, and ranked one hundred and twenty-eighth on the Gouwu Sea Dragon and Tiger Rankings.
• Ye Wushang was shocked by the news because he had been traveling and had not followed recent events.

Han Shi visited Wuji Island and delivered Qing Chen’s recording of the Yin-Yang Primal Magnetism Baleful Seal to Elder Xuangu. Palace Master Gong Shisan rewarded Qing Chen with a powerful spell and invited him to hunt a third-tier Magnetic Beast at Primordial Magnetic Origin Mountain.

• Han Shi was escorted through the orderly grounds of the Infinite Extremity Devil Palace and saw its standardized equipment and disciples practicing in military formations.
• Han Shi gave Elder Xuangu the Recording Stone, and Elder Xuangu praised Qing Chen’s mastery of the Yin-Yang Primal Magnetism Baleful Seal.
• Gong Shisan arrived, examined the recording, and gave Han Shi a Jade Slip containing the Primal Magnetism Storm spell for Qing Chen.
• Gong Shisan told Han Shi about a third-tier Magnetic Beast at Primordial Magnetic Origin Mountain and invited Qing Chen to hunt it.

Qing Chen used a vast supply of corpses and blood materials to force open his third Brahma aperture. The aperture began to reveal an ability to control blood energy, though its full power remained unclear.

• Gong Shisan told Han Shi that Lin Changsheng had entered the Golden Core Realm and speculated that King Yanluo would become the new Devil Lord.
• Qing Chen continued refining blood from thirty thousand cultivators, five Golden Core cultivators, and rare materials to open his third Brahma aperture.
• Qing Chen endured severe pain as a crack formed in the golden membrane around his divine soul and a blood-colored line began absorbing energy.
• Qing Chen exhausted most of his blood materials and watched the new aperture slowly take shape, while his first two apertures fed it their absorbed blood energy.
• Mysterious red patterns appeared in the blood vortex, and Qing Chen sensed that he might be able to direct the blood energy at will.

Qing Chen formed his third Brahma aperture, dramatically increasing his cultivation speed, while Lin Changsheng faced a powerful magnetic crystal demon leopard near Primordial Magnetic Origin Mountain. Lin Changsheng had been wounded and was fighting to survive.

• Qing Chen used two streams of essence blood to open a third Brahma aperture, consuming the remaining resources in his cave abode.
• Qing Chen discovered that his new aperture greatly accelerated spiritual energy refinement and estimated that cultivation that once took decades might now take ten years.
• Lin Changsheng encountered a third-tier magnetic crystal demon leopard in the dense magnetic mist at the foot of Primordial Magnetic Origin Mountain.
• Lin Changsheng revealed his flying yaksha body and dodged most of the leopard's magnetic blades, but three cut through his scales and wounded him.
• Lin Changsheng raised his Yin-Yang Magnetic Wheel to form a magnetic sand barrier, then leaped back as the leopard's claws cracked it.

After barely escaping a Magnetic Crystal Demon Leopard, Lin Changsheng found a strong Soul-Extracting Gu mark left by Chang Yao, suggesting she had made an important discovery. He followed its scent toward the depths of Primordial Magnetic Origin Mountain, despite his injuries.

• Lin Changsheng fought off the Magnetic Crystal Demon Leopard and fled to the outskirts of Magnetic Origin Mountain, where the beast stopped pursuing him.
• Badly wounded and exhausted, Lin Changsheng treated himself and headed toward his nearby cave abode.
• Lin Changsheng detected the bloody-sweet scent of the Soul-Extracting Gu and traced it to a faint scratch on a Magnetic Stone Pillar.
• Lin Changsheng recognized the mark as Chang Yao's signal and suspected her discovery concerned the Duer Sect Treasure.
• Lin Changsheng reinforced his body with the Mysterious Yin Corpse-Refining Secret Technique and followed the scent toward the depths of Primordial Magnetic Origin Mountain.

The Dian Cang Sect held a funeral for Songshan True Person, whose death left Spirit Crane True Person and the surviving disciples grieving. As the funeral drew no outside mourners, Qing Chen arrived in person to pay his respects.

• Spirit Crane True Person mourned beside Songshan True Person’s coffin and recalled how Songshan True Person had died protecting him.
• Gu Zhiruo presided over the funeral and recited Songshan True Person’s life while the disciples kowtowed.
• Gu Zhiruo saw that no sects or neighboring forces had sent representatives to offer condolences.
• Five jiao-pythons pulled Qing Chen’s bronze chariot to the summit, where he declared that he had come to see Songshan True Person off.

Qing Chen attended Songshan True Person’s funeral and issued a decree rewarding the Dian Cang Sect while honoring the deceased. Spirit Crane True Person accepted the decree, which granted his sect Longyou Island and ordered Songshan True Person’s remains moved to the Heroic Spirit Tomb.

• Qing Chen arrived at Songhe Peak, where Spirit Crane True Person and the gathered disciples bowed to him.
• Qing Chen saluted Songshan True Person’s body and asked why other sects had not come to offer condolences.
• Xu Jiuling, Gao Yuliang, Li Xiao'er, Zhao Zhong, and Qian Chen arrived with delegations to pay their respects.
• Qing Chen praised the Dian Cang Sect’s service and bestowed Longyou Island on it in perpetuity.
• Qing Chen abolished Spirit Crane True Person’s guest elder position, allowed him to found a sect, and ordered Songshan True Person’s remains moved to the Heroic Spirit Tomb.
• Spirit Crane True Person bowed and thanked Qing Chen for his decree.

Xuanji True Lord explained that Qing Chen was delaying the campaign against the Heavenly Illumination Archipelago to gain more benefits, including access to Nascent Soul teachings. He gave Chi Xuntian a jade slip and appointed him as the Condensed Jade Sect’s Walker, leaving Chi to wonder whether he could ever keep Qing Chen in hand.

• Chi Xuntian told Xuanji True Lord that Hall Vice Lord Xin had deferred the decision to Deputy Sect Master Qing, whom Chi had not managed to meet.
• Xuanji True Lord explained that Qing Chen had the resources to wait but would eventually have to fight, and suspected he was stalling to obtain more benefits.
• Xuanji True Lord gave Chi Xuntian a jade slip containing basic explanations of laws and material about breaking through to the Nascent Soul.
• Xuanji True Lord appointed Chi Xuntian as the Condensed Jade Sect’s Walker and sent him to Little Cold Island to observe Qing Chen’s attack on the Heavenly Illumination Archipelago.
• Chi Xuntian understood that he was meant to observe and temper himself, then worried that he might not be able to keep Qing Chen in hand.

Chi Xuntian’s Master, Xuanji True Lord, reassured him that Qing Chen could be useful until the Condensed Jade Sect had defeated its rivals, then turned to the sect’s future succession. At Coldwater Island, Cold Mountain Temple’s Xingchi arrived to reclaim the island under an alliance agreement, but the city’s defenders resisted until acting Island Lord Hua Tieshou arrived.

• Xuanji True Lord told Chi Xuntian he had ways to help him wield the Sect’s power and advised him to balance when to restrain and release Qing Chen.
• Xuanji True Lord said the Condensed Jade Sect should destroy Lesser Cold Temple and defeat the Eight Serpent Sect before resting, and urged Chi Xuntian to focus on cultivation and governance.
• At Coldwater Island, Xingchi identified himself as a Golden Core Dharma Master and said Cold Mountain Temple had come to reclaim islands under its alliance agreement with the Condensed Jade Sect.
• The Iron Saber Society’s Second-in-Command rejected Xingchi’s claim, organized the city’s defenders, and sent an aide to alert the Island Lord.
• A Cold Mountain Temple Bhikkhu revealed Xingchi’s rank and threatened the Second-in-Command, who nearly collapsed in fear.
• Hua Tieshou arrived and challenged the Bhikkhu’s claim that Foundation Establishment middle-stage cultivation was impressive.

Hua Tieshou defied Dharma Master Xingchi's demand to take over the island and fought Xingchi's bhikkhu bodyguard. The battle continued with the bhikkhu's golden barrier weakening under Hua Tieshou's demonic attacks.

• Hua Tieshou demanded written orders and a jade writ before allowing Xingchi to enter the island, declaring that Xingchi would have to step over him.
• Xingchi's bhikkhu bodyguard challenged Hua Tieshou, who leapt down from the battlements to fight him.
• The bhikkhu struck with his Demon-Subduing Pestle, but Hua Tieshou caught it with a bone claw and wounded him with Azure Netherworld Heart-Piercing.
• Hua Tieshou unleashed Azure Baleful Strangling as the bhikkhu defended himself with Golden Bell Body Protection.
• After a dozen exchanges, Hua Tieshou's corrosive demonic qi weakened the bhikkhu's golden barrier, and someone called for the fight to stop.

Dharma Master Xingchi tried to enforce Cold Mountain Temple’s claim to Coldwater Island, but Hua Tieshou refused to yield without proof. Qing Chen arrived and overwhelmed Xingchi with a divine sense strike, leaving the monks defeated and the island under his protection.

• Hua Tieshou and the burly Bhikkhu fought until Dharma Master Xingchi intervened and demanded that Hua honor the agreement bearing Deputy Sect Master Qing’s magic seal.
• Hua Tieshou refused to surrender Coldwater Island until the document was verified, and Xingchi used his Golden Core pressure to force him toward his knees.
• Hua Tieshou resisted the pressure with a demonic phantom and declared that he would not bow to Xingchi or let the monks enter the city.
• Qing Chen arrived, and his overwhelming pressure relieved Hua Tieshou while injuring the Foundation Establishment Bhikkhus.
• Qing Chen struck Xingchi with his divine sense, blasted him into a hill, and warned him against causing trouble on his territory.