Chapter Summaries

Jing Jiu returned from Taichang Prison to the Third Layer of the Demon-Suppressing Prison after helping the Nether Emperor gain a chance to recover, then headed upward. Elsewhere in the prison, an old man received a message warning that a ghost had come, and hoped the newcomer would satisfy his hunger.

• The Nether Emperor named the Sword Ghost method the Netherworld Immortal Sword, and Jing Jiu approved the name before leaving Taichang Prison.
• Jing Jiu returned to the Third Layer, planted the Nether Emperor’s flowers, and continued upward through the prison.
• Jing Jiu reflected that the Zhongzhou Sect’s mosquitoes had kept the weakened Nether Emperor from recovering, and that helping him escape them had given him a chance.
• A middle-aged messenger entered the Demon-Suppressing Prison with a letter from Prince Jing Xin and was freed from his cell by a glowing old man.
• The messenger told the old man, “A ghost has come to the Demon-Suppressing Prison,” then the old man pushed him into a jade-green pool, where he dissolved.
• The old man found that the letter contained only that sentence and hoped the ghost would fill his stomach.

An old man at the Demon-Suppressing Prison’s cliff fed an Evil Path Expert to the poisonous pool, then saw a mysterious figure emerge from below carrying a strange object. At the Fruitful Accomplishment Temple, Yin San revealed he had sent a letter into the prison and reflected on how his plan might bring Jing Jiu, the Azure Dragon, and the Nether Emperor into conflict.

• The old man dragged an Evil Path Expert to the cliff, tore off his arm, and threw him into the emerald pool, where the man dissolved.
• A white-robed figure emerged from the pool carrying a strange object, concealed his face with sword gang, and drew the old man’s greedy attention.
• The Profound Yin Ancestor learned that Yin San had sent a letter into the Demon-Suppressing Prison and asked why.
• Yin San placed a Buddhist scripture in a stone pagoda and reasoned that the letter would lead the Zhongzhou Sect to investigate the prison.
• Yin San expected the Azure Dragon to try to swallow Jing Jiu, triggering chaos in Chaoge City and allowing the Nether Emperor to emerge.

Jing Jiu faced the Zhongzhou Sect’s Azure Dragon Divine Soul in the Demon-Suppressing Prison after escaping the Jade Pool. The dragon tried to devour him, but Jing Jiu escaped and warned that their conflict had only begun.

• Jing Jiu surfaced from the Jade Pool with his Iron Sword and saw the remains of a prisoner the Azure Dragon had eaten.
• The Azure Dragon attacked Jing Jiu with fierce winds and poisonous pool water, then trapped him with an invisible force.
• Jing Jiu and the Azure Dragon exchanged words, and Jing Jiu accused him of breaking the agreement by eating living prisoners.
• The Azure Dragon began to devour Jing Jiu and threatened to use Soul-Searching Technique on him.
• The Azure Dragon’s fangs struck together without harming Jing Jiu, who escaped several miles away and said this was only the beginning.

Jing Jiu used the Netherworld Immortal Sword to evade the Azure Dragon’s attacks inside the Demon-Suppressing Prison, but the Azure Dragon’s control over the prison eventually forced him back onto the plain. The Azure Dragon tried to identify him, and Jing Jiu refused to answer.

• Jing Jiu escaped the Dragon Fang’s grasp and climbed the cliff, but the Azure Dragon inverted heaven and earth and trapped him on the second layer.
• The Azure Dragon crushed Jing Jiu with the pressure of heaven and earth, but Jing Jiu used the Netherworld Immortal Sword to vanish and reappear miles away.
• The Azure Dragon pursued Jing Jiu across the prison, while Jing Jiu repeatedly evaded his attacks and grew faster despite suffering injuries.
• The Azure Dragon stopped Jing Jiu’s escape by collapsing the cliff and sending a sea of fire toward him, forcing him onto the plain.
• The Azure Dragon guessed Jing Jiu might be Zhao Layue, Liu Ci’s final disciple, or Zhuo Rusui, but Jing Jiu said he would admit to nothing.

Jing Jiu used the Demon-Suppressing Prison’s connection to the Azure Dragon to wound him with the poison absorbed by his Iron Sword. The Azure Dragon unleashed his full power despite the prison’s restrictions, leaving Jing Jiu badly injured as he continued stabbing the world around him.

• The Azure Dragon recognized Jing Jiu as a Green Mountain disciple and accused him of secretly meeting the Nether Emperor.
• Jing Jiu explained that he had been using the chase to adapt to his changed body and pointed out that the prison was the Azure Dragon himself.
• Jing Jiu stabbed a crack in the cliff with his Iron Sword, injuring the Azure Dragon through the prison’s living walls.
• The Iron Sword released poison absorbed from the Jade Pool, causing the Azure Dragon severe pain.
• The Azure Dragon unleashed thunder and lightning, striking Jing Jiu down, but Jing Jiu kept stabbing the ground and cliff to hurt him in return.
• The Azure Dragon gathered lightning and lashed it toward Jing Jiu, who remained too injured to rise.

A violent earthquake in Chaoge City led officials to discover that its source lay beneath the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, where the Demon-Suppressing Prison stood. The Divine Emperor ordered the entire city evacuated while the Duke of Lu and Jin Mingcheng kept Yue Qianmen from entering the prison.

• An earthquake woke the Duke of Lu, Lu Ming, and the people of Chaoge City, and the Pure Heaven Bureau and Chayuan Observatory investigated its source.
• Officials determined that the earthquake came from seventeen li below the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and Duke He feared the Azure Dragon had awakened.
• Yue Qianmen demanded entry into the Demon-Suppressing Prison, but the Duke of Lu refused, citing the Imperial Court's jurisdiction and preparing to use Slanting Wind and Drizzle to stop him.
• A second, stronger earthquake shook the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and Yue Qianmen tried to charge deeper inside while the Duke of Lu moved to block him.
• Jin Mingcheng delivered the Divine Emperor's decree forbidding entry into the prison without written permission and ordered the evacuation of everyone in Chaoge City.
• Zhang Yiai and Duke He organized the evacuation with the Divine Guard Army and cultivators, while Jing Li left with the other residents and worried that the white cat had not appeared.

While the Divine Emperor and Consort Hu waited inside the protected imperial city, Gu Qing continued guiding Jing Yao’s cultivation as tremors shook Chaoge City. In the Demon-Suppressing Prison, Jing Jiu revealed that he had been stalling for time and waiting for the Nether Emperor, making Azure Dragon turn toward the prison’s deepest level.

• Gu Qing concealed his worry about the upheaval in Chaoge City and continued teaching Jing Yao while Consort Hu went to check on the Divine Emperor.
• The Divine Emperor reassured Consort Hu, gave her the Vermilion Bird’s jade egg, and asked her to keep it warm.
• Azure Dragon confronted the badly injured Jing Jiu in the Demon-Suppressing Prison and demanded that he beg for a quick death.
• Jing Jiu told Azure Dragon that he had been seeking time, not a quick death, and hinted that he was waiting for someone.
• Azure Dragon realized Jing Jiu meant the Nether Emperor and looked toward the prison’s deepest level.

Jing Jiu used the Nether Emperor’s gift of pale purple flowers to help him escape the deepest part of the Demon-Suppressing Prison. The Nether Emperor reached the Abyss and faced it through the transparent barrier.

• Jing Jiu told the old man that the mosquitoes had not fed on the Nether Emperor’s soul fire for three years, then flew toward the prison’s second layer to draw Azure Dragon after him or force it to confront the Nether Emperor.
• The Nether Emperor took the silver bell from the dark cloud, dispelled the formation and wind-and-rain art, and killed the mosquitoes with lightning from his body.
• The Nether Emperor crossed the black sea and left the prison’s deepest region, where he found the Other Shore Flower Jing Jiu had left for him.
• The Nether Emperor reunited his divine soul and laughed, then flew through the gang-wind passage toward the Abyss.
• The Nether Emperor reached the transparent barrier and gazed into the Abyss as it gazed back at him.

As earthquakes shook Chaoge City, the Divine Emperor summoned aid from the sects while concealing his reasons for opposing the Zhongzhou Sect. At the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, a hole opened above the Demon-Suppressing Prison and something escaped into the sky.

• Yue Qianmen tried to enter the Demon-Suppressing Prison but Jin Mingcheng and the Divine Guard Army blocked him.
• The Divine Emperor ordered the Zhongzhou Sect to help evacuate Chaoge City and had the Duke of Lu summon the sects for aid.
• The Divine Emperor told Consort Hu that the Zhongzhou Sect’s standing came from its former Sect Master Bairen, who had ascended a thousand years earlier.
• The Divine Emperor noticed that Jing Jiu had not emerged from the prison and considered intervening himself.
• A small, smooth-edged hole opened in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, releasing a foul, icy mist.
• Yue Qianmen and the others saw a tiny black object shoot across the sky, vanish, and reappear several li away.

The Azure Dragon emerged from beneath the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, revealing itself as the Demon-Suppressing Prison, and pursued Jing Jiu into the sky. Jing Jiu passed through Chaoge City's formation unhindered while the Azure Dragon crashed into it, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• The ground split apart and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices rose into the air as the Azure Dragon burst from underground.
• The Duke of Lu recognized the Azure Dragon as the Demon-Suppressing Prison and worried about Jing Jiu, while the Divine Emperor confirmed it was the dragon's true body.
• The Azure Dragon explained to Jing Jiu that it had let him escape so it could kill him outside its body, then chased him toward Chaoge City's formation.
• Jing Jiu passed through the formation and sped toward the Void Realm, but the Azure Dragon struck the barrier and sent cracks across the sky.

Azure Dragon pursued Jing Jiu through Chaoge City's shattered array and into the Void Realm, while the Divine Emperor prepared for the looming crisis and Liu A'da waited for the dragon's tail. As powerful figures approached, Jing Jiu stopped before Azure Dragon and let the Gang Wind strip away the ice and char from his body.

• Azure Dragon broke through Chaoge City's great array and attacked Jing Jiu with its freezing Dragon Breath, but Jing Jiu escaped and continued upward.
• The Divine Emperor took the Vermilion Bird Jade Egg from Consort Hu and considered the allies and political choices he would need to confront the crisis.
• Liu A'da watched Azure Dragon's body from the ruins, waiting for its tail to emerge so it could attack the dragon's Gang Gate.
• Jing Jiu and Azure Dragon entered the Void Realm, where Jing Jiu remained unaffected by the lack of air and spiritual energy.
• Jing Jiu sensed Heavenly Access experts approaching Chaoge City, stopped in front of Azure Dragon, and watched as the Gang Wind peeled away his charred crust and ice crystals.

Jing Jiu halted the Azure Dragon’s flight by stretching its body between the sky and the depths of the Demon-Suppressing Prison. The dragon crashed back into Chaoge City, leaving its fate uncertain as its whisker sank beneath the water-filled ruins.

• The Azure Dragon pursued Jing Jiu into the Void Realm, then realized its tail was held fast underground and screamed in pain.
• Yue Qianmen and the others noticed the dragon’s body stretching and thinning, while Liu A'da watched from beneath the ruins.
• The Azure Dragon’s body snapped back underground, sending debris flying and injuring Xiang Wanshu and the other cultivators.
• The Azure Dragon fell from the sky and crashed into Chaoge City, causing widespread destruction and a violent earthquake.
• Yue Qianmen found the former Demon-Suppressing Prison filled with water, where a twitching dragon whisker slowly sank from sight.

The Nether Emperor unleashed countless tiny Soul Fires into Jing Jiu’s wounds in the Azure Dragon’s body, forcing the wounded dragon to negotiate rather than wait for human cultivators to arrive and kill him. Meanwhile, Yue Qianmen and Scholar Xu prepared for the arrival of Sect Master True Person Tan as the flooded pit revealed the Dragon God below.

• The Azure Dragon’s Divine Soul confronted the Nether Emperor, insisting that he could not escape and would die once powerful human cultivators arrived.
• The Nether Emperor revealed countless miniature versions of himself made from Soul Fire and sent them through the Demon-Suppressing Prison.
• The Soul Fires entered the wounds Jing Jiu’s Iron Sword had left in the Azure Dragon and scorched them, causing the old man intense pain.
• The Azure Dragon’s Divine Soul asked the Nether Emperor to talk, unable to bear the burning until the human cultivators arrived.
• Yue Qianmen sensed the Dragon God’s weakened but vigorous vitality, and Scholar Xu told him that the Studio Master would arrive in seventeen breaths.
• True Person Tan appeared in the western sky using the highest level of the Heaven and Earth Escape Method.

The great leaders of the orthodox sects gathered above Chaoge City after the disturbance at the Demon-Suppressing Prison, while the Divine Emperor waited for the city's formation to be lowered. As more leaders arrived, Gu Qing explained the sects' alliances to Imperial Prince Jing Yao, who asked about the remaining members of the Seven Great Sects.

• The Zhongzhou Sect Master and Bu Qiuxiao stayed outside Chaoge City's closed formation while they watched the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and waited for news from the Azure Dragon.
• The Duke of Lu asked the Divine Emperor whether Jing Jiu had entered the Demon-Suppressing Prison to rescue someone, but the Divine Emperor said nothing and ordered him to wait.
• The Zen Child arrived from Moqiu, and Chaoge City's great formation was deactivated; Bu Qiuxiao landed among the ruins and noted the city's response.
• True Person Liu arrived from the south, and the Divine Emperor relaxed at the sight of the Green Mountain Sect Master.
• Consort Hu returned with the Vermilion Bird Jade Egg and found Imperial Prince Jing Yao watching the sky as Gu Qing explained the alliances among the great sects.

Gu Qing advised Prince Jing Yao on the sects and the political role of the future Divine Emperor, while Consort Hu agreed to send her abusive Matron home. In the Demon-Suppressing Prison, the Nether Emperor negotiated for better conditions and followed the Azure Dragon’s Divine Soul toward the Jade Pool, where the old man suddenly shrank the surrounding space.

• Gu Qing explained the major sects to Prince Jing Yao and warned that the Divine Emperor’s duties would displease powerful sects.
• Gu Qing urged Consort Hu to send the Matron back to her hometown, and Consort Hu agreed.
• The Nether Emperor demanded a green valley and a companion in exchange for not sending his Soul Fire back into the Azure Dragon.
• The Nether Emperor and the Azure Dragon’s Divine Soul moved to the Jade Pool so human cultivators could negotiate with the Nether Emperor through Divine Sense.
• The Azure Dragon’s Divine Soul collapsed the cliffs and compressed the space around the Nether Emperor.

The Azure Dragon trapped the Nether Emperor inside World in a Pot, hoping to eat him and gain enough power to become unmatched. The Nether Emperor turned the struggle around by using Soul Fire Control to prevent the Azure Dragon from escaping, leaving the Azure Dragon facing the fate he had inflicted on others.

• The Azure Dragon compressed the Demon-Suppressing Prison into a sealed stone flask filled with corrosive jade-green pool water, trapping the Nether Emperor inside.
• The Azure Dragon explained that he wanted to eat the Nether Emperor and recover the three hundred years of cultivation spent using World in a Pot.
• The Nether Emperor seized the Azure Dragon's wrists, and both of their hands began sinking into each other's flesh.
• The Azure Dragon tried to vanish from the Demon-Suppressing Prison but discovered that he could not escape the Nether Emperor's control.
• The Nether Emperor revealed that he was the strongest at controlling Divine Souls, and the Azure Dragon realized he would be eaten.

The old man believed he had destroyed the Nether Emperor’s illusion and killed him in the Heaven and Earth Pot, but the Nether Emperor had fused with his Divine Soul and body. The chapter ended with the Nether Emperor revealing that he had deliberately let the old man consume him so he could kill them both.

• The old man recognized the Nether Emperor’s influence over his Divine Soul and dismissed their struggle in the pot as an illusion.
• The old man dissolved the world inside the Heaven and Earth Pot, eroding the Nether Emperor until nothing remained, then emerged believing he had killed him.
• The old man left the ruined Demon-Suppressing Prison and felt a powerful new aura that he mistook for the moment of ascension.
• The Nether Emperor spoke through the old man’s mouth, and the old man realized his body and Divine Soul had been taken over.
• The Nether Emperor revealed that he was killing the old man and had let him consume him because he intended to die as well.

The Azure Dragon writhed in agony above Chaoge City as the prisoners in the Demon-Suppressing Prison urged its death, while Liu A'da spotted the wounded black snake and Jing Jiu carried him underground. The great powers debated whether to kill the Azure Dragon to prevent the Nether Emperor from escaping, but White True Person’s warning and the Divine Emperor’s arrival left them deadlocked.

• The prisoners in the Demon-Suppressing Prison shouted for the Azure Dragon to be killed, while a Nether Department figure hoped the Nether Emperor would survive.
• Liu A'da spotted a wounded black snake in the ruins, but Jing Jiu caught him and took him underground without triggering the formations.
• The black snake transformed back into the Azure Dragon, whose agonized struggles damaged Chaoge City before it began turning north.
• Liu Ci called on the great figures to act, arguing that they had to kill the Azure Dragon to prevent the Nether Emperor from escaping.
• White True Person questioned who had escaped underground, and the Divine Emperor appeared and warned that the bewitched Azure Dragon could endanger all living beings.
• White True Person did not answer the Divine Emperor, and the gathered great figures remained divided as the Azure Dragon turned back.

The Nether Emperor emerged from the Azure Dragon as four great powers restrained him, while the Azure Dragon’s Divine Soul remained trapped in its body. He rejected the Zen Child’s offer of sanctuary, insisting that any imprisonment would leave him a tool for shackling the Lower Realm.

• Bu Qiuxiao used the Dragon-Tail Inkstone to pin the Azure Dragon above Chaoge City.
• True Person Tan demanded that the Nether Emperor come out, and the Nether Emperor emerged from the Azure Dragon as four powerful auras locked onto him.
• Liu Ci asked whether the Nether Emperor would honor their old agreement, and the Nether Emperor blamed the Azure Dragon for trying to devour him.
• The Zen Child offered to let the Nether Emperor cultivate peacefully in the Fruitful Accomplishment Temple’s Pagoda Forest if the Azure Dragon was at fault.
• The Nether Emperor rejected the offer, saying imprisonment there would still make him a chain used to shackle the people of the Lower Realm.

The Nether Emperor refused to leave Chaoge City, condemned the Azure Dragon’s greed, and died after playing the Nether River Lullaby as the dragon fell. More than ten days later, sect representatives gathered to investigate the Demon-Suppressing Prison upheaval, and Yue Qianmen challenged the Duke of Lu over being stopped from entering.

• Yuan Qijing and Zen Child confronted White True Person as the Nether Emperor questioned whether the Human Race would let him return to the Nether Department.
• The Nether Emperor told the Azure Dragon that its greed had become its burden and warned that humans could perish for the same reason.
• The Azure Dragon gave the Nether Emperor a jade bone, and he played the Nether River Lullaby before his divine soul scattered and the dragon fell.
• More than ten days later, representatives from thirty-seven sects met at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices to investigate the Demon-Suppressing Prison upheaval.
• Yue Qianmen asked the Duke of Lu why he had stopped him from entering the Demon-Suppressing Prison during the disturbance.