Recaps

Liu Chen admitted that Lu Yi had taken the Thousand Treasures Pavilion’s only supreme-grade Demon Spirit Armor, leaving Huang Xiao without one. Qin Lu then revealed that Liu Chen’s own armor had only been lent to him and accused him of deliberately helping Pang Yi and the God-Burying Hall out of jealousy toward Huang Xiao; the chapter ended before Liu Chen could answer.

• Liu Chen told Yin Huju and Huang Xiao that the Pavilion had only one suit of supreme-grade Demon Spirit Armor and that Lu Yi had taken it.
• Huang Xiao recognized that Lu Yi had left with the armor, while Liu Chen defended the exchange as a permitted transaction between the halls.
• Qin Lu arrived and ordered Liu Chen to surrender the armor he was wearing, saying the Hall Master had only lent it to him.
• Liu Chen protested that the armor was his and argued that Lu Yi had followed the rules for obtaining it.
• Qin Lu accused Liu Chen of betraying the Heavenly Demon Hall’s interests by giving armor to Lu Yi for Pang Yi because he resented Huang Xiao’s rise.

Qin Lu reclaimed Liu Chen’s supreme-grade Demon Spirit Armor and appointed Yin Huju to oversee the Thousand Treasures Pavilion, giving Huang Xiao the armor. Yin Huju began inspecting the Pavilion’s holdings while Huang Xiao considered the coming rivals who would also obtain supreme-grade armor.

• Qin Lu ordered Liu Chen to surrender his supreme-grade Demon Spirit Armor and leave the Thousand Treasures Pavilion to receive punishment.
• Qin Lu appointed Yin Huju as the new overseer of the Thousand Treasures Pavilion and gave Huang Xiao the reclaimed armor.
• Huang Xiao examined the armor and learned that Lou Feishang and Pang Yi would also have access to supreme-grade Demon Spirit Armor.
• Huang Xiao put on the armor and sensed that its Demonic Qi strengthened the circulation of his Heavenly Demon True Qi.
• Two Regent Elders congratulated Yin Huju on his appointment, then left him and Huang Xiao to talk.
• Yin Huju opened the Pavilion’s register and told Huang Xiao that many of its treasures had been made by the Heavenly Demon Hall.

Huang Xiao visited the Thousand Treasures Pavilion with Yin Huju and explored its collection of flutes and zithers, hoping to find instruments suited to his Sound Arts. As he tested them, he thought about his wives and his search for a way home, and Yin Huju discussed the Heavenly Demon Hall’s Sound Art methods with him.

• Yin Huju told Huang Xiao that the God-Burying Hall had made the five Imitation Sabers and that Pang Ruyuan was seeking the Craftsman God, Ou Jin, to forge a new Supreme Demon Saber.
• Yin Huju explained that the Heavenly Demon Hall made many kinds of treasures, then offered Huang Xiao permission to take a flute or other suitable item from the Thousand Treasures Pavilion.
• Huang Xiao asked to see the zithers as well as the flutes, and Yin Huju had a guard bring ten flutes and eight zithers for him to inspect.
• Looking at the instruments reminded Huang Xiao of his four wives and his lack of any lead to return home, strengthening his desire to learn the Demon Hall’s secrets by becoming Hall Master.
• Huang Xiao tried the flutes and zithers, chose three flutes and four zithers for further appraisal, and Yin Huju told him the Heavenly Demon Hall had powerful Sound Art methods he could ask the Hall Master about.

Huang Xiao learned that the Heavenly Demon Hall’s Heavenly Demon Soul-Destroying Sound had evolved from the same Heavenly Demon Dragon Roar he already knew, and he decided to seek the art from the Hall Master. He then asked the Hall’s instrument makers about a flute suited to the sound art, but they revealed that the original Heavenly Demon Soul-Destroying Flute remained with its creator.

• Yin Huju explained that the Heavenly Demon Hall’s Heavenly Demon Soul-Destroying Sound had evolved from Heavenly Demon Dragon Roar, which the previous Hall Master had created.
• Huang Xiao learned that the previous Hall Master had also left behind Netherworld Demon Eight Tones and an incomplete Heavenly Demon Soul-Severing Sound.
• Huang Xiao told Yin Huju he would petition the Hall Master for Heavenly Demon Soul-Destroying Sound but would not practice it before the Jade Slips contest.
• Yin Huju told Huang Xiao that the Heavenly Demon Hall had instrument makers who could craft zithers and long flutes, and Huang Xiao agreed to meet them.
• Hu Chu told Huang Xiao that the previous Hall Master had made a Heavenly Demon Soul-Destroying Flute for performing the sound art, and Yin Huju asked whether later Hall Masters had made more.

Huang Xiao agreed to have Hu Chu make a new flute and asked Liu Mu to prepare for a zither, while Yin Huju arranged for the materials to be tempered in Demon Refining Valley. Liu Mu then revealed that rare instrument-making materials might have been tempering there for over seven hundred years, prompting Yin Huju and Huang Xiao to seek the Hall Master's help.

• Hu Chu explained that a replica Heavenly Demon Soul-Destroying Flute could be made in about a year, and Huang Xiao agreed to wait while Yin Huju ordered extra materials to keep tempering.
• Hu Chu selected the Purple Soul Flute for Huang Xiao, who declined to choose a zither but asked Liu Mu to consider making one suited to the Heavenly Demon Soul-Severing Sound.
• Liu Mu revealed that materials for both instruments had been placed in Demon Refining Valley by an earlier Hall Master, and some might still be there after more than seven hundred years.
• Hu Chu and Liu Mu identified the possible materials as ten-thousand-year soul-enticing bamboo, ten-thousand-year soul-seizing parasol wood, and thousand-year demonic silkworm silk.
• Yin Huju ordered Hu Chu and Liu Mu to keep the discovery secret, then hurried with Huang Xiao to seek an audience with the Hall Master.

Huang Xiao and the Heavenly Demon Hall party reached the Mixed Demon Sect, where the Chao brothers welcomed them after a deliberate delay and tense exchange. As they rode toward the sect, Huang Xiao recalled his audience with Wei Yidao, who had approved his study of the Heavenly Demon Sound Arts and sent men to investigate the ancient materials.

• The Chao brothers waited at Liangzhou's eastern border for Huang Xiao, and Chao Huo complained about the delay and their guests.
• Huang Xiao's party arrived late, and Yue Cheng rebuked Chao Huo for failing to greet Young Master Huang properly.
• Chao Tu offered the Mixed Demon Sect's help, and Huang Xiao secured Chao Mu's confirmation that the offer represented the sect.
• Chao Mu led Huang Xiao, Yue Cheng, and Yin Huju toward the Mixed Demon Sect after Yue Cheng declined the carriages.
• Huang Xiao recalled that Wei Yidao had agreed to let him study the complete Heavenly Demon Soul-Destroying Sound and ordered an investigation into the ancient materials.
• Huang Xiao remembered that orders from the Demon Hall's Main Hall had sent him away before he could learn whether the materials remained in Demon Refining Valley.

Huang Xiao's party arrived at the Mixed Demon Sect, where Chao Jin hosted them and tried to offer women as maidservants. Yue Cheng and Yin Huju challenged the offers and pressed Chao Jin about his daughter, leaving him insisting she was away from the sect.

• Huang Xiao and his party reached the Mixed Demon Sect, where Acting Sect Master Chao Jin welcomed them and hosted a banquet.
• Chao Jin offered dancing girls to the Heavenly Demon Hall guests, but Yue Cheng objected that they were unworthy of Huang Xiao.
• Yue Cheng invoked Wei Yidao's authority and suggested the Mixed Demon Sect provide suitable women as Huang Xiao's maidservants.
• Chao Huo offered his daughter Chao Lingyi, but Yin Huju rejected her as a secondhand maidservant who had served Chao Jue.
• Yue Cheng asked to meet Chao Jin's eighteen-year-old daughter, and Chao Jin claimed she was not at the sect while signaling a disciple to leave.

Huang Xiao asked the Mixed Demon Sect to help compete for the Jade Slips of the Longevity Pill Manual, but Chao Jin said his sect could not provide the fighters or Huang Xiao's youngest daughter. The talks were interrupted by an attack on Heavenly Demon Hall members, and Yin Huju and Yue Cheng killed three Mixed Demon Sect disciples who were lunging at them.

• Chao Jin refused Huang Xiao's requests, claiming his sect's experts had been sent away and his youngest daughter was not present.
• Yin Huju accused the Mixed Demon Sect of being useless to the Heavenly Demon Hall after Chao Jin declined both requests.
• A disciple reported that someone from the Heavenly Demon Hall was involved in a commotion outside the Main Hall.
• Yin Huju, Yue Cheng, and Huang Xiao left the Main Hall to investigate, followed by Chao Jin and the others.
• Yin Huju and Yue Cheng charged at three Mixed Demon Sect disciples attacking two figures and killed them.

Chao Jin’s attempts to appease the Heavenly Demon Hall faltered after they demanded his daughter and one of three unspecified concessions. After reaching their lodgings, Huang Xiao, Yin Huju, and Yue Cheng discussed why the Hall Master had sent Elder Qin to the Mixed Demon Sect, but Huang Xiao had not yet revealed what he knew.

• Chao Jin arrived with his brothers and sect members, then rebuked the woman the Heavenly Demon Hall had rescued when she called him father.
• Yue Cheng muted the woman and asked Chao Jin whether she was his daughter; Chao Mu and Chao Jin tried to deny her status and offered other women instead.
• Huang Xiao chose the woman as his maidservant, but Yin Huju warned Chao Jin to carry out one of three matters or face the Hall Master’s wrath.
• Chao Jin claimed the sect had no other Void Martial Realm practitioners besides his fourth and fifth brothers, promised to answer later, and escorted the Heavenly Demon Hall guests to their lodgings.
• Huang Xiao set up a Soundproof Formation and asked whether Elder Qin had arrived; Yin Huju and Yue Cheng speculated that the Hall Master was investigating the Mixed Demon Sect’s allegiance to the God-Burying Hall.

Yue Cheng, Yin Huju, and Huang Xiao explained that Qin Lu had been sent to investigate Chao Hun, while their mission was to pressure Chao Jin into recalling the Mixed Demon Sect’s absent fighters. Chao Jin agreed to send people to compete for the Jade Slips, but his envoy discovered a hidden base where captured sect disciples were imprisoned, and the Steward revealed he could provide fewer fighters than requested.

• Huang Xiao told Yue Cheng and Yin Huju that Qin Lu was investigating Chao Hun, whose long absences from the Mixed Demon Sect had aroused suspicion.
• Yue Cheng, Yin Huju, and Huang Xiao discussed how killing three Void Martial Realm experts would force Chao Jin to recall others, giving Qin Lu a chance to investigate the sect’s activities.
• Chao Jin agreed to send sixteen people to accompany the Heavenly Demon Hall, and Huang Xiao declined his offers of maidservants while waiting for the recalled fighters.
• Chao Jin sent a trusted envoy to a remote valley, where the envoy saw captured disciples from destroyed sects being marched in chains after their martial arts had been crippled.
• The Steward received Chao Jin’s letter and agreed to send only four Void Martial Realm experts and five Half-Step Martial Realm experts, then demanded to know how many more people were needed when told the force was still insufficient.

The steward brought the envoy to an underground chamber where the Mixed Demon Sect drained captured martial artists of their blood. After judging the remaining captives too weak, the steward led the fifty prisoners toward a blood pool.

• The steward decided to inspect the captured prisoners and invited the envoy to accompany him so he could report back to Chao Jin.
• The steward and the envoy descended into a cave where guards carried up corpses drained of blood.
• The steward learned that fifty captives remained, all of whom had once been in the Peerless Realm, and dismissed them as too weak.
• The Mixed Demon Sect disciples dragged the fifty prisoners toward a depression containing a pool of fresh blood.

The Envoy watched the Mixed Demon Sect sacrifice captives in a blood formation and learned that the steward needed more lives to complete the rite. The steward implied the Envoy himself could solve the shortage, then had a Martial Realm expert seize him.

• The Envoy observed the blood formation drain fifty Jianghu captives while he speculated that the Sect Master was cultivating a powerful Demonic Art.
• The steward ordered eleven imprisoned Mixed Demon Sect disciples sacrificed after the blood pool’s changes displeased him.
• The Jianghu captives mocked the eleven disciples as they were crippled and secured beside the pool, where their blood was drained.
• A subordinate and the Envoy warned that the eleven would not provide enough power for the formation.
• The steward asked the Envoy for a solution, then a Martial Realm expert pinned him by the shoulder, leaving him terrified.

Qin Lu interrupted the Mixed Demon Sect’s blood-essence ritual, killed the steward’s subordinates, and seized the essence the steward had made. After identifying himself as a Regent Elder of the Heavenly Demon Hall, Qin Lu demanded to know what Chao Hun was cultivating and where he had been for thirty years, but another voice intervened before the steward could answer.

• The steward had the envoy’s cultivation crippled and sacrificed him with other captives to fuel the blood-pool formation.
• The steward compressed the blood-colored aura into a sphere, refined it in a little cauldron, and collected the resulting essence blood in a jade vial.
• Qin Lu appeared after killing the steward’s subordinates, struck the steward, and took the vial.
• Qin Lu identified himself as a Regent Elder of the Heavenly Demon Hall and demanded information about Chao Hun’s cultivation method and whereabouts.
• The steward resisted Qin Lu’s questioning until Qin Lu tried to stop him from killing himself, and an unseen speaker addressed Qin Lu as Elder Qin.

Chao Hun confronted Qin Lu over the Mixed Demon Sect’s actions and his long absence, then challenged him to a fight. Qin Lu accused Chao Hun of killing a Heavenly Demon Hall disciple to obtain the Demon Refining Formula.

• Chao Hun appeared before Qin Lu and admitted that he had spent the past thirty years on Mist Mountain.
• Qin Lu confronted Chao Hun about the Mixed Demon Sect’s raids, its use of the Heavenly Demon Hall’s name, and its unpaid tribute.
• Chao Hun claimed he had nearly mastered his demonic art and challenged Qin Lu to exchange moves.
• Chao Hun rejected Qin Lu’s accusations and said the Mixed Demon Sect had paid its yearly tribute.
• Qin Lu accused Chao Hun of plotting to obtain the Heavenly Demon Hall’s cultivation methods and killing a disciple to steal the Demon Refining Formula.

Chao Hun fought Qin Lu after admitting that he had killed a Heavenly Demon Hall elder and obtained the Demon Refining Formula. He revealed a terrifying power identified as Supreme demonic qi, killed Qin Lu, and left his secret still undisclosed.

• Chao Hun admitted to killing a Heavenly Demon Hall elder and obtaining the Demon Refining Formula, then faced Qin Lu in battle.
• Chao Hun and Qin Lu fought evenly, destroying the formations and much of the area around the blood pool.
• Qin Lu decided he could not capture Chao Hun and threatened to return with help from the Heavenly Demon Hall.
• Chao Hun revealed that he had intended to kill Qin Lu and suddenly appeared before him with overwhelming speed and aura.
• Chao Hun pierced Qin Lu's chest, and Qin Lu recognized his power as Supreme demonic qi before dying.
• Chao Hun withdrew Qin Lu's beating heart and crushed it in his hand.

Chao Hun killed Qin Lu, harvested his essence blood, and used it to refine the Supreme Demonic Qi that made his power surge beyond the Enlightenment Realm. After suppressing the rampaging qi, he faced his steward’s question about what he had sensed, leaving Chao Hun to decide how much of his secret to reveal.

• Chao Hun drained Qin Lu’s blood, refined it into essence blood, and stored the results in jade vials.
• Chao Hun told his steward that Qin Lu’s death would likely go unnoticed and warned him not to harm Huang Xiao, whose death would provoke Wei Yidao.
• Chao Hun began refining his Supreme Demonic Qi with essence blood, consuming several vials to suppress its rampage and strengthen his internal power.
• Chao Hun’s steward asked whether the demonic qi he had sensed was Supreme Demonic Qi, and Chao Hun called him closer.

Chao Hun killed his steward and the remaining Mixed Demon Sect disciples, harvested their essence blood, and destroyed the underground chamber and surrounding buildings to conceal his secret. The next day, he met Huang Xiao and agreed to send sixteen men with him, but their brief contact stirred the Supreme Demonic Qi inside Huang Xiao.

• Chao Hun killed his eldest disciple, collected his essence blood, and summoned the Mixed Demon Sect guards and disciples to the underground chamber.
• Chao Hun killed everyone who assembled and gathered their blood as essence blood.
• Chao Hun collapsed the chamber, retrieved ten vials of essence blood from his eldest disciple’s residence, and set fires to erase the evidence.
• Chao Hun met Huang Xiao, Yin Huju, and Yue Cheng, then confirmed that sixteen trusted subordinates would accompany Huang Xiao.
• When Chao Hun took Huang Xiao by the arm, the Supreme Demonic Qi in Huang Xiao’s Dantian stirred, while Chao Hun briefly showed concealed alarm.

Huang Xiao refused Chao Hun’s invitation to stay and set off with his companions to pursue Liu Chongming and the Longevity Pill Manual jade slip, taking Chao Huo, Chao Tu, and fourteen Mixed Demon Sect disciples along. After they departed, Chao Hun replaced Chao Jin as Acting Sect Master and entered seclusion, suspecting Huang Xiao’s cultivation method had stirred his supreme demonic qi.

• Huang Xiao declined Chao Hun’s invitation to drink and said Heavenly Demon Hall’s order to pursue Liu Chongming took priority.
• Chao Hun assigned his sons Chao Huo and Chao Tu to accompany Huang Xiao, and they agreed to leave immediately despite their reluctance.
• Huang Xiao’s party departed with Chao Huo, Chao Tu, and the Mixed Demon Sect’s six Void Martial Realm and ten Half-Step Martial Realm disciples.
• After the party left, Chao Hun removed Chao Jin as Acting Sect Master and appointed Chao Mu in his place.
• Chao Hun entered his secret chamber and recalled that contact with Huang Xiao had stirred the supreme demonic qi within him.

After failing to break through to the entering Dao realm, Chao Hun realized his Mixed Demon Demonic Art could not stably contain supreme demonic qi. He decided to seize Huang Xiao’s Heavenly Demon Skill as a possible solution, but remained wary of the protection surrounding him.

• Chao Hun used essence blood to refine supreme demonic qi and attempted to break through to the entering Dao realm, but the unstable true qi in his meridians made him collapse and spit blood.
• Chao Hun concluded that the Mixed Demon Demonic Art was too weak to merge with supreme demonic qi and found no feasible way to improve it through other sects’ cultivation methods.
• Chao Hun recalled Huang Xiao and reasoned that the Heavenly Demon Skill could provide a powerful, compatible foundation for supreme demonic qi.
• Chao Hun suspected that Qin Lu had secretly protected Huang Xiao and, since Qin Lu was dead, saw an opportunity to capture Huang Xiao and obtain the skill.
• Chao Hun restrained himself from pursuing Huang Xiao immediately, recognizing that the Heavenly Demon Hall or the Hidden Demon Guards might still be protecting him.

Huang Xiao’s party hurried toward Yizhou as Yue Cheng and Yin Huju reported that Liu Chongming was still evading capture. The chapter ended with Huang Xiao learning that Liu Chongming planned to hand over the Jade Slip of the Longevity Pill Manual to stop the pursuit.

• Riders passed travelers on the road, who speculated about the contest for Liu Chongming’s Jade Slip and argued over the strength of the younger fighters.
• Huang Xiao continued rehearsing his saber technique in his mind while riding with Yue Cheng, Yin Huju, Chao Huo, and Chao Tu.
• Yue Cheng told Huang Xiao that Liu Chongming had evaded capture in Yizhou and seemed to be making his way out.
• Yin Huju explained that the influx of factions had angered the Heavenly Evil Sect, whose authority in Yizhou was being challenged.
• Yin Huju revealed that Liu Chongming planned to hand over the Jade Slip of the Longevity Pill Manual, leaving Huang Xiao astonished.

Huang Xiao and the elders discussed how the Heavenly Demon Hall should bid for Liu Chongming’s Jade Slip, deciding to offer benefits at the Deputy Hall Master standard while continuing to prepare for a fight. They also learned that Pang Yi and Lou Feishang were nearing Yizhou as the struggle for the Jade Slip intensified.

• Yin Huju explained that Liu Chongming might publicly trade the Jade Slip for benefits because he could not protect it alone.
• Huang Xiao agreed to set the Heavenly Demon Hall’s initial offer at the Deputy Hall Master standard, rejecting Yue Cheng’s suggestion to offer Martial Realm-level treatment.
• Huang Xiao told the elders to consider better terms but said the hall still needed to prepare to fight for the Jade Slip.
• Yue Cheng reported that Lou Feishang was about a day behind them and Pang Yi would reach Yizhou in another day.
• Yue Cheng complained that Pang Yi had declared the Demon Hall would be counting on him in the struggle for the Jade Slip.

Huang Xiao received orders to meet Pang Yi’s party in Yizhou, then mastered the sixth form of the Heavenly Demon Demon Saber Techniques while riding there. After learning that someone from the God-Burying Hall was waiting ahead, he chose to continue to the rendezvous rather than stop to consolidate his breakthrough.

• Yue Cheng and Yin Huju objected to the Main Hall’s order that Huang Xiao’s party meet Pang Yi and follow his lead, but Huang Xiao agreed to go to Yizhou.
• Huang Xiao urged everyone to travel quickly and rehearsed his saber techniques as the wind gave him a rhythm to follow.
• Near Yizhou, Huang Xiao left his horse and repeatedly practiced the first five forms before unleashing the sixth form, cleaving a line of trees with his blade aura.
• Yue Cheng and Yin Huju congratulated Huang Xiao on mastering the sixth form and asked whether he needed time to consolidate it.
• After a disciple reported that someone sent by the God-Burying Hall was waiting ahead, Huang Xiao decided to continue to Pang Yi’s party.

Huang Xiao forced two King Yama Sect men to slap themselves for disrespecting him, then continued toward Pang Yi’s gathering for the contest over the Jade Slips. He arrived at the small border town where the God-Burying Hall had reserved the inns, and Yue Cheng protested that Huang Xiao was being given an ordinary guest room.

• Huang Xiao confronted the King Yama Sect elder for failing to dismount and show proper respect, and Yue Cheng moved to attack him.
• Huang Xiao ordered the elder and his companion to slap themselves, then made them continue for two hours after deciding their blows were too light.
• Huang Xiao’s party spotted three watchers who vanished from a nearby rise, prompting Yin Huju and Yue Cheng to warn that hostile Jianghu forces might target them.
• Huang Xiao and his companions reached the town where Pang Yi had arranged the gathering, and Lu Yi told them that only a few guest rooms remained because the Ten Thousand Demons Hall needed lodging.
• Yue Cheng objected to Huang Xiao being assigned an ordinary guest room and threatened to tear down the inn.

Huang Xiao and the Heavenly Demon Hall seized a residence occupied by the God-Burying Hall and found a dead woman and a disciple who had abused her. Huang Xiao killed the disciple, and Lu Yi arrived to accuse him of slaughtering a fellow member and threaten to report the matter.

• Lu Yi warned Huang Xiao not to disturb Pang Yi, then went with a subordinate to alert the God-Burying Hall’s people.
• Huang Xiao’s group chose a nearby residence occupied by the God-Burying Hall, and Yue Cheng shoved aside a guard as they entered.
• Huang Xiao heard a woman scream, rushed to a room, and found her dead on a bloodied bed beside a naked God-Burying Hall disciple.
• When the disciple said he had used too much force, Huang Xiao killed him by shattering his meridians with Heavenly Demon True Qi.
• Yue Cheng slapped a God-Burying Hall Void Martial Realm disciple who questioned Huang Xiao, and Lu Yi arrived to threaten a report.
• Huang Xiao told Lu Yi that he was not qualified to decide whether the matter was over.

Huang Xiao waited for God-Burying Hall Master Pang Yi after killing a Half-Step Martial Realm disciple, then challenged Pang Yi and Regent Elder Lu Yi over the incident. He argued that Lu Yi had failed to keep his subordinates focused on the contest for the Jade Slips, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Huang Xiao covered the woman’s body and insisted that Pang Yi come to hear his explanation, while Lu Yi questioned a subordinate about what had happened.
• Pang Yi arrived with Ye He and other God-Burying Hall members, and Huang Xiao confirmed that he had killed the disciple because the man had killed the woman.
• Lu Yi called the killing unjustifiable, but Huang Xiao challenged his authority and then accused him of bearing responsibility for his subordinates’ conduct.
• Huang Xiao argued that the disciple had neglected the mission to compete for the Jade Slips and that Lu Yi’s lax supervision could have endangered the group.
• The God-Burying Hall members fell silent as Huang Xiao condemned their Half-Step Martial Realm disciples, while the Heavenly Demon Hall members approved of his argument.