Chapter Summaries

Huo Lian and the other six escaped the Demon Hall after Mo Pozheng and Pang Ji got away, leaving them uncertain whether their mission had been a success. They stopped a hundred li from the Demon Hall and debated Kui Yong’s fate and the value of his severed arm.

• Huo Lian told Wu Xuancang that Mo Pozheng had escaped, and warned the others to withdraw before Pang Ji activated the Grand Formation.
• Huo Lian, Wu Xuancang, Xuan Tu, Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly, Zuo Qiu Shu, and Fan Zhuolang fled the Main Hall as its formations activated.
• The seven reached safety and called the outcome a partial success, noting that Pang Ji had inherited most of Kui Yong’s internal power but remained a threat if they were separated.
• Huo Lian and Xuan Tu argued that Kui Yong was probably dead or permanently crippled, while Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly said the explanation eased her worries.
• The group questioned Huo Lian about keeping Kui Yong’s severed arm and its essence blood, and Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly offered ice crystals to preserve it.

Huo Lian and the others destroyed the God-Burying Hall to obtain profound ice for preserving Kui Yong’s severed arm, then brought the arm back for Huang Xiao to use against Pang Ji. Huang Xiao learned that Pang Ji had become their final opponent, and the chapter ended as he recognized the clothes in Huo Lian’s box as possibly Kui Yong’s.

• Leng Guhan proposed taking profound ice from the nearby God-Burying Hall, and Huo Lian agreed to destroy it along the way.
• Huo Lian found thousand-year profound ice, preserved Kui Yong’s severed arm inside it, and refused to divide the arm because its remaining essence blood might help defeat Pang Ji.
• Huo Lian asked the others to track Mo Pozheng and Pang Yi and returned to Huang Xiao with the preserved arm.
• Huang Xiao learned that Kui Yong was dead or crippled and discussed how Pang Ji’s rise and defections had weakened the Demon Hall.
• Huo Lian opened the box he had brought, and Huang Xiao suspected the clothes inside had belonged to Kui Yong.

Huang Xiao and Huo Lian tried to use the essence blood in Kui Yong's severed arm to strengthen Huang Xiao's Divine Sense and discover Kui Yong's secrets. The blood proved much weaker and different from the drop Huang Xiao already possessed, leaving them uncertain about whose essence blood it was.

• Huo Lian showed Huang Xiao Kui Yong's severed arm and asked him to use its essence blood to seek memories and preserve a strand of Divine Sense in the Supreme Ghost Stele.
• Huo Lian told Huang Xiao to use the arm's essence blood before the drop he already carried, since the arm's blood might not remain preserved.
• Huang Xiao found little essence blood in the arm and sensed that it was far weaker and different from the drop inside him.
• Huo Lian realized the mismatch meant either their understanding was wrong or the blood Huang Xiao already had did not come from Kui Yong.
• Huang Xiao converted a drop from the severed arm into Divine Sense and placed it in the Supreme Ghost Stele, but saw no memories.

Huang Xiao and Huo Lian investigated a severed arm and concluded that Kui Yong might be a divine beast who had taken over someone else’s body. They feared their plan had targeted only Kui Yong’s weakened shell and decided they needed to verify their suspicions with Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly and the others.

• Huang Xiao sensed fragmented memories in the severed arm and found traces of both Kui Yong’s memories and another person’s.
• Huang Xiao compared the arm’s essence-blood aura with the powerful essence blood beneath the power-enhancement site and questioned whether Kui Yong was human.
• Huang Xiao and Huo Lian considered how Kui Yong could have fooled Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly and the others, then proposed that the real Kui Yong had seized another person’s body.
• Huo Lian concluded that the dead Kui Yong may have been only a shell and said they needed to consult Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly and the others.
• Huang Xiao and Huo Lian realized their plan had targeted a weakened body and feared the real Kui Yong was far stronger than they had imagined.

Huang Xiao and Huo Lian discussed the danger posed by Kui Yong’s surviving true body and planned to strengthen Huang Xiao before the Soaring Immortal Fruit ripened. Huo Lian left to seek allies and search for Kui Yong’s hidden resting place, while Huang Xiao prepared to train toward the seventh stage of Heavenly Demon Disintegration.

• Huang Xiao told Huo Lian that the severed arm’s scant essence blood had revealed little, and Huo Lian warned him to handle Kui Yong’s essence blood cautiously.
• Huo Lian urged Huang Xiao to train in Heavenly Demon Indestructible, and Huang Xiao said he would avoid using Kui Yong’s Supreme Demonic Art against him.
• Huang Xiao asked whether Pang Ji could join them against Kui Yong, but Huo Lian said Pang Ji would not believe them and suggested Pang Ji had broken free of the Demon Refining Formula.
• Huo Lian told Huang Xiao to demonstrate his strength to Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly and the others before the Soaring Immortal Fruit ripened, and Huang Xiao agreed to aim for the seventh stage of Heavenly Demon Disintegration.
• Huo Lian said he would visit Xuan Tu, Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly, and the others and search for the place where Kui Yong’s true body was slumbering.

Huo Lian gathered Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly and the others to discuss whether Kui Yong had been a body snatcher ten thousand years ago. Xuan Tu explained that both accounts could be true: Kui Yong had already been using a stolen body then, while his true body had survived from the Ancient War in slumber.

• Huang Xiao believed finding Kui Yong's Land of Slumber could weaken him, while Huo Lian left to seek clues from Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly and the others.
• Huo Lian summoned Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly, Xuan Tu, Zuo Qiu Shu, Fan Zhuolang, Wu Xuancang, and the others, then asked whether they had sensed a divine beast's aura on Kui Yong ten thousand years ago.
• Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly, Zuo Qiu Shu, and Fan Zhuolang insisted the Kui Yong they had fought was the real man, while Huo Lian said Huang Xiao had confirmed that the current Kui Yong occupied a human body.
• Xuan Tu recalled Huang Xiao's Memory Images showing that Kui Yong had lived since the Ancient War and suggested his divine beast nature could have let him survive through slumber.
• Xuan Tu proposed that Kui Yong had already snatched a body before the group met him ten thousand years ago, and Huo Lian and Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly connected this to Kui Yong's recovered memories and sudden rise in strength.

Huo Lian gathered the others to discuss Kui Yong’s hidden true body and search for its Land of Slumber, but they found no direct clues. Xuan Tu proposed investigating the Tomb Clan, and the group set out for the Land of Slumber of the Hall Masters of Every Generation.

• Fan Zhuolang and the others concluded that the Kui Yong they had known had taken over another body, and they discussed whether his true body might be stronger or still injured.
• Huo Lian explained that Kui Yong’s Thousand-Year Period and the Hall Masters’ essence blood had likely helped him recover from his injuries.
• Huo Lian said the Demon Hall’s Main Hall contained a formation leading to Kui Yong’s Land of Slumber, but Pang Ji’s Grand Formation prevented them from entering.
• After failing to recall any clues about Kui Yong’s hiding place, Xuan Tu suggested investigating the Tomb Clan and the Land of Slumber of the Hall Masters of Every Generation.
• Fan Zhuolang said the Tomb Clan’s site might be accessible, and Zuo Qiu Shu led the group in agreeing to set out there.

Huo Lian led six others to the Tomb Clan’s territory on Mist Mountain and used a weak point in Kui Yong’s formation to enter. They arrived safely, though Huo Lian admitted he did not know the way out and relied on the Demon Hall Thousand-Year Period to make escape possible.

• Huo Lian explained that he had helped Mo Pozheng escape the Land of Slumber early to keep Pang Ji in check and support Huang Xiao’s bid for Hall Master.
• Huo Lian led the group to the pool on Mist Mountain, where he found that the formation’s weak point remained but Supreme Demonic Qi no longer leaked out.
• Huo Lian assigned the seven people positions and had them strike the pool’s bottom simultaneously, causing the formation to ripple and shudder.
• Huo Lian jumped through the ripples, and Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly and the others followed him into a lit stone chamber in the Tomb Clan Territory.
• Huo Lian admitted that he did not know how to leave, but said the Demon Hall Thousand-Year Period gave him confidence they could get out.

Huo Lian explained that the stone doors stood at the core of the Land of Slumber and that their seal was still linked to Kui Yong. The group studied the doors for clues to Kui Yong’s true body, but Huo Lian could not yet discern anything from the formation alone.

• Huo Lian told the group that the stone doors were the Tomb Clan’s controlled exit from the Land of Slumber, despite being in its core area.
• Huo Lian explained that the seal on the doors was linked to Kui Yong and might reveal the direction of his location.
• The group debated whether that direction would point to Kui Yong’s true body or to the body he had seized, then agreed to study the doors.
• Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly mocked Zuo Qiu Shu, and Wu Xuancang intervened to keep the group focused.
• After nearly an hour of examining the formation, Huo Lian said he could not discern any clues from the doors alone and asked whether anyone else had found anything.

Huo Lian led the group to the chamber where the former Demon Hall Masters had been frozen, hoping to find clues to Kui Yong’s true body. Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly discovered that captive divine beasts had supplied the essence blood for a power-restoring formation and considered using it to strengthen herself, while Huo Lian warned that Kui Yong might sense their presence.

• Huo Lian opened the secret chamber with the Supreme Demonic Art, and the group found shattered ice where the former Hall Masters had slumbered.
• Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly examined the formation and realized divine beasts had supplied the essence blood used to restore the Hall Masters’ power.
• Xuan Tu condemned the Imperial Remnant Manor for providing divine beasts, and Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly defended the sacrifice as necessary to repair the Xuanyuan Sword and oppose Kui Yong.
• Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly said she might use the formation’s method to increase her strength, and Xuan Tu protested that more divine beasts could die.
• Huo Lian supported gaining strength from the discovery, then warned that Kui Yong might sense the group had entered the chamber.

Huo Lian linked the formations to Kui Yong’s true body and concluded that activating them would require a blood sacrifice. The group decided to kill the Tomb Clan people in the area for their blood, while Xuan Tu mourned that he could not rescue the trapped divine beasts.

• Huo Lian examined the formations while Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly told Xuan Tu to wait before rescuing the divine beasts.
• After three shichen, Huo Lian said linking the formations near the slumbering Hall Masters and the exit could reveal Kui Yong’s approximate location.
• Huo Lian explained that the formations would need more power than the group could provide, and that the divine beasts’ depleted essence blood would not be enough.
• Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly proposed sacrificing the Tomb Clan people, and Huo Lian agreed that their blood might activate the formations.
• Fan Zhuolang suggested killing the Tomb Clan people and bringing their bodies, and Huo Lian advised killing them without spilling their blood.
• Wu Xuancang agreed to find the Tomb Clan people so the group could begin the blood sacrifice.

Huo Lian and the others used essence blood to reverse Kui Yong’s formations and opened a possible route to his true body. The pillar of light collapsed before they could enter, and Huo Lian concluded that Kui Yong had severed the formation, confirming that he had a true body.

• Huo Lian and the others killed the Tomb Clan members stationed in the Land of Slumber and collected their essence blood.
• Huo Lian mixed the collected blood with Divine Beast essence blood and activated a Reversal Formation, while the imprisoned Divine Beasts’ cries faded away.
• The reversed formations created a pillar of light that Huo Lian believed could lead to Kui Yong’s true body, and the group agreed to risk going through it.
• Before the pillar stabilized, it violently collapsed, and Huo Lian was injured and spat out blood.
• Huo Lian said Kui Yong had forcibly severed the formation, and Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly called this conclusive evidence that Kui Yong had a true body.

After Kui Yong destroyed the formation, Huo Lian and the others left the Tomb Clan Territory and learned that Kui Yong’s true body was likely sleeping somewhere within a hundred li of it on Mist Mountain. Since searching such a vast area seemed nearly impossible, they decided to prepare for Kui Yong’s emergence while sending disciples from across the Jianghu to look for clues.

• Xuan Tu asked Huo Lian to reactivate the light pillar, but the group discovered that Kui Yong had destroyed the formation and the exit was open.
• Huo Lian warned the others that the abandoned territory could still hide traps, so the seven of them withdrew.
• Huo Lian said he sensed Kui Yong’s true body on Mist Mountain, probably within a hundred li of the Tomb Clan Territory.
• Xuan Tu suggested they return to preparing for Kui Yong’s emergence, while Huo Lian urged them to search the area in case they found clues.
• Wu Xuancang and Leng Guhan agreed to mobilize disciples from their own and other Jianghu sects to search for Kui Yong.

Huo Lian and the others parted ways after failing to locate Kui Yong, while Wu Xuancang questioned whether Huo Lian would truly risk everything to fight him. Kui Yong, hiding in the Land of Slumber in Pang Yi’s body, discovered their attempt to trace his formation and cut its connection to prevent them from reaching him.

• Leng Guhan agreed to make preparations, and Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly left for the Imperial Remnant Manor to try strengthening her internal power with Divine Beasts’ essence blood.
• After the group departed, Wu Xuancang asked Huo Lian whether he would stake everything on fighting Kui Yong, and Huo Lian vanished without answering.
• Kui Yong revealed that Pang Yi’s Divine Sense had collapsed and that he had returned to his true body’s Land of Slumber in Pang Yi’s failing body.
• Kui Yong sensed Huo Lian and the others tracing his formation toward his hiding place and realized he was too weak to face them.
• Kui Yong severed the connection to the formation in the Tomb Clan Territory, blocking Huo Lian and the others from teleporting to him.

Kui Yong withdrew his Divine Sense from Pang Yi's dying body and returned to his original body, intent on escaping before the Soaring Immortal Fruit ripened. Huo Lian weighed his chances against Kui Yong, then left the formation to seek Huang Xiao and pursue another stage of Heavenly Demon Disintegration.

• Kui Yong wondered whether Huo Lian and the others had uncovered his original body's secret, then decided to return to it and pursue the Soaring Immortal Fruit.
• Kui Yong's Divine Sense left Pang Yi's body, which collapsed and stopped breathing, and returned to Kui Yong's original body.
• Huo Lian returned to the Transcendent Immortal Escort Agency and considered how Pang Ji, Huang Xiao, and the others might help oppose Kui Yong.
• Huo Lian sat beside the inactive formation for five days, reflecting on the uncertain odds and his inability to return to the Central Plains.
• Huo Lian resolved to attempt the seventh stage of Heavenly Demon Disintegration and left to find Huang Xiao on the island.

Huo Lian told Huang Xiao and Ou Jin how Pang Ji’s newfound strength had jolted the experts at the Land of Slumber, inspiring Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly to cultivate further. He said several old experts had little chance of improving, but Wu Xuancang, Leng Guhan, and possibly Huo Lian himself could still grow stronger.

• Huo Lian returned to the island and told Huang Xiao and Ou Jin what had happened during the journey.
• Huo Lian explained that Pang Ji’s overwhelming strength had jolted Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly and inspired her to cultivate at the Imperial Remnant Manor.
• Huo Lian said Fan Zhuolang, Zuo Qiu Shu, and Xuan Tu had likely reached the limits of their talent.
• Huo Lian predicted Wu Xuancang could break through and Leng Guhan could continue improving because of his opportunities and Ruthlessness Dao.
• Huo Lian said he had also been jolted and was using different flames, as Huang Xiao did, to seek further improvement in internal power.

Huang Xiao helped Huo Lian temper his body with blade-forging flames so they could better withstand the backlash of Heavenly Demon Disintegration. After three months of cultivation, Huo Lian could barely unleash the seventh stage, while Huang Xiao remained focused on reaching the eighth stage before facing Kui Yong.

• Huo Lian asked Ou Jin to step away and told Huang Xiao he wanted to use the blade-forging flames to strengthen his body, with Huang Xiao guiding the process through his heart fire.
• After three days of attempts, Huo Lian succeeded in tempering his body with the flames, but only while near Huang Xiao's heart fire aura.
• Huang Xiao decided the eighth stage was his minimum goal for facing Kui Yong, while recognizing that the ninth stage might be needed to defeat him.
• Huang Xiao and Huo Lian cultivated beside the Minghong Saber for three months as they used the flames to build vitality in their bodies.
• Huo Lian said Huang Xiao was confident of the seventh stage and might still reach the eighth or ninth, while Huo Lian himself could barely manage the seventh and had no time to attempt the eighth.

After more than three months of cultivation, Huang Xiao prepared to demonstrate his improved strength to secure the Soaring Immortal Fruit. He and Huo Lian agreed that Huang Xiao should use the sixth stage of Heavenly Demon Disintegration, though it remained uncertain whether Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly and the others would accept his claim to the fruit.

• Huo Lian warned that his seventh-stage technique could only be used once and that Pang Ji remained formidable after absorbing Kui Yong's internal power.
• Huang Xiao said he had steadily improved his other cultivation methods and strengthened his divine sense during his retreat.
• Huo Lian told Huang Xiao to leave seclusion and show the others his strength so they would honor the agreement about the Soaring Immortal Fruit.
• Huang Xiao worried Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly and the others might have improved enough to demand a share of the fruit, but Huo Lian argued their current breakthroughs were likely their limits for now.
• Huang Xiao ruled out using the seventh or eighth stage to prove himself because of the cost, and Huo Lian agreed that demonstrating the sixth stage should suffice.

Huo Lian and Huang Xiao returned from Ou Jin’s island and learned that the Jianghu had remained quiet while the Demon Hall stayed under Pang Ji’s control. They headed for the Divine Beast Holy Land, where Huo Lian planned to settle the matter of the Soaring Immortal Fruit with Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly and the others.

• Ou Jin gave Huang Xiao an Imitation Saber before Huang Xiao and Huo Lian left the island.
• Huo Lian revealed that he had linked sensing formations between the island and the Divine Beast Holy Land to monitor activity there.
• Huo Lian and Huang Xiao contacted an agent of the Three Immortal Mountains and learned that no major events had occurred, though news from inside the Demon Hall remained scarce.
• Huo Lian and Huang Xiao discussed Pang Ji’s hold over the seven former Hall Masters and the possibility that Kui Yong might launch a surprise attack.
• Huo Lian and Huang Xiao sent word summoning Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly and the others to the Divine Beast Holy Land so Huo Lian could settle the matter of the Soaring Immortal Fruit.

Huo Lian brought Huang Xiao to the Divine Beast Holy Land to demonstrate his strength, but Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly, Wu Xuancang, and Leng Guhan had grown far stronger and doubted Huang Xiao could face Kui Yong. The others rejected Huo Lian’s assurances and questioned whether Huang Xiao should still receive the Soaring Immortal Fruit.

• Huo Lian and Huang Xiao arrived at the Divine Beast Holy Land, where Wu Xuancang challenged Huang Xiao to demonstrate his strength.
• Huang Xiao used the sixth stage of Heavenly Demon Disintegration and exchanged a palm strike with Wu Xuancang, who drove him back despite acknowledging his improvement.
• Huo Lian pointed out that Wu Xuancang had also grown stronger, and Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly argued that Huang Xiao could not defeat Kui Yong.
• Huang Xiao said his true strength exceeded what he had shown but that using it caused severe aftereffects, while Huo Lian offered to vouch for him.
• Xuanyuan Jade Butterfly refused to trust Huo Lian’s assurance, and Zuo Qiu Shu said Huang Xiao could no longer be allotted the Soaring Immortal Fruit.