Chapter Summaries

Huang Xiao refined the demonic qi in Demon Refining Valley and moved closer to the rock wall, finding a position that greatly increased the benefits but limited how long he could endure. After five and a half double-hours, he left the valley resolved to challenge Pang Yi for the Hall Master's Seat.

• Huang Xiao used heart fire to refine incoming demonic qi, preventing it from accumulating while strengthening his body and Heavenly Demon True Qi.
• Huang Xiao advanced from the half-step Martial Realm position to roughly ten feet from the rock wall, where demonic qi influx and dissipation balanced.
• Huang Xiao took a small step closer, causing the demonic qi influx to surge to at least three times its previous rate.
• Huang Xiao endured the intensified infusion for about five and a half double-hours before retreating from Demon Refining Valley.
• Huang Xiao wondered about the rock wall's power, then left determined to compete with Pang Yi for the Hall Master's Seat.
• A Martial Realm expert noticed Huang Xiao's return and asked why he had stayed for only five and a half double-hours.

Huang Xiao returned from Demon Refining Valley after enduring eleven hours, and Wei Yidao learned that he had reached within ten feet of the Supreme Demon Wall. Wei Yidao warned him to keep the feat secret, then explained the wall’s supreme demonic qi, leaving Huang Xiao wondering whether the Masked Old Man was connected to the Demon Hall.

• A Martial Realm expert dismissed Huang Xiao’s eleven-hour result, while Huang Xiao remained satisfied with the gains he had made by moving closer to the rock wall.
• Wei Yidao sensed Huang Xiao’s unusual improvement and learned that Pang Yi had endured thirteen hours in Demon Refining Valley.
• Huang Xiao told Wei Yidao that he had reached roughly ten feet from the rock wall, shocking Wei Yidao, who said Pang Yi had reached only twelve feet.
• Wei Yidao told Huang Xiao to keep his achievement secret and focus on growing strong enough to challenge Pang Yi.
• Huang Xiao asked about the rock wall, and Wei Yidao revealed it was the Supreme Demon Wall, whose supreme demonic qi only the Hall Master could withstand.
• Huang Xiao wondered whether the Masked Old Man’s unusual true qi resembled supreme demonic qi and whether the man was a powerful Demon Hall figure.

Pang Ruhuo confronted Huang Xiao over the deaths of God-Burying Hall members, but Wei Yidao refused to let him detain Huang Xiao and attacked Pang Ruyuan when he appeared. When Grand Elder Ma intervened, Wei Yidao attacked him too, leaving Ma Jing wary of the furious Hall Master.

• Pang Ruhuo asked Huang Xiao whether he had killed members of the God-Burying Hall near Qinyang City, and Huang Xiao admitted that he had acted in self-defense.
• Pang Ruhuo demanded that Huang Xiao remain at the Demon Hall's main headquarters for punishment, but Wei Yidao rejected his claim of authority and blasted him aside.
• Wei Yidao destroyed a nearby building to reveal Pang Ruyuan, then attacked him and drove him back in a fierce fight outside the headquarters.
• Grand Elder Ma rushed out to break up the fight, but Wei Yidao dispersed his Palm Force and attacked him as well.
• Ma Jing retreated and warned Wei Yidao to know when to stop, while Pang Ruyuan realized Wei Yidao had grown stronger.

Huang Xiao returned to the Heavenly Demon Hall with Wei Yidao after promising to reach the Void Martial Realm within a month, or accept punishment. Wei Yidao arranged exceptional resources and support for his breakthrough, but an unidentified voice mocked Huang Xiao as he arrived.

• Pang Ruyuan announced that Pang Yi had broken through to the Void Martial Realm, prompting Wei Yidao to challenge Huang Xiao to catch up within a month or the Heavenly Demon Hall would withdraw from the Hall Master's Seat contest.
• Huang Xiao accepted the one-month deadline, trusting that Heart Fire would let him refine his True Qi quickly, and Wei Yidao warned that failure meant death.
• Wei Yidao and Huang Xiao rode back to the Heavenly Demon Hall, where Wei Yidao reaffirmed that he would support Huang Xiao if he succeeded.
• Wei Yidao assigned Yue Cheng and Yin Huju to handle Huang Xiao's affairs, gave him Chao Jue's former residence and three times Chao Jue's cultivation resources, and ordered them to assist him.
• As Huang Xiao prepared to follow Yue Cheng and Yin Huju, an unidentified voice mockingly called him a brat.

Huang Xiao met the Regent Elders Liu Chen and Zheng Gu, who resented him for taking Chao Jue’s place, then moved into Chao Jue’s former valley under the protection of Yue Cheng and Yin Huju’s trusted disciples. There, he discovered an upper-grade spirit-gathering formation in his cultivation chamber, where he could begin preparing for his breakthrough to the void martial realm.

• Liu Chen and Zheng Gu warned Huang Xiao about the dangers ahead, while Yue Cheng’s pointed reply exposed their hostility over Chao Jue’s death.
• Yue Cheng and Yin Huju explained that Liu Chen and Zheng Gu had guided Chao Jue and now resented Huang Xiao for replacing him.
• Yue Cheng and Yin Huju led Huang Xiao to his new quarters with trusted guards, replacing the people who had served under Chao Jue.
• More than thirty women rushed toward Huang Xiao, and Yin Huju allowed ten to stay temporarily, with Chao Lingyi put in charge.
• Huang Xiao entered the hidden formation in Chao Jue’s cultivation chamber and learned it was an upper-grade spirit-gathering formation that concentrated spiritual energy many times more densely than outside.

Huang Xiao used heart fire to refine his Northern Darkness true qi, discovering that the refined qi retained its enhanced quality after transforming into Heavenly Demon true qi. His repeated efforts drained his essence blood aura, but Yue Cheng arrived with Demon Blood Pills to help replenish it.

• Yin Huju told Huang Xiao that he could use the Heavenly Demon Hall’s upper-grade spirit-gathering formation alone until the contest for Hall Master.
• Yue Cheng explained the grades of spirit-gathering formations, and he and Yin Huju left Huang Xiao to cultivate for a month.
• Huang Xiao generated heart fire and successfully refined Northern Darkness true qi, then confirmed that it stayed refined after becoming Heavenly Demon true qi.
• Huang Xiao refined his true qi several times, but his heart fire waned as his essence blood aura and mental strength were depleted.
• Yue Cheng entered, recognized that Huang Xiao had overexerted himself, and gave him a bottle of Demon Blood Pills that replenished essence blood aura.

Huang Xiao used Demon Blood Pills to restore his essence blood vitality and refine his true qi, then attempted to break through to the Void Martial Realm. He collapsed unconscious after the attempt, and Yue Cheng and Yin Huju recognized that he had suffered qi deviation.

• Yue Cheng explained the effects of Demon Blood Pills, and Yin Huju gave Huang Xiao his own pill after warning that Huang Xiao’s depleted vitality made the ten pills provided by the hall insufficient.
• Yin Huju and Yue Cheng offered three times the value for any Demon Blood Pills in the hall, later raising the offer to five times, but they obtained only five more.
• Huang Xiao swallowed a Demon Blood Pill and found that it greatly increased his essence blood vitality and let him refine his true qi more quickly.
• Huang Xiao spent half a month refining his true qi until he had reached the limit of five portions refined into one, then decided to attempt the Void Martial Realm.
• Huang Xiao forced his true qi through his meridians while trying to strengthen his control over heaven and earth momentum, but he screamed, vomited blood, and collapsed unconscious.
• Yue Cheng and Yin Huju rushed into the room and identified Huang Xiao’s condition as qi deviation.

After a failed attempt to break through to the Void Martial Realm left Huang Xiao in cultivation deviation, he withdrew to the Back Mountain to calm his mind. There, a realization about the Upper Clarity Scripture, the Xiantian Wuji Skill, and accepting the wind’s true nature gave him fresh insight into his unsettled state of mind.

• Yue Cheng and Yin Huju saved Huang Xiao from cultivation deviation, and he admitted that impatience had caused his failed breakthrough.
• Huang Xiao vowed not to attempt another breakthrough until the final day and spent five days meditating on a mountain summit.
• Chao Lingyi brought food and wine to Huang Xiao, but he ordered the guards to take her away and reflected on his anger.
• Remembering Qingfeng’s teachings, Huang Xiao recognized that the Upper Clarity Scripture and Xiantian Wuji Skill could help cultivate his state of mind.
• Huang Xiao stopped suppressing the mountain wind and embraced its wild, natural force as the way he wanted to pursue.

Huang Xiao overcame his earlier failure and broke through to the Void Martial Realm after calming his mind on the summit and making a final attempt in the Spirit-Gathering Formation. As Yue Cheng and Yin Huju prepared to report his success, Chao Lingyi and ten other women arrived and pleaded to serve Huang Xiao rather than leave the Heavenly Demon Hall.

• Huang Xiao realized that a calm heart could make the gale around him feel like a gentle breeze, then told Yue Cheng and Yin Huju he would spend his final five days in the Spirit-Gathering Formation.
• After the deadline arrived, Huang Xiao began his breakthrough, widened his meridians with Northern Darkness True Qi, and steadily expanded his control over heaven and earth momentum.
• Yue Cheng and Yin Huju sensed Huang Xiao's power rise, while the disciples outside the courtyard could no longer command the momentum around them.
• Huang Xiao completed his breakthrough to the Void Martial Realm, and Yue Cheng sent a disciple to report the news to the Hall Master.
• Chao Lingyi led ten women into the courtyard and asked Huang Xiao to let them serve him, refusing Yin Huju's order to leave the Heavenly Demon Hall.

Huang Xiao learned why Chao Lingyi and the other maidservants were in the Heavenly Demon Hall, then allowed Chao Lingyi to remain while the others were sent away. After confirming Huang Xiao’s breakthrough to the Void Martial Realm, Wei Yidao rewarded Yue Cheng and Yin Huju and gave Huang Xiao the tenth and eleventh volumes of the Heavenly Demon Skill.

• Yue Cheng and Yin Huju explained that Chao Lingyi was the granddaughter of the Mixed Demon Sect’s Sect Master and a distant relative of Chao Jue.
• Huang Xiao said he did not need maidservants, but agreed that a few could stay to serve him.
• Chao Lingyi pleaded to remain, saying she was still untouched, and Yin Huju persuaded Huang Xiao to keep her because of her family’s standing.
• A disciple summoned Huang Xiao, Yue Cheng, and Yin Huju to meet Wei Yidao, who confirmed Huang Xiao’s Void Martial Realm breakthrough and rewarded Yue Cheng and Yin Huju.
• Wei Yidao gave Huang Xiao the tenth and eleventh volumes of the Heavenly Demon Skill, saying Huang Xiao now qualified to continue cultivating it.

Wei Yidao gave Huang Xiao the tenth- and eleventh-stage Heavenly Demon Skill manuals and told him he could earn the twelfth stage by proving himself as a candidate for Hall Master. With the succession struggle expected in about five years, Huang Xiao left to see his new residence and the mysterious treasure waiting there.

• Wei Yidao told Huang Xiao that he would withhold the twelfth stage until Huang Xiao proved himself worthy to succeed him as Hall Master.
• Wei Yidao explained that Huang Xiao would likely face Pang Yi in a deadly contest, and that the Hall Master succession was expected in roughly five years.
• Huang Xiao found the tenth-stage manual filled with verified insights from past Hall Masters and learned Wei Yidao would personally answer his cultivation questions every six months.
• Wei Yidao told Huang Xiao that mastering the tenth and eleventh stages could bring him to the martial and enlightenment realms, then sent him to his new residence to discover a treasure suited to demonic cultivation.
• Yue Cheng and Yin Huju escorted Huang Xiao from the Main Hall after collecting their rewards, and they looked puzzled when Huang Xiao asked whether they knew about the treasure.

Huang Xiao moved into a residence once used by Wei Yidao and learned that the mysterious treasure prepared for him was a replica of the Supreme Demon Wall. He was granted access to a treasure previously reserved for the Hall Master, and the chapter ended as he learned of its exclusive importance.

• Yue Cheng and Yin Huju brought Huang Xiao to his new mountain-top residence and hinted that the Hall Master had prepared an extraordinary treasure for him.
• Huang Xiao learned that Elder Qin Lu was an Enlightenment Realm expert and met him in the residence’s quiet chamber.
• Qin Lu revealed a stone tablet covered by golden-yellow silk, which Huang Xiao recognized as resembling the Supreme Demon Wall.
• Qin Lu explained that the tablet was a replica wall containing Demonic Qi sealed by a formation, allowing demonic arts to be cultivated more effectively.
• Qin Lu told Huang Xiao that only Wei Yidao had been permitted to use the replica wall before Huang Xiao was granted access.

Huang Xiao received a Replica Wall and learned to release and seal its supreme demonic qi, which stirred the heavenly demon true qi left in his dantian by the Masked Old Man. As he cultivated to consolidate his new Void Martial Realm, he discovered that his heart fire might now affect the supreme demonic qi.

• Qin Lu explained that Huang Xiao's Replica Wall held the richest supply of supreme demonic qi among the Three Great Halls' replicas and taught him how to operate its formation.
• When the wall released its demonic qi, Huang Xiao sensed the Masked Old Man's heavenly demon true qi stirring in his dantian, then shut the formation by tapping its nine points in reverse order.
• Yue Cheng and Yin Huju discussed whether the God-Burying Hall might give Pang Yi access to the Main Hall's Replica Walls, but Huang Xiao chose to cultivate while waiting for the spirit-gathering formation.
• Huang Xiao reopened the Replica Wall and realized that the Masked Old Man's heavenly demon true qi shared an aura with the supreme demonic qi, prompting him to suspect a connection to the previous Hall Master.
• Huang Xiao used the supreme demonic qi to refine his heavenly demon true qi and, as his heart fire flared, sensed that it could affect the supreme demonic qi.

Huang Xiao discovered that his heart fire could separate the Previous Hall Master's essence blood aura from Supreme Demonic Qi, reversing its refinement, but he initially lacked the strength to refine the weakened qi. When the foreign aura entered his heart and intensified his heart fire, he finally began refining the remaining strand of Supreme Demonic Qi, though the process stopped when his fire ran out.

• Huang Xiao isolated the Supreme Demonic Qi in his meridians and used his heart fire to draw the Previous Hall Master's essence blood aura out of it, weakening the qi and reversing its refinement.
• Huang Xiao realized he might use heart fire to undo an opponent's refined true qi, but judged that he lacked the strength and speed to do so in battle.
• Huang Xiao dispersed most of the Supreme Demonic Qi but kept the weakened strand, then tried and failed to refine it with his existing heart fire.
• The foreign essence blood aura escaped into Huang Xiao's flesh and flowed into his heart, where it was consumed with his own aura to ignite a much stronger heart fire.
• Huang Xiao directed the stronger fire at the remaining Supreme Demonic Qi and began refining it, but the process stopped when the heart fire was exhausted.

Huang Xiao refined a small trace of Supreme Demonic Qi, cultivated with the Replica Wall, and received an Imitation Saber before seeking guidance on his saber techniques. Yue Cheng demonstrated the gap between them in a spar, leaving Huang Xiao shaken but with new insight.

• Huang Xiao refined a tenth of the Supreme Demonic Qi, stored it in his dantian, and continued cultivating until his one-day use of the Replica Wall ended.
• Huang Xiao obtained an Enlightenment Realm Imitation Saber and learned that Pang Yi had mastered the Sixth Form of the God-Burying Demon Saber Technique.
• Yue Cheng took Huang Xiao to the rear Martial Arts Arena and asked him to demonstrate the Fifth Form of the Heavenly Demon Demon Saber Techniques.
• Huang Xiao attacked Yue Cheng, who blocked him with the Fourth Form and sent him staggering back with a light saber tap.
• Huang Xiao acknowledged that he was far too lacking, while recognizing that Yue Cheng's demonstration had given him considerable insight.

Huang Xiao accepted Yue Cheng’s plan to rebuild his saber foundations through half a month of intensive training with a uniquely heavy saber. After the elders left, he tried wielding it with only one-tenth of his internal power, and its weight immediately forced him to struggle to lift it.

• Yin Huju and Yue Cheng advised Huang Xiao to consolidate the first five forms rather than pursue the Sixth Form, and Yue Cheng offered to train him for half a month.
• Yue Cheng gave Huang Xiao a black saber forged from ten-thousand-weight iron and inscribed with a Weight-Increasing Formation.
• Yin Huju explained that the saber had been left by the previous Hall Master and was intended to strengthen the wielder through long-term practice.
• Yue Cheng required Huang Xiao to use the saber for an hour within half a month, allowing him only one-tenth of his internal power.
• After Yin Huju and Yue Cheng left, Huang Xiao reduced his internal power and tried to lift the saber, but its tip crashed to the ground before he laboriously raised it.

Huang Xiao struggled to train with the heavy saber and used Vitality Recovery Pills to restore his strength. Yin Huju warned him against relying on the pills, and Huang Xiao realized he needed to persevere without them as he continued preparing to meet Yue Cheng’s half-month standard.

• Huang Xiao found that his depleted internal power left him unable to perform the Heavenly Demon Demon Saber Techniques properly with the heavy saber.
• A disciple delivered Vitality Recovery Pills from Yue Cheng, and Huang Xiao swallowed one to quickly restore his strength.
• Huang Xiao switched to repeated basic downward saber swings and took five pills as he trained for more than five shichen.
• Huang Xiao went to ask Yin Huju how many pills he could safely take, hoping to increase his daily dose.
• Yin Huju told Huang Xiao that four pills was the maximum for him and explained that the pills were a temptation meant to teach him perseverance rather than dependence.
• Huang Xiao understood Yin Huju’s guidance, thanked him, and resolved not to rely on the pills.

Huang Xiao trained to resist relying on recovery pills and learned from Yin Huju how to coordinate his saber swings and breathing. After returning to his quarters to bathe, he rejected Chao Lingyi’s attempt to seduce him, but let her help him dress and sent her to order food.

• Huang Xiao refused to depend on the Origin-Returning Pills and accepted Yin Huju’s advice to use no more than one a day.
• Yin Huju showed Huang Xiao how to synchronize his saber’s angle, speed, force, and his breathing, and Huang Xiao practiced the technique.
• Huang Xiao returned to his bedroom to bathe and relax, while maidservants replenished the hot water.
• Chao Lingyi approached Huang Xiao, who seized her hands and told her he knew what she wanted but was not Chao Jue.
• Chao Lingyi cried, then helped Huang Xiao dry and dress after he got out of the bath.
• Huang Xiao asked Chao Lingyi to have the kitchen prepare food and wine, and she hurried off to carry out his order.

Chao Lingyi received a secret order from her father’s people to get close to Huang Xiao and investigate him, but she concealed the message until she chose to reveal it. Huang Xiao learned that the infiltrators were from outside the Demon Hall and demanded an explanation.

• Chao Lingyi met a maidservant in a secluded garden and received a hidden message from her father’s people.
• Chao Lingyi revealed that the message ordered her to get close to Huang Xiao and investigate him, then hid the paper instead of burning it.
• Chao Lingyi served Huang Xiao a meal, and he warned her not to flaunt their supposed intimacy or scheme against him.
• Chao Lingyi insisted she had despised Chao Jue, then admitted she had committed a capital offense and showed Huang Xiao the message.
• Huang Xiao asked whether the infiltrators came from the God-Burying Hall or the Ten Thousand Demons Hall, and Chao Lingyi said they were not from the Demon Hall.

Huang Xiao questioned Chao Lingyi after she revealed that the Mixed Demon Sect had ordered her to investigate him. Chao Lingyi explained her resentment toward the sect and suspected it had gained the God-Burying Hall’s backing, leaving Huang Xiao to consider the danger of its scheme.

• Huang Xiao questioned Chao Lingyi, who admitted the Mixed Demon Sect had ordered her to get close to him and report on his training, strength, and cultivation.
• Chao Lingyi told Huang Xiao that the order might have come from her father and uncles, since her grandfather Chao Hun had been mysteriously absent from the sect for decades.
• Chao Lingyi urged Huang Xiao to report the Mixed Demon Sect to Wei Yidao, then described how its members had abducted and abused her mother, who died after years of torment.
• Chao Lingyi explained that she had been sent to serve Chao Jue, resisted his advances, and feared being returned to the Mixed Demon Sect after his death.
• Chao Lingyi said the Mixed Demon Sect had found a new backer, and Huang Xiao reasoned that it was likely the God-Burying Hall, which could protect the sect while it spied on him.