Recaps

Hou Niao entered the Netherworld and approached Chujiang Hall, where he used his status as a kingdom ruler and sect master to gain the hall guard Xie Wuyou’s attention. He asked whether Jiejiegao, Jifu, Huang Feng'er, and Qushan Ke had entered the Netherworld and what their status was in the Book of Life and Death.

• Hou Niao decided that finding friends among the Netherworld’s countless souls was difficult and might disrupt their lives.
• Hou Niao approached Chujiang Hall, where the guard Xie Wuyou challenged him for intruding.
• Hou Niao introduced himself as a ruler of a kingdom and the Quanzhen Sect Master, prompting Xie Wuyou to treat him with greater respect.
• Xie Wuyou explained that visitors from the living world could ask about two relatives or friends who had not reincarnated, and used his Sub-Register of Life and Death to check Hou Niao’s identity.
• Hou Niao suggested that he and Xie Wuyou might become friends despite their different realms, then asked about Jiejiegao, Jifu, Huang Feng'er, and Qushan Ke.

Hou Niao asked Xie Wuyou to check the Book of Life and Death for four people, and learned that their names showed they had died but their souls had never reached the Netherworld. The records were fading and might vanish around the time of Jinxiu’s Heaven-Opening in thirty years, leaving the mystery unresolved.

• Xie Wuyou discreetly connected his Sub-register to the Main Book of Life and Death while checking whether the King of Chujiang would stop him.
• Xie Wuyou found that Jiejiegao’s name had not been crossed out, though its entry showed that he had died in the world of the living.
• Xie Wuyou discovered Jiejiegao’s entry was fading, indicating that his soul had not arrived in the Netherworld, and said the other three names showed the same pattern.
• Hou Niao asked whether the souls had been captured or escaped reincarnation, but Xie Wuyou said he did not know and that the problem belonged to the world of the living.
• Xie Wuyou estimated the fading entries might disappear within decades, near Jinxiu’s Heaven-Opening in thirty years, and he and Hou Niao reflected on the uncertainty facing both worlds.

Hou Niao learned that Xiang Zhiwen was still in the Netherworld and traveled to the eighteenth level of hell to find him. Following a paper crane among the departing seasoned souls, Hou Niao arrived at a bridge where a white-haired old woman offered them soup.

• Hou Niao asked Xie Wuyou about Daoist Chongling and Xiang Zhiwen; Xie Wuyou said Chongling had reincarnated, while Xiang Zhiwen remained in the Netherworld.
• Xie Wuyou invited Hou Niao into the Hall of Yama, but Hou Niao declined and began traveling down through the levels of hell.
• Hou Niao marveled at the Netherworld's amusements and training halls as he made his way to the eighteenth level, where Xiang Zhiwen was said to be.
• With Xie Wuyou's help, Hou Niao used a yin paper crane bearing Xiang Zhiwen's name to search the dense yin mist.
• Hou Niao followed a stream of seasoned souls and reached a great river and six-arched bridge, where a white-haired old woman handed each soul a bowl of soup.

Hou Niao found Xiang Zhiwen among tens of thousands of mature souls fighting to preserve their memories and avoid Meng Po Soup, while Daoist Sect cultivators used the clash to train their yin cultivation. The chapter ended with both sides still fighting for their own convictions.

• Hou Niao reached Naihe Bridge and found Xiang Zhiwen among an army of mature souls charging the barrier.
• Hou Niao saw Daoist Huiyuan and several dozen Taiqing and Yuqing cultivators fighting the souls.
• Hou Niao realized the mature souls wanted to reincarnate without drinking Meng Po Soup and understood why Xiang Zhiwen had resisted reincarnation for over a century.
• Hou Niao discovered that an invisible barrier, not the Daoists, prevented the souls from reaching the bridge in a crowd.
• Hou Niao learned that the Daoists were using the souls as opponents to train and restore their yin-yang balance.

Hou Niao was swept onto the Naihe Bridge, where Meng Po served him soup and advised him to bathe in the Wangchuan River to settle his impure Mental Power. After learning that a Quanzhen Sect sword cultivator from several thousand years ago had once drunk her soup, he jumped into the river, wondering whether the culprit had been one of the Sword Lineage’s patriarchs.

• Hou Niao resisted the urge to attack Daoist Huiyuan and discovered that the Naihe Bridge’s rules prevented him from turning back.
• Meng Po gave Hou Niao specially prepared soup and explained that his restless, impure Mental Power might benefit from a bath in the Wangchuan River.
• Hou Niao drank three bowls of soup and asked Meng Po which Quanzhen Sect sword cultivator had once thrown up after drinking it.
• Meng Po recalled that the sword cultivator had lived several thousand years earlier but declined to name him.
• Hou Niao suspected the culprit was one of the Sword Lineage’s two patriarchs and leaped into the Wangchuan River.

Hou Niao entered the Wangchuan River to temper his spirit and reconcile his mental power with his heart before attempting Nascent Soul in thirty years. After months of waiting, Tan Xiao and Hou Niao reunited as the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly approached.

• Hou Niao jumped into the Wangchuan River and experienced the emotions of its resentful souls to refine his spirit.
• Hou Niao recognized that his rapidly increased mental power had fallen out of step with his heart, threatening his sword skills and future cultivation.
• Tan Xiao searched the Eighteen Levels of Hell, then left the Netherworld and waited for Hou Niao to emerge.
• Xiangfei Bamboo left the grotto-heaven and later returned alone, while Tan Xiao continued waiting for Hou Niao.
• After several months, Hou Niao emerged from the Scenic Terrace, and Tan Xiao scolded him for delaying their business.

After returning to Dushan, Hou Niao and Tan Xiao learned Nineteenth Aunt had secured a plan to infiltrate the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly by posing as bird demons. The chapter ended with her revealing that the two men would pull her ornate chariot.

• Hou Niao and Tan Xiao returned to Dushan, where Nineteenth Aunt came to tell Hou Niao she had found a candidate to impersonate.
• Nineteenth Aunt explained that she had obtained an invitation from the Mao Falcon lord of Dongqing Island and planned to use his identity to enter the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly.
• Nineteenth Aunt described the demons’ loose invitation customs and their bloodline-based hierarchy, explaining why the group would travel to Lizhi Sea before heading to the assembly.
• Nineteenth Aunt produced an ornate Double-Rider Luan Chariot she had borrowed on Dongqing Island.
• When Tan Xiao asked about the chariot’s Azure Luans, Nineteenth Aunt revealed that he and Hou Niao would pull it.

Hou Niao, Tan Xiao, and the little peacock traveled through the Lizhi Sea to find Winged People who could confirm their origins before the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly. They reached the Rainbow Eye, where the little peacock planned to wait for Winged People heading toward the Binxu Desert, and disguised themselves as a carriage team.

• Hou Niao and Tan Xiao put on flood-dragon sinew harnesses and pulled the little peacock's luan carriage, but their arguing led her to assign Tan Xiao most of the work.
• A month after settling matters at Dushan, the three set out for the Lizhi Sea to find members of the Demon Race who could vouch for them.
• Hou Niao and Tan Xiao disguised themselves as they crossed the sea, where human forces and the End-of-Heaven Ocean Sea Tribe competed for control of the waters.
• The little peacock explained that Winged People followed the monsoon winds and led the group toward the Rainbow Eye, a storm eye where they could intercept travelers bound for the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly.
• At the Rainbow Eye, Hou Niao and Tan Xiao took the draft horses' positions while the little peacock revealed a gyrfalcon form to disguise her identity.

Nineteenth Aunt joined the Six Friends of Dark Bay on their way to the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly, using her strength and bloodline to earn their acceptance. The enlarged party continued toward the gathering, while Hou Niao and Tan Xiao posed as her bewitched human servants.

• Nineteenth Aunt spotted six demonic birds flying in formation and led the luan carriage into a head-on pass to display her strength.
• Nineteenth Aunt introduced herself as Hai Dongqing of Dongqing Island and learned the six were the Six Friends of Dark Bay, traveling to the continent for the gathering.
• The six accepted Nineteenth Aunt into their party, and her strength earned her a place beside the Nascent Soul demon Redcrest.
• Redcrest asked whether Nineteenth Aunt would part with her two human servants, and she claimed her Bewitching Mind Divine Ability made them impossible to release safely.
• Nineteenth Aunt discreetly questioned the demonic birds and pieced together the circumstances behind the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly.

Nineteenth Aunt questioned the Red-Crowned Old Demon about the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly and learned it was convened by demons from the Outer Cosmos to recover their standing after the failed war with humans. As they traveled toward Binxu Desert, she urged the Western Sea Wing Demons to protect their independence and suggested seeking an alliance with the Sea Demons of the End-of-Heaven Ocean.

• Nineteenth Aunt asked the Red-Crowned Old Demon what the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly was for, while concealing her prior coordination with Mao Falcon.
• The Red-Crowned Old Demon explained that demons from the Outer Cosmos had called the assembly to review the failed war with humans and restore their prestige.
• Nineteenth Aunt and the Red-Crowned Old Demon agreed that the Western Sea Wing Demons should not blindly follow the outsiders and needed to preserve their autonomy.
• The Red-Crowned Old Demon said the Western Sea Wing Demons had come partly to make amends for their part in the destruction of the Lizhi Sea Tribe and to protect the Sea Demons as a buffer.
• Nineteenth Aunt suggested winning over the Sea Demons of the End-of-Heaven Ocean, who also resented the desert skeletons.

The West Sea Wing Demons reached the Desert for the assembly, where Nineteenth Aunt stirred resentment toward the Undead while helping the Red-Crowned Old Demon establish himself as their leader. As the Wing Demons prepared a grand procession, their carriages and human servants displayed their differing ranks and power.

• The Wing Demons flew into the Desert and complained about its dry climate and the Undead.
• Nineteenth Aunt encouraged the Wing Demons to question their association with the Undead and the Demon Race’s unity.
• The Red-Crowned Old Demon urged the Wing Demons to keep their grievances quiet and present a united front against humanity.
• Nineteenth Aunt and the human laborers helped secure the Red-Crowned Old Demon’s authority among the flock.
• The Red-Crowned Old Demon called for a West Sea procession, and the Wing Demons brought out ornate carriages and mounts.
• The Wing Demons displayed their ranks through their carriage-pullers, including Golden Core human cultivators reduced to driven beasts.

Hou Niao and Tan Xiao traveled disguised among the Wing Demons toward the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly, hoping to find a chance to capture Demon Beasts from the Outer Cosmos. They reached the assembly’s vast gathering of elites and saw Minggu Mountain, where the Undead came to offer their bones before death.

• Nineteenth Aunt’s group joined the Wing Demons’ procession, using the crowd to hide Hou Niao and Tan Xiao’s disguises.
• Hou Niao and Tan Xiao discussed how dangerous the assembly was and planned to wait for an opportunity to capture Demon Beasts from the Outer Cosmos.
• Hou Niao admitted he was exploiting the longstanding conflict between the Wing Demons and the mainstream Demon Race to stir up trouble.
• The Wing Demons’ flock traveled deep into the Binxu Desert and reached a gathering of powerful Demon Race elites.
• Tan Xiao explained that the immense bone mountain, Minggu Mountain, was formed from the bones of Undead who came there to offer them before death.

Demons from across Jinxiu gathered at Minggu Mountain for the delayed Ten Thousand Demons Assembly, where their leaders discussed future strategies while the rest circled the bone mountain. Longstanding resentment between demon groups escalated into insults, collisions, and bloody challenges, as Hou Niao and Nineteenth Aunt waited for events to develop.

• The Wing Demons joined the gathering at Minggu Mountain, and Red-Crowned entered the circle of Wing Demon elders while Nineteenth Aunt remained outside it.
• Hou Niao spotted Heifu and Baitou among the Outer Cosmos demons and was warned not to stare at them.
• The Ten Thousand Demons Assembly began, with the group leaders meeting atop the bone mountain and Nascent Soul Wing Demons, including Red-Crowned, joining the discussions.
• Nineteenth Aunt predicted that the gathering would lead to a fight, and Hou Niao waited without being able to influence events.
• Demons traded insults and deliberately collided as resentment over their groups’ contributions to the human-demon war resurfaced.
• Individual demons began issuing challenges, and the gathering outside the bone mountain descended into increasingly violent brawling.

The Mountain Demons dominated the opening bouts and grew arrogant, but Nineteenth Aunt killed a diamond ape demon with a sudden strike, igniting the gathering. An owl then attacked a bear’s vulnerable rear, and the fight was poised to reach its climax.

• A tiger demon defeated a blue-halberd whale demon, and the Mountain Demons won several bouts, growing confident in their superiority over the Sea Tribe and Winged People.
• A diamond ape demon insulted the Winged People, and Nineteenth Aunt rushed out in her luan carriage and killed it with a peck to the forehead.
• Nineteenth Aunt returned to her ranks, while the Sea Tribe and Winged People cheered and the Mountain Demons erupted in fury; her planned strike had raised one side’s spirits and provoked the other.
• A bear challenged the Winged People, and an owl fought it with Divine Abilities, but the bear’s defenses stopped its attacks except at two vulnerable spots.
• The owl used short-range teleportation to appear behind the bear’s head and raked its iron claws toward the back of its skull.